I got an email from my parents in Monrovia, Liberia. It always helps to bring me back to the realization that my life is really great!
Greetings;
Today we had made arrangements to pick up two of our friends from the Monrovia district, and they rode with us to a school they
had help organize. It is located out in the bush in a village called Harrisburg. This is one of the early settlements (1856) of Liberia, that
was settled by slaves returning from America, to their homeland. Our friends Joyce Briant (district young women's president), and Quita Kailin (district relief society president) are both return missionaries. They are also trainers for ERC (employment resource center).
They knew of the need for a school out in the bush, but they didn't know how much one was needed, until they started one a few months ago. The school has 208 students at the present, and there are that many more children that want to attend. Of the 208 children, 30 of them stay at the school all the time, as they have no place else to go. The building they are using, and the 31/2 acres it sits on was given to them to use by an older couple. The wife helps with the children, and the only thing they receive out of this arrangement is food to eat. The operation of the school, the director, the teachers, the cooks and the nurse are all volunteers.
This school doesn't charge anything for the children to attend, and it provides the children with one of the two meals they will eat each day. A small amount of food is given them by some of the mothers as a form of payment. The men helpers can occasionally catch a few fish in the river close by to help supplement their food needs.
Their water is obtained from a small sink hole down the hill from their building. This sink hole dries up during the dry season and then they have to carry water from the river, about 1/2 mile away.
The most amazing thing about this school is the age of the children, they range in age from 3 to 13 years old. with the majority being under the age of 8 or 9 years old.
This is a combined orphanage and school. The thirty children that live at the school have only a blanket to lay on at night, and this they have to share with others.
This is a newly started school and they have needs in every thing one can imagine. The good things they have are, volunteers that love
the children, organizers that are LDS, the desire to be a gospel oriented school, and the promise of some free land to grow and expand on.
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Their email goes on to tell more stories of the hardships people endure daily......while I am thinking my life is Hard!
It all does make me thankful!
1 comment:
Oh crap...you just made me feel bad about posting my last post. Thanks Jenny.
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