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Day’s Journal
This morning I started waking
up a little after 5:00 but didn’t actually get up until after 6:00. The weather is heating back up but still
much cooler than I have normally experienced during this time of year.
Breakfast is at 8:00am and
the food, as usual, is very good. We
have oatmeal, a sweat cornbread type of bread, fresh pineapple, spam and
some other stuff that I’ve already forgotten. The coffee here is Nestle instant and
it’s quite good. I find it much less
bitter than the coffee we brew back home.
After breakfast Ridge leads us
in a time of devotion. By the way
(not sure if I mentioned this) but two young ladies are here for 9 months
to work with Christine in the R.E.A.P project. Their names are Christin and
Marie. Both are quite interesting
and “lively”. They have the same
“get with it” attitude that we saw with the young ladies that were working
with Samaritan’s Purse back in November.
There is a real desire in our younger people to serve God in tough
situations. What a blessing to know
that the new leaders of the Church are so mission minded. Part of Ridge’s devotion was for each
person to do a 30 second, non-stop personal information talk. Mine included getting a paddling from the
principal for smoking in the bathroom in the first grade and the hatred
that Gayla and I had for each other before we married. What a life.
This morning we went first to
The Lord’s Table orphanage which is run by John and his wife. It is, without a doubt the best orphanage
in that I have ever seen in Liberia. John is the director in Liberia for God’s Kids. It is easy to see why they hired him when
you look at his personal work. While
at John’s place we took an hour and walked through some potential business
opportunities that the orphanages might want to consider. STS would assist with the setup, initial
management and training of their personnel with a exit strategy that turned
full control of the business over to the orphanage after a time of
partnership to determine skill and integrity. The goal is to give Christian ministries
in Liberia
the ability to reduce their reliance on outside funding. Every orphanage we went to today had a
need for a generator. So I think we
will move first with the generator sales project. We’ll talk about it a little more but
that seemed to be the consensus.
We toured another 6
orphanages, including Pastor Richard Wesley’s, and the need to provide help
for the children of Liberia
is more evident than ever. I could
tell you stories from each one, things about the children we saw, their
bright smiles and happy attitudes while simultaneously wearing poor
clothing and struggling to have enough food on a reliable basis. But I’ll tell you only one story for
now. At the 4th or 5th
orphanage we visited there were children running around being happy but
there was one 2 year old little girl up on the porch. The story is that she cries when she
eats, sleeps or while attempting to do anything else. “Has
she seen a doctor?”
“She has been 4 times.”
“What’s the diagnosis?”
“She needs surgery on her
neck”
“Why hasn’t she had it?”
“We cannot afford it.”
“So what’s the next step?”
“They have sent her home to
die.”
So what is it that you do in
a situation like this? What’s the
right thing to do? The God’s Kids
folks feel the right thing is to get her the surgery. So they tasked the lady who runs the
orphanage with finding out the cost for the surgery so that it can be
performed, perhaps even while we’re here.
I’ll know more tomorrow after she talks with the hospital
again. I am sure that this happens
very often but this is one time when Christians who can act, are
acting. It’s like a line from the
movie American Treasure that I like.
Upon reading a certain portion of the constitution, a co-star asks
Nicholas Cage, “What does that mean?”
“It means”, he replies, “that those who have the ability have the
responsibility.” I’d say that our
authority says it more plainly when scripture says, “To whom much is given,
much is required.” We’ve been given
a lot and there are some requirements that come with that blessing.
Tonight we are scheduled to
have dinner with several key governmental leaders and other friends to
discuss their thoughts on micro-finance and other means of assisting the
orphanages in become more self-sufficient.
As they arrive we have Attorney Vivian Cherue who is the Deputy
Minister of Social Welfare and Pete Norman, Deputy Minister of Commerce
& Industry (Laurence Norman’s brother). Also involved were the head of the
accreditation organization for all orphanages in Liberia, the heads of a few of
the best run orphanages and other leaders in this area.
The dinner was very good with
Liberian grown rice, palm butter with meat, fish cakes, chicken, bread,
watermelon and pineapple. It seems
like all we do is eat but I’ve yet to skip a meal.
After the dinner we went
downstairs for an hour long meeting to see what the attendees thought about
business startups to support the orphanages and what those businesses might
be. Ridge led the conversation and
the participation was excellent. I
believe that we will move forward in partnership with God’s Kids to make
this a reality. Much more planning
is necessary before moving forward.
It’s 10:30pm here as I write
this and I’m anxious to get a bath and go to bed. My body has quickly adapted to the time
schedule here.
I am grateful for those who
are following this and most especially for your prayers. Please continue to pray that God’s will is
done and that He gets all the glory.
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