It was a top-notch privilege to meet the US
President and his wife Michelle Obama. Having the chance to get handshakes from the US
first family was incredible during the presidential summit hosted by President
Obama for young African leaders in Washington DC.
I completed my Civil Leadership Track at Tulane
University and benefited a resourceful work experience at Louisiana Bucket
Brigade (LABB). This was part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship
Program. The Mandela Washington
Fellowship is the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders
Initiative (YALI) and embodies President Obama’s commitment to invest in the
future of Africa.
In early 2014, I participated in the program's competitive application call. Fifty thousand young African leaders
applied from across Africa, about 800 of the applications came from Liberia. Through
the evaluation and interview, I was selected among fifteen exceptional young Liberians to benefit from the 2014 fellowship. I entered the United States on June 14, 2014
among 500 Young African Leaders who were part of the Washington Fellowship program. The Fellowship covered six weeks stay in the
United States with intensive
executive leadership training, networking, and skills building, followed by a
Presidential Summit in Washington, D.C. Fellows were placed in top U.S. Universities for the academic
and leadership portion of the program focusing in these areas: civic leadership, business and entrepreneurship; or public management. I was placed with 25 others at Tulane
University in the City of New Orleans, Louisiana for the Civic Leadership
Track.
Being at Tulane University and also in the historic City of New Orleans was an extraordinary learning experience. New Orleans is a place to be; the city is famous for it's music, dance, jazz and beautiful Mardi Gras. The leadership learning experience with Tulane University was flexible for my understanding and achievement. I learnt more from the various training sessions especially the Leadership and Public Health with Dr. Maureen Lichtveld. Her training led me to clearly understood the importance of good leadership in public health with emphasis on the environment. Dr. Maureen's class gave me the expertise and the ability to distinguish environmental justice and environmental equity and helped me realize that environmental equity is needed in Liberia instead of environmental justice.
Environmental equity involves citizens' participation. It applies to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies, and implies that no population of people should be forced to shoulder a disproportionate share of negative environmental impacts of pollution or environmental hazard due to a lack of political or economic strength levels.
Under the fellows' public service placement, I was assigned to work with the Louisiana Bucket
Brigade during my six weeks stay in New Orleans. My work experience with LABB was the unbeatable, all time amazing
part of my fellowship at Tulane University and also my entire stay in New
Orleans. LABB is a 501(c) environmental health and justice
organization working with communities that neighbor the Louisiana's oil refineries
and chemical plants. LABB is instrumental in resolving environmental justice issues
throughout Louisiana, similar to the work of NRRI in Liberia. Through
LABB, I learnt that the big oil companies' operations are not only causing environmental
problems in Africa, but also in the United States where many environmental laws
around the world originated.
I also participated in the biggest environmental march that took place at the front of Governor Bobby’s mansion in Baton Rouge to demand environmental justice for the people of Louisiana. LABB staff are more like family to me, and a strong and sustainable partnership was built between NRRI and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.
July 26, 2014 was a sad day, It was the time I left New Orleans, LABB and Tulane and headed to Washington DC for the long awaited presidential summit with president Obama.
