From City Hall To The Communities

With those words, Varney Sherman and the Drafting Varney Sherman for President Campaign Committee decided to take Varney Sherman to the communities within Monrovia and its immediate environs to show appreciation and say ?thank you? for the massive show of support at the rally and drafting program of March 15, 2004. In each community, residents were very pleased that Varney Sherman had gone there to visit with them, to talk to them about his vision and plans for Liberia?s tomorrow, to discuss their problems and to make contributions to alleviate their plights while they await a better Liberia that is promised to them through election of Varney Sherman as President of Liberia. And in each community, Varney Sherman has said, in words to the effect: ?I have come to say thank-you for the show of support on March 15 for my candidacy for President of Liberia and for your promise to campaign for me to become the next President of Liberia. I come to say ?thank you? and to show appreciation from the deepest part of my heart. I come to say ?thank-you? because it I don?t say ?thank-you? today, then you know that I will not say ?thank-you? tomorrow. But since I will say ?thank-you? tomorrow when I become your President, I have come to say ?thank-you? today. Today?s ?thank-you? will be small because no one person or group of persons can solve all the problems of Liberia; but for tomorrow?s ?thank-you?, I will show my appreciation by doing good things for you and your communities everyday of my presidency.?

With these and similar words, the Drafting Committee organized a program at the Blamacee Displaced Camp in Brewerville, where representative groups from the seven displaced camps in the Brewerville and Virginia areas attended. Some of these displaced camps have more than 25,000 inhabitants; the smallest has more than 10,000 inhabitants. All of them have been victims of the recent upsurge of hostilities in our civil crisis. And after talking with these displaced people, the Drafting Committee donated 1,000 bags of butter rice at US$20 per bag. For once in a long time, the residents of the displaced camps would eat rice (Liberia?s staple food) instead of the bulgur wheat and cornmeal that the UN Food Program provides for them as food aid.

At the St. Paul River Bridge Community, the Drafting Committee took Varney Sherman to say thank you; and there funds were donated to construct two bus stops to alleviate the suffering during the raining season when commuters are awaiting for taxis and buses. At the New Kru Town community, West Point community, Fiamah community, Gardnersville and Bannersville communities, the Drafting Committee also took Varney Sherman to converse with the people; and again contributions were made to various concerns.

The PHP and KK communities at South Beach, behind the Monrovia Central Prison and the Barclay Training Center, also held a program for Varney Sherman, when he went there to thank them for the rally and support of March 15. For them, their greatest need for pit latrines and Varney Sherman granted their request for the construction of three pit latrines. The Varney Sherman Campaign donated the funds for materials and supervision of the construction; the actual construction works are to be undertaken by the residents of the PHP and KK communities. According to Varney Sherman at the program, the construction of the latrines was very satisfying as this was a community program that he easily identified with.

A big program was held by the people of the communities of Caldwell, Diggsville, New Georgia, etc. At the ceremonies, the residents asked for assistance to upgrade and build-up the Caldwell road. This request was granted by the donation of the amount of US$3,000.00 and the road has since been upgraded. Another community development project that has been undertaken by the Varney Sherman Campaign in that area is the renovation of the Caldwell clinic.

A very large program was held for the Old Road Sinkor community at Action Field and for the Paynesville community at the Paynesville City Hall. And at each of these programs, Varney Sherman reiterated his message of ?thank-you? to the Liberian people for their show of support on March 15. And each time, depending on the capacity of the resources available to the Drafting Committee and the request made by each community, a favorable response was given to them.

Varney Sherman?s visit to the communities within and around Monrovia to show appreciation is a clear indication of the very good values which this presidential candidate has. March 15 was not the first major political rally in Monrovia by a presidential aspirant. Counsellor Charles Walker Brumskine had had several; Counsellor Winston Tubman had one; Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh had his on so many occasions over the years of his quest for the presidency; similarly, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has had so many political rallies during her years of quest for the presidency. But this was the first time that the aspirant had gone back to the people for nothing but to just show appreciation, to say ?thank-you?. This gesture is evident of the different kind of person that Varney Sherman is; it is evident of the kind of President he would make.

Thanking the Liberian people for their votes I 2005 means dong good for them every day of a president?s administration beginning 2006; and Varney Sherman has committed himself to this by returning to the communities to say ?thank-you? for the show of support on March 15.