Refugee Isaac Monah founded a school near his village (credit: DRPS/Rachel Gwole)

Isaac Monah – a refugee orphaned by war – has transformed over 1,000 young lives thanks to founding the first ever school near his isolated village in eastern Liberia. MAF helped build ‘Dougbe River Presbyterian School’, which provides opportunities that Isaac never had. MAF’s Rachel Gwole charts Isaac’s incredible journey.

Dougbe River Presbyterian School (DRPS) opened in 2012 and provides free education to over 240 children from surrounding villages. It’s the first school in Twarbo – an isolated jungle region in Liberia’s Grand Gedeh County near the Ivory Coast Border.

The 150-acre site, which straddles the villages of Sayuo and Buway, comprises of a nursery, primary and junior school.

The school is so remote, there’s no mobile phone coverage. Its 10 teachers live on site and many students have to walk up to four miles there and back every day just to attend.

Twarbo is so remote, students walk up to 4 miles to get to school (credit: Katie Machell)

Over half the students are girls in a country where females are largely denied equality and an education, and are subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM).

By the age of 18, a quarter of girls are married off. Some as young as 12 are sexually exploited and forced into a life of servitude (source: Girls not Brides).

Liberia lacks gender equality but over 1/2 DRPS’ pupils are girls (credit: DRPS/R.Gwole)

The school’s founding director, Isaac Monah, is doing everything he can to right cultural wrongs by educating girls:

‘I love our culture, but those things are no good. I have observed early marriage due to cultural practice – it makes me cry. Our sisters are led into the role as mother too early without achieving an education to forward their future dreams.

‘Now we have over 135 girls in the school. The school is like a safety camp for girls – they run to school to seek refuge and earn their junior high certificate.’

Isaac Monah, founder of Dougbe River Presbyterian School & MAF passenger

Isaac set up the school on the understanding that the village elders would abandon FGM and child marriage.

DRPS teaches 240+ children from remote villages in the area (credit: DRPS/Rachel Gwole)

More than a school

30 acres of farmland surrounding the school produces rice, plantain, cassava and vegetables to support the school’s feeding programme. At Dougbe River, every child gets a free school lunch. Surplus crops are sold at market to help fund the school.

The school’s farmland produces a range of food incl. plantain (credit: DRPS/Rachel Gwole)

In addition to the farm, the site boasts teacher accommodation, student dormitories for over 80 pupils, a kitchen / canteen, wells, a community centre, a staff room, a pharmacy, an auditorium, a playing field and the county’s first ever library.

A school nurse, three cooks and four farmers are essential to the running of the school.

After school clubs include gender specific health workshops, a student newsletter, football and volleyball.

The school is powered by solar panels – it’s the first major solar-panel installation in Grand Gedeh County.

The junior school gives children from Isaac’s region a firm foundation, which he never had when he was a child. They then go on to study at senior school elsewhere in the county. Isaac explains:

‘We try and give all the children in that area a better education. After their junior high certificate, the students can choose to attend any high school in the county. It’s free – we take care of their tuition fees.’

Every child gets a free school lunch every day (credit: DRPS/Rachel Gwole)

The school of hard knocks

Unfortunately, Isaac did not have the same start in life.

Born in 1970, Isaac and his 12 siblings grew up in isolated Twarbo, but fifty years ago there were no local schools to educate them or after school clubs for them to enjoy.

To access an education, Isaac’s parents send him away to live with his uncle in Liberia’s capital Monrovia at the age of 12. Here he attends school, but is far from home.

Living in a two-bedroom flat with 12 other people is tough. Isaac witnesses his uncle’s hardship having to support so many people, so Isaac drops out of school and starts selling goods on the streets to support his extended family.

After two years, he moves out. For several years, Isaac sofa surfs with friends and relatives far away from home – staying anywhere he can to survive.

In 1989, things take a turn for the worse – Liberia’s first civil war erupts (1989 – 1997). Issac has three choices – 1) join the army and fight 2) join the rebels and fight or 3) flee the country.

After the family home is destroyed and his 15-year-old younger brother is killed, Isaac – now 19 – and his family, flee to the Ivory Coast in 1990 to initially live with his older sister.

As the war rages on, Isaac loses both parents and his uncle and ends up living in a refugee settlement.

Unlike this child Isaac couldn’t access school let alone free school meals (credit:DRPS/RG)

The university of life

Isaac manages to find work as a guide for scientists and researchers studying wildlife in Ivory Coast’s Tai National Park. In the depths of the jungle he mourns the loss of his family and home, but still dreams of finishing his education.

He finally gets the opportunity to complete his secondary school education in Ghana where he lives in another refugee settlement for seven years. Here he meets his future wife, Mazo.

Isaac finds a job which pays £80 a month for 26 x 12-hour shifts. His hard work funds the £300 per year tuition fees required to complete his secondary school education.

He finally graduates in 1996 at the age of 27.

In 2002 – with the help of his American friend Professor Scott McGraw who he meets during a jungle tour in 1992 – Isaac follows Mazo and immigrates to the US.

In 2004, Isaac lands a job as a nursing assistant in a nursing home in Ohio where the couple make a life for themselves. They marry in 2005 and go on to have three children. Isaac becomes an elder at Noble Road Presbyterian Church.

Unfortunately, the nursing home closes down, but the daughter of one of the residents is so impressed by Isaac’s care and compassion that she offers him a job at Cleveland Clinic where she’s a director. After Mazo gains her nursing degree, she too gets a job at the clinic.

In 2005, Isaac sets up his own commercial cleaning company and leaves the clinic in 2014 to run his business full time.

Something had to change

18 years after Liberia’s civil war erupted, Issac finally returns home in 2007. Nothing had changed. His region was still poverty-stricken. Children still didn’t have access to a nearby school, and young girls were still being forced into marriage:

‘It brought me back to when I was a little boy who started school at the age of 12 – it was so sad. The illiteracy rate was 75% and unemployment was 85%. My people had no future – things were very tough.’

Isaac had to do something. With the blessing of 12 village elders, Isaac was determined to build a school.

Back on American soil, Isaac shares his vision with his pastor and church family. Together they formulate a plan to turn Isaac’s dream into a reality, but where will the money come from?

During his employment at Cleveland Clinic, Isaac had cared for a man who sadly died from brain cancer. During his care, Isaac becomes good friends with the man’s parents who happen to attend another Presbyterian church.

They catch Isaac’s vision and their church becomes the school’s first partner. Others follow.

When Isaac returns to Liberia with his pastor to share his plans with the village elders, they bless him with 150 acres of land on which to build the school. Isaac secures the deeds for the land.

With the support of a range of generous donors and partners including MAF, Isaac starts building Dougbe River Presbyterian School in 2009.

In 2010, Isaac becomes a US citizen.

A week by road or half hour by air?

Without MAF’s shuttle to Zwedru, travel to Twarbo is very difficult (credit: Katie Machell)

Without MAF, it takes a week to reach Twarbo by road from Monrovia. During the six-month rainy season (May to October) it takes even longer as vehicles get stuck when dirt tracks turn into dangerous mudslides.

MAF is the safest and quickest way to bring in building materials, school supplies and people. A flight to Twarbo’s nearest airstrip Zwedru from Monrovia only takes 30 minutes. MAF’s regular shuttle service to the region is a life changer says Isaac:

‘The partnership is amazing. MAF flights have turned my long-time vision into a success by bringing in supplies and materials used for quality education within the district. To God be the glory!’

Isaac Monah, founder of Dougbe River Presbyterian School & MAF passenger

Such is the dedication of staff and pupils, the school was ranked first by the West African Examination Council last year. Isaac is proud of their success:

‘Such an achievement not only reflects the hard work and dedication of the students, but also the commitment of the teachers and staff who support them.

‘It is indeed something to be proud of, and may this success inspire even greater achievements in the future.

‘I am grateful to God, my family and all my friends who believed in me. This school is not about me – it’s all about the children.’

The school is ‘all about the children’ says Isaac Monah (credit: DRPS/Rachel Gwole)