ANNUAL REPORT ON THE STATE OF AFFAIRS OF
THE BASSA HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION/ U.S.A.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Board of Directors,
Past President Tommy Logan, Madam vice president, past and present officials
of the Association, Friends, well wishers, fellow delegates.
I firstly like to thank God for spearing our lives
to once again assemble here in the State of Maryland at our 4th Annual convention.
We pray that the Lord will guide, bless and direct us as we deliberate on issues
that affect our beloved institution.
As the president of this August body, it is my
constitutional duty to report to you annually on the state of affairs of the Association.
Against this background, I am pleased to report that all is well and by the grace
of God this organization has remain on course.
About a year ago, we convened in the City of Woonsocket,
Rhode Island at our third annual convention. During this convention, the association
experienced a peaceful change of leadership through the holding of election
as provided for by the constitution. The following members were elected to head
this association for two years: Mrs. Lucinda Nagbe Vice President, Miss. Hawa
Kpakah Secretary and Miss.Christian Davis Chaplin. Mrs. Serena Reeves and Mr. J.
Alexander Morris were elected to succeed themselves as financial secretary and treasurer
respectively. Your humble servant was also elected to serve as president.
On behalf of all of the elected officials, I like
to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to you for the confidence you placed
in us to lead this organization. With God on our side and with all of your support,
we will strive to justify the confidence reposed in us. We also like to extend our
appreciation to the past administration for its commitment, dedication and hard
work which has brought us thus far. We will continue to rely upon your relentless
support as we together lead this organization to noble heights.
During the period under review, we held two teleconferences-
thanks to our able secretary for assisting to organize said conferences.
THE FIRST TELECONFERENCE:
The first teleconference was held on Sunday November
15, 2005. During our discussion, we reviewed the chair project that was lunched
by the past administration and approved of the final disbursement of funds
to complete the project. As a result, two hundred chairs has been completed, dedicated
and are being used in the school’s auditorium. We like to thank the Logan administration
for lunching such a worthy project. The cost of the project is reflected in the
treasurer and financial secretary report.
During the meeting we agreed to undertake the
complete renovation of the main building on the school’s campus. We are therefore
pleased to report that the building has been completely renovated and dedicated.
The photo of the renovated building along with the financial report for work done
on the building is on our web site at www. Bassahighschool.org. In this public manner,
we like to express our heart felt gratitude to board member Joseph Sinya for taking
time of his busy schedule during his private visit to Liberia to purchase the paint
and other materials from Monrovia, transport them to Buchanan and supervise the
work on the building. We also want to express our profound gratitude to Bishop John
G. Innis for making transportation available to Mr.Sinya for the
duration of the project and to the Alumni Association
of the School in Liberia for their cooperation and support during the project. We
pray God’s richest blessing upon all who supported our effort thereby resulting
into the successful completion of the project.
Also during our first teleconference, we
approved of funds to be disbursed to the teachers at the school as a token of our
appreciation for their sacrifices at the institution. Mr. Sonya personally hand
delivered the money to the individual teachers on behalf of the association.
For this we say again thanks to you Mr. Sinya for a job well done.
THE SECOND TELECONFERENCE.
The second teleconference was held on Sunday July
8, 2006. During our discussion, we received an up date on preparation for the 4th
annual convention and briefly discussed the report from renovation work done on
the school under the supervision of board member Sinya. During the meeting, we were
informed by Mr. Jerome Gayman Vice chairman of the board of directors that a consignment
of about 25,000(twenty five thousand) copies of books were donated to the association
by the St. Lucie County school district of the State of Florida. This donation was
made as a result of an appeal made by Mr. Gayman on behalf of the association. We
are pleased to report that these books are presently in our possession and being
stored in a ware house in Florida. It is therefore our hope and prayer that
this convention will raise the requisite funds to enable us ship the books to the
school as soon as possible. On behalf of this association, we like to express our
profound gratitude to you Mr. Gayman for your efforts in securing these books on
our behalf. We pray God’s blessing upon you and look forward to your continuous
support.
Fellow delegates, even though we are a relatively
new organization we must admit that we-as an organization- have done well with the
meager resources that we have been able to raised over the years. However from the
statistics available to us relative to the number of members here in the United
States of America and taking into consideration our over all financial contribution
made to this association, we could have done better over the years. I am aware that
most of you are skeptical to contribute to the organization based upon your experience
of the past with other Liberian organizations similar to ours most of whom
have been unable to account for funds to run the organization. We can assure you
that under our administration every penny of your funds will be used for the intended
purpose and accounted for.
We therefore like to call upon all of you to give
us your trust by paying your dues and making your financial contribution to the
association to enable us meet up with our goals and objectives.
In view of the foregoing, I wish to submit
to this convention for your deliberation and approval the following programs which
I hope to under take in the coming year along with recommendations we hope will
assist us in achieving our goals as an association:
PLANS AND PROGRAMS FOR THE YEAR 2006-2007.
During the year 2006-2007, we hope to undertake
the following programs as an Association:
To ship the 25,000 pieces of books presently in
our possession to Liberia as soon as possible. These books cover all subjects and
are for all classes from the first through the twelve grades. As such, when shipped
to Liberia they will benefit the entire county.
To establish a computer center at the school to be named the Henry Kparkay Weah
computer center in honor of the first graduate of the school.
To provide the school with a portable generator to be used for the computer center
and for the re-establishment of the night division of the school. As you are aware,
the p.m. Division of the school in the past offered our working brothers and sisters
the opportunity to obtain an education after their hours of work.
To extend the painting project to the rest of the other buildings on campus.
To purchase at least two sets of jerseys for the school in order for our children
to appear presentable when representing the school at sporting events.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. That Article VI of the constitution of this
association under the hading Board of Directors be amended to increases the number
of board members from six to nine. The additional three members will be elected
by the association from the society. The additional members should be individuals
who have demonstrated concern for the association through their commitment and contribution
to the organization. They should also be individuals who have the idea and
contact to assist in raising funds to help the association meet up with its programs
and projects. As an association if we are to live up to what we intend to achieve
we cannot rely only upon dues and funds generated from the annual conventions to
run the association.
2. That a scholarship program be established
in the form of an endowment fund in the name of four of our late principals of the
institution namely: Professors Philemon E. Harris, Philip V. Saywrayne I, Joseph
E. Deshields and Edward J. Harris. Those benefiting from the scholarship will major
in education at the University of Liberia. They will sign an agreement with the
association to return to the school upon graduation and render three years of service
to the school; with the possibility of returning to the University of Liberia to
further obtain a graduate degree in education. The scholarship funds will be handle
by a scholarship committee and a special account will be established for that
purpose. The account will be jointly handled by the scholarship committee in cooperation
with the administration of the association. The scholarship program will also be
coordinated by the Alumni Association in Liberia.
3. That an annual award program and dinner be
held to honor those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to our institution
and Grand Bassa County in the field of education. This program will be intended
to raise funds to assist us meet our financial obligation as an association.
My fellow delegates, as an organization
we have the perfect opportunity to bring our institution back to what it use to
be in the past and even take it to a higher level. We also have the opportunity
to make unprecedented history at our institution. As I have always said, We are
the Nehemiah's of Bassa High School here in America who are expected to use every
single opportunity in terms of our contacts and resources to help rebuild the broken
walls of our institution. To do so we must pay our dues and meet up with our financial
obligation to this organization. At present our annual membership due is one hundred
dollars. If my mathematics is correct, our monthly due is eight dollars thirty four
cents. According to the financial record of the association only a few members have
met up with their financial obligation to the organization. We have been able to
achieve a lot with the little that has been made available to us. With your financial
support we can do grater things in the months ahead. We therefore plead with you
to see reason to financially update your record at this convention. We have a lot
of text books in storage that need to be shipped to Liberia as soon as possible.
We cannot afford to have the books remain in storage for ever neither can we afford
to loose those books. We are counting on you to get those books to our people as
quickly as we can.
By the same token, do not forget that we
are the Josephs and Esthers of Biblical days who have come to this land of milk
and honey at such a time as this to be able to reach out and lend a helping hand
to our brothers and sisters in need at the Bass High School. They are depending
upon us. We cannot and should not betray their trust and confidence in us.
Let it therefore be said in the future that when
our school was in dying need of us we came to its assistance. We cannot afford to
sit on the side line and see our beloved Tower Of Light extinguish in the midst
of black darkness. We must be proud when we speak to our people back home to say
that we are part of the effort to restore our institution to what it use to be.
Do not allow what ever is going on at the school be news to you. Instead I urge
all of you to be a part of the news.
As we deliberate at this convention, I urge all
of you to put the interest of our school above and beyond all other interest. May
God All Mighty bless all of us, sustain our association and save our institution.
I THANK YOU.