We invite you to join with us in walking for the kids of Liberia. Your personal involvement in our walk allows our kids to have an education that they would not otherwise ever be able to afford. We believe that education will change the future of Liberia. With a few small steps at a time we can make a difference!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Monday, January 17, 2011

Meet Kula's Family

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Meet Kula. She is a beautiful five year old attending Child Foundation Academy.  She dreams of becoming a doctor someday and with Science being her favorite subject, she just might be!  This was not always the case for Kula.   You see, Kula is one of the thousands of girls in Liberia whose family finds school tuition very difficult.  Even though Momo, (Kula's father) works a job he still earns less than $2 USD a day.  This income makes school tuition take a "backseat" to the importance of feeding his family this month.  Yet, we know that in a war-torn country such as Liberia the way forward is education.


Kula is the reason the Liberian Literacy Program was started.  You see, I made a promise to Momo that I would find a way to see that Kula did indeed receive an education.  What started as a promise to a little girl and her father has turned into a program that currently has almost 30 students being educated!  I want to see Kula graduate someday...in spite of poverty and  family obligations.  I want to see her life changed so she can influence and inspire other girls.  Did you know that of the children who actually attend school in Liberia, only around 30-47% are girls?  We need to change that statistic.

This is Kula's family. Kebbeh(mother), Momo(father) Kula, and Momo Jr.(brother).  They are standing outside of their family home in Congo Town.



This is Kula with her teacher.  This is what Kula's teacher says about her.  "Kula is always regular in school and participates in class.  She is doing well in school and is an honor roll student."  She also mentioned that she is proud of the whole family for their involvement in Kula's education.






A couple of pictures of Kula being her sweet, cute ol' self in class.





And these last couple of pictures show Kula at home.  This is how she studies during after school hours.  Studying at night always poses a challenge for the kids.  With this program we are striving to change the lives of a couple hundred students.  With your help we can make this happen!

The parents of Kula wish to express their appreciation to you for helping them in reaching the goal of education in their family.  They said things are going along nicely with school and pray that you will continue to support the program so they can see her continue in school.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Wallace Helping Hands School


The School was founded in September 2007 by Madame Mary G. Jabbah. The purpose of opening the school was to help children who were out of school due to financial constraints. Also, to help disabled children who needed to be included into the activities of all the children in the nation, Liberia. The school program is extended to children who are disabled, orphans, and way war. The school currently has 67 students, including 6 disabled, and 10 orphans. There are also 7 teachers and the number of teachers is expected to increase. Challenges/Needs: The school has an 11-classroom building under construction as funds allow. There are no text books, sitting capacity for students, feeding for orphans and disabled, registration of the school with national government, etc. The need is great.

The above is a paragraph describing the school from our Liberian program director. This is just a portion of the email but definitely worth sharing with you. The need at this school IS great! The really neat thing though is they can someday build a school here because they already have the land.

And here are the children that attend the school. I love this picture! These kids are amazing kids, really. They are coming to school without desks, textbooks or having a daily meal they can count on. And the crowding?? Talk about spreading the cold and flu quickly! I try to put myself there as a child and wonder what I would have been like...

The staff at this school bring the disabled school children with them. Every day. This is what it means to be "the hands and feet of Jesus." Thank you Liberia staff for your dedication and loving your kids this much!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Noah's Ark is Sold

There has been some interest in Liberian carvings of this type expressed through email. I am willing to order them and distribute them when our team has come back from a trip. Anyone interested can email me through the link at the top of the page.
This is the Noah's Ark that I mentioned previously. ALL the sets that we ordered only had 5 animals and for some reason they did not have two of each animal. This is my last set. I will be bringing more items back from Liberia on my next trip.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Sold!

The nativity has now found a new home. To the interested families who wanted the nativity, thanks for your interest. I do have a Noah's Ark from Liberia and may be interested in selling that one too. I will check it out and possibly post a picture of it here if you want to see it. Thanks!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Liberian Nativity Scene

 
An important part of our Christmas decorating every year is to put up our Liberian nativity set.  I love setting it up. It is one of my favorite carvings brought back from Liberia.  As I was getting ready to wrap it up and put it away for another year I got to thinking...I also have this one..


This particular set was shipped from Liberia and the staff was broken when it arrived. We glued it back together with wood glue and tucked all the pieces away and left it in a box. So, I thought instead of storing it longer maybe I should offer it here. So here's my offer..if you make a donation for a child to go to school (25.00 would cover the cost of one child to attend Lightstream Academy) then I will send you this nativity set. If there is anyone out there who might like this as a keepsake from Liberia, leave me a comment and donation and I will send it to you! Thanks!