David Ford is the new president of the Liberia Swedish Association

The new leadership of the Liberian Swedish Association (LSA) has created an agenda which we believe will help us to better serve the LSA community and make meaningful contributions in Liberia, especially to children living in deplorable conditions, writes LSA President David Ford.

Item 1. Unite and strengthen the bond between Liberians living in Sweden

With our agenda and ideas from the Liberian community, we intend to bridge the gap between generations of Liberians living in Sweden in order to enhance the unification that Liberians have once enjoyed (or never) in the past. And, to promote belongingness, inclusion and participation of all Liberians residing in Sweden regardless of age and ethnic background.

To achieve these, we have adopted a decentralized leadership structure by appointing officials from different communities in Sweden. And we have established close connections with the leaders of the LSA branch in Goteborg, and plan to do the same with the leadership of the LSA branch in Malmö as soon as we are able to resolve their internal problems, to help them elect a new leadership. Furthermore, there is an ongoing initiative to launch a new LSA Norrland branch for Liberians residing in the north of Sweden (from Sundsvall to cities further north). In addition, we also intend to establish contact, if possible, with nearly all Liberians residing in Sweden.

We believe the above approaches will help us eradicate the notion that the LSA, or its leadership, is made up or is for one group of people from one community or city in Sweden. By doing so, this will help us create a Liberian community in Sweden that is of inclusion and participation of all Liberians, thereby allowing the flow of diverse ideas from these officials and communities for the betterment and growth of LSA and its membership.

In order to achieve item 1, several micro committees have been established, which are headed by passionate and capable Liberians to help us achieve our goals:

Children Affairs Committee:  Responsible for creating recreational and educational activities for kids so that they won’t be left out of LSA social activities, and for them to participate in educational activities about their motherland, Liberia. Therefore, we encourage all parents to bring their children to these activities whenever they are created.

Conflict Resolution Committee:  Is to help resolve some of the problems that are currently prevailing or may arise in the future among Liberians, so that they can continue to live and interact with each other as a united people.

Events Committee:  Responsible for organizing social events as well as catering to them.

LSA Media Committee:  Responsible for public relation activities for the promotion of the organisation as well as informing Liberian and other communities through media outlets such as LSA website, LSA blog, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Sport Committee:  Responsible for arranging and organizing sporting activities, which will include football, kickball and other traditional Liberian games.

Outreach Committee:  Responsible for reaching out to those Liberians that previously associated with the LSA but no longer do, and to those Liberians who wish to be part of the organisation but do not know how.

Item 2. To promote awareness about LSA

We intend to promote awareness about LSA, by implementing initiatives which will enable the association to inform its community members and well-wishers about ongoing and unfolding happenings within the association and its community. Currently, some elements of these initiatives are ongoing, an information card (business card) and LSA blog have been created and launched to dispense necessary information and facilitate easy means of contacting LSA. In addition, an LSA official Facebook account and page and logo have been created and launched to the public. LSA website been revamped and made contemporary, in order to be up-to-date to meet the informational needs of Liberians and supporters of LSA in Sweden and abroad. To help us achieve this, the LSA media committee will work in this capacity. From another perspective, we intend to make LSA free from anyone’s influence by obtaining a LSA postal box, Swish number, a stable venue for monthly meetings, etc.

Item 3. Work with other organizations:

We intend to work with the European Federation of Liberian Associations (EFLA) and other African and Swedish organizations in Sweden and abroad to foster unification for all and meet common goals.

Item 4. Initiate a proposal to establish Liberian embassy in Stockholm, Sweden for all Liberians living in the Scandinavian areas.

From several and growing concerns among LSA members and Liberians living in other Scandinavian countries regarding the difficulties they face in obtaining Liberian visa to travel to Liberia and or to renew or fix their Liberian passports, my leadership intend to work with other Liberian communities in the Scandinavian areas to initiate a proposal to the Liberian government to establish or foster the process of establishing a Liberian embassy in Stockholm, Sweden for Liberians residing in  Scandinavia.

Item 5. Launch a humanitarian program to help underprivileged children residing in Liberia.

Due to the dire needs of many children in Liberia resulting from the economic downturn in Liberia, whereby many parents are without jobs and find it difficult to provide for their children, our leadership intends to launch a campaign called “Let Liberians living in Sweden help underprivileged children in Liberia” to help improve the lives of some Liberian children living in unprivileged conditions in Liberia. To achieve this, we intend to lobby for funds.