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The yearning for peace in Liberia; massive preparations underway for next Lorma Cultural Fest

James Fasuekoi

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18). 

Editor’s Note:

The International Cultural Festival of the Lorma People which began in December, is so far the largest and the only annual national cultural festival hosted in the Republic of Liberia. Now, a team has begun massive preparations for the hosting of the next festival set for this December-this time in both Guinea and Liberia. But who exactly are the “LORMA-GIE-TIA?” 

Here are some facts about the Lorma Cultural Festival or “LORMA-GIE-TIA”

Translated as WE THE LORMA PEOPLE, the Lorma-Gie-Tia was established August of 2021, for the sole purpose of fostering love, peace, unity, as well as promoting Lorma Cultures through the staging of annual cultural festivals among Lorma people residing in Guinea and Liberia.

Unlike most Liberian social groups, Prayer remains the cornerstone for the LORMA-GIE-TIA since its founding to the present. Part of its work also seeks to rid Liberian society of ‘social evils’ such as drug addiction and poverty.      

A Lorma woman wearing traditional attires performs a dance in Lofa at the festival in December 2021.

Its membership rose to 68,000 just within a year, making it perhaps the fastest growing social media organization in Liberian Communities at home and abroad. The group’s founder, Josephine has a following of some 91,000 on her personal “Coffee with JoJo” page.

The idea was conceived by Josephine, a daughter of Lofa County, Liberia. Her mother, a Christian, together with siblings, quickly embraced it wholeheartedly, she told reporters in Monrovia last year.  

Soon, they opened a Facebook page and began posting video recordings of cultural dances, singing of Lorma Gospel songs, and recitation of village tales; the page attracted favorable comments from hundreds, and everyone kept egging them to do more. 

Lorma women at the festival in Voinjama, Lofa County, demonstrate using fishing nets how they do fishing.

It brought a sense of nostalgia to many now exiled by the Liberian civil wars.   

The group is non-partisan, nonpolitical and membership isn’t restricted to indigenous Lorma; people of Kissi, Gbandi, Kpelle and Mandingo origins have also joined. 

LORMA-GIA-TIA has strong supporters worldwide including the USA, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. Many of its supporters living abroad traveled to Liberia and participated in the first festival.

Meanwhile, the first meeting for this December Festival is scheduled for this Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, 10:30 A.M. at “Bend & Stop, Barnesville, Kiabba Road. For further information please contact the Program Planning Committee at Phone # 0770530007 or 0886810831.

ALL PHOTOS ACCREDITED TO LORMA-GIE-TIA