Samuel Babajuah: His Story

My name is Samuel Baby Nagbeyan Babajuah, Jr. I was born on August 6, 1990 in Kpayiah Town, Bong County, Liberia. I was born in the heat of the 1990 war when there was no hospital around or ability to get to hospital.

From the day I was born up to 16yrs of age, my family never had normal life.

When I started understanding things, I began experiencing the war and the pain that my parents were going through in order to get us food, because it was the only primary need for us.

We never had time for shelter; we slept in bushes, beside swamp, under kitchen and even outside.

 

I did not play as a child, did not go to school until age 16, I did not go to church to worship freely; I did not experience a warm parental love from my parents. We never had time to really sit together as family to discuss.

My both parents are subsistence farmers and had a lot of troubles during the war to get us food for meal because there was no time to farm.

From age four (4) up till age sixteen (16) my experience was very worst and I don’t even like to imagine it.

The worst case was that, there were lot of young children holding guns, smoking drugs and very unreasonable in understanding people more especially when you are just a mere farmer.

Many days we toted their loads and were beaten by them as well. Some of those same guys, who suffer us during the war, beat us, make us (including our parents) to sing songs for them, are all walking with us today. They had so many fearful names such as mad-dog, butt-naked, golden head, green snake etc..

I can’t actually tell you whether they were rebel forces or were fighting for government but I can tell you that when we left our homes and ran into the bushes, they were still looking for us.

Below are some of their reasons for looking around for us:

1. The women for sexual purposes and the men for toting their loads
2. For our small food our parents will manage to get
3. For killing people that they don’t just like or maybe they want to eat human, more especially those light in complexion.
4. For us to either give them our cattle, chicken or to carry them to the nearby village that have those things
5. To join them and become soldiers too, etc..

The members of my family are 12 including our parents my wife and daughter.

The boys are six (6), girls two (2), we were actually 11 children but two die few weeks after birth and one die at the result of a brief illness during the war.

My little brother got affected by polio on his hand during the war and this is so much disheartening whenever we see him play football.

The total children alive now are eight (8).

Education

Normally in Liberia, the school year runs from September to June or July and it reopen in September again. My first time in school {The Assembly of God Mission (AGM), Gbarnga City, Bong County} was after my 16^th birthday in September, 2006 after the inauguration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

I actually came to Monrovia in 2007 after passing to the 3^rd  grade on the accelerated learning program (ALP) in Bong County, I did not sit in Nursery, ABC, K-1 or K-2 classes, I was send directly to sit with the 1^st and 2^nd Graders. We came to Monrovia because our parents wanted us to acquire some level of education. They tried to find people that we could stay with in Monrovia to go to school without having the worry of war on our minds. They pay our fees every semester to those we were staying with.

Base on my age and height, when I came to Monrovia the program accepted me in the 5^th grade in the Christian Institute of modern Education by then it was located on the 14^th Street where we now have the Levi C. Williams School. After a semester with (CIME), I was promoted to the 6^th grade and at the end of the school year I was promoted to the Seventh grade. The next year (2008) Mr. Prince King was resolved with helping me stay in his home because his wife was travelling to the United States of America to stay, base on this he could no longer afford to help me according to him. My parents became worried about me but they never had the ability to keep me in Monrovia. Unfortunately I had no option but to go back home (Bong county). The unique thing was, it was the vacation time for grade schools.

I have tasted the city life and want to come back; I decided cutting palm and making garee with the help of my parents and my siblings who are now staying with me here in Monrovia.

After we got some red oil and some garee, my parents quickly told our elder brothers Christopher Matthew Babajuah & Alexander Rufus Babajuah to leave from where they were staying and find a very cheaper room where we all could stay and go to school. They did, the money I brought from the interior was used to pay for the room and the oil was sold and I started school again, this time I could not attend private school so I started attending gov’t school (the A Glenn Tubman Elementary & Junior High school on the 12^th street)because it was less expensive,  meanwhile this time in my life was the real time of adjustment to city life; no food and had to study and make a pass to the next class, sitting with younger children in class and the worst of all having no hope of eating after school.

(Let God name be praised) Friends and their parents in the community help in the process and some good parents in the community give us some food by then my elder brother (Matthew) was working with the construction farm that constructed the Providence Hotel on the 9^th street as a helper and was being pay $150LD per day (about 1.30USD or 1.00GBP). He suffer to feed us every day, had to transport himself to and fro from this same money. But the good thing about me was I was very fast in picking up my lesson but tremble when about to speak among people.

Few semesters later still on the ALP, I got promoted to the ninth grade where I met Emmanuel L. Kpather who is now with my organization and working with the Liberia Maritime Authority, we were classmates with almost the same condition of not eating before coming to school, we were attending afternoon school.

At this point, I could not continue with day school nor drop out of school.

I decided to set up my own tutorial in our community (Fiamah) to help me get some money for food every day.

My first class had 10 students and each was paying $200LD per month.

After a month conducting the tutorial, I enrolled in a Night school (Advent Christian School System) that was setup by a representative aspirant Cllr. B. Miller Catakaw of District#9 where I got my promotion to the 10^th grade. When his night school program ended, I started buying and selling coconut in wheelbarrow on the street from my saving during my tutorial.

I did this because school was closed and could no longer conduct the study class.

It was at this time I got my coconut seller friendship with Johnson Pewee. Johnson encouraged me to continue selling the coconuts and attending night school (what an idea!).

We went in search for night school with reasonable fees and found one; the Mother SYMTHE Memorial Night School system by then it was September, 2010.

After the war, this ALP idea really help some of us, imagine a person who just started school in 2006, after 4^1/2 years I was surprised to see myself in the 10^th grade (Let God name be praised).

When Johnson and I enrolled into the Night school, the usual idea of putting the upper and the lower classes together was also there, so as a tenth grade student, I was sitting with the eleventh grade students.

I did the class for the first semester, was named class prefect and promoted to eleventh grade since I was already sitting with them.

When the coconuts got expensive and could no longer get more of it, I decided to go back to my idea of tutorial by then I have moved to Matadi behind the Matadi Baptist School building where I now have my office.

I was helping a lady (Dorothy Nyanfor), take care of her little mat house she built in the swamp along the duo river when I got sick to the point of death because of the living condition.

The community dwellers, my siblings who were staying to different places including my little brother (Abraham Babajuah; CKA Barbarossa the red bear) the one who the polio affected, the tutorial students’ parents, a man by the name of Reaking who later follow my girlfriend and a very good lady who ask me to be her friend (Oral Jackson) help to take me to the JFK Hospital where I was treated.

When the 2^nd semester resumed we all went back to our night school again it was this time that I asked a little community school stopping to 8^th grade (The Beawo Baptist Church School System) where my little brother was attending to serve as janitor in order to pay his fees for the year.

The school administration agree and I started job; when I come from job, I will conduct my usual tutorial and during vacation my brother and I will start selling provision goods such as bathing soaps, tooth brushes and certain Chinese hand cream that came around.

Finally, when the school year ended, I got my promotion to the 12^th grade from the night school.

I told myself that I will not graduate from night school because I thought that it was not going to send me for The West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) test. I went back to tell my parents of my achievement.

They were very happy but ask me to return with some money immediately in order to get prepare for school.

When I came, I decided to do the Ed Mol Memorial Matadi Baptist School System’s entrance and placement exam but the Principal (Mr. Moses Z. Neeplay) said that they can only accept my document under the condition of attending their summer school, writing the placement exam and passing in both.

I did all and was successful. I enrolled in the regular school in September 2011 in the 12^th grade and this time was totally different in my academic sojourn.

Things became difficult, no time to conduct tutorial, no money to sell etc. I got an idea of usually asking for excuse in order to go do daily hire job on the construction field where people were being paid per day $150LD just to continue in school and to provide our daily meal for my little brother and I. Sometimes our parents and elderly brothers use to send us some money too.

I become part of the meet the challenge team and named co-captain to Johnson Okpejo who was named class perfect for the senior class.

Before my enrolment, while I was working as a janitor, I got promoted to serve as a teach aid in the ABC class and subsequently became Vice Principal for Administration after my graduation on June 30, 2012.

Before and after my graduation, my last tuition part-payment of $900LD and first Semester University fees were paid by a friend (Moriah Kou-dwedhe Yeakula now assistant Minister of Labour for Administration) I got during the part-time work for the president kind gesture toward all the senior students WEAC fees for that year.

Due to the low salary and many responsibilities after my graduation, I decided to find another teaching job.

I took a job with the love International School System where Spryte met me, at the same time I was working for a private security firm called the Boutros Security Service right now located in Congo Town. The firm assigned me to the Great Wall Chinese Hotel on the 10^th street and was giving me $60USD every Month.

When I started teaching at the Love International School System I came across the team that came with Spryte which Simon was part of and he spoke of curiosity, by then my girlfriend now my wife was pregnant and schools had close, no money to take good care of her, lack social education to have known that I was not ready for early responsibility or so. I have been through it for long and not afraid of responsibility, I was certain that I could take care of her but didn’t know how at that moment when Spryte came in with these unique trainings that change my life for the better today.

After the training by the team, Spryte setup another 10^th months training for three hundred (300) of us (teachers) for empowered and collaborative teaching community.

When the US requested for all her citizens due to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Spryte had to leave but before leaving, she lobby with Dr. Kimmie Weeks to get job for many of the teachers including me. When she left, she also raised some funds to help some of the 300 teachers with food and transportation.

While working with the taskforce, I was promoted supervisor for the EMS/Ebola Call Center, which raised my salary from $265 USD to $490 USD excluding tax. (The salary for call center agent was $265USD)

When I was promoted, I quickly send an email of appreciation to Spryte, her reply to me was for me to do something sustainable either business or saving for future eventuality, more especially when I don’t have job anymore.

I quickly bought a taxi cap for the continue sustainability of my family. When I bought my car newly, I didn’t know how to drive and had to give it to a guy who didn’t want to give my daily report on how much he raise with my car, I was frustrated, and down hearted but I told myself that whatever a man can do, I too can do the same.

While thinking how I could learn how to drive, I was on the internet (youtube) searching and I saw the video that says “how to drive a Manual Car” an Indian teacher-driver, I quickly click on it and watch it. After watching it for the first time, I learn how to start my car than I watch it again for two weeks three times every day and I could now move my car.

At first, I was very afraid but I remember Spryte saying “this is very important, remember it (THE SECRET Video), you are a magnet and can attract to yourself anything you want” so I

started driving it all over, I even drove it to the Mamba Point Hotel when Simon and Natasha came to meet with us (Salome and I).

Having experienced this tremendous miracle in my life lately, I decided to form an organization to help young people understand their full potential in life, the important of it when it comes to making a change in the way people live, do things, and the way we all can contribute in stopping drugs addiction, prostitutions, high school dropout, rape, gender base violent issues, family abuse, child abuse, bad perceptions towards issues, violent of all kind and things that hinder the rights of any individual living a peaceful life around us.

My personal dream is to help build a community of young transformational leaders that will help build the self esteem and self confidence of other young people in order to have a peaceful society free of poverty, war, hunger, child abuses, family violence, corruptions, deprivation of human fundamental rights, high unemployment rate, vulnerable children with no care at all, etc..

I want to disabuse the mind of every single young person so that together we can intellectually disabuse the mind of people who will want to bring war in this country for their own selfish gain like some of our leaders did to us in the past.

I hate war and don’t like to hear about it because the same people who were beating, killing and doing lot of bad things to us have become our responsibility today; they have made the society unsecure for us and themselves as well.

I name my daughter in honour of Spryte who lately play but an important role in my life.

Her name is G. Samuela Spryte Babajuah , her mother name is Alicia Moore-Babajuah I love them so much and want them to get all that I did not get when I was very young.