Zondo Visit 2009: Photos
Family of Hope board members Barrett and Amy Fisher spent three day in Zondo at the beginning of July. They attended the end-of-the-year closing ceremony. Photos and brief captions from their trip are below. Read more about the dedicated students and teachers in Zondo and about the Liberian perspective on education in Barrett and Amy's Reflections on Zondo.
Zondo Scenes
The tombs of Teacher Flahn and James Morgan, two respected Zondo leaders, sit near the school. They are reminders of the historic and current commitment of the Zondo community to education.
Women throughout the village prepared food for students, parents, and visitors to celebrate the end of the school year.
The Zondo school building has become a gathering place for the entire community. Students and families crowded the school courtyard following the year-end celebration ceremony.
This cotton tree has stood in Zondo for longer than people have lived there. "We hope that the school grows like the cotton tree," says Academic Dean Bill Dean.
Chickens roam the village, but everyone knows to whom each bird belongs.
This goat became part of the feast.
Zondo People
Singing is an integral part of each school day. Songs include gospel music, older hymns, and the national and school anthems.
Girls often care for younger relatives. Older female students sometimes face family pressure to abandon their schooling in order to perform domestic tasks or marry.
Principal Arthur Crusoe cares for children at home as well as in the school. He is particularly concerned that female students stay in the Zondo school and continue their education into high school, college, and graduate school.
Visiting dignitaries who spoke at the year-end ceremony include Estella Kilby (second from left) and Rev. Dr. Abba Karngar (center). Ms. Kilby created a high-school scholarship for the neediest Zondo student. Dr. Karngar, who first attended the pre-war Zondo mission school at the age of 18, reminded the crowd, "God still has his hand on us and still cares."
Children such as this boy joyfully and gratefully attend the school.
Carrying water, pounding cassava, cooking, laundry, and farming are unceasing daily necessities.
Examples of student dedication to learning abound. The boy in this photo just completed first grade despite a 45-minute walk each way to school on his crutches. A childhood case of polio disabled one of his legs. Six students walk two hours each way every school day.
Thirteen of Zondo's fifteen teachers and aides are pictured here. The teachers are paid for their work with elementary and junior high students. They volunteer additional evening hours in order to run a literacy program for women.
y Amy and Barrett Fisher, center, spent three days in Zondo with Arthur Crusoe and Monrovian friends Hannah and Janet.
