Kplio Association Installs New Head In Washington DC

The Kplio Association in the Americas, Inc., a nonprofit organization seeking to bring relief to the people of Barclayville Chiefdom in Grand Kru County, is having its Second Installation program this weekend, according to official sources of the organization.

The installation program, which takes place on November 2 in Washington, DC, will be attended by representatives of various Liberian organizations in the United States as well as American friends of Liberia, supporters and well wishers.

Among distinguished guests to attend the ceremonies are Dr, Chris Toe, Provost and Academic Dean at Strayer University, and Rev. Dr. Larry Bropleh both of whom will serve as Guest Speaker and Installing Officer respectively.

According to Mrs. Josephine Krah-Wright, Chairperson of the Installation Committee, the occasion will also serve as a somewhat launching pad for the organization's fundraising activities, adding, "Our people are in dire need of medicines, clothing as well as requisite educational materials for children in the chiefdom; we therefore, bank on every cent to bring relief to these war-weary, poverty-stricken people".

Arising out of the ashes of the civil war, the Kplio Association was founded in 1997 in Trenton, New Jersey, where it subsequently obtained a 501 ( c) ( 3 ) tax exempt status in 2000 as a nonprofit organization.

"We were motivated by a number of pathetic factors:", says Mrs. Kladee Kla-Sorbor, founder and first president of the organization who visited the chiefdom following the war, "the total destruction of the already scarce infrastructure in the area, the vulnerability of the malnourished children who hardly get medical attention, and the breakdown of the school system among others. On recognizing these factors, we decided on a concerted effort to make some contribution, however modest."

Mrs. Sorbor, under whose 2-year presidency various chapters of the organization have been established across America, is honorably stepping down to be replaced by Mr. Bartequa Seedee, who went unopposed during the a convention held in Providence, Rhode Island early this Summer. "Mrs. Sorbor has been very instrumental in uniting the Kplio people in the United States", says Mr. Seedee, "we are inclined to foster that unity to help bring relief to our downtrodden people."

The Kplio people, otherwise called Barclayville people, are a Kwa-speaking people in central Grand Kru County, southeastern Liberia.