About |
In 1992, Dr. Kromah (dentist and public health specialist), and her husband (an Administrator with Maryland's Citizen Review Board), Sam M. Kromah, realized that most of the healthcare workers had fled Liberia due to the country’s civil war. They made a life altering decision for Dr. Kromah to go to Liberia to volunteer services as a Dentist and Public Health Specialist for two months, during the height of the civil war, while her husband remained in the United States to take care of their young family. They used much of their own funds, solicited medical and dental supplies from philanthropists, pharmaceutical companies, men and women of goodwill, and Sabena Airlines covered her airfare and the transport of all supplies.
Upon her safe return, Resources and Outreach for Liberia (ROL) was born. ROL is registered with a Federal Tax Exempt 501 (c) 3 status. ROL has since been involved in providing medication, dental services and educational materials; like books, computers, etc. for Liberians within Liberia and the Diaspora. The next time Dr. Kromah went to Liberia to donate her service was in 1997. This trip was sponsored by the United Nations’ TOKTEN (Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals) Program.
For years, ROL has taught CPR and First-Aid to Liberians and other immigrants within the United States, and worked with iHelp Liberia, a New York-based non-profit, taking American university students to Liberia to volunteer and work with Liberian high schools on various science, math, and developmental projects. ROL houses all students.
In 2014, ROL appointed Sang Kromah, an experienced Communications Specialist, as Executive Director as the first step in organizational restructuring. The goal of restructuring ROL is to achieve higher impact, create sustainable change, and to address environmental and organizational challenges. Kromah’s first order of business was to build an effective Board of Directors, a younger board, who’s not afraid of getting their hands dirty.
Kromah’s first order of business was to identify initiatives in Liberia that needs the organization’s attention ASAP. Girls and education, and healthcare were and still are the pertinent issues, so Kromah launched Project R.E.A.D. (Restoring Education After Disaster), an after-school/out of school drop-in program that will provide a safe place to keep girls off the streets, empowering them to become bold, strong, innovative, and tenacious community and global leaders. But most importantly, it will be a safe place to empower and mentor girls. The Liberia Oral Health Project is ROL’s healthcare initiative, an oral health campaign that will implement the Basic Package of Oral Health Care (BPOC), travel throughout Monrovia and rural areas with a mobile dental unit to provide dental services to Liberian schools and their communities, and to create a partnership with a Liberian University to begin a dental assistant program.