Princess Ariminta Gbaba Makes a Generous Donation to DATI Peace & Youth Study Center Project: Montserrado County in the House!

"I am making this donation because I strongly believe in what my husband is doing to uplift the lives of post-genocide Liberian children. As a mother and grandmother and like all other Liberian mothers and grandmothers who survived the Liberian Genocide, we went to hell and back not only to survive but to make sure our children had something to eat to survive and to have roofs over their heads.

I vividly recall those dreadful days when we were internally displaced, when we had to walk over dead bodies with my five, six, seven-year-old children to get to safety. As a classroom teacher at Don Bosco, I saw the difficulty mothers went through to put their children in a private school just so they could obtain a good education.

Of course there were hundreds or thousands of families who could not afford to even enroll their children in public schools due to the hostilities, atrocities, and mayhem that took place in Liberia.

Now with some semblance of peace and civility being gradually restored in Liberia, I want to join my husband to thank the youths of Liberia who signed up, trained, and took oath to serve as Dehkontee Artists Theatre Kukatonon Peace Advocates.

Children, I want you to know we love you and we will do all we can to assist you in your peacebuilding endeavor. I do not talk much but I pray for you every day. Once we are successful in obtaining your office space, I will offer a few courses to teach young Liberian ladies how to bake, crouchet, prepare Liberian delicacies and teach teach what my mother Williametta Clarke-Porte taught me: how to be a good and faithful wife and mother to all children!

I want to thank all those who share my husband's vision to promote peace and reconciliation in Liberia. I want to say "Thank you" to all our donors who support the DATI Peace and Youth Study Center Project in Liberia. I also call on my biological children to get actively involved in supporting their father's legacy by making their donations as well. I appeal to all our family members and friends to do the same. Let us ask not what Liberia can do for us but what we can do to improve Liberia.

We are all one people. There is no reason why someone should be killed because they belong to a certain ethnic group in Liberia. Had it not been for the grace of God my husband and I would not be alive today.

As you already know, he is Krahn and I am Americo-Liberian and so our lives and the lives of our innocent babies were in danger from all angles during the genocide. As a mother and grandmother, I do not want to see this kind of uncivilized act happen in Liberia again. This is why we should build our nation on genuine Christian love and not hatred.

This is also the reason I am sending you this message on Valentine's Day to let you know nothing transcends God's love. Love breaks barriers. If my husband and I can live in peace and harmony for nearly forty years, all Liberians can do the same if we love and respect one another.

For those of you who are standing by just watching my husband struggle to give hope to Liberian youths, please get involved. The children we are working with are not our biological children but that does not matter because as Africans we should all be our brothers' keepers because it takes a village to raise a child. So, the youths we work with are our and your children and we love them as true parents should to all children, whehter biological or not.

Let us stop being selfish and learn to take care of other people's children as we would like our biological children to be treated. Let us promote justice, peace and equality in Liberia and do away with hatred and lawlessness!

To donate to the Dehkontee Artists Theatre Kukatonon Project, please log on: www.dehkonteeartiststheatreinc.com or you can cashapp@$JosephGbaba

Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Princess Ariminta Gbaba

February 14, 2021