Celebration of Life:
A Tribute to the late Jonah T. Nyeswah (1962-2011)
By Emmanuel Jeh Taryon
January 27, 2012
At a time when Grand Kru County is losing its bright minds to the menace of “brain drain”, and when the spirit of community service and voluntarism is almost extinct, the sudden death of Jonah T. Nyeswah is a devastating punch. He would have turned 50 February 2012; regrettably passing away at a tragically young age – the consequence of a mysterious illness that defied all treatments and sapped Jonah’s life, amidst autopsy results that seem to give credence to widespread rumors that a devil-incarnate co-worker may have lethally poisoned him, apparently out of destructive envy.
Indeed, as many an educated Kru join the train of “brain drain” to urban centers and abroad in search of lucrative employments for self-aggrandizement, Jonah, in the face of gargantuan rural odds, remained a truly devoted and sacrificial son to the people of his native Grand Kru County. His firm belief in the power of education as a conduit to transform lives had young Jonah working hard to create opportunities for people to succeed. As an administrator and educator, who sought to improve local schools, clinic and other public facilities, Jonah made enormous contributions for the most part of his short life.
May he rest in peace?
For decades, like many other rural counties in Liberia, Grand Kru County has been a breeding ground for human capital flight. This debilitating scourge is largely due to rural-urban migration by adventurous young men and women who leave with their critically needed productive energies and youthful exuberance; the lack of enough employment opportunities, and good social infrastructure among others. As if that was not enough, high political risks occasioned by a 14-year long civil bloodbath, and whose recent legislative and presidential elections plagued with allegations of fraud, make Liberia an un-conducive environment for substantial local and foreign capital investment.
The roads are usually in terrible conditions and impassable, with many villages or towns still accessible only through tiny, winding footpaths strewn with protruding thorny bushes. Most of these tribal settlements are not connected to any electricity grid and sources of treated water. Consequently, many government appointees, including teachers and nurses often refuse postings to such areas and schools; and medical facilities are poorly equipped and lack competent staff. The rural woes are further deepened by massive post-harvest losses because of lack of better storage facilities and available markets for agricultural produce - hence the perpetual cycle of abject poverty and diseases.
In the face of such grim specters, coupled with the malicious elimination by death of those who muster courage to rise above these gigantic challenges, only a person of extremely altruistic character traits; a person who is imbued with an intrepid spirit of service and patriotism, would serve in such treacherous areas. Undoubtedly, one of such rare personalities was Jonah T. Nyeswah.
Life History
The Hon. Jonah T. Nyeswah, alias Joe, was born in Filorken on February 1, 1962 to the Christian union of Reverend Samuel J. Nyeswah and Elizabeth Nyeswah, both of blessed memories. He was the second child of his parents. His father was a veteran public school teacher and a respected Methodist Pastor in Filorken.
Jonah started his education at Richard A Henries Elementary and Junior High School in Filorken, as one of his father’s pupils. He left the warmth of his parent’s home at a tender age for school in Saint Peter’s Claver, at Barclayville City before eventually graduating in 1983 at Pleebo High School, in Maryland County.
Hailing from a home where service to humanity was a practicing virtue, his graduation from Pleebo High School had better equipped him and heightened his desire to place his education at the service of others. He subsequently volunteered and became the District Coordinator of the Maryland County Chapter of the Red Cross of Liberia. Although this was a non-salaried position, Jonah did it with dedication and assiduousness, traversing through unpaved, pot-holed roads that cut through the countryside of the Greboland, a land so replete with his footprints as he would later return there and served as one of the county’s District Education Officers (DEO).
In his late 30s, and despite a prolonged disruption of his tertiary education by the Liberian civil war, Jonah T. Nyeswah remained undeterred in his unquenchable quest for knowledge. Refusing to let his learning be prematurely truncated, he immediately took advantage of the intermittent cessation of hostilities and matriculated at the A M E University in Monrovia where he earned a BSC in Economics and Public Administration. Long before that, Jonah had already attained a certificate after courses in educational planning and administration in line with his life-long desire to impart knowledge.
The late Jonah T. Nyeswah was boundlessly generous with his knowledge, though acquired through very difficult circumstances as a man of a rural background. His magnanimity transcended way beyond parochial and nepotistic considerations, for his battle against illiteracy knew no frontiers. He earnestly wished that everyone, especially the underprivileged rural poor, would have the chance to be educated. For example, far away from his native hometown, the late Jonah single handedly founded the J. K. Doyen Elementary School, in Kalorken, in the hinterlands of Maryland County, Southeastern Liberia.
Service To Mankind
Without a doubt, Jonah was a true Kplio man whose culture sees the purpose of life as service to others and society. Even with his impressive academic accolades, he served our people with humility; he left his doors wide open to the endless stream of visitors who needed his help. Jonah was vehement in his resistance to fall prey to the arrogance and trappings of western education that often make most educated rural Africans lord over their less fortunate brothers and sisters. His eagerness to serve our people led him to some of the remotest terrains of Grand Kru County, even trekking through hazardous countryside to make education and health services accessible to every isolated village or hamlet. His relentless desire to make the impoverished have a chance at life through the vehicle of education was genuine. As the Chief Education Officer (CEO) of Grand Kru County, he would pay unannounced official visits to his schools as a strategic move to instill discipline in teachers. He frowned on dereliction of duty and handsomely rewarded achievement and hard work. No wonder that during his tenure, as the CEO of Grand Kru County, there was unprecedentedly marked improvement in the performance of both junior and high school candidates who participated in the much-dreaded West African Examinations (WAE). At the time he breathed his last breath to glory, Jonah was the Head of Clinics in Grand Kru County, an appointment that his solid records of achievement earned him over many other candidates of high caliber.
Although still in my late teens in the early 1990s during the hellish days of the Liberian civil war, I still have fond and vivid memories of “Brother” Jonah Nyeswah at home in Filorken, a bustling, sprawling kwa-speaking town located at the confluence of the Non and Doho Rivers, in the Gbalakpo Chiefdom of Grand Kru County. Jonah was a calm, confident, slightly bow-legged young man of medium height with good looks. He was a man of striking analytical ability whose few words spoke volumes of wisdom; a courageous man of impeccable integrity. There at home in Filorken, he was embroiled in a quandary for his life and loyalty to his family, friends and Filorkenians in general; at the peril of his life, regularly negotiating for the release of detained residents by marauding rival warring rebels who fought for control over the cattle and perennial harvests of farmers.
The last time I made personal contact with him was in 2008 when he, at no any cost to my family, transported my frail septuagenarian father from Filorken to Monrovia and assisted him to get his meager pension cheque, after a nightmare of bureaucratic procedures. “Something is wrong somewhere”, Benedict Nah, a close family friend of Jonah’s said. “Why are we losing very educated people who are good to our people by serving them here at home”? Benedict, who ran errands for Jonah in Monrovia, told me “the man even refused offers for vacations abroad”, unlike other government officials, “He always wanted to work in the interior”. Jonah did so much in so short a time for the people of our shared rural ties, and his selfless and tenacious commitment to them commands my respect for him.
Last Respect
During his funeral, grief-stricken and united by a great sense of loss, mourners from far, near, and all walks of life, inundated Filorken to pay their last respect to him. All the social groupings had their turn in tribute to a departed local “hero”. The Kplio trademark ceremonial war dance was not left out either, as hoots of horns echoed in the distance, and thick smoke from muskets billowed up the sky, dancers, mostly his age mates, flung out cutlasses from sheaths, brandishing them in the air with amazing dexterity, and dancing to the intoxicating and melodious mix of drums and gongs. At a packed solemn church service that climaxed the funeral activities, government delegates and various members of the Methodist fraternity read out messages of commiseration to the bereaved family.
A coffin, draped in various regalia of Jonah’s affiliations, contained his body to its final resting place. “Death is inevitable and a necessary end, and shall come when it is time. But death causes pain when it comes at the unexpected time…” etc. Sobbing, and mopping up streams of tears that trickled down his chins, his late father’s successor, Pastor Nagbo Wreh bid farewell with scriptural verses to Jonah’s lifeless remains as they were, amidst wailing and stamping of feet , gently lowered in a grave somewhere at the hillsides of Gibsonville Cemetery in Filorken.
The brevity of our common mortality snatched Jonah away from us, but the positive effects of his great work live on, especially among the destitute masses that he served in trying circumstances and with a great feat of endurance. His untimely departure has created a yawning void in our effort to exert a positive change in the living conditions of our people. Jonah worked very hard to give hope to the people of Grand Kru County and beyond, and our generation is challenged to pick up the flickering torch of that hope, refuel it with enthusiasm and carry it forward.
