Ganta United Methodist Mission School is located in Liberia
The Flag of Liberia, West Africa
The United Methodist Church & School
The United Methodist Church & School
The United Methodist Church & School
The United Methodist Church & School
The United Methodist Church & School
Ganta United Methodist Mission School, Church, and Hospital
Our Hymn of Gratitude
Music above and words below
OUR HYMN OF GRATITUDE, CHALLENGE, AND A CALL TO CHRISTIAN SERVICE
1
We give our thanks to George Way and Winifred Harley,
For coming to Liberia to build Ganta Mission.
We also thank the people, who followed them to serve;
Liberians and Expatriates thanks for your servanthood.
2.
Our gratitude to donors whose gifts sustain our work.
May God support their efforts, and magnify their gifts.
Expect our faithful stewardship, as we avail their gifts;
And all provisions sent to, make Mission Possible.
3.
May God the Gracious Giver inspire us all to serve;
In multitude of labor help us to find our niche.
That we may also offer, our skills and talents too;
To people all around us, who stand in desprate needs.
4.
Are you, a nurse or doctor a teacher or preacher,
Whatever your vocation we welcome all your skills.
Proclaiming, healing, teaching, are Harleys' ways and will;
Whatever sacrifice will, enhance the Mission's goals.
5.
Send us, as God's anointed to do the tasks at hand
With Zeal and passion driven, lets contribute our share.
To efforts made before now, and those yet to unfold,
Let us make Ganta Mission, a New Haven of God.
Words by Nya Kwiawon Taryor, Sr. Class of 1963
Focus on the school and the Mascot
THE LIONS
THE LIONS
THE LIONS
THIS IS THE MASCOT OF OUR SCHOOL.
THE LIONS
THE LIONS
THE LIONS
The Goals and Purposes of GUMMSAA
- GUMMSAA STANDS FOR:
GANTA UNITED METHODIST MISSION SCHOOL
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
WHEN WE, (GUMMSAA Members), GATHER:
We Study, We Reflect, We Fellowship & We Worship.
WHEN WE SCATTER:
We go out leading and blazing the rugged way,
Making the crooked places straight and taking light to dark places;
Proclaiming, Healing and Teaching as we Labor for All Humanity-
This is the Harleys’ Tradition
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The Ganta United Methodist Mission School Alumni Association (GUMMSAA) is for all former students, graduates, teachers and Persons-in-Mission who served the institution at some point in Liberia.
One of the major purposes of the Association is to assemble every year to fellowship, celebrate, reflect and find ways and means of providing financial, material, and moral support for the up-keep of the Ganta United Methodist Mission School and all other institutions related to the Ganta United Methodist Mission community—the school, girls’ hostel, boys’ dorms, hospital, workshops, agricultural programs, church, and other mission works located on the Mission Station.
We want to make sure that the dreams and works of Dr. George WAY Harley and Winifred Jewell Harley, the founders of Ganta Mission, live on—to always make a “WAY” for those who are less fortunate—to make a WAY where there seems to be no WAY—We therefore, see this as an opportunity to find the WAYS and MEANS to support our ALMA MATER.
The epitaph on the bronze plate close to the cornerstone of the church Dr. George W. Harley built in Ganta, Miller McAllister United Methodist Church, where his ashes are buried, these words are written:
GEORGE WAY HARLEY, 1894 – 1966
“I WILL MAKE CROOKED PLACES STRAIGHT AND DARK PLACES LIGHT.”
We invite and welcome past and present missionaries, persons-in- mission, and all well-wishers to journey with us as we endeavor to commit our time, money, and other resources to the work of Ganta United Methodist Mission in expanding the “Harleys’ Tradition.”
THE ORDER IN WHICH OUR MISSION STATION WAS ESTABLISHED
This is the order in which the Ganta United Methodist Mission Station was established.
(1) Upon the arrival of Dr. & Mrs. Harley to Gompa town in 1926, their first undertaking was to procure a land upon which to establish their Medical Mission in Liberia. They selected a rice farm on top of a hill beyond a little stream. They then opened a dispensary in which Mrs, Harley, and Dr. Harley started doing their medical work amongst the people. After 1932, Miss Mildred “Kau” Black joined them at the dispensary. In later years, the dispensary was converted into a modern Hospital with a laboratory, Clinic, operating room, Out Patient intake, Center Supply room and a Ward with public and private rooms for patients that were hospitalized.
(2) By 1938, Bishop Joseph C. Hartzell, a Methodist Bishop, who made notable efforts in Liberia to up lift the work of the Methodist church, donated some money with which the first school building that bears his name, was established: Hartzell Building had only 4 classrooms, a small library and a principal’s office. This school that started with a humble beginning has educated thousands of students, who have gone on to make significant and critical difference in Liberia and other parts of the world in many fields and professions or careers in both the private and public sectors.
(3) The last establishment was the completion of the Miller McAllister United Methodist Church. The epitaph on the bronze plate close to the cornerstone of this church, Dr. George Way Harley built in Ganta, his ashes are buried. These words are written: George Way Harley, 1894-1966. “I will make crooked places straight and dark places light.” It is in this church that most of us acquired our formative Christian and Religious Educational background when we were students there.
The light of Education
The Light of Education, Empowerment, and Enlightenment
Before coming to our area in 1926 that we now call Nimba County, there were virtually no schools for us and our children. Dr. George Way Harley did exactly what he said he will. "Make crooked places straight and dark places light." Through this light, many of us and our children have become enlightened, enpowered and have acquired profound consciousness of ourselves and of the world in which we live. IF Dr. George Way Harley and his wife Winifred J. Harley hadn't come to our area, what would our lives be like now.? This is one of our unexplainable IFS of History. We do not give them all the credits about the directions of our lives, but they carry a lion share of the quality of life inculcated in us during our formative years.
Ganta Mission plot of land 1926
The Map of Ganta Mission drawn by Dr. Harley in 1926
.This sketch was submitted to the Liberian Legislature with the request from the Harley to procure this plot of land to build a mission station in 1926. This sketch was drawn by Dr. George Way Harley himself. He was a map maker also. He sketched the first map of the Liberian Hinterland in the 1920's.
The original source of this map:
Winifred J. Harley, A Third of a Century with George Way Harley In Liberia. Providence, Rhode Island. Kiiton Press. 2018, page 31. (Edited and republished by Kiiton Press.) From the original Monograph Series number 2, with the same title in 1973 by the Liberian Studies Journal.
Ganta Mission in 1950
This 1950 sketch of the Mission was done by Milddred "Kau" Black.
The Original source of this map is from the book: Hyla Doc in Africa 1950-1961
Edited by Elsie H. Landstrom page XII.
Ganta Mission in 1970 Page 243 in Kiiton Press edition.
This lower sketch of Ganta Mission was done in 1970 Also see page 243 of Mrs. Harley's book, Kiiton
Hospital
Welcome to the Hospital the Harleys left behind
This is the original Ward that was built after they moved from the dispensary near the carpenter shop. It was divided into two wards, one for men and the other for women. Each unit held 16 beds. There were also 6 private rooms and a nursing station where medications were kept to be served to patients.
The School the harleys left behind
Hartzell Building
THE SECOND OF OUR TRIPLE HERITAGE, THE SCHOOL
This is the original first school building the Harleys built. It has 4 classrooms, a principal office and a small room that was used as a library at the time. Much has changed since then after the year 2000.
In 1960 Manchester building was included to be used as classrooms. Sixth, seventh and eighth grade
Site Content
WELCOME TO THE CHURCH THE HARLEYS LEFT BEHIND
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The founders of ganta mission 1926.
A Brief History of Ganta Mission founded by George Way Harley and Winifred J. Harley
Brief History of Ganta United Methodist Mission School
by
Dr. Nya Kwiawon Taryor, Sr.,
President of The Ganta United Methodist Mission School
Alumni Association, USA. 2018-
Ganta United Methodist Mission School, known then as Ganta Mission School was established by Dr. George Way Harley and Winifred J. Harley in 1926. The Harleys were Methodist missionaries from America assigned by the Methodist Episcopal Church Mission BoardTto open a new Methodist mission station in the hinterland in Gompa, now (Ganta), formerly Central Province, and now known as, Nimba County, Liberia.
Dr. Harley was a graduate of Harvard and Yale Universities Medical schools. He and Winifred met at Yale when they were students there. They married and took on the missionary assignment. The day they left the USA for Liberia, at their farewell church service, they sang, Lead on O King Eternal, the day of march has come.” That is one of the reasons why the tune of the Ganta United Methodist Mission School's, School Ode has the same tune as "Lead on O King Eternal, the Day of March has come." For them, the day of march has come, when they shall be marching into an untested territory; a territory where western civilization has not taken hold of the people. They are marching into a country where western education has not reached many people. A territory disturbed by tropical diseases such as YAWS (Frambesia), Malaria, Hookworm, Trichuiasis, Leprosy, Leishmaniasis, Lymphatic filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Shistosomiasis, Tuberculosis, and many more awaiting for cure. The day of march has come when they shall build a mission that will transform lives and physical landscapes.
Along with their pioneering tasks of medical mission building which included the establishment of a dispensary, a hospital, a clinic, a laboratory, a leprosarium, workshops [mechanical, electrical, saw-mill] farming and agricultural projects, and a church, they also established the first Methodist school in the region.
In her mud hut in Ganta, Mrs. Harley started teaching a few children A. B. C. until they moved to the new mission station. On the station, the first school building was a “small square classroom with walls of split corkwood [musanga Smithii] and upper portion open for light and air. The students lived in a half-dozen native style houses, furnished with wooden beds, iron pots, and lanterns. Boys furnished their own sleeping mats and clothes. They cooked their own food.” Mr. Henry Miller, one of the missionaries that followed the Harleys to Liberia, was the first instructor at the school. In the morning Mr. Miller taught the classes and in the afternoon, the students worked at the carpentry or did other tasks with Dr. Harley. Religious education was a part of the education.
In 1928, Henry and Kate Miller were assigned by the Board to head the Nana Kru Mission station. Rev. R. L. Embree, a representative of the overseas Mission to Liberia, who was also the president of CWA, (The College of West Africa) had promised the Harleys that he was going to find a replacement for Henry Miller but the search was very difficult especially since he was hoping to get a Liberian teacher. Because of the difficulty in finding a Liberian teacher, Mrs. Harley took on the teaching responsibilities. She would leave her two babies for a few hours each day to teach at the school and spend additional few hours to help with the patients.
In 1930 when Rev. Embree returned from furlough, he saw a lot of changes that have taken place on the mission station. When the Harleys were preparing to go on their furlough, Rev. Embree brought in Cyril Henry, a young West Indian, to head the school. Cyril Henry, previously, was in charge of the school at White Plains, but the White Plains school was closed down. Mr. Henry was very reluctant to take charge of the Ganta Mission School. He declined Dr. Harley’s offer, so the Harleys had to stay for one more year until the next Methodist Conference before leaving for their furlough. The Harley’s replacement was a teacher from Garraway by the name of Miss Hattie Hooks. Miss Hooks was asked to come to Ganta, leaving her school in Garraway, on the Kru Coast, which was being closed because the Board was trying to consolidate its work in Liberia. Mrs. Harley said this about Miss Hattie Hooks: “She proved a sincere, conscientious teacher who served Ganta Mission well during its need.”
In 1932 when the Harleys returned from their furlough, they reported that Miss Hattie took very good care of the mission station. The Harleys had returned with some of their friends who expressed interest in the work at Ganta. Mrs. Harley wrote: “There was much work to be done! Miss Hooks had responsibility for the school and each of us took on weekly class. Alfred took the schoolboys in the late afternoon for drill and soccer. He was to spend half the day on mission work; and the other half he was free to go off with his paints and easel.”
By 1935, it was time for Miss Hooks to leave, but because there was no one immediately in line to take her place, she had to remain for another year until Elmo and Mary Taylor Tabb arrived. The Tabbs were former missionaries who have served in the Congo. Elmo Tabb was to take over the responsibilities of the school and the Sunday school. His service at the school was short lived after whipping one of the students for climbing an orange tree belonging to the Mission. Momo Massaquoi, an assistant, took charge of the school after Elmo Tabb left. There were much difficulties during the first ten years. The Harleys needed someone to organize the work of the school.
In 1938, on their furlough, while speaking at one of their home churches in New Haven, Connecticut, they met Mildred Black and “B. B.” Cofield. After hearing the Ganta Mission story, both of them wanted to join the Harleys in the mission work.
“B.B. Cofield had come from Alabama to attend Yale Divinity School. He decided to interrupt his training to come to work at Ganta. He went home and married Martha Hanes, thus more than doubling his usefulness.” The Mission Board asked them to stop first at Kakata to take charge of B.W.I. until the Phelps Stokes people could find a permanent principal. Mildred Black sailed with the Harleys to Ganta. Upon her arrival, and with the assistance of Momo Massaquoi, Mildred Black, affectionately known as “Kau Black”, “organized four grades with subjects corresponding to American standards, plus a preliminary class for beginners.”
Mildred "Kau" Black The Harleys and others thought that the school should stop to grade 4. This was 1938. Therefore the stone house, Hartzell Building, was built to accommodate only four classes, a library, the principal’s office and an assembly hall upstairs. The school operated for a few years with only 5 classes, beginner class, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade class. By 1950, it was decided that the standard of the school should be elevated from 4th grade to 8th grade. When girls started coming to the school in later years, a hostel was built for the girls. Students, boys and girls were coming from every county and Province, to attend Ganta mission school because news was spreading all over the country that there was a very good school in Ganta. Alice Blegay was the first girl to be admitted on Ganta Mission. She was a daughter Mr. Blegay, one of Dr. Harley's cooks.
Most of the Government officials were finding ways to send their children to Ganta Mission School. The girls’ hostel was funded by the Women’s Division of the Mission Board. That Board had been responsible previously for sending nurses to the hospital. The women's board was referred to as Women Society of Christian Service. But now, they call it United Methodist Women. They built the girls' hostel in Ganta.
The other routines of Mission Building.MMore missionaries and nationals were teaching at the school by the mid 1950’s. When Martha Cofield took over the school in 1952, Jackie J. Wrotto became her assistant principal in later years. Ruth Longstaff, Charles Britts, and others took on the responsibilities of the school during those years.
By 1955 students were now graduating from the 8th grade instead of the 4th grade. Teachers at Ganta mission were now all high school graduates and above. By the 1960s, much improvement has taken place. Mrs. Harley had this to say about Ganta Mission School. She wrote: “The School at Ganta Mission has such an excellent reputation that it could easily be filled with students from the sophisticated parts of the country. But we have given preference to boys and girls from our own "tribe" and neighborhood. The village Christians have been particularly anxious to put their children in school under the influence of a Christian institution. However, in about 1938 when Mildred Black headed the school, Hartzel buildidng was being constructed. Before the building was completed, they realized the need to expand because the demand for education and the number of student population was expanding. It was this time that the main school building was constructed and named Hartzell Building because the “building funds had come from sale of a discontinued school on the Kru Coast, which had been named for Bishop Joseph C. Hartzell who made notable efforts in Liberia at the end of the last century.” At this time five small dormitories were constructed behind the Hartzell buinding for boys. [Washington house, Carver house, Aggry house, Harris house, and King house and a Kitchen-dining room were built closed by for the boys.]
The first few years of the school at Ganta, there were only boys because the prevailing beliefs among the local people at the time was that girls are not fitted for school, only boys need western education. There were 2 sessions of classes from Monday to Friday. Biginners, 1st, 2nd, & 3rd graders attended the afternoon sessions and the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders attended the morning sessions. Due to the fact that there were 5 classes in the morning, one of the classes met in Manchester building located across the street from the church. Manchester building was the previous residence for Teacher Joma Massaquoi and his family. In 1960, the Massaquois moved to live in one of the newly constructed faculty homes behind the boys' dormitory. That provided opportunity to renovate Manchester building by adding 3 additional classrooms in the building. By, 1962, Manchester was able to accommodate 3 classes. Grades 6, 7 and 8 met in the morning in the Manchester building. From 1961 to 1963, I had all my classes in the Manchester building. I had my 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes in the Manchester building.
Local boys and girls who have studied at Ganta Mission School have gone on to other institutions of higher learning and have acquired advanced learning. Some have earned degrees of all kinds, Ph. D’s, M. Div., D. Min., B. Sc. M.A., M. Th., B.D. etc., in many fields including Theology, Education, the sciences and the humanities. Others have earned their medical degrees such as M. D., some R.N, and Masters in Public Health and other medical fields. Still, there are those who have earned the Bachelors degrees and Masters degrees and others have learned many professions and skills in different fields around the world. A few have come back to serve the institution and the country. Many graduates from Ganta Mission are making tremendous impact around the world.
Martha Yah Kpala Suah, who now goes by the name Martha Autry was the first girl in all of Nimba County to graduate from High School (CWA) The College of West Africa, a United Methodist College Preparatory High School in Monrovia, Liberia. She was the first female from the Mah ethnic community to finish high school. She has been a role model for both boys and girls that came after her. Mrs. Martha Autry graduated from Ganta Mission School in 1955 and also from CWA in 1959. She is our Pride and Trailblazer--the first of the Harvest. After she graduated from Ganta Mission School, she came back at some point and taught classes at Ganta Mission School. I was one of her 3rd grade students in 1958. I was in her Afternoon class in the Hartzell Building. We all love you Mom Autry-- Affectionately known as "Sis. Martha".
After the Cofields retired, the school was handed to J. J. Wrotto for his supervision. For many years, Jackie Wrotto was a Beginner teacher. He was a real talented man. He knew very many children's songs and game children enjoyed. In the mornings, he worked at the Ganta Mission Hospital Laboratory with Saye Didi, Doe and other Lab technicians. He taugth afternoon school. Some people have referred to him as a self- educated man. He had a special and profound teaching technique all his students enjoyed. From 1961 to 1971 he held the position as principal of the school. While at the same time, he was serving as a Lay Leader of Miller McAllister United Methodist Church on the Mission Station. In the picture above he is seen with his right hand lifted up giving the Benediction. Eventually, he studied the Liberian statue and the law and became a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate in Ganta. His tenure from 1961- 1971was also very remarkable. In later years in the 1970, much work at the school was expanded. New principals came and served. A gymnasium was built for indoor sports. The standard was raised from elementary school to a junior high school and then to a high school. Additional school buildings were constructed. During church services, he interpreted for the large Mah speaking congregation that did not understand the English language. He interpreted from the English to the Mah language and from the Mah language to the English language, but mostly from English to Mah.
Many principals have come and gone. Many students have also come and gone. The Liberian Civil War had a devastating affect on the school. But under the leadership of Herbert and Mary Zigbuo as mission superintendent, and John Gbilia as principal of the school, lots of reconstruction work went on. Additional facilities were
built to meet the demands.
__________________________________________________________________ John Gbelia was the school principal when Rev. Zigbuo was the Station Superintendent. It was Mr. John Gbelia, the school teachers and students, along with Superintendent Zigbuo that approved the School Ode in 2006 and adapted by the Ganta United Methodist Mission School Alumni Association (GUMMSAA).
____________________________________________________________________The School Principal that took over the school after Mr. John Gbelia was Rev. Pricilla Legay-Jaiah. She was the first Liberian Woman to serve as Principal of Ganta Mission School and the first female ever to serve as Superintendent for the Ganta Mission Station.
Superintendent for the Ganta Mission station. She holds a Masters' degree in Social Work (MSW) and another Masters degree (M.Div.) in Religion andthe Christian Ministry. ___________________________________________________________________
Many of the graduates from Ganta Mission School went to high school and graduated. Some even graduated from colleges and universities. Others went to professional schools, medical schools, school of nursing, education, theology, political science and other professions. Some even came back and worked at Ganta Mission Hospital, Gbarnga School of Theology, J. J. Roberts Elementary School, CWA, and other places. I would like to document their activities with the church, but this brief history is devoted to only Ganta Mission School. We wish to express our thanks to those Ganta Mission graduates who came back to pay their tributes to the Methodist Church with their service. This site is devoted to the work at the school; Ganta United Methodist Mission School.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge all the Ganta United Methodist
Mission School Alumni who returned from studying and
contributed their quota to the Liberia Annual Conference,
no matter where in Liberia and in whatever the profession or capacity
they served the church. We say, thank you.
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Sources:
Winifred J. Harley, A Third of a Century with George Way Harley in Liberia. (Newark, Delaware: Liberian Studies Association in America, Inc. 1973) Liberian Studies Monograph Series Number 2.
Click on the title of the book below. Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland.
George Schwab and George Way Harley, Tribes of the Liberian Hin Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. XXXI. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Peabody Museum. 1945).
Nya Kwiawon Taryor, Impact of the African Tradition on African Christianity, (Chicago: Strugglers’ Community Press, 1985 second printing.) pp. 105-109.
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Dr. Nya Kwiawon Taryor, Sr., Former Dean and President, Gbarnga School of Theology, Liberia Retired Clergyman from Northern Illinois Conference Originally from the Liberia Annual Conference 8th grade class of 1963, Ganta United Methodist Mission School, Liberia
President, GUMMSAA-USA
yunvakwoi3@yahoo 401-545-9073 cell
home/business Ganta Mission's First Website, Please click here: Ganta United Methodist School
Ganta Mission's Second Website, Please click here: Ganta Mission School
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VITAL INFORMATION SOURCES ABOUT THE FOUNDERS OF
GANTA UNITED METHODIST MISSION STATION
DR. GEORGE WAY & MRS. WINIFRED JEWELL HARLEY
1. Letters from 1922-1980
2. Notable and Quotable: George Way Harley (1894-1966)
3. William and Mary Collection
4. Guide to the George Way Harley Papers, 1911-1975
For the electronic copy of Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland,
please click on the following: George Way Harley