I spent this first week in Liberia and then on following Sunday I will fly on a small single engine plane run by the World Food Program to Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Liberia has not changed much since I left it 5 months ago. The power promised to the city runs less than a mile and the water system only shows the improvements that Mercy Ship had done by the end of last outreach. These people are still in great need.
On a positive note, I got to visit our orphanage 3 times during my stay and I am so proud to see what has happened there. The work of our family and many other families from the ship and you our supporters have made such a huge difference in these children’s lives. When we first cam they slept on the mud floor with a roof that did little to keep them dry. There was no school, no church for them to worship, no means to cook and feed during rainy system. Now that has all changed. They have roofs that keep them dry, they have cement floors so they don’t catch parasites from the dirt floors, they have a church where they here the word of God twice a week, they have a place to cook and eat during the worst weather. The boys are learning masonry and the girls are learning sewing as possible jobs later in their lives. But most of all they know that there are brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world that love them and desire to have God do all that His will has for them. I can not tell you what a great feeling that is to be a part of this. For those of you supporting us, part of your donations has gone to build this haven for these children. I hope take great joy in knowing what the Lord has done with your offering. I am glad to say the girls who suffered the longest, now have the best accommodations and truly feel special in their living quarters.
We are in the last stages of building the last building to house the new orphan boys that the government has entrusted us with. As usual, the boys we have trained made over 500 mud bricks while we were gone and now only seek concrete to lay them and plaster over them so the rain does not dissolve their hard work. Amongst our families, we are trying to raise 8 thousand dollars to finish this building. That would include cement, roof, doors, mosquito screens, and beds with mattresses. If any of you feel like you would want to become a part of this, please let me know. I guarantee that the money will only go to the building and we will make sure to update all of you on its construction progress.
Orphanage School in Session
Liberia has not changed much since I left it 5 months ago. The power promised to the city runs less than a mile and the water system only shows the improvements that Mercy Ship had done by the end of last outreach. These people are still in great need.
On a positive note, I got to visit our orphanage 3 times during my stay and I am so proud to see what has happened there. The work of our family and many other families from the ship and you our supporters have made such a huge difference in these children’s lives. When we first cam they slept on the mud floor with a roof that did little to keep them dry. There was no school, no church for them to worship, no means to cook and feed during rainy system. Now that has all changed. They have roofs that keep them dry, they have cement floors so they don’t catch parasites from the dirt floors, they have a church where they here the word of God twice a week, they have a place to cook and eat during the worst weather. The boys are learning masonry and the girls are learning sewing as possible jobs later in their lives. But most of all they know that there are brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world that love them and desire to have God do all that His will has for them. I can not tell you what a great feeling that is to be a part of this. For those of you supporting us, part of your donations has gone to build this haven for these children. I hope take great joy in knowing what the Lord has done with your offering. I am glad to say the girls who suffered the longest, now have the best accommodations and truly feel special in their living quarters.
We are in the last stages of building the last building to house the new orphan boys that the government has entrusted us with. As usual, the boys we have trained made over 500 mud bricks while we were gone and now only seek concrete to lay them and plaster over them so the rain does not dissolve their hard work. Amongst our families, we are trying to raise 8 thousand dollars to finish this building. That would include cement, roof, doors, mosquito screens, and beds with mattresses. If any of you feel like you would want to become a part of this, please let me know. I guarantee that the money will only go to the building and we will make sure to update all of you on its construction progress.
Orphanage School in Session
Orphans Getting Ride in Truck,
for most it was their first ride in a vehicle
Well back to the work at hand; we are concentrating our efforts in an area North West of Monrovia just past the orphanage you all helped us build. The first community is Royesville, it is comprised of 53 micro-villages having populations between 50 and 600 people. A horrible road and a bamboo bridge, which yes could hold me as I crossed it, link these communities. The people are the poorest of the poor. If someone gets sick, they must carry that person up to 11km in wheelbarrow to see a health tech. If they have cholera they would have to go to redemption hospital up to 20km away. Most can not afford the trip or the treatment (roughly 2-3 dollars)so they go home and call a traditional medicine man who will use leaves and spirits to cure the disease. You can guess how that story usually ends.
Yes, This Was My Indiana Jones Moment And Yes, I Do Hear The Movie Music In My Head When I Do These Things...Is That Wrong?
The second community we are working in is Tenegar, a predominantly Muslim community. The president requested we work in this are to ensure that the Muslims know that this Christian President is concerned for them as well. We actually found that there was more to this then we were told but I can discuss that in private at another time. For now we will use this opportunity to show these people what the love of Christ can do for them as people from around the world come to their village to build a clinic and wells and teach them better health, water, sanitation and agriculture practices. People who came simply because God asked “who will I send?” and they replied “send me!” We found a Muslim school that was using the bible as their reading curriculum, never doubt the way that the Lord may reach these people, they may do it t
hemselves. Our team met with the local Imam and Islamic leaders to discuss our plans and reasons to help their community.
The Bible Was Being Used To Teach English In Islamic School
Our Assessment Team
In these communities our 12 man team would sit down with the village chief, elders and imam to meet and discuss the needs of the community. We would sit under trees or in huts and hold council. It was a learning experience to say the least, I can feel my diplomacy training already kicking in.
Our Assessment TeamIn these communities our 12 man team would sit down with the village chief, elders and imam to meet and discuss the needs of the community. We would sit under trees or in huts and hold council. It was a learning experience to say the least, I can feel my diplomacy training already kicking in.
Their water situation is dire. January through March most of their wells dry up and become useless. They are forced to seek alternate water sources such as creeks and rivers, which are also for bathing and their goats and chickens. Contamination of the water is guaranteed and huge outbreaks of cholera and typhoid persists during these times. I know you may be thinking, why we do not just teach them to boil the water. The problem is that they cannot afford the charcoal or wood to “burn” the water, so the drink it “raw.” In their mind, it is cheaper overall to risk cholera and seek treatment then to pay to boil their drinking water every day and even if they did boil it the men working in the swamp would still scoop water from where they are standing as they try and work the rice crops.
Wells are the only hope for these people to change their morbidity rates and allow them to become productive people. We also have to defeat the enemy here. As in most African countries, even the Christians hold on to demonic customs such as scarring and talismans and will quickly resort to witch doctors as a cheaper alternative or when modern medicine does not appear to act quickly enough. We as Christians must be in these villages every day to make a statement that there is a better way and it is only through the love of Christ that will break the bondage of the witch doctor and the evil that empowers them. We must be realistic. In the year that we are here, we may only truly change the habits and beliefs of a few people in each villages. But they will become voices of truth long after we have left and hopefully be the spark that brings the light of Jesus in to these people’s lives.
As you know, my job is to find how we can measure whether we are doing any good for these people in transforming their lives so that they may rise up and pursue God’s will for them and their people. It is hard for them to just live at this point. We have found that the rural clinics, which are funded by the ministry of health, keep awesome records each month of the type of diseases they are treating. It will be these historic records that we will measure the success of our programs against. We will come back a year after our programs are complete and see if we had any impact on the morbidity rates from malaria, cholera, typhoid, STD’s, HIV, TB and the whole cast of other diseases and parasites. I praise God that he allowed us to find these.
Wells are the only hope for these people to change their morbidity rates and allow them to become productive people. We also have to defeat the enemy here. As in most African countries, even the Christians hold on to demonic customs such as scarring and talismans and will quickly resort to witch doctors as a cheaper alternative or when modern medicine does not appear to act quickly enough. We as Christians must be in these villages every day to make a statement that there is a better way and it is only through the love of Christ that will break the bondage of the witch doctor and the evil that empowers them. We must be realistic. In the year that we are here, we may only truly change the habits and beliefs of a few people in each villages. But they will become voices of truth long after we have left and hopefully be the spark that brings the light of Jesus in to these people’s lives.
As you know, my job is to find how we can measure whether we are doing any good for these people in transforming their lives so that they may rise up and pursue God’s will for them and their people. It is hard for them to just live at this point. We have found that the rural clinics, which are funded by the ministry of health, keep awesome records each month of the type of diseases they are treating. It will be these historic records that we will measure the success of our programs against. We will come back a year after our programs are complete and see if we had any impact on the morbidity rates from malaria, cholera, typhoid, STD’s, HIV, TB and the whole cast of other diseases and parasites. I praise God that he allowed us to find these.
Praise God! They Keep Awesome Records For Us To Use At The Rural Clinics
As usual, there have been many “cultural” moments on this trip. Mark Wright who is my partner on this trip is quite skinny, since our names are both Mark and somewhat confusing, I am now BIG-BIG and he is small-small. My two skinny travel companions are amazed to see how many African women find me quite attractive with offers of marriage almost on a daily basis, they say I look “fine!” You will be happy to know, that these proposals are not going to my head as the appeal of my size is simply that they believe there will be enough food left over for them as well. We visited a village that built a track in the middle of the bush, to entertain and train the youth. Jeff King, one of our team members, decided to bless the new course with the sweat of some old out of shape white missionaries. He raced three boys around the 400-meter track and lost badly. Mark Wright raced an accomplished runner who easily won against him. But me I won my race. How you may ask, well the fact is I raced a woman. I was quite proud of this, until I found she was pregnant. Man just when I thought I was doing good, God reached down and offered me a little more humble pie ;-) I beat a pregnant woman, yeah that is simply hard to boast about. Oh well, it was fun and the children and pastor seemed to enjoy our pitiful display immensely, and we did not die from heat stroke.
As usual, there have been many “cultural” moments on this trip. Mark Wright who is my partner on this trip is quite skinny, since our names are both Mark and somewhat confusing, I am now BIG-BIG and he is small-small. My two skinny travel companions are amazed to see how many African women find me quite attractive with offers of marriage almost on a daily basis, they say I look “fine!” You will be happy to know, that these proposals are not going to my head as the appeal of my size is simply that they believe there will be enough food left over for them as well. We visited a village that built a track in the middle of the bush, to entertain and train the youth. Jeff King, one of our team members, decided to bless the new course with the sweat of some old out of shape white missionaries. He raced three boys around the 400-meter track and lost badly. Mark Wright raced an accomplished runner who easily won against him. But me I won my race. How you may ask, well the fact is I raced a woman. I was quite proud of this, until I found she was pregnant. Man just when I thought I was doing good, God reached down and offered me a little more humble pie ;-) I beat a pregnant woman, yeah that is simply hard to boast about. Oh well, it was fun and the children and pastor seemed to enjoy our pitiful display immensely, and we did not die from heat stroke.
Mark - OUT!
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