Cinderella .. in Liberia

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella. I want to share with you a True Cinderella story straight out of Liberia. Only the ending hasnt been written yet. This little girl's name is Princess and she is 12 yrs old. Yes it is true. Her name is Princess. Her mother basically threw her away. On one of my trips to Liberia I was riding in a taxi with her mother and she said to me that she didnt want her. She said "she is not my child. Take her. I never want to see her again." I about bawled on the spot. I wondered, how could a mother be so heartless to her own child? And to a girl who is so gentle in nature. So her grandmother took her in and that is where she lives to this day. She has nothing else. She owns nothing else. She cooks, cleans, baby sits her nephews ALOT, minds the market they run near by, and in her spare time... she goes to school. An opportunity she would have not had had it not been for Global's school scholarship program. She has gone from 3rd grade to 5th grade in one year. She strives to jump two grades again this year by working hard in school.

This girl didnt let it push her down that her own mother didnt want her. She is not the typical child who feels life owes her like children here in America. She is not behaving atypical even in Liberia by begging for her needs. She is taking what she has and doing something with it. An opportunity- an education. She knows it is her future. Its all she has.

You know what I love about her- her spirit! She has this resilient spirit to keep on keeping on. Even when life has handed her "bad deal" so early in life.

This is the school Princess attends- Helping Hands School. It is in the Rock hill community. A very poor community.

See this school? Now compare it to where you child attends school! Can you imagine? What I so appreciated about the director of this school was her can do attitude - she couldnt wait for funding or a hand out to take action and start teaching kids who desperately needed an education. So she did what she had to do to make a difference in her part of the world. And she is doing it with volunteers and with teachers who are paid $14.00 a month. (do you know a bag of rice costs 60.00 a month so this is not even enough to feed a family) And a building that is literally falling down around them. These kids have no desk or even chairs. They sit in the dirt and write on tablets in their laps. They have no lunch to eat. They dont even have clean water. They drink from a bucket of water that was pulled from a creek several yards away. Could you start a school with that kind of responsibility based on little resources?

What kind of education do you think you would get here?

And here we are outside the school. Yes they need you. And you need them! A small donation does so much. Here is some interesting notes about this school:

The School was founded in September 2007 by Madame Mary G. Jabbah. The purpose of opening the school was to help children who were out of school due to financial constraints. Also, to help disabled children who needed to be included into the activities of all the children in the nation, Liberia. The school program is extended to children who are disabled, orphans, and way war.

The school currently has 67 students, including 6 disabled, and 10 orphans. There are also 7 teachers and the number of teachers is expected to increase.

B. Challenges/Needs

The school has an 11-classroom building under construction as funds allow. There are no text books, sitting capacity for students, feeding for orphans and disabled, registration of the school with national government, etc. The need is great.

There is a need for 300 chairs which cost 10USD/chair. Also, teachers are being paid 1,000 Liberian dollars or 14.70 USD per month. According to Mary, she has to break rocks and sell before meeting her teachers' monthly salary. The reason is students are paying a little yearly tuition fee of 1,700 LD or 25 USD. Even some parents can not afford this amount. Besides, she needs 75, 000 LD or 1,103 USD to register the school with government because she wants it elevated to Junior High Level.

C. Way Forward

In this light, she would like a help of bus or a vehicle to run as transport. This will greatly help to generate funds to upgrade the school. This transport car could also bring the disabled to school. With the transport car, she will be able to fully monitor it. Unlike, power saw, generator, etc.

So you can see- they are not asking for someone to come build their school. They are willing to do for themselves. To make a way for funding. But they need your help. A good transportation vehicle to bring children to school and produce a revenue by which to build the building. You can contact us if you can help and are wanting more information. (globalorphanoutreach@yahoo.com) Just think what you could do for a school of 67 children and for this community. I know we all look at ways to give a little extra during the holiday season, Why not here? Why not help knowing your dollars truly impacted a community in a grass roots effort sort of way. And please be praying for all the children of this school and their teachers.

And Princess? Well when I left the school she came running up to me and gave me a big hug and a tee shirt from her school. Its what they wear as part of their uniform. She said please tell your daughter about me and my school. She is happy to be in school. She shared something so precious that day. A part of her. Beauty from Ashes-So Sweet! A real Cinderella come to life story.

(Here are a couple of videos from the school. You can see the condition of the school and hear from the director of the school)

S.O.S. for Joseph

Hello all-
Joseph is the boy that I have known now for 3 years and have tried to advocate for medical care for him. He dreams of being a geologist one day and does well in school when he does attend. His father is in college to become an accountant.They love their son...

I have been helping with Joseph medical bills about every 6 months. He has a lung abscess that has requires a doctor to punch a large needle in his chest and draw the fluids away from his heart and lung so that he can breath better. His doctor has stated that Joseph needs a shunt put in his chest to draw this fluid away. The problem is Joseph isnt a cute 2 year old where every one jumps in wanting to help... he turns 17 this Christmas. We need someone to see his awesome potential and help him for who he is- a bright boy who aspires to live and and have a future like any teenager.

PLEASE pass this info onto others- perhaps there is someone who can help. It will take another $200 for his procedure to be done but that just buys him time and the time between treatments is becoming shorter and shorter. If there is anyone who can help with his medical visa, host, doctor/hospitals, please contact me today. Thank you, Donna

Hi Sis. Donna: We write you with the deteriorating condition of our beloved son, Joseph Darwar Jr who is coughing up blood through his mouth and nose upon your recent departure from Liberia the cough intensified. He is right now out of school. Your humanitarian consideration to help take this boy back to the hospital will be awesome. Sis. Donna, I am still a student without any source of funding to even feed myself, family, etc. My wife is willing to go into business to help handle some of these emergencies, but I am squarely incapacitated. The worst of all these experience is the illness of my dear son. Help my son not to die as I cannot help as a father with my background mentioned above. Yours, anticipating your consideration, Joseph Darwar- Liberia

water that changes lives in more ways than imagined

Front page radio show that Peg and I did about this village and water well. Listen here:

http://75.125.83.206/wwibradio/frontpage/fpx11-4-10.mp3

Called Home

Winnifred was called home by Jesus at 2:10am yesterday morning. She was able to spend one fabulous day with her whole host family. I think that was what she was holding on for...

Liberia's Winnifred

We just got back from Liberia on Monday. I have been fighting fatigue and malaria since coming home and hope to do more posting to catch everyone up on our trip. So much happened and so much to share.

This is Winnifred whom we brought home on a medical visa. We understood her to have hydrocephalus. Her parents Alfred and Felisha love her dearly and did a wonderful job of advocating for care for her in Liberia. Unfortunately there isnt anything in Liberia to help her. We met her through Pst Peter who then contacted us. You will not believe what we had to do to get this child cleared to leave Liberia for medical intervention. More on that later...

Winnifred with her parents and Pst Peter.

This is the team who escorted her home. Two nurses involved in her care as well as two helpers.

The Delta flight crew was amazing and so helpful. They felt privileged to be able to help in anyway possible. Leslie and Denise did an AWESOME job of caring for her most of the way. I told them I was her case worker so handled all the paperwork and immigration. Which was a chore in itself but I couldn't handle baby puke on a plane either. haha

And this is her wonderful host father- Kevin- who met us at the airport. We were all amazed that a dad like him would come on his own for her and you could tell he loved her unconditionally through all they were about to undertake.

As it turns out Winnifred barely made it to Utah where they lived. She was slipping in and out of consciousness and would stop breathing. She was immediately admitted and put on a ventilator and they put a tube into the top of her head to relive some of the pressure. It was discovered that she has Dandy Walker Syndrome which caused her hydrocephalus. This is not a very treatable syndrome. Decisions had to be made on what to do to give her the best quality of life of her short time she had left. Doctors stated they didnt expect she could even survive the surgery.
She has a wonderful team of doctors and her neurosurgeon worked on children similar to hers in third world countries.

However...today we have learned that she will not survive. She is too far gone. She stopped breathing with no pulse and then came back. Her seizures are gone and she is no longer agitated and in pain. She is non responsive to touch. There is nothing more anyone can do. Winnifred is dying.

The host family has asked to take her home and love on her what short time she has left. They shared with me that "despite all of this, the spirit is so strong in our hospital room. There is peace and love and God. We were praying for a miracle but have come to realize that the miracle is being in the presence of such a noble spirit. It is a privileged and an honor to escort her back home to her father."

Words cannot even express how grateful we are for her host family and their courage they have to undertake such a painful privilege. So many have advocated and helped with her journey home. For that we all feel privileged to have been a part.

We know that her impending death will not be in vain. That there are many children like Winnifred who are dying at the chance to have what Winnifred has. A chance at life through medical intervention. We will continue on.

(please be in special prayer for Winnifred's host family and her birth family during this hard time)