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.