Graduation and on to College!

CRM Director Sam Kargbo sent these wonderful pictures of children graduating from the CRM elementary school that serves orphans at CRM and children in the surrounding community. The children pictured in their graduation garb will continue their schooling at a community high school in Paynesville, a suburb of Monrovia where CRM is located.

The great pictures also held good news from a CRM alum who has been introduced in previous entries on this blog. Hawa, a war orphan who was raised at the CRM orphanage, is the lovely young woman pictured with one of the gowned graduates. She has served as a role model, big sister and best friend to other children at CRM since she arrived as an orphaned toddler. Hawa enters University of Liberia in December to begin pre-nursing studies to eventually reach her career goal of resident health care professional for CRM. Graduation at CRM was really a great event for all!

The pictures were accompanied by the following message from CRM Director Sam Kargbo:

"Greetings and best wishes to you all. Please find attached photos of the July, 2009 graduation at CRM. This is all because you care."

Sniff, sniff - sentimental and touching - just like in-person graduations!

Gearing Up to Go Again

Ever since the LOEP Teacher Training Team returned from the February, 2009 training, we have been preparing for the 2010 training. After a brief two-week period to settle back into regular routines last March, we got going again. Since then a new training team has been assembled and has designed a new training program for 2010. It has been particularly busy these past couple of months. Gathering donated school supplies, working on equipment and producing training materials to send ahead in the shipment has made for a busy summer. Because of shipping schedules, we have to have most of the training program completely packed up and sent off so it can be there waiting for our arrival in January, 2010.

One of our friends is a devoted mission supporter who has chosen to spend her retirement giving to others through her own type of mission work. Mary Stokes, pictured below, makes amazing items to send to Mexico, Jamaica and Liberia. She has friends all over the world who keep in touch with her and send her pictures of her wonderful donations being used in schools, orphanages, clinics and hospitals in farflung places. In addition to keeping her sewing machine busy making useful items, Mary purchases school supplies to send to orphans in orphans schools in Liberia. This week-end we arranged to be with Mary and picked up the equivalent of two carloads of stuff she has purchased and made to send to Liberian children. Some of her donations will be used for the 2010 teacher training. Mary is a real inspiration and one of many whose compassion allows for generous support so LOEP can continue education support programs.

Family is Business in Liberia

This link leads to a fine account of business in Liberia and why business development is so critical to stabilizing the nation. It is also a very moving statement about industriousness, conscientousness and family loyalty and responsibility in Liberia.
http://karenbulthuis.blogspot.com/

4-H in Liberia

One piece of advice we received before we left was to take pictures of home and family with us to Liberia to show our hosts. We dutifully made up albums of our children and families and one of my photos featured a 4-H barn with the 4-H clover symbol painted on the side (it is the centerpiece building of the Southwestern 4-H Center where Win - Emmalee's brother - works). When Mrs. Rosa Allen saw that picture her eyes lit up and she exclaimed "Oh, 4-H!". Then she burst into song. As it turned out, 4-H played a big part in her childhood and she has very fond memories of it. She even remembered the 4-H song she learned in 6th grade.
We spent some time sharing 4-H stories - Rosa raised rabbits, planted gardens and developed a rice field, she said. It was clear from her enthusiasm that Rosa had wonderful memories of 4-H and it played a very large and positive part in her childhood. She asked if it would be possible to bring 4-H to Lott Carey School and establish a 4-H Club there for the students.
It occurred to us that Rosa singing the 4-H song should be captured on film. Several days later, after she overcame some reluctance and rehearsed a bit, she allowed us to record her rendition of the childhood song and submitted to a brief interview.
This lady really loves 4-H!

Mrs. Allen is a very fine school administrator. She coordinated the teacher training workshop and supervised the library children's section renovation when the LOEP team was there. This video was done in the book storage room as we unpacked boxes of donated books and worked on the library project.

If it can be done with polio, why not malaria

The World Health Organization announced the other day that it is launching a polio vaccination campaign in selected counties in Liberia. The Liberian counties where children will be vaccinated are adjacent to the border of Guinea where there has been an outbreak of polio. The initiative in Liberia is a preventative measure to keep Liberia polio-free - there have been no cases there since 2006, according to WHO officials.

If vaccinations can keep Liberia polio-free just think what those sleeping nets could do against malaria if every child had them.

Cause for Creation

Supporting educational efforts for orphans and vulnerable children in Liberia requires a network of partners and a whole lot of dedicated, committed folks. One of LOEP's partners is Cause for Creation, a business of artist Char Turner whose original artwork is 100 percent dedicated to children in Liberia. Char's art work has made an enormous difference in the lives of children in Liberia. Sales of her original prints and handmade cards have funded bunk beds for children at AAMOM, a library at CRM, teacher training at Lott Carey Mission School and countless other projects that have directly benefitted the health and welfare of orphans in Liberia. Check out her web site. Turner original prints make a stunning impact matted and framed on the wall. Cause for Creation greeting cards are a beautiful statement of compassion for the receiver and make a difference in the lives of children.

Link to Cause for Creation: http://causeforcreation.wordpress.com/

Getting ready

The picture shows Rev. Sam-Peal unpacking the Classroom-in-a-Box units used for the LOEP teacher Training in February, 2009. The Classroom-in-a-Box units were packed in Summer, 2008, shipped in October 2008, and unpacked in February, 2009 when we arrived in Liberia for training.

The Classroom-in-a-Box units each contain subject-specific materials - one is math/science and the other language arts/social studies, for example. This particular pair of units also shared a "Teddy Bears" theme based on the generous donation of 30plus teddy bears from a Fredericksburg merchant and donation of hand made costumes for each bear from a LOEP supporter. The Language arts/social studies unit included story books and instructional materials with bears and woodland themes. The math/science unit included "counting bears" color/counting games (top picture) and environmental lessons on preserving bear and other animal habitat. Part of the learning process for young children is creative play and teddy bears with fancy, fun costumes certainly filled a good part of that requirement.

LOEP training is based on subject matter and focused on how students learn so each classroom-in-a-box unit is filled with instructional materials and companion lesson plans that are coordinated with the concepts and principles in the LOEP Teacher Training. This means that our training program, training materials and the classroom-in-a-box units have to be ready months in advance for shipment so all will be there and ready when we arrive in Liberia for the training.

Developing a single LOEP Teacher training requires a full 12 month timeline

We have been preparing since April for the next training trip in January, 2010, putting together the first shipment of instructional materials. School supply donations are coming in and every evening we are sorting and packing for the first May shipment - we will deliver it to the shipper this week-end for shipment next week from Baltimore, MD. A second September-October, 2009 shipment of training handbooks, training guides and instructional materials for hands-on teaching and demonstrating will follow this Fall.

The January, 2010 training is geared to teachers in upper Elementary, Middle and High School grades so the themes and materials are very different from cute little costumed bears.

All the same, packing on this side and opening boxes on the other side is like Christmas!