Sunday, December 24, 2006

The women of LUWIP celebrate thanksgiving by hosting Elders Recogniton Dinner


During the Thanksgiving holiday, we tend recognize and give thanks for what we are greatful for. The women of LUWIP celebrated thanksgiving by hosting a Senior Community Recognition Dinner.

In our Liberian culture, it is our tradition to show our elders the utmost respect. We value their wisdom. We look to them for advice. They tell us about our past and they direct our future.

As Liberians living in the US today, we find it much harder to devote the much needed time and to take proper care of our elders. The US economy requires that both members of the household work full time jobs to make ends meet. Most of time the two full time jobs are not enough to sustain the household.

In the US, there are community centers and elderly care facilities that are available for those who need help with taking care of their elderly loved ones. However, services such as those may require certain qualifications and can be quite expensive. Also, we as a Liberian society are quite family orientented so having our elderly loved one put into facilites such as these doesnt sit so well with them.

Nevertheless, we find a lot of elderly individuals in low income housing or elderly care facilites with a lack of imcome, resources and most of all companionship.

The women of LUWIP beleive we as Liberians adults should take out the time to seek out these individuals and to let them know that we love them and we care. They also beleive that it is there responiblity to instill these cultural values in the minds of the young Liberians in the community.

As a result the women of LUWIP hosted a recognition dinner to honor senior in the community who have instrumental in
contributiing so much to the Liberian community. The ladies spent the evening serving delicious Liberian fare,handing out awards, and socializing with members of the elderly community.

"The women of LUWIP leading by example"
for more information about the women of LUWIP
www.luwip.org
www.missliberia.org

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