Current Projects /Year-End Report

Revive Liberia Missions, Inc.

2007

 

This has been a year of triumph and of disappointment, a year of growth and a year of change.  Firstly we want to thank everyone who has been a part of this mission.  It has been an honor to work with you all.  As we look forward to 2008, we see a great year, with many prospects for great harvest of the seeds we have sown together in the past three years.

 

Incorporation of a new Liberian Non-Profit, Alive Liberia Missions

 

During August, when we realized that incorporation in Liberia of Revive Liberia was not forthcoming, we had a group of trusted Liberian men and women explore the possibility of forming a new organization for us to work with.  We funded this venture and in Mid-September a new sister corporation was formed, alive Liberia Missions.  This corporation consists of a Board of Directors of diverse leaders in Liberia.   No one tribal group is represented and there are numerous oversight conditions on all matters.  We have full confidence in this Board and Executives to carry out our joint programs  and distribute money and goods in an honest and timely manner.  Alive Liberia is officially recognized by our Board of Directors as our sister organization.

 

The following comprise the Board of Directors of Alive Liberia.

 

 

Apostle Syd Weah Wilson                 Chairman

            Madam Ruth Caesar                         Co- Chairperson

Rev. James Paye                               Secretary

Mrs. Christiana C. Marshall             Treasurer

Rev. Richmond F. Cole                     Chaplain

Mr. S. Yarlor Saywon                        Member

Mrs. Rebecca G. Dole                      Member

Thomas Selwa                                    Member

 

 

 

 

William Kangar-Executive Director of Alive Liberia, inc.

 

Some of the Alive Liberia Directors and advisors.

 

 

 

Churches

 

 

2007 Pastor’s Conference  This last February we held our fifth annual pastors conference in Monrovia. There were approximately two hundred pastors there. As always this is an interdenominational event. The attendees were from various backgrounds of faith. Many times people travel for as much as three days to attend this event. We have teaching sessions followed by small group discussions of the topic taught. Often there are many church leaders that travel with their pastor to this conference. Teaching and counseling the pastors wife has been a goal of ours for a long time now. We were fortunate to have help with this issue this year. Cindy Whacker of 91st Christian Church in Indianapolis was there to help. She was assisted by Bea Boygar of Monrovia. This was a great help to war weary wife's of the pastors. Our men teaching were all veterans of the conference. Wesley Davis of Kansas, Bill Sebald, Sam Wrisley, Dave Rawls, Doug Marcomb, Drew all of Indiana. Phil Eckart also taught. The comments  of the attendees, show how much this conference means to those present. Many stay the whole week, especially those who travel. On the final Sunday we butchered a cow and had a big feast.

 

• Church and Pastor Support   During 2007 we provided help to numerous churches in Liberia in the form of money and goods.  Some of the churches we help are listed and pictured below.  The church support is our primary mission in Liberia.  All other activities center on building strong churches, strong church leaders and members and spreading the Gospel. We associate the mission with churches that have strong outreach programs to the interior.  All these churches are evangelistic and reach out to their communities and to the interior peoples. 

 

 

·   Fellowship Baptist Church-Rev. Andrew Teah  This is a new church formed in October of this year.  Link to Rev. Teah's Report

 

Fellowship Baptist Members o October.  The church has grown so fast in the past months they are running out of room. 

 

 

 

·World Harvest Christian Ministry and School

 

Interior of the new church built by Rev. Kun.

 

 

Rev. Prince Kun in front of his new church.  Also pictured are some of the children in his school.

 

 

Children from Rev Kun’s School.

 

·  Rev. Isaac Glaybo’s Church in Buchanan

 

Isaac with the motorcycle purchased for him by Indiana Presbyterian Church.

 

 

 

 

 

·   Jlahzon Fellowship Baptist Ministries    Pastor: Harris N. Yates

 

Pastor Yates and Family.

 

 

Link to Profile of Pastor Yates

 

 

 

 

· Blessed Assurance Evangelical Ministry- Rev. Henna’s Church

Rev. Henna showing land we helped purchase for his new church building.

 

 

A foundation on the land.  Not the church foundation, but someone else trying to steal the land.  In Liberia, only improvements mark endow ownership of land.  This was later filled in.  The church will be built when money is available.

 

  

· Rev. Boah’s Church- Hope of Pentecost

 

Our dear friend Edwin Boah’s beautiful Hope of Pentecost church in Monrovia.

We made our first CD recording here in April.  Copies are available.  Thanks Edwin and HPC members.

 

· Rev. Cole’s Harvest Pentecostal Church

 

Rev. Richmond Cole and Phil Eckart on our trip to Bagay’s Town.  Rev. Cole has started numerous churches in the bush and in Monrovia.  He also helps us in so many other ways, clearing containers in the port, serving on the Board of Alive Liberia as Chaplain and being a friend to us and his people.  He is a true example of Christ’s love. 

 

 

 

Evangelism

 

Bagay’s Town

 

In April I visited a small village where Rev. Cole had established a church. It is not all that far from the main road south to Buchanan, maybe 10 miles in toward the ocean.  You get 5 bars on your cell phone.   It is however, isolated and war scarred.   The church there is the only active church within a three hour walk. It has about 80 members and attendees.   It is located on a river and most people fish the river and grow substance crops.  It is poor.  It is also a Zoe (pronounced zo-ee) center in this area.  Zoe is the great-grandfather of voodoo in the Americas.  It is devil worship in it’s purest form.  Human sacrifice is not uncommon.  I met with a village elder who wanted the small church to move to donated land, away from the village center.  This is because it interfered with their Zoe rituals. The over all feeling in the village was one of fear.  Few children were present and not many people came out to see us, which is unusual.  White men are rare here.  I later found out the reason people were in hiding was because a major Zoe priest had died nearby and there was bad Zoe activity in the area.  People were afraid for their lives. 

In October we returned.  This time we were welcomed by the village and village elders.  They were happy we had come to help and offered to us land and help building a church and school.  We see this as a major inroad into an area  where the church has died out due to the war.  We need to raise money to build this facility and we need to find a way for the people there to support it through economic development of their many resources, including farming, fishing and timber.  They need a way to move goods to Monrovia, only 30 miles away by boat.  All that is in the future, we just praise God we have made a foothold in the enemy camp.

One anecdote is of interest.  We met an old woman, easily in her 80’s, who had never seen a white man before.  We were barely 20 miles for the Firestone plantation, where white men have been for 100 years.  She was happy to see us and thanked us for coming to her village.  This is the nature of isolation.   It is not always distance in miles, but distance in the heart and mind. 

 

 

The land around Bagay’s Town.  Like paradise.

 

 

Skull of dolphin on a pole upon entering Bagay’s Town.  They are very proud of it.

 

 

 

Welcome arch of palm branches in October.  This means we are honored guests.

We did not have this in April. 

 

 

A Zoe Priest and elder of Bagay’s Town.  The hat is the trademark.

This man was very nice to us. His granddaughter was with him.  

We hope and pray he finds Christ soon.

 

Some of our new Bagay Town friends.

 

 

Children of Bagay’s Town.  There is no school in the area.  Over 800 children are growing up illiterate.  Poverty is self perpetuating.

 

The remains of the church building in Bagay’s Town as seen in October 2007

 

 

 

 

Schools

 

 

 

In addition to the UBC schools which we believed we supported and feel that in some cases were supported partially, we identified and began helping three schools unaffiliated with UBC. 

 

• New Life School- This is a school started by concerned parents in a very poor part of Monrovia.  The school is in a flood plain and in the rainy season (April to October) the children sometimes go to school with water up to their ankles.  There are 450 children in this school.  Through a generous donation, we were able to purchase land to build a school on higher ground.  Funds are needed to start and complete the building.  Funds are needed for supplies, shoes and a lunch program.  This school has no support from any other entity.  This would be a good project for a church or a group of churches.  We have a 30 minute DVD about this school if you need more information.

 

 

Present New Life School Building

 

 

Interior of New Life School-the floor is wet.

 

 

 

New Life School Future Location-higher ground

 

 

John Lucile Savage School

 

We were introduced to Louiza N. Freeman in 2006.  Mrs. Freeman is a schoolteacher.  During the war she organized this school to teach neighborhood children who had nothing.  She told us in the beginning many of her students were found wondering naked and without food or parents.  An old bombed out roofless building was donated to her and she began teaching.  Today the school proper has a roof and she has over 200 students, grades K through 6.  Her school has no outside support. We donated pool covers for a roof on an addition that increased her space by 1/3.  We are endeavoring to support this school further in 2008 and beyond.  Selfless devotion to teaching marks this remarkable woman.  She struggles on to educate the youth of Liberia without help, relying only on very small tuition charges. (less than $5.00 US a semester)

 

 

Founder and Executive Director- Louiza N. Freeman

 

 

Teacher and students-

 

 

The third grade morning class.

 

Rain coming through in the addition.  It now has a good roof using a swimming pool cover.

 

 Sarbil School

 

Sarbil School educates 150 children in Monrovia.  It is for grades 1 through 12.  It is also the site of our main door manufacturing shop and our internet café. 

 

 

 Classrooms at Sarbil

 

Blackboard in the 9th grade classroom.

 

 

Delaney Burgess Children’s Mission- Buchanan

 

The Delaney Burgess Children’s Mission was planned and constructed to operate as an orphanage for children from the interior.  Presently it is being used as a school.  Roughly 75 children attend the school.  It has been in operation since August.  Grades 1 through 6 are taught.  No children live there now, but in the future we hope it will become a group home for orphaned children.  It’s function as a school will continue to integrate orphaned children into the neighborhood and society.  Institutional style orphanages are not desirable in Liberia.  The group home concept is as important here as it is in the rest of the world.  It is doubly important here: children should not be isolated from strong community and tribal affiliations. They must be integrated to survive in this society and not be set apart in a country where strong community and family ties are so critical to life.  Unlike Western Societies, children in US supported orphanages are often seen as rich and advantaged.  This creates barriers to integration into the community.  During 2008, we will develop the concept of group homes and the possibility of building 2 more homes to start a small “children’s village” staffed by caring foster parents.  This concept is based on the experience of Samaritan's Purse in Liberia with a large institutional orphanage they run.  They took over Mother Mary's orphanage, which we supported at one time.  See article below.

 

 

 Visit in April for the Dedication  The building was not completely finished, but we were there so it was dedicated.

 

 A school being operated here since August.  We are not supporting the school at this time.  It is self supporting.

 

Orphanages Stunt Mental Growth, a Study Finds Article from the Dec. 21 2007 New York Times By BENEDICT CAREY Published: December 21, 2007 Psychologists have long believed that growing up in an institution like an orphanage stunts children’s mental development but have never had direct evidence to back it up. Now they do, from an extraordinary years-long experiment in Romania that compared the effects of foster care with those of institutional child-rearing. The study, being published on Friday in the journal Science, found that toddlers placed in foster families developed significantly higher I.Q.’s by age 4, on average, than peers who spent those years in an orphanage. The difference was large — eight points — and the study found that the earlier children joined a foster family, the better they did. Children who moved from institutional care to families after age 2 made few gains on average, though the experience varied from child to child. Both groups, however, had significantly lower I.Q.’s than a comparison group of children raised by their biological families. Some developmental psychologists had sharply criticized the study and its sponsor, the MacArthur Foundation, for researching a question whose answer seemed obvious. But previous attempts to compare institutional and foster care suffered from serious flaws, mainly because no one knew whether children who landed in orphanages were different in unknown ways from those in foster care. Experts said the new study should put to rest any doubts about the harmful effects of institutionalization — and might help speed up adoptions from countries that still allow them. “Most of us take it as almost intuitive that being in a family is better for humans than being in an orphanage,” said Seth Pollak, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin, who was not involved in the research. “But other governments don’t like to be told how to handle policy issues based on intuition. “What makes this study important,” he went on, “is that it gives objective data to say that if you’re going to allow international adoptions, then it’s a good idea to speed things up and get kids into families quickly.” In recent years many countries, including Romania, have banned or sharply restricted American families from adopting local children. In other countries, adoption procedures can drag on for many months. In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, Americans adopted 20,679 children from abroad, more than half of them from China, Guatemala and Russia. The authors of the new paper, led by Dr. Charles H. Zeanah Jr. of Tulane and Charles A. Nelson III of Harvard and Children’s Hospital in Boston, approached Romanian officials in the late 1990s about conducting the study. The country had been working to improve conditions at its orphanages, which became infamous in the early 1990s as Dickensian warehouses for abandoned children. After gaining clearance from the government, the researchers began to track 136 children who had been abandoned at birth. They administered developmental tests to the children, and then randomly assigned them to continue at one of Bucharest’s six large orphanages, or join an adoptive family. The foster families were carefully screened and provided “very high-quality care,” Dr. Nelson said. On I.Q. tests taken at 54 months, the foster children scored an average of 81, compared to 73 among the children who continued in an institution. The children who moved into foster care at the youngest ages tended to show the most improvement, the researchers found. The comparison group of youngsters who grew up in their biological families had an average I.Q. of 109 at the same age, found the researchers, who announced their preliminary findings as soon in Romania as they were known. “Institutions and environments vary enormously across the world and within countries,” Dr. Nelson said, “but I think these findings generalize to many situations, from kids in institutions to those in abusive households and even bad foster care arrangements.” In setting up the study, the researchers directly addressed the ethical issue of assigning children to institutional care, which was suspected to be harmful. “If a government is to consider alternatives to institutional care for abandoned children, it must know how the alternative compares to the standard care it provides. In Romania, this meant comparing the standard of care to anew and alternative form of care,” they wrote. Any number of factors common to institutions could work to delay or blunt intellectual development, experts say: the regimentation, the indifference to individual differences in children’s habits and needs; and most of all, the limited access to caregivers, who in some institutions can be responsible for more than 20 children at a time. “The evidence seems to say,” said Dr. Pollak, of Wisconsin, “that for humans, we need a lot of responsive care giving, an adult who recognizes our distinct cry, knows when we’re hungry or in pain, and gives us the opportunity to crawl around and handle different things, safely, when we’re ready.”

 

 

  Liberian Association of the Blind

 

The Liberia Association of the Blind was started by a man blinded when he was a teen named Mr. Koli.  The school has classes for the blind in Liberia in Braille reading and writing and  We have supplied them with an addition to their building, Braille typewriters and supplies and some funding.  This group is mostly self supporting and they badly need a sponsor.  Perhaps in 2008 we can find someone who could help support their efforts to educate and empower the blind in Liberia.  $50 to $100 a month would go a long way.

 

Meeting of the Liberia Association of the Blind.

 

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Door Manufacturing Project

 

The door project is a multi-level manufacturing project.  It includes selective logging, lumber processing, lumber drying and manufacturing exterior doors for export to the United States.  Work on this project was in full swing in 2007.  We encountered a delay due to the UBC problems, but we are moving ahead nicely now and expect our first shipment to go out in February.

 

Milestones:

 

• A new shop building was completed next to Sarbil School in Monrovia.  Training has commenced and is ongoing.
• A solar wood dryer was completed next to the new shop  and put into operation.
• A high quality wood moisture tester was delivered and training completed to make sure the wood we use for the doors is dry enough for U.S. use.
• A large quantity of leaded glass windows were purchased at pennies on the dollar for use in the doors.  Patterns and samples were sent to Liberia so the windows will fit when installed here.
• Many tools were delivered to the shop, including specialty wood planes, an electric router and a Jig saw.  . 
• Large quantities of lumber was processed in River Cess.  RLMI paid for the processing of this lumber.  UBC refuses to release it to us for door manufacturing.  Its return is included in  the law suit.  This is about $5000 worth of dry lumber.  Other logging sites were also utilized and we are using this lumber.  More lumber is needed for a full shipment of doors.  We are also suing for the return of our two large chain saws.
• Review of quality and door styles shows good progress.  Some of the doors have carvings and these styles were reviewed in October. 
• The Master Carpenter, Bavhid, is doing fantastic work, he once made the throne for the Queen of Guinea,  we are fortunate to have a man of his talents and firm Christian faith teaching his craft to others. 
• The men in Liberia are finding new wood supplies.  We are now looking in an area near the train lines.  This reduces costs of transport by one half from $2 a board to $1 a board into Monrovia. 
• A donated Ford F350 truck is on the way to Liberia as I write this.  Lack of good transportation is a major problem and expense in developing countries.  We pray this truck will greatly aid the door project and cut expenses in transport.
• We expect the return of the Peterson Sawmill from UBC and will put it into use as soon as possible.
• Tom Doepker, an expert with this mill will visit Liberia in February to train the men on it’s use and care.
•  

 

 

 

Cutting trees in the bush.

 

 

Sawing lumber using an Alaskan mill.

 

Sawyers

 

Alive Liberia Staff with a new chainsaw for cutting lumber. Dec. 2007

 

Drying lumber in the solar kiln

 

 

 

More drying lumber.

 

 

     

 

            Workshop annex and the door to the solar kiln, Hand routing grooves for the door panels.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

Apostle Wilson, Board Chair of Alive Liberia examining the doors.

 

 

 

 

 

Hand sanding a door in the shop.

 

 

 

 

More doors at the shop.

 

 

Peterson Mill at work.  Ours is like this one.

 

 

 

Our mill.

 

 

 

Complete cabinet shop we would like to purchase.  One of the table saws.

We can buy this equipment for $24,000, we need investors.

The included equipment:

 

Table Saws [2]

Band Saw [1]

Disassembled 36" Band Saw [1]

Joiner, 6" [1]

Joiner, 14" [1]

Router, Panel [1]

Planer [1]

Grinder [1]

Air Compressor, large [1]

Pinch Press [1]

Pump, Glue [1]

Pot, Spray [1]

Kerosene Space Heaters (can be used in a lumber dryer)  [2]

Air Conditioners [2]

Clamps, Bar Assortment

Drill Press on Stands, Large [2]

Power Hand Tools, Assortment

Assorted lumber and paint and more items not listed

 

Ford F350 we sent in December to haul wood and supplies. 

 

 

BUV (Basic Utility Vehicle)

 

The Basic Utility Vehicle was developed specifically for developing countries.  That is, a developing country with rough terrain and harsh conditions.  The BUV was developed by a Christian non-profit in the US.  It is the product of years of development by engineers and engineering teams form some of the best engineering schools in the US.  It is not a concept vehicle, it is a reality.  We have shipped two vehicles to Liberia for our use and one other was purchased by a separate mission.  Two are in use now as test vehicles and are being used for various jobs both in town and in the country.  Our goal is to start a micro-factory to make them in Liberia.  This will provide jobs and a mode of transportation that is so important to any kind of growth.  We have a developed business plan and anyone interested in investing should contact us.  We need $100,000 to start this micro-factory.  It will be funded by a joint venture agreement with Americans and Liberians. Profit will be directed as the investors see fit, but we hope funds will be donated from the profits to help Liberians. 

 

 

BUV's in Liberia

 

 

 

 

 

 

Computers/internet Café

 

• Ubuntu, a free operating system, training-  training given to key men  the necessity of using ubuntu was expressed to them so they will use it and go through the learning curve.  Books on Ubuntu were delivered in the last shipment.
• Donations-we have been collecting donated computers from individuals, Monroe County, Owen County and Cook Urological, Inc.   These computers are repaired, refurbished and new operating systems and applications are installed at the mission headquarters.
• Liberian Christian College server-  a computer server and 20 workstations were delivered to Liberian Christian college. 
• Sarbil Community Center  has set up an internet cafe and school for students and the community with computers.  There has been a 1/3 failure rate with the computers we sent.    I believe it is their generator, which is not rated for digital products.  We sent a UPS and power conditioner to alleviate these problems.  What they really need is a good computer rated generator.  We continue to ship computers and parts to the school. 

 

 

The cellular receiver for internet service.  Liberia has an advanced cell system, (G3 for the geeks out there)  better than the U.S. system.  Most people get the internet over the cell phone system. 

 

 

Container Shipments

 

• Two container shipments were delivered in 2007.  One in March and one in October.  The pictures below are from the October shipment. 

• We have a truck in the "We Not Me" shipment program for Liberia.  This is a new program started by Mission Harvest America.  MHA plans 6 shipments a year.  We are participating on the Liberian end with distribution and what ever service we can render.  These shipments operated with shared expense of a number of small consignments. You pay by the pound.  The first shipment left the dock in late December.

 

Loading a container in Spencer, IN

 

Rev. Cole and the container we sent in October.  This is our second container this year.

 

The 20’ container we own.  We shipped the BUV’s and other goods in this container,  It will be filled with doors and shipped back in February of 2008.

 

 

  

Swimming Pool Covers

• We have been picking up used swimming pool covers in Indianapolis .  These covers are extremely heavy plastic and they are used for roofs.  They last a long time and when covered with thatch, they will last indefinitely.  Many churches and schools use them for roofs. 

 

 

Clinics

·        Eye Clinic  At the February Pastor’s conference, a team of eye care professionals gave a on week clinic in Monrovia and on the outskirts of Monrovia.  Over 1000 people were served.  5000 pairs of glasses were given away at the clinic and to the main hospital in Monrovia, John F. Kennedy Hospital. 

·        Plans for free clinic  During 2007 a new member joined us, Joni Woodlee.  Joni has a degree in medical Administration.  She has been spearheading our clinic project.  Joni went to Liberia with me in  April and did a survey of existing clinics and hospitals in Liberia.  She also interviewed nurses and nurse students and go a general feel for the health problems in Liberia.

 

Project Goals

 

The primary goal of this project is to establish a free clinic in Liberia for the poor and destitute.  The scope of the clinic is to provide first level care in common disease (AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera and malaria, dysentery), OB/ post natal, pediatrics, first aid and community health.  The services will be free save for a small  fee (under $1 US) for registration.  Funding will be through grants, gifts and proceeds from mission economic endeavors.

Background

 

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world according to a 2007 World Bank report.  14 years of war has brought this once prosperous, 160 year old, democracy to it's knees.  Post war retreat of major health organizations like Medcines Sans Frontier’s  and the UN WHO have caused health crises in Liberia.  Children have started immunizations and they have stopped, some became reliant to antibiotics in the camps and now cannot get them, mothers give birth to babies in huts without mid-wife or sanitary conditions.   AIDS, estimated at 8% of the population during the war has risen to 12% as returning refugees bring the disease with them.  Malaria is increasing as is cholera and TB.  Government broke and struggling has scant resources for public health or clinics.  Supplies and staff are short to non-existent.  Private clinics charge before the procedure, making health care impossible for the vast majority of citizens who struggle to make $300 US a year.  Unemployment is at 80% and there is little hope for near term improvement.  Infrastructure has collapsed, Monrovia, a city of one million has no water, sewerage or electricity three years after the war ended.  Conditions are even worse in the interior.  Clinics, few in number in the best of times are closed.  Those that are open have no supplies.  Immunizations are available but cannot be distributed for want of refrigeration to keep them viable.  It is the second wave of causalities from the war.

 

Definition

 

A free clinic is just that, free to patients, charging a small registration fee, common in Liberia's few free clinics.  We are proposing this clinic be funded for 5 years.  Preliminary estimates put the price of real property, equipment, supplies and staff at $250,000 to $400,000 US for the period.  Start-up costs are in the $100,000 range and will rely on voluntary labor for building and some staffing.  A location will need to be determined and is somewhat reliant on governmental regulations to put clinics in areas not served.  We are proposing outlaying areas of  Monrovia for this clinic, specifically the Mount Barkley area,  primarily for logistical reasons.  Sister clinics and/or mobile clinics being established as soon as possible in rural areas.  Mount Barkley area has 45,000 people, no clinics and not good water.  One well serves all these people. 

 

Mount Barkley area, former displaced persons camp.

This is a very poor area, just outside of Monrovia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah Kangar

 

Alive Liberia Missions Inc.

 

Written by Sarah Kangar

Alive Liberia Health Director

 

Health Education Awareness Campaign for communities that are seriously been hit by several communicable diseases.

 

 

1.                  INTRODUCTION

 

The civil war that lasted for fifteen years left our health care system in a complete limbo. During the period of the cease-fire between the fighting factions and ECOMOG the peace keeping troop that was provided by ECOWAS; several medical organizations cam to the aid of the Liberian medical communities, they tried in their weak ways to assist the several communities and refugee camps that were created by displaced citizens from all over the country. The many health organizations that came to help our rural brothers and sisters had folded up their operations leaving several communities without no hope of adequate medical care of which they are experiencing very high death rate in our various communities.

 

To be candid our government for now cannot cater to the high rate of medical needs of the various communities especially for those from the rural areas.

The condition of inadequate health care in our various communities is one of the basic causes of the high migration of rural dwellers to the city center.

For example the community of Paynesville which is about ten kilometer square, is overly populated of about 2-4 hundred thousand inhabitants in this community alone, this number does not include the suburb of Paynesville community.

 

It is difficult to believe that within ten kilometer squared one could hardly find one mini clinics that can adequately dispense a professional medical care with in these area.  It is quite pathetic to note that people from the suburbs and the people from the immediate communities are forced to wake up as early as 4: am to register in some of these clinics, which can hardly cater to the amount of patients that usually pull in to these clinics.

Just as the saying goes, the greater the demand the higher the cost, the few clinics that are found within the various communities, I mean private clinics have no other alternative but to charge excessive fees for treatment which most of the patient can not afford.

In one occasion, we were able to visit the Mount Barclay area, which is about 10-15 minutes drive from the Paynesville area, it was pathetic to note that the surrounding villages of that area can boast of a population of over three thousand persons who are managing to living on herbs due to poor medical care that is causing high mortality rate in most of the communities.

 

The death rate within these communities goes skyrocketing almost each and every day due to expired drugs and unqualified medical practitioners that are posing themselves as doctors and nurses in some of these isolated areas.

Alive Liberia Missions Inc, health department took an immediate tour of the various communities within the Paynesville communities and discovered that so many Liberians are dieing due to poor health facility with in the various communities. We once again mobilized our health team headed by our health care Director in person of Madam Sarah Kangar to these various communities to access the prevailing care conditions of the communities.  After the assessment which was sponsored   by the help of the Executive Director of Alive Liberia Missions Inc, we concluded that the situation in these various communities visited is very serious and that we must join our hands with a willing organization to help save lives. We are of the conviction that we as a team can contribute our expertise towards such a worthy cause of providing quality medical care to our people who are in risky medical conditions.

 

Alive Liberia Mission Inc took this issue very seriously and have designed a package to help ease the poor medical condition of our various who are dieing in numbers each day in our various communities.

The package represents a project of two phases. Phrase one will have to do with recruitment and training that will last for two weeks while the health Education or Health awareness programme will last for three months. These steps are all geared towards laying solid foundation for the full implementation of viable clinics in the various communities identified.

 

It is our hope that we will once again bring hope to the hopeless as well as restoring life to the lifeless in the identified communities who have lost hope from viable medical treatment in their communities.

 

We are calling on the Board members of Alive Liberia Missions Inc; to join hands with us in this project to save lives as well as creating clinics that will serve the health needs of the many neglected communities.

 

In our assessment tour, we have identified some structures that can be used for clinics in the communities we anticipated to operate. Some of the structures were once used by some of the medical team that was giving assistance in that area and have folded their operations. Some of them are quite good for a clinic purpose and needs quite a little renovation, while others needs a lot of renovation to put them in a condition that is favorable to be used for a medical purpose.

 

OBJECTIVE

 

We believe that at the end of this programme both the participants and the communities will   benefit greatly from this project as follows:

 

1. It will reduce the high death rate in the various communities and suburb around the identified areas.
   
   
2. The masses or communities would have been sufficiently educated about the danger in the various diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and Sexually Transmitted diseases.
   
   
3. The campaign will break the stigma and ignorance of the effect of most of these diseases such as STD, AIDS and Cholera.
   
   
4. This campaign is aimed at producing desirable health workers both formal and informally to contribute to the health care management of their various communities.
   
   
5. This awareness campaign will also educate the community of the hazardous results we get from breeding mosquitoes in our surrounding especially when we keep our environments dirty.
   
   
6. The deadly killer in our communities, Cholera will be handle easily with medical practitioners around to handle such cases immediately.
   
   
7. The communities would have been educated adequately of how to identify expired drugs.
   
   
8. Preventive measures of how one should maintain and care for themselves of the sexually transmitted diseases HIV, AIDS will form part of the major session during this training-therefore, the use of condom would have once again be part of the lessons taught.
   
   
9. A system of revolving fund drive will be taught and implemented in the various communities to help reduce the cost of drugs in the various communities.
   
   
10. Participants will be drown from the various communities which will make the operations much more easier and they will be aquatinted with the history conditions of the patients in their communities.

 

METHODOLOGY

 

This project proposal has been divided into two phases:

1.      Recruitment and Training

2.      Implementation of Health Awareness Campaign

 

1.                  RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING

 

The team of health practitioners of ALIVE LIBERIA MISSIONS INC had identified four (4) vulnerable communities that really need the help of this organization.  It was also designed to occupy four participants from each selected community; therefore sixteen participants are expected to form the training session or recruitment of phase one.

 

The second phase will bring together the four communities; Morris’ Farm, Soul Clinic, Bernard Farm and Mount Barclay representatives of the sixteen participants. This group will commence training from the September 17, 2007 to September 21,2007.The training is expected to run for five days.

 

2.                  Implementation of health awareness campaign

1.      The 16 participants will be trained to fully engage in the education of the various communities of the effects and possible precautions towards STD/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis; four major killer diseases in Liberia. During this campaign, participants are expected to use megaphones or loud speakers to inform the communities about the danger they can possibly incur from these diseases. They are expected to also display visual aids for those especially who can not read and write, distribute condoms as well as medicated mosquito bed nets and to teach them of the sanitary conditions of their areas as well as cut down bushes with either cutlasses, hoes and diggers where necessary.

 

 

CONCLUSION

It is our expectation that at the end of the nearly four months period, viable health care services would have begun within the various communities.

During our assessment trip to Mount Barclay, an old building previously used as a distribution warehouse for the UNHCR has been spotted and ear marked for a possible renovation to serve as a clinic for the people of Mount Barclay and surrounding villages which population we can well estimate to be some 3,000 plus persons. Before our aspirations for reviving health in these communities can become a reality, it is our hope that God continues to give us the strength to arrive at our imagined destination.

 

• Nurses scholarships- 4 women have been receiving help for tuition to nursing school.
• Reading Glasses-IN April we handed out reading glasses in the village of Jesajudu.  These were donated in a program initiated by Nancy King.

Jeff and Joni at giving reading glasses to villagers.

 

 

 

Charcoal maker

 

Charcoal is a major farm industry in Liberia.  Charcoal is used for cooking, ironing clothes and heating water in most urban area homes.  IN Liberia charcoal is made using the very ancient mound system.  This process takes up to a month and has low yield.  It is also dangerous, many people loose their lives when they fall through the dirt covering into voids created by wood reduction on large charcoal mounds.  These mounds can be up to 20 feet high and 30 feet in diameter.  We have developed a modern charcoal retort to make charcoal in a day compared to a month.  It is also safe to use and more efficient. 

 

We built a small pilot system and tested it this year.  It performed well. 

 

In April I explained the concept and design to our Liberian counterparts and shopped for a large 2000 gallon tank.  Due to monetary constraints, a large retort has yet to be built.  This is planned for 2008.

 

Rendering of a portable charcoal kiln and retort using a 2000 gallon steel tank.

 

 

 

Construction drawing of retort.

 

 

 

 

CD Recording

 

In April, I recorded three choirs in Edwin Boah’s new church.  I found the acoustics there to be very good and a 21 song CD was produced of both traditional Bassa songs and English language hymns.  This CD is available for $15.00 to help support the mission.

 

 

 

 

Christian Entertainment Center

 

  Christian Entertainment Center will provide family oriented entertainment and educational material with a Christian message.  The Christian Entertainment Center will also incorporate an Internet café and concessions stand.  The building will be used for multiple purposes such as a school in the morning and neighborhood meeting facility.  The theaters will employ and all digital format, based on the latest industry trends.  The  Christian Entertainment Center will be wholly supported and maintained through donations.  Excess donations will be used to support individual members selected non-profit needs.  Individual members will loan the  Christian Entertainment Center initial start-up funds at no interest and will be repaid start up loans in three years from the inception of the Joint Venture Agreement.

 

Business opportunity

  Christian Entertainment Center was created to fulfill a need for family entertainment and Christian evangelism in Liberia.   Movies are very popular in Liberia, unfortunately, there are no family-friendly theaters showing general rated movies or Christian themed films.  Soccer games will also be shown on selected days and evenings.  Theaters in Liberia are makeshift buildings using poor equipment.  There are no American style theaters with clean well maintained facilities.  We intend to fulfill this need.  Additional revenue will be generated through the attached internet café, American style concessions and rental to community and church groups.  All excess donations will go to mission related projects or member non-profits, including but not limited to, churches,clinics, schools, scholarships and humanitarian aid.  Investment opportunities include a onetime interest free loan or continued interest in the endeavor. 

 

Financial projections (based on three theaters)