As often said, children are like precious treasure that parents, guardians, and society in general must nurture and cherish. However, we often hear of the demeaning way in which many children are treated both in and out of the United States of America. For instance, we have seen the grim reality of how adults manipulated many children during the past 14 years of Liberian vicious civil war. During that war, as we later uncovered, the sole aim of adults was to exploit children in order to fuel their selfish economic and political interests; children were conscripted as soldiers that formed part of the infamous small boy unit, drugged-ridden, and sent to their early graves.

The lucky ones made their way to various refugee camps particularly at the Buduburam Camp in Accra, Ghana and, eventually, onward resettlement as refugees into the United States of America. Even in the great US, a third of all American children are born unwed to mothers; add in the effects of divorce, and half of all kids, will sleep tonight in a house where their biological father does not live. More appalling is the latest way children are now being designed and manufactured.

According to the recent cover story of The New York Times Sunday Magazine entitled "Looking for Mr. Good Sperm," provides an explanation about how "women who have given up on Mr. Right are looking for new ways, through technology, a good bank of sperm." The requirement is quite bizarre and chilling. An African or African-American woman may have a choice to choose either a Latino donor or opts for blond hair, blue eyes donor so her child will have lighter skin. What does this all add up to?

Some may think that this sounds funny, but the reality is that most children today are growing up with the lack of parental love, discipline, and authority of real daddy or an exemplary role model. This eventually leads to tragedy: kids wound up in juvenile detention facility on drug charges and rehabilitation. Isn't it bad for our community and society at large? If so, what can adults of the community do to pave a better and meaningful path for our children's future? An appealing rescue strategy is underway in the State of Minnesota to help alleviate some of the problems children of Liberia encounter in their daily lives. The focus now is to design meaningful programs that will help enhance children’s cognitive, emotional and social skills.

Dare to Dream is a group that is being organized to help Liberian children of the community to learn drama, song, and dance, which will allow them to artistically express their potential abilities. This was evident on March 10 during the inaugural ball for the new Liberian community of Minnesota leadership. Some little boys and girls took the stage and thrilled the sitting audience with theatrical performance; the kids captivated attention and drew unabated applause as they symbolically dressed up to portray the essence of various professional careers, ranging from doctor, nurse, engineer, constructor worker to teacher, farmer, preacher, etc.

The theme of the play, "Liberia Will Rise Again", re-awakened the moral conscience of Liberians who watched the performance. Many expressed their admiration and satisfaction about formation of the group. A fellow at the program whispered, "we need our children of this community to engage in these kinds of activity". The main brain behind this latest effort is Mrs. Re Cooper, a Liberian resident of the community. Mrs. Cooper’s motivation stems from her strong passion for cultural exhibition and artistic expression that portrays the African identity, values, and heritage.

According to her, the main goal for gathering these kids is to empower them mentally and socially, so that they can understand the challenges and opportunities in a society that is so plagued with afflictions of life. It is Mrs. Cooper's believe that children of the community need to understand the essence of self-esteem; this will teach them how they feel about themselves, their overall judgment about their personality in relating to others, and discovery of their unique gifts and talents  endowed by God. This effort, many believe, will enable children of the Liberian community to visualize their future in a more profound way as they grow up. The objective is to provide working strategies that will enhance their literacy and social skills in a meaningful way through cultural awareness and its impact on the learning process.

While the news to help children of the community is wholeheartedly encouraging, Mrs. Cooper is calling on parents and guardians of the Liberian community to bring their kids for an audition, which begins on April 5, 2006 at the Liberian community of Minnesota main office in Brooklyn Center. This initiative will certainly provide the opportunity for children to interact and learn new skills and, most of all, it will keep them out of trouble.

About the Author
The author is a graduate fellow, studying counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Alex Redd  is also a Liberian journalist and columnist. He can be reached at: alredd@wisc.edu