2020 Young Scholars of Liberia Writing Workshops

I am Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Professor of English, poet and author of seven books. As a Liberian immigrant and educator, one of my life dreams is to inspire and motivate young people around the world to aspire to excellence, and particularly, to give back to my original homeland of Liberia, West Africa, a country that has suffered from a long history of wars, violence and the current struggle to recover from the trauma the war dealt this nation. Many young women and men are unable to achieve their dreams because of the lack of much of the resources developed countries can give to their students. I have therefore devoted many years of free services by giving back to this country that has given me so much during the better years, and whose stories and poems I write. This is why I return to Liberia to work with young people every summer and every sabbatical I can get from work. This year, I was awarded a one-year sabbatical leave from work by Penn State University to travel to Liberia, teach young people, collect, edit, and publish the first major anthology of Liberian literature, “Breaking the Silence: Anthology of Liberian Literature.” Without working on this summer project, young Liberians I usually work with will not be represented in the anthology and the project will fail.  
 
That dream would have allowed me travel to Liberia to work through Young Scholars of Liberia, an organization I founded in 2016, to help dozens of young Liberians write and edit their own works for the anthology project. All plans for my travel this year have however, been canceled due to COVID-19. The project to teach these young people must however, continue. The only means to continue is via distance learning, conducting classes via Zoom, requiring students to take classes from across the Atlantic, and we cannot do this without your assistance. We need support to give students this great opportunity. They have no access to internet, to data, most without computers, but we must make it possible for them if this project should succeed.

Young Scholars of Liberia Board of Advisors, a small group of poets and teachers are working with me to help young Liberian writers achieve their dreams. We need the funds to award each of the 30 participants scholarships to pay for: Necessary Workshop Materials, Data charges, to pay for a website each student can have access to. We need you if young Liberian students will survive the long shutdown that has deprived them of the in-person learning Dr. Wesley would have given them. We need to raise $3500.00 for this project.