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"Dream Higher"
India Ambassador Tells UL 2,400 Graduates,
By: Alaskai Moore Johnson & Clara K. Mallah
Courtesy: Liberian Observer
May 3, 2009
 MONROVIA,
The Ambassador of the Republic of India to Liberia has cautioned
graduates of the nation's highest institution of learning, the
University of Liberia, to dream high and strive hard to achieve their
dreams.
Delivering the commencement address on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, at the
Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville, outside Monrovia,
Ambassador Shamma Jain urged the graduates not to let themselves be
deterred by failure.
“Failure,” she intoned, “is in fact, the best opportunity to test your
latent ability and to know yourself closely. In success, you tend to
view yourself through others' eyes, but in failure, when you are alone,
you have time for introspection and diagnose the malady. It is indeed
the failure, which defines a person better, and if you steer through the
failure with determination and psychologically unscathed, you are the
winner,” she further told the graduates.
“So while you prepare to enjoy success in the coming years and you will
have plenty of it to celebrate, remember the mission of life is much
higher than personal success.”
The Ambassador Extra Plenipotentiary to Liberia told the graduates that
their parents and teachers had bequeathed to them education, which is
the most valuable asset.
Ambassador Jain indicated that in Liberia, which 'unfortunately' has
experienced the ravages of 14 years of civil war, “It is your education
that would become the precious national asset. It would be the
foundation of the new nation that the President of your country seeks to
build.
Since you would be the bricks and the mortars of nation-building, your
resolves and hard works will make your nation strong. You represent the
hope for the future. Your hopes and aspirations for progress and
prosperity are indeed the aspirations of your nation itself.”
The Diplomat, who is also India's Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Ivory
Coast and Guinea urged further:
“Your economic empowerment through education should bring benefits not
only to you, but to others who are not fortunate enough to have access
to economic opportunities.”
Giving a brief history and struggle of her country, India, Ambassador
Jain told the gathering, “My country, at the time of its independence in
1947, reeled from the ravages of more than 200 years of colonialism. As
the country made investment in agriculture, industry, factories,
infrastructure etc., special attention was given to education.
India, with the population of more than 1.1 billion, highly pluralistic
society marked by religious, ethnic, linguistic and cultural
diversities, and above all, a democracy, has achieved continued economic
growth, development and modernization.
In its rise, education has played a critically important role, she
added.
For his part, the president of the UL, Dr. Emmet Dennis, disclosed that
there were 2,437 students who graduated in various academic and
professional disciplines ranging from Business, Medicines, Law, Teachers
Education, among others.
Dr. Dennis mentioned that the journey to graduation for many of the
graduates had not been so easy and finally reaching that stage meant a
'real graduation.'
He stressed that some of the graduates are wives and husbands, while
some have children, adding: “With all these engagements, they constantly
attended classes and to now be graduating is a sign of fulfillment in
the lives of many of them.”
Earlier on, Dr. Dennis conferred on Amb. Jain Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD)
Honoris Causa in International Relations.
At least 27 of the more than 2,400 graduates, including former Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Edwin M. Snowe attained academic
honors.
Among the dignitaries that attended the ceremony were Bong County Senior
Senator and Acting president of the UL Board of Trustees, Madam Jewel
Howard-Taylor; Grand Kru County Senior Senator Blamo Nelson; former head
of the Transitional Government, Charles Gyude Bryant; Senate Pro-temp
Cletus Wotorson, as well as foreign guests and diplomats accredited to
this capital.
There were more than 15,000 ordinary Liberians, including parents, loved
ones and well-wishers who had gone to grace the occasion.
Outside the Sports Complex itself, was a scene of joy. 'Lappa women'
were seen dancing and singing praise songs in their local vernaculars in
the names of sons and daughters who were walking away with degrees from
the University.
The number of graduates at yesterday's graduation is the highest in the
history of the UL started as Liberia College in 1862. In 1951, the old
Liberia College was chartered as the University of Liberia under
President William V.S. Tubman, the 18th president of the nation.
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