Over 150 students are going to have better schooling facilities thanks to the Pakistani Force Quick Reaction Force (FQRF), which refurbished the Go-Ye Apostolic Pentecostal Community School, and also added on an additional nursery room. 

The school is located just a short drive from the FQRF base at Camp Clara in Monrovia. While getting to know their community, the Pakistanis noticed that the school’s seven teachers were all working together out of a single room. There was no furniture in the school, students had limited books and stationary supplies, and the students had no access to a playground. 

“In the initial stages of the school it faced a lot of trouble because of the unavailability of proper infrastructure,” said Maj. Fahad, FQRF Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Officer. “There was no separation of classrooms, meaning students from different grades had to sit in a single room. It was kind of a hodgepodge learning environment.”

Since the arrival of the FQRF VII, it has taken the school under its wings, providing separate classrooms, new furniture, an outdoor playground, and a new nursery classroom. The nursery room is filled with dolls and toys sent straight from Pakistan. The FQRF has also provided medical check-ups to students, and organized sports events and cartoon movie nights. In the future, the FQRF is planning to reconstruct the principal’s office, and continue with seasonal renovations. 

Massa Gibson is one of the school’s seven teachers, in charge of the two to six-year olds. She will now be working out of the newly constructed nursery room.
“I just want to say thank you. This is so important because it will help the country, it will help us, Liberians, as people of the world,” said Gibson. “It’s important that the children have a decent school and playground so that they will grow up fine.”

Sangay, 13, is in eighth grade at Go-Ye. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up and now, she cannot get enough of school. 

“I love the new school, it’s so beautiful,” she said. “I appreciate the Pakistanis for what they have done. The walls are so pretty and we have a place to sit and learn.”

UNMIL Force Commander, Maj.-Gen. Leonard M. Ngondi, was on hand to help inaugurate the new school. While he acknowledged the efforts of the FQRF, Ngondi emphasized the role of UNMIL must be in supporting the Government of Liberia to fulfill its responsibilities.

“Our main purpose here is to make that Government, those who are given the opportunity by the Liberian people to serve, do their work. They may be having some problems; they need to address those problems. We cannot replace them.”