Cheesmanburg Women Push For Economic Empowerment

The women of Cheesemanburg Township, Montserrado County have embraced the call of President George Weah to undertake activities to improve their lives.

Recent they launched a soap making training project in the Township financed by an extended auxiliary of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), called Ladies for Weah.

Unveiling materials and launching the Project, the Chairlady for Ladies for Weah, Madam Anastacia S. Foryoh remarked, “This Project being launched today is financed by the Ladies for Weah. I am very pleased with the women, including Madam Sando Johnson, as the Project is their idea. We asked them to decide on a project for us to assist them carry out and they chose soap making.  In keeping our word, Ladies for Weah has provided the ingredients and utensils for them to learn how to make the soap,” she said.

The materials that were unveiled and presented by Madam Foryoh included palm oil, caustic soda, buckets, drums, safety gears, etc. She indicated that the training is planned for three months and would train four women in basic soap making. Madam Foryoh valued the training project, excluding transportation, at over Thirty Thousand Liberian Dollars.

The women, showing a level of high interest to acquire the soap making skill, asked that most of them, about fifty, be trained and the training period be increased from three months to six months. As a result of this demand, Dr. Roseda E. Marshall, a leading Liberian Pediatrician, who graced the occasion and applauded the vision of Ladies for Weah, offered to meet the cost of the additional three months training period and made an initial contribution of Five Thousand Liberian Dollars.

In acknowledging the commitment of the Cheesemanburg women, Madam Foryoh praised them stating, “You are on the right path and we are with you.” She revealed that her auxiliary “is already contacting some important ladies including First Lady Clar Weah and Her Excellency, Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor to support this and other projects of ours.

“We are also contacting the National Chairlady of the Women Wing of CDC and the National Chairman, Molubah Morlu. Further, we plan to contact embassies, businesses and other sources.” She suggested to the women to form themselves into a cooperative “so that they can reap such benefits as additional training, meaningful financial support and marketable skills.”

Also speaking at the Program in addition to several prominent citizens of Cheesemanburg was former Township Commissioner, Rev. Shalwake Cassell who expressed thanks and appreciation to Ladies for Weah for transforming themselves from political activities to economic empowerment. He pledged One Hundred United States Dollars to the project.

For his part, the Head of the Concerned Citizens for the Development of District 17, Montserrado County, Alieu S. Watson, pledged his organization’s support to the project and gave a special thanks to Madam Foryoh, who he termed as a “vision bearer” when it comes to promoting community development.

Speaking further, he called on the Commissioner of Cheesemanburg, Thomas Cassell to join Concerned Citizens for the Development of District 17 to petitioned the National Legislature through the District Lawmaker to make District 17 comprising the Townships of Virginia, Cheesemanburg, Millsburg, Royesville and the Cities of Brewerville, Arthington and Clay Ashland into a Statutory District for the sole purpose of speeding development in that part of rural Montserrado.

Thanking Ladies for Weah, the head of the Cheesemanburg Women said she and the women of the Township were very grateful for the training which will help the women self-sustainable and reliant on their own skills.

The occasion was attended by a large portion of the residents and citizens of the area including Madam Lincess Gaye and Madam Cyprian, members of Ladies for Weah delegation. The occasion concluded with a rally that raised over Eight Thousand Liberian Dollars. The money realized, according to Madam Foryoh, shall serve as seed money to help the women begin their individual or collective.

The soap making training project is the fourth empowerment activities of Ladies for Weah as revealed by Madam Foryoh. She reported that her group is supporting two women cassava farm projects in Todee, a tailoring training program also in Todee and sending an eighteen-year-old female eight grade dropout back to school in a village in Cape Mount. The group, according to Madam Foryoh, is also conducting cultural dance classes in Gbondoi Village back of Rick’s Institute.

Cheesemanburg, off the Bomi highway, is rural Montserrado that currently has no meaningful business activities. Its roads are deplorable and culverts and bridges are needed to connect both parts of Cheesemanburg.