Reality

I have been here for almost 3 weeks and still I find myself shocked to see the thousands of men, women and children in the streets selling whatever they can to make money to survive. Stunned seeing the thousands of malnourished children that are sick from the environment that they are forced to live in, witnessing people living in conditions that you would never think is possible. There are houses that are surrounded by filth, water that is contaminated with feces, urine, oil and trash.
We met with a man who works for Public Works and he told me that the sewage system was built for 300-500 thousand people. There is a slight problem there are well over a million people living in Monrovia....no wonder the pipe lines get backed up. The overflow is all over the city, next to people's homes, on the streets where people are selling and where people are walking.
Here I am an American citizen who has been submerged into an unfamiliar culture. I have had to adapt to the food, the lack of clean water, the customs, suffering children, disease and heartbreaking requests that seem so simple but yet they are complicated. The need all around the world is so great....maybe you're like me and question where to start. We have to do something...we can't sit by and allow these children to die from preventable diseases! It is 2008 and people should not be living in these conditions. No man, woman or child should go to bed hungry....yet millions of people all around the world do everyday. I write all of this because we see it on the news, we read about it in books, but this is reality! We need to WAKE UP and start helping these people in anyway possible.

A Test

My faith and trust was tested before I arrived in Liberia and continues while I'm here. Over the last week I have been writing about a little girl named Patience, a child who lives in Duala. Every time I go into the village she always finds her place right next to me. However I didn't realize that this little one was being used to test me once again. I couldn't stop thinking about this child and I was very emotional when I would think about this little girl. The enemy was using this little girl as a distraction as he knows my heart for children; he knows that I can be distracted by the desire to adopt. I shared this with Adam one night telling him how I can't bare the thought of leaving this child behind. The next day I was thinking about the situation and how I might be tested with this situation. Then that night it was reconfirmed in an email that was sent to me by Adam. If it was the Lord that was guiding me to this little one then I would not have been so confused, emotional and uneasy. The Lord would have been preparing me to take her home. My job for now is to give her and the other children unconditional love while I am here. As I have been told by my father....God is the author of perfection, not confusion. I have to trust that in God's time my desire to adopt will be fulfilled.

Frustration

Things have been happening this past week that have gotten everyone a little frustrated. Getting the community members to corporate and help build the toilets have been like pulling teeth. They feel entitled to get paid for every little thing that they do. Granted on one hand I understand that they need to make money but on the other hand this toilet is for the community so volunteering wouldn’t kill them either. Some of the community members were upset that they are going to have to pay to use the toilets where as the toilets that they are using now is free of charge for community members. We have been trying to explain to the men and women that the money that is collected will be used to maintain the toilets and keep them clean and working. If there were no charge to use the new toilets then they would be destroyed by the community members and the market sellers. There have been many rumors that have been spreading throughout the community such as an NGO is building the toilets and will be giving out other free goodies as well, there was a rumor that an NGO was going to build toilets in every house and the most recent rumor was that we were building the toilets only for a specific church. Getting this community organized has been difficult and I’m hoping that this will soon pass and we can start the workshops. It is difficult to help people who aren't helping themselves. I’m hoping tomorrow being a holiday and everything being closed for the Independence celebration we can relax and refocus our energy towards getting this project finished. The toilet will be opening in less than 3 weeks and there is so much to do.

The Big Picture

I have been writing about some of the children who have captured my heart and today I visited the orphanage where my brother James lived. It was emotional walking into the house where my precious brother once stayed. It was great meeting PTO, Ezekiel, Eray, Marco, Josephine and all of the children. They danced and sang for me....we had plenty of fun.
I have been thinking a lot lately about why this country is the way it is and why in 2008 we have people living in poverty.Why are parents willingly giving their children up for adoption and why the country is in the state of brokenness. I'm having a hard time understanding the mindset of the people here. There is no cooperation, no sense of community and no motivation to better themselves partly because there is no opportunity (if you get a chance read Andrea and Adam's comments under my post I Love You....it is very encouraging).
This is all happening for a reason but we can't see the big picture. God has asked many of us to do some crazy things....to step out of our comfort zone and to obey and trust him. I thought of how He knows the future and provides our needs ahead of time. I thought of how He can soften hearts and how I can trust in Him for every situation. He sees the big picture, when all I see is what is right in front of me. I need to rely on Him when the future looks scary. I need to say “yes” to whatever He asks of me, instead of arguing based on my limited view. I can only have a big picture of life when I see it through His eyes. That truth continues to bring me peace....even in the midst of this crazy, mixed-up and broken world.

I Love You

As I sit and reflect on the time I spent with Love yesterday, I came to the realization that change needs to occur for children like her. She has so much going for her, she is smart, athletic and most of all genuine. From the moment she ran up to me in the market until the time she went home all she wanted was someone to pay attention to her. Unfortunately she has a path that has been set before her. I pray that she does not end up like most of the women here in Liberia....submissive to men, uneducated and abused. I hope that a family choses to adopt her and take her away from here so that she is able to be a child and have a chance at life.
This is why change needs to happen soon - the children of Liberia are not able to act like children as most of them are helping their mothers sell in the markets or they are watching after their little siblings. Most of the men and women have become numb so that they do not have to feel pain, shame and lonliness. I have not seen one mother or father show affection towards their child since I have been here. I was showing the children the sign for I love you. I asked a little girl if her parents ever tell her that they love her. She told me that she has never heard those words before. My heart broke for this child who has never heard the words I love you. These children have a right to act like children, to have an education, to live in a safe environment and most of all grow up in a loving environment.

I have never seen rain like this!

It started raining on Saturday night and poured all of Sunday. I have never seen rain like this ever. The people keep telling me that this rain was nothing and it will rain harder in August. It rained so hard that the fish pond was overflowing and was poring into the wetlands. The neighbor's backyeard was totally underwater.
I was told that many people lost their homes in Monrovia. There is no drainage system here so the communities at the bottom the the hills were underwater. I went into the city today and most of the water is gone. It is still a mess however with all of the mud everywhere. Down in Duela the market place was a complete mud pit. I was walking and steped into what I thought was a puddle and sank about a good 2 feet into a mud hole. It sacred the living daylights out of me! The smell in Duela was unreal! I have been video taping so when I get back many of you can see what I have been up to. I saw Decontee (Vengee's mother) and I asked if her home was ok and she said it was and so was Vengee's grandmother's home was ok as well. Please pray for the people in Liberia as this is one more thing that they need to worry about. Below is an article that was released from IRIN:

21 July 2008 - Monrovia, Liberia: Intense and heavy rainfall in the Liberian capital Monrovia on 20 July caused the worst floods on record in Monrovia and forced nearly 1,000 people out of their houses, Liberian authorities told IRIN.

All day Sunday, residents in eastern areas of the city including in Paynesville, Townhalk, King Gray, Fish Market and other communities were seen removing personal belongings like mattresses, clothes and pots from their homes. By the end of the day, flood water had blocked roads to the area, and government rescue workers were using canoes to evacuate the remaining people from the flood areas.

"Right now, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs along with the Red Cross has been assisting in evacuating the flood affected residents to safer locations and as a temporary measure the government has relocated those residents to shelter in nearby schools," Liberia's Chief Medical Officer Bernice Dahn told IRIN on 21 July.

"With close to 1,000 persons displaced this is the worst flood we have experienced in this city," she said.

Meteorologists have warned that the entire West Africa region is likely to receive above average levels of rainfall in 2008. Floods have already been recorded this year in countries including Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso.

However Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acting executive director Jerome Nyenka told IRIN that the cause of the Monrovia flood is due to what he called "encroachment of human habitations on wetlands" as much as the level of rainfall.

"In this case, we have been able to gather that the affected areas are swamps. Because people have erected structures on those wetlands it prevented the flow of water and caused the floods," he said.

Dahn said the health ministry is already liaising with several of the international aid agencies which have presences in Monrovia to coordinate assistance to the flood victims.

I made a mistake

In my last blog I wrote about a precious child and I got her name mixed up with another child. When I went back into Duela today she came running up to me and gave me a big hug....her name is Patience. This child for some reason has captured my heart. I can't stop thinking about her and I have been praying constantly for her. Please pray for me as for guidance and clarity over what God has in store for me.

This is unacceptable

On our way to the site where our project is being implemented I noticed how many people there were on the streets. I have never seen so many people in my life...and remember I live in Southern California. The reported population of Monrovia is 1.2 million people. I think that this number is not accurate at all and I say this for two reasons. First, there are people around every corner, down every alley way, along the streets...there are people everywhere so it would be impossible to go door to door assessing how many people live in each house. Second, I went to a conference that the Ministry of Health held to discuss the different aspects of the health field which included Basic Health Service Package, Human Resource, Infrastructure and Support Systems. During the conference it was mentioned that there is no birth registry or death registry in Liberia and most of these people do not vote so the government has no way of knowing how many people are living in the country.
We went to Duela where the DUCOR project being built. There was a stakeholders meeting scheduled for 12:00 - I knew that we were not going to start at 12:00 because we are on Liberian time. Jeminie and I decided that we would go through the town and gather the women to come join the meeting so we left for about 45 minutes. We came back and waited around until the pastor of the church and the school principle arrived. The meeting started at 2:00 (I told you it was going to be late). We discussed the probject and what we were going to need from the community and our agenda for the next week. After that I met many of the village women and saw the living conditions of these people who are at the bottom of the society ladder. No human being should have to live in the conditions that these men, women and children live in. These people need help so desperately. Imagine this (remember this description is not even close to what it is like because you can't smell the smell of the village and your mind can't even imagine the living conditions)....they have no running water, no electricity, the only way to get clean water is to pay $5 US dollars for a 5 gallon container, the women and men work 14 hour days getting supplies for the women to sell in the market place. The women work a 12-14 hour day just sitting at the market trying to sell whatever they have to make any amount of money. They usually do not leave the market place (not even to go to the bathroom) because they need to make money. These market women make about $1 a day if they are lucky so that means $30 a month. The children usually go to school but not always and if they don't go to school then they run around the village.
There are no "toilets" the only toilets they have are dirty and not even toilets, the feces runoff goes right into the river. The village obviously has no drainage system so when it rains the river rises bringing all of the feces, urine, etc back into the village. I will never forget the smell of this village. It smelled like trash, standing water, feces and urine from the villagers and animals, burning trash and marsh all rolled together. Some of the children are running around with no shoes on so they are basically walking in sewage water with mud, urine, bacteria, etc. in it. The clothes they are wearing (if they are wearing any at all) are dirty and old. There is trash everywhere because they don't have anywhere to put it. These market women make about $1 a day if they are lucky so that means $30 a month.
After the meeting we stayed in the village and talked with the people. Of course I was drawn to the children and so I talked with them, sang with them, took pictures of them and gave them candy. A mother came up to me and asked if I would take her sick child because she could not care for her. Looking into this innocent child's eyes broke my heart and having to tell the mother that I would not take her child was even harder. All this mother wants is for her child to be healthy and live a long life. In Liberia the life expectancy is 42 for women and 40 for men. This is unbelievable that people only live until their early 40's. If this was true in America I would have lost my parents many years ago (sorry mom and dad) but to think by the age of 35 the people of Liberia have lived most of their life.
There was a precious little girl who was 4 years old and she followed me everywhere I went. I asked her what her name was and the other children told me that she doesn't talk. I bent down so I could look her in the eyes and asked her what her name was and she told me it was Faith. She was the most beautiful little girl with big brown eyes. If I could have taken her home with me I would have in a heartbeat. She took my hand and did not let go until I got in the car to go home. If another child wanted to hold my hand she put her arms around my leg. My heart hurts for these men, women and children...these innocent little ones who do not know of anyother way life except the one they live day after day in these horrible living conditions. I came home and just cried for these people. They do not have any hope, any joy but when we came into the village and spent time with the women and played with the children just for a moment they had smiles on their faces, joy in their eyes and it made my day knowing that these women and children felt loved from total strangers.

God of this City

I went to Passion in LA this past year and there was a song that was sung. As soon as I heard the lyrics I was touched by the song. Reading the lyrics this song applies to any city but for me personally it makes me thinks of Africa - a country that is in dire need of help. These people have been forgotten, children left behind to survive on their own. Here is the link to the song....check it out!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk

Meeting Vengee's Mother

Today I was sitting in the kitchen talking and Mends came up and told me Vengee's mother was here to see me. I knew that I was going to see her but I didn't know when she was going to come to the compound. When Mends told me that she was here and waiting for me my heart started racing....how do you prepare to meet and talk to a mother who she loved so much that she was willing to give her up for adoption so that she could live? I said a prayer and asked for guidance as I was nervous. I went and grabbed the video camera, the pictures as well as the supplies my father sent for her to sell. When I saw Decontee I was immediately comforted and there was a peace that was with me. I went to give her a hug and she seemed a little uncomfortable. She is the smallest thing ever....she is shorter than me and maybe weight 100 pounds soaking wet. Vengee looks exactly like her from her eyes to her smile...even her teeth. I told her how excited I was to meet her and she started asking tons of questions about Vengee, James, Nan and my dad. I showed her the pictures of Vengee and James and her face lit up. All she kept saying was "there is my baby....she looks so so happy." As we went through the pictures we came to a picture of Vengee's bedroom. Decontee made a comment how she was so happy that Vengee was sleeping in a bed because she doesn't even have a bed to sleep on. Those pictures meant the world to her as she told me she was so worried about her surgery. I then showed her the video of Vengee and she started to cry...not from sadness but she was overjoyed that her precious daughter was alive and not sick anymore. She repeated over and over again "Praise God she is all better". She even commented on how big she was and I told her that she has gained weight since her surgery. Decontee stayed with me for 3 hours. We (Abagail, Princess, Decontee and I) went through all of the supplies that my dad and Nan sent and added up how much she would make and it came to $130 US dollars. That is a lot of money...the average income here is $30 US dollars a month. As we sat there and she became more comfortable with me she shared that when Vengee was living with her she was in the hospital all of the time because she was so sick and the doctors there gave Decontee a letter stating that Vengee had a heart problem that needed to be fixed. Decontee then went from doctor to doctor begging someone to help her and was constantly turned down because she has no money and nobody was able to help her with Vengee. The people in the town told Decontee that she was crazy if she thought any doctor would help her because she has no money to pay for help. That is when Decontee said she decided to give Vengee up for adoption. Then the people in the town started telling Decontee how the people who would adopt her would never let her see Vengee again and that the parents were adopting her to sell Vengee's kidneys in America. So after Vengee was taken back to America people started spreading rumors how Decontee was paid to give Vengee to Americans and now she is buying clothes with the money that she was given. The mindset of the people here is so different and it is due to the lack of education. People here don't understand what adoption means. Decontee said that she was going to take the pictures back to all of these people and show them that Vengee is fine and that her parents are good to Vengee as well as herself. Decontee called Vengee's father and I spoke to him. He lives in Bomie County which I will be going to on Saturday and I told him that I would come see him and show him pictures and a video of Vengee. Decontee asked me when she could see me again and I asked if she would come to church with me on Sunday. She agreed and I told her I would like to go see her at Old Road so that I can see where she lives and the Market. She told me where to find her at Old Road. I also plan to see Vengee's Grandma and Grace. Meeting Decontee was such a wonderful experience and listening to her talk about Vengee it sounds like she has a real peace with the decision she made a year ago to give her precious daughter up for adoption.

Hello From Liberia

Hello Friends and Family!
After a long trip from Orange County to Chicago, to Brussels, to Ivory Coast to Monrovia I made it here safe and sound! I had an interesting day traveling over to Liberia....I have to say I met some very interesting people along the way and I was shocked when I had to chose between lamb or fish as a meal on the plane....they don't serve that in the US.
Liberia is everything that I was told it would be - beautiful, distinct smell, beautiful people and mysterious. I arrived at sunset so I wasn't able to see much of the town driving to the compound but from what I could see it is nothing like I imagined. There are men, women and children walking on the side of the road, people sitting on their front porches using candles for light and the roads have tons of potholes in them. Their driving here makes me a little nervous. If I had to compare it I would say its like driving in Tijuana mixed with drivers from Leisure World....scary I know. I was able to talk with Francis on the drive home and he is so passionate about helping the people here. He has a great vision and I feel privaliged to be working with him and his team. Tomorrow we will be going to a Health Conference....that is if we can sneak in then we will be going to the market place. I'm so excited to begin this exciting adventure. I will post pictures as soon as I can!

I'm amazed

Reflecting over the past week I can't help but just stand in total amazement. God is so good and has orchestrated my trip so beautifully. From the email that I received from Francis to the confirmation from Maria that this is what I am supposed to be doing to even the generous offer from my good friend Jen....I am in total awe! To see the way God is working even before I leave just blows me away. This past weekend I was with my family and most of them kept asking if I am scared to be traveling alone. Honestly I'm not and it is the best feeling to be going with s sense of peace that only God can give. I am excited to be able to use the gifts that God has given me to help his people. In Psalm 37:4 it says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." I have wanted this for so long and I still can't believe that I am finally getting the chance to do what I'm passionate about. There are times when I try to imagine what it's going to be like while I'm in Liberia but my mind can't even fathom what it's going to be like. I'm excited to share with you what will happen once I leave Orange County....hold on this is going to be an adventure of a lifetime!

Putting my hard earned education to use

I received an email on Sunday night from a man named Francis and he works with DUCOR Waste Management (DUCOR) and the Liberia Environmental Action Fund (LEAF). They are partnering with WACSN in a few areas dealing with safe water, sanitation, hygiene and public health. He asked if I would be interested in working with him on a couple of projects that he is working on. The projects include the building of sustainable community pour-flush toilets and wells in Peri-urban market communities to help improve living conditions, remove health hazards and prevent environmental degradation. They are wanting to educate Monrovia’s market communities (mostly women and children) in matters of public health, recycling and the proper handling and disposal of waste.
I was floored when I received this email because this is similar to the project that I'm developing (educating of women on the importance of water sanitation and proper hygiene practice) for school. Of course I emailed him back saying I would be delighted to work with him and help him in anyway possible. My trip is coming together and I'm getting more and more excited as the time comes for me to leave. Now the only thing I need to worry about is getting IRB approval before I leave and packing! 11 more days....