Miss ECOWAS Ends Peace Network Tour in Liberia

MONROVIA -- Miss Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 2008/2009, Fatoumata Diallo, has described her four-day Peace Network Tour in Liberia as successful.

Diallo was in the country Wednesday, September 23 to Saturday, September 26, distributing assorted materials valued at more than US$1,500 and forming partnerships with peace and development-oriented youth groups in Liberia.

The 22-year-old Senegalese, who is currently studying Marketing and International Relations at the University of Dakar, emerged winner among 15 beauty queens representing the 15 West African countries in the ECOWAS Basin.

On Thursday, September 24, 2009, Ms. Diallo, at the head of a 10-person delegation, donated assorted non-food items valued at over US$1,500.00 to the survivors of fistula in Jacob Town, Paynesville, and to Samuel B. Cooper Health Center and Hilda Knight Cooper Elementary School in Cinta, Margibi County.

Items donated to each of the localities include three bags of rice, one carton of toiletries, bath soap, sanitation napkins, alcohol and more than 50 towels, bed sheets and rubber gloves.

Speaking during the turning-over program at the Fistula Rehabilitation Center in Paynesville, Diallo thanked the Project Manager of Fistula Project-Liberia, Dr. John K. Mulbah and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF)for their support as well as the teachers and nurses for catering to the survivors. She commended Oscar Cooper for singlehandedly running the school and clinic.

“I am happy and grateful to Dr. John Mulbah and his team at the Liberia Fistula Project and to Mr. Oscar Cooper for the school and clinic. I want to urge others to come to their aid to help those children for the betterment of Liberia,” she asserted.

The doctors, in turn, thanked Diallo for the donations, describing them as ‘timely,’ while Cooper extended his thanks and appreciation to the beauty queen, describing her as “a true Africanist.”

Fistula, which is commonly called ‘Pepe Sickness,’ is an abnormal connection between the bladder or the rectum and the vagina, leading to continuous leakage of urine or stool.

The most common cause of fistula is pressure necrosis due to obstructed labor. Other causes include surgery, malignancy, radiation, trauma, congenial malformation and infections.

Cooper said about 400 children are benefiting from fee-free primary schooling offered by the center, while about 300 out-patients are served monthly.

On Wednesday, September 23, 2009, at the Welcoming and Peace Initiative Network Dinner at PA’s Ribhouse on Old Road, representatives from about 20 peace-building organizations were in attendance. They reaffirmed their commitment in the championing of peace and development messages among the youth of Liberia.

During discussions with top representatives from various organizations and from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Diallo divulged that her visit was essentially a peace initiative tour, organized by the 702 Productions Limited, in collaboration with the Miss Boss Lady Entertainment.

“I want to encourage the youth of Liberia to focus on development, peace and unity for the betterment of your country and to also use this time to discourage you from destruction, divisiveness and war, which is not good at all. During my few days in Liberia, I will be talking to peace-building organizations and give some donations to orphanages and hospitals, as a way of identifying with the needy in this West African country,” Ms. Diallo said.

Sam E. Hare, Jr., Deputy Minister for Youth Development at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, officially welcomed Miss ECOWAS to Liberia on behalf of the Government and challenged her to tackle the issues of unemployment, illiteracy and hunger, which are recipes of war.

The Special Representative of Ecowas in Liberia, Amb. Ansumana E. Sessay, on Thursday, September 24, thanked Diallo and the 702 Productions for the peace initiative, as well as Acting Minister for Information, Cletus Sieh.

The Superintendent of the Reconstruction and Accident Investigation Department of the Liberia National Police, Supt. David J. Sandy, also added his voice in thanking Diallo for the peace initiative network.

At a press conference at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Barkue Tubman, who is hosting Diallo and her delegation, explained that the four-day Peace Initiative Tour was part of Diallo’s tour of West African countries as a Peace Ambassador of ECOWAS to propagate her peace and development message among the youth.

The Technical Director of 702 Productions (organizers of the Miss ECOWAS pageant), Christian A. Donkor, told the Daily Observer over the weekend that the visit was also intended to solicit views among the youth of West Africa to be transformed into peace messages.

Diallo’s four-day visit in Liberia was organized by 702 Productions, a Ghanaian entertainment firm, in collaboration with Miss Boss Lady Entertainment.

Members of the delegation include Barkue Tubman, president of Miss Boss Lady Entertainment; Christian A. Donkor and Flossy Menson, Technical Director and Associate Producer of 702 Productions; and Mogaji Samuel, head of the Division of Communication, ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre.

“We are grateful for the visit of Ms. Ecowas. We want to thank Ms. Bendu Parker, whose splendid performance at the Miss ECOWAS [pageant] last year made the 702 Productions to choose to visit Liberia.

“Hopefully, Liberia will be represented by two beauty queens on November 14, 2009 in Nigeria for the 2009 Miss ECOWAS [competition], while Ms. Shu-rina Wiah, Miss Liberia, will be participating in Miss World in December of 2009,” Tubman stated.