Greetings From TLP Children's Village

TLP Missions Trip 2008 

This is our 3rd Missions trip to Liberia in the past 4 years so I have a good idea of what to expect but I am looking mostly for what has changed.  The airport has a new coat of paint and other than 3 of our bags not arriving; the entry into West Africa is smoother than ever. We then travel down the newly repaved highway towards Paynesville. The Chinese are here with some new paving and construction equipment and are training the Liberians on their use it so they can rebuild their infrastructure. We make the turn at the ELWA corner and soon we see street lights. These are all sights that have not been seen in Liberia in nearly 20 years.  These are all signs of restoration and hope for postwar Liberia. For those eager to return to the life they once lived, things aren't happening fast enough. There is a mild appreciation of what is happening but there is an even greater sense of impatience.   

After a little over an hour's drive we pull up to the newly painted security wall that now completely surrounds the 8 acre campus around TLP. It is dark already and we can see the lights accenting the top of the wall. It’s a beautiful sight but it will be a few days before I fully appreciate what an incredible blessing this fence will be.  

It is no wonder that TLP is rated the number one orphanage in Liberia. John and his team have done an amazing job of doing so much with so little. They have all worked overtime to ensure the Campus is ready to receive the Canadian team. We are impressed! 

l must confess that I feel a bit guilty when people admire us for coming all the way to Africa to risk our lives and live in such harsh conditions in order to help the hurting children. The reality is that I feel perfectly safe in these almost luxurious conditions (at least for this part of the world). These people do everything for us and do so with such grace and love that it is humbling. They continually thank us for coming and for sacrificing so much. In reality it is they that give so much of their time energy and resources for the sake of this ministry.  Our contribution is "small small" (Liberian for very little) in comparison.  

It's not that it’s easy to come here. It is way too hot. The humidity is a killer and you really realize how much you miss a hot shower, the electricity you take for granted or even the corner store. These people make do without all of this as well as many other North American conveniences. Life is hard here and their total day is spent on survival.  

When you arrive in a country that is so foreign to what you know at home, the first thing you naturally do is to focus on all the differences. They look different; they eat different foods; their language is hard to understand and so on. It is even more interesting and revealing however to consider how much we are all alike. Whether in Africa or Canada, we all want the best for our children. We seek happiness and good health. We look for purpose and a reason for our lives. It doesn't take long to realize that we are all created by the same wonderful God and that when you look past the physical circumstances, skin color and the architecture we are all incredibly alike. 

We are here this time with a group of 14 (the largest group we have ever brought to Liberia). While there are a few people that are returning, most of these travelers don’t know one another. We only shared the fact that we all had a burden to help the people and especially the children of Africa. As this trip came together, we knew we needed the right team of people with the right gifts to accomplish the agenda in front of us. Each day we will see how beautifully God has put all the pieces of the puzzle in place.  

One of the first things that hits you as you travel around here is that it is so Christian. It seems that eight out of every ten signs will be for a church, a Mission, a Christian orphanage or a Christian business. Even the business' will claim their Christian foundation with signs such as ''Praise the Lord Barber Shop” or "Glory Pharmacy”. Almost every taxi has a Christian saying on, the bumper.  Yet for all the Christian influence, the other signs you see are "Don't beat your wife ", "Rape is a crime " and "Not paying your taxes is Corruption." You have to ask, "Where is the fruit of the Church here?" Where is the power of the Gospel? It doesn’t seem to add up somehow.  

We have all come prepared to help build a cafeteria for the school. The school has expanded to Grade 9 already. The school has 230 students and about 170 come from off campus and really need a place out of the sun and rain to eat their lunch. We partially demolish the building that was previously the piggery; raise the wall height to make it ready for a new roof.  It will have to be finished after we leave. 

We all start each work day with lots of energy and plenty of good intentions. We do our best to keep pace with the Liberian workers but it isn’t long before we are panting under a tree and trying to get enough water back into our system to step out again. The heat and the humidity take its toll quickly. Everyone is greatly impressed with the strength, stamina and work ethic of these workers. We are even more impressed with their joyful attitude as they carry out this grueling hard work. They are more than employees – they truly share in the vision. 

Running parallel with construction were a couple of professional development worshops for the teachers and the church workers. Charlene and Kim (both from Regina) were greatly appreciated for the motivation, equipping and encouragement they provided. We heard many comments about privelage it was to receive such valuable training.

Dr. Perold arrived with Nurse Kathie on Sunday evening so we were up and running with the clinic early on Monday morning. There is no need to advertise, post signs or wave a flag. By some strange means, everyone seems to know about the free clinic and it isn’t long before the lines are over a block long. By the end of the 6 days, people were arriving at 2:00AM for their chance to see a doctor and receive free treatment and medication.  In the end, we saw well over 1,200 people. We did our best to evaluate the most serious problems and get them to the doctor quickly. Each member of the team did their part to make the system work – prescreen, interview, see the doctor, be treated by the nurses, receive healing prayer, receive the medication and teaching on its use and then visit the eye glass clinic if required.  

An interesting twist occurred this time. School was out due to the country taking its first census in 20 years so several of the teachers were able to assist us for the clinic. To our surprise, the Assistant Principal is also a registered nurse and two of the other teachers are very interested in medicine. Before long, we have them trained to conduct the prescreening, assist the nurse and the pharmacy. They do an incredible job and we see the possibility of their being able to run a clinic on their own with only the help of a doctor. I like this a lot. 

The fence and the gate provide a remarkable blessing in maintaining order and calmness. In times past the crowds got so large and pushy that it was almost dangerous by the end of the day. We knew we couldn’t treat everyone who came so each day we would go through the crowd outside the gate and pray for as many as we could. We will have to trust God to care for these people. There are so many that are sick. We do our best to get as many into the doctor as possible but by the end of each day we have to send more away than we are able to treat. It weighs heavy on everyone but we do our best to focus on two to three hundred people we are able to help each day rather than the hundreds we have to send home again.  

It’s our first run at operating an eye glass clinic. The Lion’s club provided us with 1,400 pairs of glasses and from those, our job would be to try and find a match between the patient and one of these used eye glasses that we had brought. We set up 3 evaluation stations and go through all the steps of testing each person’s vision with the simple equipment we have available. What a joy it is to be able to find the right match and see the glow on their face as they are now able to see clearly. We work with one older gentleman, Jacob that could only read the top 2 or 3 rows of the chart. Soon we have him a pair of glasses that get him to nearly the 20/20 mark. It makes us all smile especially when we remember back to our trip 2 years ago when Jacob had worked for TLP as one of our drivers. 

A few times during the trip, we are able to catch John when he isn’t running from one challenge to another. We talk about his vision and goals for the future for TLP. He has accomplished so much in about 6 years but he is not resting on those accomplishments. He has a vision for a Youth Center that can give the community young people a place to go and be challenged and encouraged. We also talk about the agricultural land we need to purchase to help with the future self sustainability of the mission. Then there is the micro enterprise projects that will teach the children how to start and operate a business and also will teach them to handle and manage money. We sense John’s passion to see God make a difference in the lives of the people of this community.  

As we report our accomplishments and activities we often talk about the major events that we participated in such as the construction, the medical clinic and the eye glasses but by far the biggest event took place every day from morning to night and tightly wrapped around all the other events. The most significant aspect of the trip is the time we spend with the children and the workers. Is it possible to instill 2 years worth of encouragement and support in only 3 weeks?  We do our best. 

John has it arranged that we visit several other orphanages before we go. We all pile into the truck and head off on another adventure down some back roads. The first one we visit has been started by Pastor Sue who is a converted Muslim lady that we met on our first trip to Liberia when she was still in an IDP camp living with her son. She now is taking care of 10 orphan children in a small mud brick house. The children are very excited to have us visit and they are well rehearsed with songs and even a welcome speech from Immanuel Divine, Sue’s 8 year old son. We play some games and spend some time holding hands with the kids before we leave each child a gift we have brought for them (a bag with tooth paste, soap and some candy). We eventually visit 2 or 3 more other orphanages that John works with through God’s Kids. It really gives us a new appreciation for what John has accomplished at TLP. These other orphanages, while being a real blessing for the children they serve, do not even come close to offering what TLP has. There is no doubt that TLP is the number one facility in Liberia. It serves as a bench mark for others to reach. 

It has been planned that we hold a Crusade for a couple of evenings before we leave. They are held just outside the campus so that the community can attend. We take over the small street and even people’s yards and no one seems to mind. At home we would have had a bylaw enforcement officer at our door but here people seem willing to co-operate. After some energetic drumming and singing, Pastor Barb brings her message and many people come forward for prayer. By the time everyone has been prayed for, it is very dark and people need to get back home. This is where we hope that God may be using us to rekindle these people and hopefully even ourselves. 

The time has slipped away so quickly and it is time to leave. We are doing our best to tear ourselves out of the grips of so money long faced and teary eyed children. Each of the team has their own special memories that will never leave them. Yes, we are leaving a piece of our heart’s here in Africa but we are taking home so much more. This is the classic example of getting back so much more than we have given.