Charles Garjay Goah

Even as 4th graders, put your mind to your lesson. Study! Go over those words. Be your best because there’s a future for you. I believe that each of you, if you do your best, you can have the chance to be your best that you can be. Every child has potential to be something. You can be something. You may not be Martin Luther King or Barack Obama or John F. Kennedy because that’s not you. But you can be the best you can be, study hard, do your best, do your readings and the math because you are building foundation for a better tomorrow.

Charles Garjay Goah

My name is Charles Garjay Goah. I was born in Monrovia, Liberia. That’s a small country in West Africa. There are about 16 countries in West Africa. I was born in the Bassa Tribe. There are many tribes in Africa. I speak Bassa in addition to speaking English. I learned English in school, at home we spoke Bassa.

My mom’s name is Julia. My father’s name is Jacob. I have great memories of my dad. He and I went to a football games together, soccer games together. We cheered for the same teams and I loved him very dearly. My father was well-to-do compared to other families, we had a vehicle that would get us around because my father was a business man, life was good.

We lived at a place called Number One Compound. We used to walk three-four-five miles to school. We didn’t have any buses, okay? We did leave from where we were living and moved to the city. I remember 5th grade. I went to another elementary school. I remember my teacher’s name, Miss Kamara. She was a nice teacher. She taught me a lot of things.

While growing up, I wanted to become an announcer. I wanted to talk on the radio. But when I went to high school in another part of the country, my father wanted me to be an architectural draftsman. My junior year, while I’m praying for my family, for myself, I began to sense that I wasn’t going to be a draftsman. I began to feel the desire to preach. So I told my dad about that and he said, if this is what you really want to do and believe, then you can pursue that.

Now this is before the civil war. You may have heard something; you may know something about Liberia. We had a very difficult, a very danger, a very bloody war, but I wasn’t there when it happened. I left before the civil war began. I transitioned to the United States at the age of 26 and I’ve been in the United States ever since.

When I was ordained in the ministry, I got involved with a group of Liberians who were interested in starting a church. I became involved with that ministry and began to preach. In 1995, I met a lady by the name of Danuta from Poland. We began a friendship, two years later, in 1997, we got married.
She came to the United States and then in 2002 our first child was born. His name is Jacob. He’s right before me right now. He’s ten years old. He has a sister. Her name is Mayetti.