Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Orphan Grain Project Event



SEPTEMBER 18, 2010
5:00 TO 8:00 P.M .
CALVARY CHAPEL RED WING, MN
800 East Avenue

Contact Kari at 651-206-7935/Denise at 651-491-4847 for tickets or more information

Come hear about Liberia as we share our experiences and the culture we
became acquainted with; and be a part of a project that will change the
lives of hundreds of disadvantaged women and children in Liberia.

DINNER: $15 per ticket at the door/$13 if purchased prior to September 18th. Tickets are
limited and nonrefundable.
PRESENTATION: Information will be shared with you about Liberia and its people including
their daily struggles and the projects we are advocating for that will enable them to be self sufficient
in obtaining food, education, and self supporting family income.
SILENT AUCTION: (5:00-7:00) Includes items that were hand-made by the women and
children in Liberia, along with donations from local and Liberian artists, and items that have
been donated by people and merchants from the local community.
ENTERTAINMENT: Music performed by Melody Haege.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Access to the Future





According to the World Health Organization, 80% of persons with disabilities living in developing third world countries account for the 20% of the world’s poorest and they are 3 times more likely to be unemployed and in real poverty.



Imagine being handicapped in a third world where there is little to no help or resources. Imagine not being able to attend college because you get around in a wheel chair and there are no wheel chair ramps to access the buildings. What would your future be?

We at Global Orphan Outreach along with Cuttington University in Liberia invite you to help open that world of education to students with handicaps by helping us to raise the necessary funds to build eleven ramps on this campus. Cuttington has made the commitment to provide the labor all that is needed is the funds to build the ramps. (Funds needed to be raised yet is 7,700.00) The goal is to have funds raised and ramps built by the time we travel to Liberia in October to bring pictures and reports back.

Won’t you help today? Please help these students access this college thus having access to a bright future for themselves. Thank you!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Professor Flomo's Emergency


Some of you have heard me talk about Professor Flomo and his wife Victoria... well mostly about Professor. He was taken ill around 10 yrs old and was given a shot in the leg to "cure" him. This caused immediate paralysis of his legs and he hasnt been able to walk since. Professor has an amazing story that I have been encouraging him to put in book form. He shared with us his trials of going to school- crawling to get there, friends who would piggy bk him a ride in, how he would bring an extra pair of pants to change into once he got to school cause after crawling he would be dirty. How his father didnt think him worth of an education because of his handicap. (he eventually was sponsored in school by a missionary) He worked his way through college. How his father in law didnt want him to marry Victoria because he was a cripple and how they fought to have that marriage (great love story in itself) and he shared with us how he got through the war. His younger brother would push him in his wheel chair and no one really wanted to shoot a handicap person in a wheel chair. They didnt shoot his younger brother either because someone had to push the Professor around. They eventually made it out of Liberia to safety until after the war was done. (Imagine how a handicap saves the lives of two people- amazing)
Professor graduates from College and ends up teaching at Cuttington University. It doesnt pay much and he has two kids attending there. They dont go for free- their college expenses are taken out of his salary leaving him 18.00 a month and a house to live on. He relives heavily on friends and family to help make it through.

I can tell you this is a guy who is so very humble, so very friendly, educated, helpful, and you feel honored to be in his presence. He is very passionate about his country and his people and is very anti corruption.

Professor Flomo serves on our Global Orphan Outreach board and has been tremendously helpful in many areas of our work. We trust his instincts and advice.

Recently, he had a major emergency and we were not able to help him. I told him we would send out an S.O.S. in case there is some one who feels lead to help in this manner.

Professor has a old jeep that he gets around in. Pretty important considering he cant walk. Anyway this jeep's engine went out. We have been helping to keep the repairs up when we can but now it has totally given up. He needs help with a new/used engine. Here is a note he sent me today:

Hi Donna,

I did not know the cost of a V6 engine so I could not include the cost in the e-mail sent to you. The mechanics gave me the cost today after going through so many auto shops in Vai Town, Monrovia. They told me that the very good V6 engine is US$1,600 and to install it in the vehicle will cost between US$250 to US$300.

I will continue to pray with you all so that someone might come to help in the process while you people are trying to find means for other ongoing projects.

Thanks and may God bless you all.

Mogana


** I am amazed at his faith and the stepping out in faith that some of our Liberian friends have. We think we step out in faith here in the states when offer up some of our funds for a cause or we
give of some of our time but sometimes it really isnt a stretch for us. We eat, have a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, and our kids go to school. They truly live by that faith in God that his provisions will come through for them. Many times this is through others. I pray that someone or someones will allow God to use them today in this area. It is huge we realize. And so is Professor's faith. :0)

Joseph update...

A Big special Thank you to the family who funded Joseph's medical treatment needed asap. His father and mother are so relieved and appreciative as they worry so much for their son. We also have a couple families willing to advocate for him here in the states for medical intervention so we will be obtaining his medical records and see what we can do to help him in this way too. We will keep you posted here. Thank you all who continue to pray for this bright boy and his family.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Joseph


I wanted to bring to everyone's attention about Joseph the boy we have been advocating for for 2yrs now. He is 16 and a bright boy. His family has him in school and he dreams of being a geologist one day. I have meet this boy on a few occasion on my trips to Liberia and he is very respectful and kind. It is hard to see him with his whole life ahead of him and have so many aspirations in life and yet he struggles to breath everyday. He works hard to stay in school and gets all A's. Joseph has fluid by his lung and heart. He has seen doctors who have stated he needs surgery they cannot provide in Liberia. He needs a shunt put in his chest that will pull the fluids away so he can breath. Until then we try to help him with the fluids being sucked out twice a year. If anyone knows of someone who would be willing to help with his twice a year continued medical bill, we would so appreciate and so would Joseph. We hope to eventually raise funds to send him to another African country to have the surgery but until then, this is what has to be done.

p.s. the cost pr treatment is 175.00 x twice a year.

Dear Sis. Donna and all sponsoring partners:

It is but proper to bring to your immediate attention of what is becoming a worst condition of Joseph Darwar who suffers from lung malfunction. His breath is worst of odor that is hard to inhale. He is losing weight and cough uncontrollably. Joseph is still seeing Dr. Sherman and the lung fluid that continues to build up will need to be extracted once again. The procedure, medication, and transportation will cost around $175.00

My plead to you all is for us to join hands in raising funds to help with his medicals.

Yours,

Pastor Peter

Friday, July 9, 2010

FMN Rummage Sale Fundraiser




Rummage for a great cause... find a treasure.

Rummage is at Calvary Chapel in RedWind, MN
July 16th: 8am-5pm
July 17th: 8am-1pm

Furniture, household items, clothing, misc., African items, kittens, puppies. Concessions available too. ALL Donations and Funds raised will go towards a vehicle for FMN Program in Liberia.
We look forward to seeing you there!!


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

We did it!

Well, we DID IT! We managed to walk 5 miles (and burn ourselves in the process) for Liberia. We had a nice group show up for our very first walk. The goal of this walk was to bring awareness to the needs of school children in Liberia. The other goal, of course was to raise a little cash to actually SEND some of those kids to school. We did raise some...$1,000.00!!! Not bad for starting this just WEEKS before the actual walk! Next year I will start much earlier! This is a picture of all of us before the walk started.

Not long into our walk (say a block!) we had some that needed a potty break. So, just a picture of all of us standing around waiting.

Donna's girl, Gracie. Gorgeous as always!

Letting the teens lead us?? Hmm, I jumped in front. Seriously, we had a nice group of teens show up and how cool that we see young people caring about others!

Some walkers taking a break after the long 5 miles. We did not hear ONE complaint all the way there. Awesome.

A few of the teens relaxing after the walk.

Bryan and Ben Kangar probably glad they are done.


Ben is from Liberia. He now lives in the states but knows well what it is like to be educated in Liberia. He spoke for us and did an amazing job! He is currently pastoring a Calvary Chapel church and the church body there is looking forward to what the future holds for supporting Liberia. Ben has been wonderful in helping people "catch the vision". Thanks Ben, for joining us and making the walk successful! Side note* Do you see any resemblance to Bill Cosby here??


Just had to add this picture of Teddy here. Curious George is what I was thinking as I took this picture. He loves his big brother Joe!

Here we are soaking in all that Ben had to say. I can't speak for everybody but I was brought to a new reality of how blessed we were to have an American education. One of the punishments he talked of was that if you showed up late to school you were to put your fingers all together and then the teacher would slap you with something on the tops of them. He also talked about the corruption of having to "buy a grade" or "buy another test". There are so many ways in which Liberia is different than our school systems. One of the great things about theirs is that they have to teach Bible there. I love the fact the children are learning about God's love for them. They are blessed with that freedom still.

Our local public school system donated the school bus to drive everyone back into town. Another great point that Ben brought mention to was that in Liberia the kids don't take a bus, they walk. Thus, the reason for all of us to walk.

another bus shot...

After the walk we opened our home (and firepit) to anyone who just wanted to hang out for awhile. So glad we did as the fellowship among us was a great time.



I am really glad we took this opportunity to reach out in our community and draw attention to Liberia. We know first hand what the children in Liberia (and so many other countries) are enduring because we have been there. I want others to know that if we band together we can and will make a difference for the kids. Even if only on a small scale. If we can touch a handful, how many will that handful touch? I hope one day to take a trip with a person from our community. It could, should and would be life-changing for them.

Through this walk we have 10 children that can attend school for a year!!! That is such great news! I want to thank you all for helping us to reach this goal. Without your help none of these kids could attend. Most have never, ever attended school. It was alot of fun putting this together but the most fun I will have is to see their faces and take their pictures when they get enrolled this year. And to add to that our local Girl Scout club is taking on a school supply fund-raiser so these kids will be ready to go!

If you want to contribute, send a child to school or send supplies for school it is not too late. Please contact me or leave a comment. Can't wait for August!