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| Capeland (left): We came to support and uplift President Sirleaf's work |
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Saturday evening became an honorary member of an influential U.S.-based organization comprising 12,000 top professional African-American women: The Links.
The organization, according to its website, is one of America’s oldest and largest service-providing organizations, committed particularly to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African-Americans and other persons of African ancestry (descent, background). It was founded in 1946.
The organization, according to its website, is one of America’s oldest and largest service-providing organizations, committed particularly to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African-Americans and other persons of African ancestry (descent, background). It was founded in 1946.
A delegation of 50 members of The Links, representing 17 states and the District of Columbia, arrived in Liberia on February 27 and on March 2, inducted President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf honorary member.
“…So, she is now Link Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. And we are very proud to call her that,” Margot James Capeland, national president of The Links, said in an exclusive interview on Saturday, minutes after formally inducting the Liberian President.
Ms. Capeland noted that her organization decided to visit Liberia “to support and uplift the work of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. We are all women of African descent, but we are primarily based in the United States. So, with our international mission, we want to uplift her work and get behind her. She also has honored us. We have just finished inducting her honorary member of The Links.”
She said the significance of their journey to Liberia was heightened by the formal induction of President Johnson Sirleaf.
The primary goal of their trip aimed to build meaningful and sustained relationships that will allow The Links to address critical issues facing the Liberia education and healthcare systems, Ms. Capeland explained.
To achieve this goal, between February 27 and March 2, the women got themselves immensely busy, rendering selfless services to the Liberian society, focusing especially on health and education. The delegation toured three of four schools newly adopted by The Links: The School for the Blind, Ann Sandell School and the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU).
Ms. Capeland noted that her organization decided to visit Liberia “to support and uplift the work of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. We are all women of African descent, but we are primarily based in the United States. So, with our international mission, we want to uplift her work and get behind her. She also has honored us. We have just finished inducting her honorary member of The Links.”
She said the significance of their journey to Liberia was heightened by the formal induction of President Johnson Sirleaf.
The primary goal of their trip aimed to build meaningful and sustained relationships that will allow The Links to address critical issues facing the Liberia education and healthcare systems, Ms. Capeland explained.
To achieve this goal, between February 27 and March 2, the women got themselves immensely busy, rendering selfless services to the Liberian society, focusing especially on health and education. The delegation toured three of four schools newly adopted by The Links: The School for the Blind, Ann Sandell School and the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU).
They hosted a two-day train-the-trainer workshop for 25 teachers; dedicated The Links Maternal Waiting Home [built in partnership with Africare]. The women also made a second donation totaling $85,000 to Africare for the construction of a second home. At the School for the Blind, the women donated $1,500 and furnished that institution with an all-Braille-library. They also donated $1,500 to the Ann Sandell School.
The women then climaxed their visit with the induction of the President at an event held at a local resort in Monrovia.
“Who she is; what she does; what she believes in are all in perfect communion with The Links. The Links is an organization of black women centered on friendship and service. In short, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a friend of every Liberian and every individual in the world who has a good heart and is committed to good work. Service, she believes in it. Her life, is a life of public service. And so, she is a perfect Link,” Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, a Link and the director of the Washington-based Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Arts, said in an interview.
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