Diompillor America - News around the Kissi Community

By: Hon. Eugene Fallah

Foya District Representative

My dear Kissi Compatriots, the news of the demise of Hon. Henry H. Saa is one of grief, melancholy and of course a great loss that Foya District and the Kissi community in general have sustained. We all do know or might have heard the selfless sacrifices made by the late honorable together with some of his peers, such as Mr. Saah Pawa, Teacher McCarthy who both predeceased him, and few others like Mr. John Kendor who were among the relatively few Kissi personalities who were opportune to have received early enlightenment from the Holy Cross Episcopal mission in Bolahun. Unarguably, St. Augustine Episcopal High School, where many of our prominent stakeholders from Foya got their education was the only standardized school within the Foya, Kolahun and Vahun terrain. Before going further with this tribute, let me give special acknowledgement to the Episcopal church of Liberia for the impeccable role they played in grooming the minds of our fathers. I stand to be corrected, but I strongly believe that the aforementioned school served as a conduit through which consciousness began to permeate the Kissi land.

My esteemed countrymen and women, it may interest us to know that upon completion of their secondary studies at said school, some of our fathers who are referenced in this text matriculated to Cuttington University College, since in fact St. Augustine was a feeder school for CUC, while others enrolled at the University of Liberia, then Liberia College. I am providing this basis so that we can know the invaluable contributions and the pioneering role that the late representative and his peers played in building the educational foundation for so many successful individuals today. To this, I am very sure so many of us can serve as glaring testimony.

Let me also indicate as we mourn this great hero that he along with his peers some of whom mention has been made of in this commentary, made a decision to go back to their motherland to help impact education to thousands of their brothers, sisters , nieces, nephews and children. In those days Liberia’s economy was on the rise, especially being compared to that of Japan, where jobs were available for the capables, even though the “capables” like them were very scarce; they decided to go back to Foya to help in molding the minds of their kind. How many of us in this contemporary age, would do what teacher Hallie as he was affectionately called and companions did? I am very sure that some of them would have sought employment with the government in senior cabinet positions or better still, some would have been absorbed by LAMCO, Bong Mines Company (BMC), Firestone and may other companies if they wanted to but they instead chose to go back home to stimulate academic activities in Foya, a region that was then plagued with 99.9 percent illiteracy rate.

Moreover, I would also like to mention that their inordinate desire of going back to take the chalk, prompted the formation of the Tamba Taylor public School(TTPS) , the institution that so many people, the world-over make reference to. Additionally, I am also compelled by will and reason to acknowledge the role played also by the late paramount Chief of Foya District, Chief Tamba Lamin Taylor, for having worked cooperatively with the late Hon. Saa and others for having the first junior High school, in Foya District, then Kissi chiefdom. Sorry to bore you with this long literature. I know that many of you are aware of this outstanding contribution by the late Hon. Saa and others but I just want to refresh our memories so that we can appreciate the good work of this fallen hero.

In the year 1970, the Kissi chiefdom, then under the supervision of Kolahun district was officially notified by the government of the Republic of Liberia that it had met the threshold to become a constituency. As you may know, during the rule of the True Whig party, which was practically the sole political party, representatives and senators were handpicked by the regime through consultations with the stakeholders. When Chief Tamba Taylor was consulted along with his opinion leaders to recommend someone competent to fill the gap, who could they have recommended other than teacher Hallie who so tirelessly sacrificed for the mitigation of illiteracy in the Kissiland. I am very convinced that Hon. Saa was complimented and or rewarded for the good seed he planted, for the exemplary reputation he built, and least we forget for the foundation he laid for many school going children. One can conclude by saying that history has absorbed him as the first representative of Foya district.

Lastly, I am very proud of being one of the successors of a man who many consider as a pioneer in many respects, an educator, a visionary and a role model. On behalf of the good people of Foya District, I wish to convey my condolences to the bereaved family and the entire district for this great loss. While we mourn his death, we should take solace in the lord for I believe that he is lying in the bosom of the lord: May his soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.

# posted by KYB Secretariat @ 7:34 PM