From orphans to senators...

We visited Children's Relief Ministry orphanage and school on Monday. The children were out of class on recess when we arrived and greeted us very warmly.
They loved playing with the camera, or course.
Ms. King is a LOEP trained teacher. She teaches first grade at CRM.


The cooks in the kitchen were busy preparing the meal for the children.

After about an hour and a half, we decided we had disrupted the school day long enough and had to leave to make it to another appointment.

Our friend Bea is interning at the House of Representatives this year. The Liberian government is structured much like the USA. (I learned quite a bit observing Mr. Wesseh's fifth grade social studies class!)There are three governmental branches: Executive, Legistlative, and Judiciary. The Legislative Branch consists of the Senate (two senators from each county), and the House of Representatives (representation currently based on county population, although there is some movement afoot to change that). Bea works with the Honorable Rep. Fohr from Montserrado County. We toured the house and joint chambers with Bea and Rep. Fohr. It was quite an interesting day!
Rep. Fohr, Bea, and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates (USA), our own Karen Darner


We even had an opportunity to sit in on a joint senate committee hearing. Coincidentally, it was a committee hearing regarding the proposed Children's Rights Act. In addition to the senate committee present, there were also members of the house, members of various ministries (including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Sports and Youth), the Liberia Female Lawyers Association, and Liberia Democratic Institute.