Africa-Press – Liberia. MONROVIA — Decedents of the founding fathers of Barbados who settled in Crozierville in May 10,1865 celebrated their 159 years in Liberia since they made Liberia their home.
The program brought together eminent citizens of Crozierville, including Ninety-five-year-old, Fannie Padmore, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Y. Best, Cllr. Angelique Weeks, Mr. Milton Weeks, Commissioner J. Nathaniel B. Holder, Reginald Goodridge and others, was held over the weekend, in commemoration of the May 10, 1865 arrival in Liberia of the 346 Immigrants from Barbados, West Indies and the founding of Crozierville.
The celebration commenced with a street parade, led by acting township Commissioner, J. Nathaniel B. Holder, from the Antoinette Tubman Community School (ATCS) to the Centenary Monument.
Mr. Best, 86, Publisher of Daily Observer Newspaper, laid a wreath at the Centenary Monument and spoke about the founders coming from the Barbados and the West Indies who were ruled under the English Colony of Great Britain, to find a home in Liberia.
“The founding fathers from the Barbados wanted to be free of being ruled by Great Britain, so they came to Liberia in 1865 to find a place to call home where they can have black people like themselves ruling them. A few men helped them make the voyage with their money and so they landed in Liberia under the leadership of President Daniel B. Warner in 1865, and he gave them this plot of land called Crozierville named in honor of two men, John and Samuel Crozier who gave the money for the ship to make the voyage. So Today we celebrate the founding of Crozierville and I was asked by my sisters and brothers from Crozierville to come and lay a wreath on the Monument, in order of the men and women who founded Crozeirville,” said Mr. Best.
Ninety-Five-year-old Ma Fannie C. Patmore, known as Teacher Pepper by many of her students who are men and women today, made her way to the monument and said she was brought from Grenville by her late husband Jacob B. Patmore since 1970’s.
“I am an old teacher who had my own home school where I taught children who were not in school and I taught so many children who are grown today for over Forty-five years,” she said.
During the program, Cllr. Angelique Weeks, citizen of Crozierville and Chair on planning committee of the Township Council and legal Advisor, read about the arrival of the Barbados Expedition, which read: “On May 10, 1865, the ship called Brig Cora, from Barbados, arrived in Monrovia with three hundred and forty-six immigrants, judiciously selected and dispatched at the expense of the American Colonization Society. And Natives of the West Indies and generally acquainted with the agriculture of the tropical latitudes believed that they would not only improve their condition but help to develop the resources of Liberia.”
Keynote address was delivered at the Antoinette Tubman Community School (ATCS) by Reginald B. Goodridge, citizen of Crozierville, and Director General of Foreign Service Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He spoke on the theme: “Crozierville Today and the Crozierville we want tomorrow and how do we get there?”
He then engaged citizens and young people at the indoor program as to how do they see Crozierville and what do they hope to see it in the future, some young people talked about lack of job opportunities and the creeping into their communities, which has affected many youths negatively, while few old citizens said the absence of electricity and bad roads have put Crozierville backward and how the young men in Crozierville, are in the habit of abusing women in the street, which does not represent Crozierville of the old.
Goodridge said the founder’s day program was held in order to engage the stake holders to bring light and water to Crozierville.
“The lack of electricity has increased teenage pregnancies, because when it is dark, there is nothing else for the young girls to do, so they turn to boys. And many of the young men who impregnates these girls leaves the community, leaving the girl to fend for herself, but if educational opportunities are created for our young people, Crozierville it will reduce teen pregnancies and Crozierville will improve,” he said.
He further said there is 98 percent literacy in the Barbados so he hopes that if they can raise the literacy rate in Crozierville to forty to sixty percent, it will carry the young people a long way.
“Let’s make sure our churches raise support to educate our young people. If we have over150 children in our churches, let make sure they all have the educational opportunities to move their dreams. I started my scholarship program in 1993 in Gbarnga Bong County and has two scholarships in Crozierville. I am hoping that if people can follow such example, it will help many young people,” he said.
He said in order to raise revenue to improve Crozierville, the citizens from Crozierville have to think outside of the box to raise the revenue that will bring light, water and pave road to Crozierville.
“We can create a toll booth on the road, that every vehicle plying our road will have to pay some money, in order to raise revenue to fix our roads. There is a lot of land we have here in Crozierville that can attract investors, we can give someone or a company five a year rent free contract to develop their businesses and we could create a duty free privileges in this country,” he added.
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