Liberia: Amb. Linda Karim-Creevey-the diplomat who honors a promise
By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher
Banner photograph shows Mrs. Linda Karim-Creevey (far right) holding a discussion with residents of ELWUO Orphanage Home in Rehab after a donation. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY AUTHOR
In his book published in 1968 titled: “God’s Impatience in Liberia,” Lutheran Church Evangelist John Conrad Wold wrote so masterfully about the Lorma Ethnic Group of northern Liberia’s Lofa County and how they view a “Promise” as a debt and must be fulfilled at all costs.
According to Pastor Wold’s accounts, the Lorma man for instance, would make sure to pay a neighbor the “50 Cent” daily wage (in those days) if that individual initially promised to help the person do farm-brushing or otherwise (a common Lorma Cultural practice) but failed to do so perhaps because of a death in the family.
A Whiteman by race, Wold concludes that such a cultural practice is in sharp contrast to his American Culture he came from, for in the U.S., he says, no one ever makes a “big deal” of a promise he or she failed to honor. Such a culture, he says, left him spellbound throughout those years he lived in Wozi, a small, forested Lorma Town teaching the Gospel.
Mrs. Linda Karim-Creevey, originally from Indonesia, straightly treats her “Promises” just like Lormas do in that she works so hard to get her pledges or promises fulfilled the soonest time possible and never easily falters. And one such moment came last Monday, May 5, when she got out searching for ELWUO Orphanage Daycare in Rehab so she could drop off nine bags of 25kg clean rice in fulfillment of a promise made.
Mrs. Creevey is a diplomat and the ambassador for the JNB Foundation. She was appointed recently by Liberia’s President Joseph Nyuma Boakai as Trade & Investment Rep. for Asia and Australia. But as she would normally do when in Liberia, she escorted the food to the orphanage home Monday and also gave a purse of $5,000. 00 LD, promising additional support.
This wasn’t Creevey’s first or second food assistance to the referenced orphanage. Last February, for example, she doubled her gift, dropping off 10 bags at once all because she was out of the country for a month or so and hadn’t been able to drop off food she promised the center. This delivery represented a two month period.
She had promised earlier during a Christmas food delivery there to donate five 25kg bags of rice each month and has followed through raising the hope of orphans who live at the home.
Editor’s Note: We published this article in part not only to hail Amb. Linda’s goodwill within our communities but to also make a point that a pledge, or promise must be viewed as a “Debt” (the way Lormas view it), and must be fulfilled at any cost. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case in Liberia. A case in point is Global Ekklesia’s March 2022 article on the National Library on Ashmun Street, Monrovia, during which a certain ex-Vice President of Liberia, reportedly pledged to provide “materials support” to the library at an event but failed to do so. See story: How Liberia’s ex-presidents, most of them, U.S. citizens, neglected Africa’s oldest nation –
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Liberia, where “rice” is everything, with orphanages needing more! – Joseph Nyuma Boakai Foundation
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