Saw a lot of projects this week

This is the Dolo branch building.  It is the fourth Branch we've been asked to attend on a rotating basis. The front part is a screened-in patio and the rear part is the chapel

The chapel is located in a town with no electricity and no running water. There is no generator for the building so there are no lights, no air conditioner, no fans and no bathroom. There is also no podium or any microphone for the speaker. They just stand up front.

Even though things are kind of primitive it was a good meeting. Cheryl and I were asked to bear our testimonies. The two speakers gave wonderful talks. The first one was on following Jesus Christ and the second talk was on using your time wisely to have a productive life. Both talks were very doctrinally sound and well delivered.


These are the two missionaries assigned to the branch. Elder Kongolo from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Elder Kerns from Eastern Oregon. They teach about six missionary discussions a day.

We spent most of the week evaluating some of our existing large projects. We accompanied Mike Howard who is the head of the humanitarian services staff in Salt Lake City,  Marian Esiape, the director of humanitarian services for West Africa and Emmanuel Tarpeh, Liberia humanitarian director.


We are supporting an eye clinic at the nation's largest hospital called JFK Memorial Hospital. Named after our president Kennedy. We are giving financial support along with the Lions Club international.


They offer the only eye surgeries in the country. Most of the work is routine eye exams. Glasses have to be shipped in from South Africa so they are expensive and take about a month and a half. They are working on expanding their operation at the hospital to six clinics throughout the country. In addition they're trying to get an in-country glasses manufacturer established. They are also training local doctors to become ophthalmologist. The doctors received some of their training here and then go to India for about a year.


There is quite a large United Nations presence here. They directed the peacekeeping operations to end the Civil War in the early 2000s. We have a project with the United Nations food program to train farmers, create a warehousing and distribution system, and to create a marketplace for agriculture to become more profitable.


We visited a project with a company named WaterAid. They have a project with us to supply water, bathrooms, hand washing stations and sanitation training to several schools and villages.  Water is supplied by boring a well and then attaching a hand pump to it.


We visited two schools. They both had pretty elaborate presentations for us.


Typical restroom. Before this they just used the bushes. These latrines have real flushing toilets. During the rainy season the water is collected from the roof into the tank between the buildings, to use for the flushing of the toilets.


This is one of the hand washing stations at the school. I am dressed in a Liberian traditional hat and shirt that was given to me.


One of the clever things they did was to create a Parts Depot at a central location for all of the water projects. This is because parts are too hard to get from the capital city in Monrovia.


We had quite a bit of off road driving going to the villages.


We had a project with a company called Concern Worldwide. They worked on nutrition and child development. They taught gardening skills. They organized small community banks so that savings and loans could be accomplished.

 They gave us a traditional treat of kola nuts and spicy sesame seed powder. It was not tasty.


They had quite a welcoming cermony.


We have a project with Catholic Relief Services to help the new mothers in one of the large slums in Monrovia. They provided vocational training in beautician, sewing, baking and entrepreneurship. This is one of the hair salon practice areas.


This is one of the sewing areas. All of the machines are foot treadle operated. When the students graduate they get their own sewing machine.

Here is a young mother in the program who sells flip flops for her income. She makes sufficient to provide for herself and her new child. The father of the child abandoned them.


Driving was risky.  No dents.


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