Baby John Doe

We have a Protection Department here at EQUIP Liberia. Protection/GBV (that stands for Gender Based Violence) deals with all types of abuse and abandonment issues with children and adults. It is no small task to confront the atrocities of rape, child abandonment, sexual abuse, etc… in a culture that has a broken justice system, but EQUIP’s GBV program is doing just that.

This past week in the midst of the staff meeting a 7 month old baby boy was dropped off. I (Jessica) met the little guy as he was crying and clearly struggling. His head was enlarged pointing clearly to his condition as hydro-cephalic. His mother had abandoned him and his father dropped him off at another local NGO and left. The back story led us to believe that because of the baby’s disorder the community that he is from had determined him to be a witch. Yes, you read that right; a witch. In Liberia when this happens it is nearly certain that the baby will die because of abandonment or the community will kill it. God, by His great grace and mercy allowed him to be dropped of on EQUIP’s doorstep. EQUIP is currently working to place him with an orphanage and assure that he gets the proper medical care.  

Pray for this little one. We don’t know his name, but God does.

Long Days, Short Nights

Every morning when we get to the EQUIP Liberia office we spend time greeting the Liberian staff. We always ask one another “How’s the night?” We were asked that one morning last week Kyle’s response was “Too short!” to which one of our Liberian friends responded “Nights in Liberia are always too short.” I wish someone would have informed us of that before we came here!

We have been so busy this past week that we nearly fall into bed at night. We went deep into the bush for a visit to two of EQUIP’s 23 clinics last Tuesday. It was a bumpy ride that ended with red dirt in our ears- the red dust comes in the windows of the car and you don’t realize you’re covered until you look in the mirror! My brain was mush by the end of the trip due to the constant bashing against my skull that it took. We’re gonna have to get used to these bush adventures! They put American 4 wheelin’ to shame!

The end of the week held another first for us! The monthly staff meeting with approximately 30 Liberian staff from all over Nimba county. It lasts for a couple of days and everyone reports on what is going on in their part of the county. We were able to learn the official way that the Liberian EQUIP staff (and Liberian’s in general) clap for one another. We will have to make a video to show you. It is the best clap ever! Although I don’t think that we can exude the Liberian joy with which they do their clap. Kyle and I both agreed we would have made the journey over here just to learn the clap.

You must be thinking, “When did they have time for Thanksgiving?” Well, we squeezed in somewhere in between our trip to the bush and staff meeting. Unfortunately the first day of staff meeting was scheduled for Thursday which put a damper on our American Thanksgiving. Liberians and Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on a different day so it wasn’t a big deal to them. We managed (along with our co-workers, friends, fellow Americans -Patty, Kristen and Debbie)  to throw together a nice meal on Wednesday evening. It came complete with stuffed chickens that we continuously referred to as “turkey”, mashed potatoes, pumpkin, corn, biscuits, green bean casserole, fried okra and apple spice cake.

 

 

Not the greatest picture but you can tell we had a spread!

This coming week is not going be a slow down for us! We are going to Monrovia for a much needed shopping trip and meetings. When we get back to Ganta we have a couple of meetings and more travelling to do. Pray that our Liberian nights will get longer so that we can get the sleep we need!

Weekly Prayer Needs:

-Pray for our protection and safety as we travel back and forth to Monrovia and the bush

-Pray for our relationships with those that we are working with. Pray that we would be an encouragement to them.

-Pray for us during the holidays that God would work out a way for us to have  a special and relaxing holiday while we are away from friends and family.

-Pray that we would have opportunities to invest and disciple those around us.

When Thanksgiving Finds You

It’s the simplicity here that drives my heart to Thanksgiving. In the scope of life and things we are living on slim pickings these days, but somehow my sense of gratitude has swelled bigger than I can remember. This past year has put our faith to the test. We wondered how we would ever make it to this little plastered concrete home with our gas stove and bucket for bathing, but God did it. We watched it. He did it. We’re amazed.

We now have faces in place of the waiting and wondering. We’ve met  some amazing people so far. Liberians working and praying for their country. Men and women who believe that God can and will do a work among their people.

It’s the end of the rainy season, beginning of dry, but the rain just won’t quite let go. As I write this I’m listening to a storm from far off roll across the sky and pour cool rain over dry earth. The rain reminds me of my own abundant blessings. The way that this year and all that I have learned about myself, my heart and the God I serve has overwhelmed me and driven me to a sense of gratitude I’ve never known.

I hope this Thanksgiving finds you where you are.

Even in the midst of nowhere Africa it has found me.