Music for Liberia is happy to award the Agape National Academy’s Julius Joel Stewart the 2023-24 Sponsorship, awarded in loving memory of David "Armyboy" Thomas.
Julius is a music director and dedicated music teacher at ANAM, and we are happy to support the school by funding Julius’s salary for a year. Julius states:
“I am proud to be a music teacher because a new wave of expression through music has been embraced by Liberians through my work as a music teacher. Music education has impacted many lives because most of the students that i trained at ANAM, are involved in their local churches as instrumentalists, choir trainers, and worship leaders. Other students have gone on teaching music in schools, or playing with a local band.
One of my greatest experiences is working with Liberian children and youth. I enjoyed working with them, helping them learn music theory and developing proficiency on the piano. As a music teacher in Liberia, I overlook the negative side of life and focus on the positive side. It is sad that many students cannot afford private music lessons due to the economic difficulties in Liberia. The government does not support the arts either. Due to the fact that many Liberians are low income families, many students can not afford even the minimum fees at ANAM. This contributes to music teachers being underpaid due to low revenue at ANAM, ANAM is mainly operating from the contributions raised from overseas which is used to pay staff, teachers, rental, and general operating expenses.
I am so thankful to Music for Liberia for donating $1,000 to ANAM to help pay my salaries for the next ten months. I hope more doors can open for ANAM so that the other teachers can be paid accordingly as well. ”