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Thomas Julo Barlue (Teeman)
Male, 22 from Monrovia, Liberia
Joined TIG: Dec 5, 2006
My name is Thomas. I was born in a small village in the southeastern part of Liberia. The downside of growing up under such a sweet village atmosphere was that we were blinded to the merits of education and were lost from the rest of the world. However, in 1989, the First Liberian Civil War began, and my family and I escaped to Côte D’Ivoire. A formal education was offered to the refugees in the camps, which was a blessing, but I had to balance my education with new responsibilities now that we were homeless and without income. Due to the uprising in Côte D’Ivoire in 1999-2000, we were once again forced to flee, this time to Ghana. Ghana offered some stability, and I started high school. I read about many great individuals like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Nelson Mandela of South Africa, which brought me to tears. Also, my brother Fred, who has been very active in development work in Ghana and Liberia, was an important inspiration for me. He once told me: “If you want a better future, if you want to see a better world, you have to be a part of the process, as nothing will happen by itself.” Having spent the majority of my life as a refugee in underdeveloped communities, I dream of a world without poverty and war. I felt that I should and could make my contribution to creating change.
In 2006, I returned home to Liberia for the first time since 1990 to contribute to my brother’s efforts, which have led to the establishment of the Caldwell Youth Peace-Building Center. The Center aims to bring relief and restore dignity to the members of the local community since, during the many years of civil unrest, Caldwell was heavily used as a military base by a warlord. We have been holding series of knowledge and capacity building activities at the Center, including programs focused on peace-building, education and adult literacy, and HIV/AIDS. At the same time, my brother introduced me to TakingITGlobal.
After I posted my profile on TIG, a lot of people contacted me and I began to use TIG extensively. I was able to connect with lots of people worldwide, as well as with numerous groups and organizations, like the Millennium Campaign, the Youth Employment Summit networks, and Youth for Peace and Development. I am really happy with the way groups and projects are created and managed on TIG. These tools give us the opportunity to share and communicate with partners and peers wherever they are. Also, for the African Child Peace Initiative (ACPI), which my brother founded, we were able to create an organizational profile on TIG. I find that TIG really provides a simple opportunity for poorer societies, since grassroots organizations can use these tools for outreach instead of setting up expensive websites.
I was also able to find out and get involved with other groups and projects through TIG. I want to see my fellow youths to reach their full potential, and I think ICTs can play an important role. However, right now in Liberia, computer literacy is very low among the population. As a result, I joined Creating Local Connections West Africa (CLCWA), a TakingITGlobal program, first as a virtual member, and later as the Co-Facilitator and Trainer with CLCWA-Liberia. TIG and CLCWA’s methodology fit within my vision to use my own experience and expertise in empowering others. By helping to build the capacity of other youth in Liberia through ICT training and sharing my personal knowledge and learning, CLCWA has also helped me in my quest for personal growth and involvement. Through TIG, I have also met Francis, the Global Coordinator of CLCWA: he is a genius and has all unbeatable ideas, and he has been a great inspiration for me. Comparing his age to mine and his achievements and level of understanding with global issues and organizations just gives me more inspiration to forge on harder.
For me, the most important parts to the TIG community include the global opportunities and the free educative learning materials, in particular because it has been my constant goal to acquire more knowledge and education. Through TIG, and through my present involvement in my community, I learned a lot regarding local and international issues and practices. Hearing the opinions of other youth, with whom I have connected through TIG, has been another eye opening experience. I have been able to discuss many issues with peers, both virtually on the TIG site, and also in face-to-face settings organized through TIG, such as the first open forum held in Caldwell by Francis during his site visit to Liberia. I have since helped to organize several open forums to bring together youth in and around our working communities to discuss the issues that are affecting their lives. I remember at one gathering, the children were discussing their fears that their parents were learning in an unsafe environment at the adult literacy school, since only candlelight was available for the classrooms. The discussion attracted the attention of one visiting partner, who ended up donating generators and torches after hearing the children’s plight. That was a very memorable experience for me.
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Teeman.LIB
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