Old Girls of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) over the weekend honoured past and present administrators of the first Technical Vocational Institute in Sierra Leone with an unveiling and dedication ceremony held at the institute’s grounds at Brookfields.
On its motto, “Competence, Devotion, Service”, the unveiling and dedication ceremony was aimed at a family reunion of not only past and present administrators, but to also bring together past and present students of the YWCA, which was established in September 1961 to train young women and girls to acquire various skills to provide them with decent employment, including good Christian values and morals, to make them better citizens.
Josephine Paul, a past student of YWCA (1969-71), during the ceremony reminisced about the good old days when it was a healthy and decent competition among colleague students in their academic pursuit to encourage weak students to step up and try harder.
“So by the end of the school year no one is left behind; we were all promoted to another level. That’s how it was like, and it yielded good fruits,” she added.
Past pupil Christiana Jones read citations of past principals and recalled the life of the first YWCA Principal (1966) Enid O Reilly-Wright, she described as a well -disciplined, tolerant, committed and caring person always ready to listen and find solutions to problems.
She said the late woman wrote the first student cookery book that was first published in 1964, and up to date the revised version of her work is being used in all technical vocational institutions including some hotels and homes. Madam Jones also commended vice principals and teachers who with their support helped mold many women and young girls over a five decade period.
During the unveiling and dedication ceremony, current outgoing Principal Grace Fullah paid glowing tributes to her predecessors, some of whom were pillars of support since she joined the YWCA in 1987 and rose through the ranks over a period of 33 years. Now retiring to serve in her new appointment, she said, “I am grateful to you all. We had our fights and we disagreed to agree without malice or sabotage. We are a family at the YWCA and we owe it to the good Christian values and discipline under which the institute operates.”
Madam Fullah assured the YWCA Old Girls Association (YOGA) that although she is physically leaving, she will continue to be an adviser and pillar of support to YOGA and the school administration.
Popularly known as “Rogie nor dae taya”, the husband of another retired Principal of 37 years (1981-2000), Canon. Rev. Llewellyn Rogers-Wright – who was ‘Distinguished Grand Chief Unveiler’ at the ceremony, was commended for his selfless effort supporting his wife Shirley Rogers-Wright, who went through the ranks from assistant teacher to principal, and believed that, “You’ve got to be hard to be kind.”
Shirley’s favorite song, “One day at a time”, earned her the reputation she got during her tenure.
By Ade Campbell