Before the civil conflict, I was a teacher at the J. J. Roberts United Methodist School, so I saw the need to render myself to the community in such a fashion. With Such an idea at such times, other people saw the essence of the endeavor and what I was offering, and they decided to enroll their children. The number grew to 5, then 10 and sooner than later, my living room could not even accommodate the numbers anymore. Due to the growing numbers, I began to break and expand my living room to cater to the increasing number. Because of the increasing costs of maintaining and running the operations of the session, I began to collect a fee of $1 per child for operating expenses. Later on, communication came from above, from neighboring Sierra Leone, from the principal of the J. J. Roberts High School, Mrs. Ruth Yei Wour, to re-open the school for the resumption of enrichment classes. I was contacted and I had to respond to the call of duty. But because I already had my tutorial sessions ongoing and I couldn’t just leave, I decided to train a few people, especially, Bindu Gboyah, Facia Freeman, and Ruth Goba, to take over after me while I was away.

“Realistically, my decision to leave was also influenced by the financial benefit.” Before Departure, the Parents of the kids I taught and who had already adjusted to me became increasingly concerned, and they agreed to increase the fees from a dollar per month to US$ 20 per semester.

In 2001, The National Housing Authority (NHA) ordered that I stop using my residence for school as it was not built for such purpose and was also not safe for the kids. With this unexpected constrain, I managed to strike a deal with the Kimber’s Family to use their compound as my school premises. Then we formally became known as the Christiana Bedell Preparatory School. Subsequently, we set up our Parents and Teachers Association (PTA). The first Chairperson was Cllr. Frances Johnson Allison, former Chief Justice. The second was Mr. Monyenneh Doh and so on.

By the end of 2003, we had 300 students and in the same year, we graduated our first batch with 36 students, some of whom are now renowned Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, etc. In 2005, The Kimber Family requested that their compound be turned over, this was unexpected and thus, we were stranded. We wrote the national Housing Authority (NHA) to grant us a parcel of land so we can permanently be stationed and stable. The First Managing Director we met was Mr. Dunbar, unfortunately, this encounter yielded no result, but we persisted. In 2008, under the leadership of Nahn John Suah, the then Managing Director of NHA, he saw reason and asked the technical department to work along with me to scout for suitable land to build an institution. In the process, the technical team joined us to survey the land that we had found for the construction of the school. An agreement was signed granting us to construct.

With the prevailing plight, where we had insufficient funds left after paying the first lease, having staff to pay, I decided to put-up temporary reed structures to accommodate a portion of the students while the others went back to temporarily use the initial residential structure.

Madam Massa Thompson worked with the ICRC and also had a daughter who was one of the first graduates from the Christiana Bedell Preparatory School. The ICRC granted us rolls of tarpaulin which we used to cover the misshaped buildings we used for classes.

In May 2009, a heavy storm hit Monrovia, breaking down the misshaped buildings and destroying everything we had, including books. Unfortunately, parents began taking their children to other schools. Now with only land available, I began to solicit funds from everywhere possible for a fresh beginning. During normal days, J. J. Roberts High School had lots of Black Americans, through engagements with them, some of them decided to help. I had to sell my properties, friends contributed, and more.

Again, through Madam Massa Thompson, the ICRC stepped in and rendered their helping hand. This time we decided not to erect misshaped structures but rather mud bricks which we obtained from Urban Monrovia, as we learned from a workshop then, that bullets could not penetrate mud blocks. We did the first 6 classes with toilets for the children, it was dedicated and they moved in.

Due to the effects of the war, parents persuaded me to open a night session where we would teach the elderly, market men and women, widows and widowers, etc. how to read and write. Not too long after the night session was established, the New Georgia Methodist Church through Pastor Jerry Kula asked me to kindly accommodate two of the students (Emily Sweet and another) from the Mercy Ships, which had arrived on the shores of Monrovia, to live with me and my family, with open arms, I took them in as a family. Seeing how hard I worked and improvised under unbelievable circumstances, Emily Sweet upon her return to the United States, continued to help in unimaginable ways. The night session which had already reached 200 students (men and women) was named in her honor, “The Emily Sweet School of Excellence”, which was later transferred to the Methodist School Compound in the New Georgia Housing Estate by one of the workers.

After so many hurdles, the Christiana Bedell Preparatory School has steadily been growing and improving. As more students were coming in, we erected the second section of the building. We built a computer laboratory, equipped with 54 complete sets of computers where we began to distinguish our students by giving them contemporary computer training. As the years went by, we added a class each year, eventually, we now have from pre-school up to 9 th  grade, yet there are strong appeals for us to extend the school to the senior high school level. Given the difficulties involved in having committed senior high teachers, we thought to stop at the 9th-grade level and add a vocational school. So far, we have built an eight-classroom structure for vocational studies, where we offer Catering, Drafting, Light-duty Mechanics, Electricity, Event Decoration, Computer, and Tailoring. Our vocation teachers are from the Booker Washington Institute, which is believed to be the best vocational Institute in the Republic of Liberia.

Our dreams and aspirations are that, as a child gets to middle school, they should have a sense of responsibility to contribute to the community, society, and the nation, and not become a liability. The vocation starts from the 4 th  grade when students start to identify what they want to be and live their lives off. We also do various kinds of sport, as we believe that all of these make the child physically fit for the world.

Present Positon

Currently, the Christiana Bedell Preparatory School has acquired and occupied a 1.1 acre of land. On this property we have four buildings that jointly have a total of twenty two class rooms that are used for both academic and vocation studies; one teacher Launch, six administrative offices, two storage rooms, fifteen bathrooms for both students and staff, a big playground for outdoor activities, and a security post. Our entire is enclosed by a twelve feet high concrete fence for the restriction and security of our students when they are on campus.