Posts Tagged ‘Orphanage’

After months of planning and hard work, the children of Esther’s Hope received their package from Sweden. Two 18-year-old students who live just outside Stockholm, Sweden – Caroline Broliden and Linda Klaesson – gathered needed items from their community as part of a school project.

The most difficult part of the project was delivering the goods. Getting a package to Monrovia, Liberia, through customs and into the hands of the intended recipient is no easy feat, not to mention expensive. The package was sent a couple of weeks ago. Last week when I spoke to Pastor Andrew by phone, he excitedly informed me that he had received it. He promised to send photos. When his email arrived, it included photos and an image of a scanned page of thanks, hand written by the children.

Here’s Pastor Andrew’s message…

Inside the Box

Dear Rev. Pevlor,

Praise the Lord that I finally received the love gift that was sent by those two sisters, Caroline and Linda.

Please note Sir that the gifts were warmly welcomed and appreciated by the Kids. The scripture states that little is much when God is in it.

We never saw these gifts as a School project, but deeper than that. The Kids were touched by the love expressed through those items. One of them was concerned that if some one could dare send you a sizy Catton of not much items from all the way Europe indicates genuine love expressed in action which is Christ’ desire for humanity.

Caroline and Linda, as I mentioned your encouraging note to the Kids – they in turn decided to reply their love through few of those words attached to this note. And each of them wrote those words themselves I was not there to supervise them in doing it neatly or not, that is why you can see the copy as raw as it is. They also thumb printed their note; each expressing what they feel about your action.

Children with some of the items.

Here are the contents Received:

* Clothes: – 52pices

* Sheets: – 13 pieces

* Towels: – 7 pieces

* Notepad: – 35 pieces

* Toys: – 7 pieces.

God bless you Sir; we will stay in touch, as I am compiling a brief report regarding the monthly support.

Pastor Andrew

The Children Write Thanks (Click this image to see all of the children's comments.)

A day later Caroline and Linda sent a response to Pastor Andrews message and photos.

Caroline and Linda

We are happy to hear that the items sent were appreciated! We know it’s not much, but it was harder than we imagined to send this box to you. It was easy to collect the items with the help of peoples generosity. However, it’s not easy to send a box of items all the way to Liberia without the help of a larger and established organization. We did our best and hope that what we did will inspire more people to help.

We are very grateful for the pictures and letters from the children!

The next step of our project is to write an essay about our primary problem, how hard it was to help children in an other part of the world without working for an international organization. It’s easy to donate money and clothes but it is harder to do more than that without working for the organization. We will also compare different organizations and how they work.

Linda and Caroline

If you have a project in mind to help the children of Esther’s Hope, you can Contact us through this website. Monetary donations can easily be made using your credit/debit card by clicking on the Donate button.

Our friends from Sweden, Caroline Broliden and Linda Klaesson, collected a variety of items for the Victorious Faith Refuge Home and the children of Esther’s Hope.  The items were collected locally and shipped to Monrovia.  Here’s their latest report:

Hi Pastor Bill,

Yesterday me and Caroline went to the post office and sent the package to Monrovia, Liberia. We hope it will get there in perfect condition. Most of the content is clothes, and also some bed sheets and then some toothbruses, toys, pens, and some notebooks. We hope Esther’s Hope will have use of all the things in the box.

Caroline and Linda sorting and packing the box.

We also received a code from the mail office so we are able to follow, at their webpage, the box as it travels from Sweden to Liberia. If you are interested I can give you the code and the web address, otherwise I’ll update you about when the box is expected to arrive to Monrovia so you can contact pastor Andrew in time.

It will take awhile to make it from Sweden to Liberia. We’re hoping to provide photos from the Refuge Home, when the package arrives.  Watch for further updates.

If you’d like to help the children of Esther’s Hope and have a project in mind – like Caroline and Linda – just drop us a line.  And, as always, donations are easily made with a credit/debit card using PayPal – just click the Donate button.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an Esther’s Hope update. Let me catch you up on the latest.

I spoke with Pastor Andrew recently and all is well with the children and the Victorious Faith Refuge Home. Victorious Faith Academy has resumed classes for the second semester.

The gals from Sweden are nearing the completion of their project. Caroline Broliden and Linda Klaesson have collected a variety of items they intend to ship to the Victorious Faith Refuge Home for the children of Esther’s Hope. Both Linda and Caroline wrote me concerning the shipment.  Here a a couple of excerpts…

Caroline and Linda

Linda: We have now decided to use the Swedish state-owned company to deliver the material to Liberia. we plan to send it next Tuesday, 2 February. Until then we have to get hold of a box to use for the delivery (provided by the company) and also we need to pack all the things in a clever way, which we’ll probably do in the weekend and by then we’ll also be able to send some photos.

Caroline: At least we have solved the problem of where to get money to send the donation! I have contacted a few families who I will babysit for some nights, and they are very happy to contribute to our project.

I’ve been working on printing the recent photos I received of the Esther’s Hope children.  I will be sending those prints to the heroes of Esther’s Hope – our monthly child sponsors.  Each sponsor will receive two photos of the child they sponsor as a current reminder to pray for them and their devoted caregivers.

Speaking of the children… Pastor Andrew sent me information on January 15th about a few changes at the Refuge Home.  Several children were reunited with relatives and a few have grown too old (by law) to stay at the home.  Pastor Andrew wrote:

Concerning those reunited with relatives:

These children have been reunited with their relatives that showed up from distant lands where they claimed to have been exiled due to the war.

We took the necessary social welfare procedure of reuniting children that are in child care centers. After they signed several documents, the children were then reunited with those relatives.

Concerning the older children:

They have passed the Health and Social welfare required age. The government’s welfare policy for all child care Institutions is 18 years, and at this age they should leave the institution. Where we should send them, they did not suggest.

So these children were removed from the VFRH and brought to stay at the church compound with me directly until we can locate reliable relatives to them for reunion in the near future.

Several new children have been accepted into the refuge home so the number of Esther’s Hope children remains at 30.  As soon as I receive more information about the newest additions, I will post their photos and bio information.  (Information flows slowly between Monrovia and Algoma, but I believe Pastor Andrew may have found a more accessible internet connection so I’m hoping we’ll see an improvement.)

The last item I have for you is one I’ve struggled over; whether or not to share it.  There is an eight-part video series about Liberia that focuses on the worst of Liberia’s past and present.  These videos give you an idea of the depravity of the world we are trying to improve through Esther’s Hope and your help.

I’m not comfortable providing the link but decided I would with the strictest warnings.  These videos are definitely NOT for children.  I would not recommend them to anyone who is bothered by extreme language, violence or topics such as cannibalism, child sacrifice or prostitution.  I’m not the squeamish type, but some things had me wincing. You will see video of war, dead bodies and man holding a human heart…etc.  It doesn’t contain images of sex or nudity (other than possible images of partially clothed dead bodies).

Here’s the link to the first of the video series.  You have been warned.   The Vice Guide to Liberia – Part 1

The children of Esther’s Hope are back in school after the Christmas break.  Classes started again last Monday.   Victorious Faith Ministries – our sister church in Monrovia – operates a community school known as Victorious Faith Academy.  The children of Esther’s Hope are students there, along with other children in the community.  The school continues to present challenges; mainly due to increased government oversight.  I’ll let Pastor Andrew’s email provide  the details.

We sent our normal monthly support to Pastor Andrew this week. In addition to the monthly child sponsorship amount, we sent $400 (from the church) to help Pastor Andrew meet some of the tuition costs for the children.  We weren’t able to send all he needs, but covered a large portion of it.

I spoke with Pastor Andrew briefly by phone and he reported all the Esther’s Hope children were well and happy to be back in school.  I asked about his own children who had been suffering with malaria and he told me they were also well.

Here is his email message from a few days ago:

Dear Rev. Pevlor,

Praise the Lord for His goodness towards us.

Pastor Andrew and Swenah Gombay

My family, the Victorious Faith Ministry and the children of the Victorious Faith Refuge home wish you a happy and prosperous new year in Jesus name.

Rev. Pevlor, I am having problems now with the school fees for the kids because the ministry of education has come up with a system and salary structure for teachers. Before this School year, I submitted the school’s information sheet, teacher’s credentials, and all necessary documents regarding the School.

The teachers that I was using to assist the children with their lessons were on voluntary services because they were from the church and I had to only give them stipends at the end of the month if ever it was available. They were high school graduates without degree or teachers certificate. So when I presented their national exam certificates to the ministry of education, I was warned not to use them in the school but that I should forward at least C teacher’s certificate holders before they can accept my registration to run a recognized community School.

With that mandate, I dropped all of those volunteer teachers and employed C certificate teachers in the school. For C certificates, the government standard salary is $60.00 USD. When the inspectors from the ministry comes around to check on Schools and realize that you have unqualified teachers, they will send qualified teachers in your institution and compel you to pay them as they require and my school is right on the road.

So I have been having problems lately with teacher salaries simply because the kids at the home are not paying anything whatsoever. The little that has been coming from the church revenue is what I have been using to subsidize together with the few collections from the community kids to run the School.

The registration form is in categories. We have the fee that was set as per the school’s policy for students from the community, and the children from the Victorious Faith Refuge home. I was trying to get the exact copy of our registration form we presented to the ministry of education in case any donor may want to check up the cost of our School charges with the ministry of Education because we told the ministry that our interest was largely for the VFRH Kids so that was why we offered a great discount as stated below.

Registration fee for old students is: $ 800.00 LD (Liberian dollars)

Discount fee for VFRH children: $400.00 LD

First semester school fees 1st grade to 6th grade: $1,500.00 LD or $22.00 USD

Discount fee for the children of the VFRH: $1,035.00 LD or $15.00 USD

Total cost for VFRH kids registration & school fees: $1,035 + $400 = $1,435.00 or $21.5 USD

Grand total: $21.5 x 30 Kids = $645.00

The fees the few community kids are paying is heavily loaded. Because that is what we use for renovations, buying of necessary materials for the school, purchasing text books for the teachers etc etc.

So if I had a means of obtaining school fees for these 30 kids, the school will run without me having any trouble with teacher salary.

On our employment form, we have a clause that request for any teacher wanting to teach in the Victorious Faith Academy should be a member of the Victorious Faith Ministry. With that, I had been able to do a cut in the salary instead of $60.00 USD, I am offering $45.00 USD for a start. And have 9 teaching staff, a cook, janitor, registrar and a watchman.

The registrar receives $35.00 USD

Cook $30.00 USD

Janitor $ 25.00 USD

Watchman $20.00 USD

Presently I have two months aria for the teachers for the month of November and December and we have started a new school year yesterday.

God bless you, sir, and I wish you a blessed day in Jesus name.

Pastor Andrew

If we had full sponsorship for all children, tuition expenses wouldn’t be a problem. I am hoping to recruit enough sponsors to fully sponsor all the children this year and I could use some help.

Spread the word about Esther’s Hope with others you know.  Share this website and have them check out our Child Sponsorship page for information about this life-changing, $30 per month, opportunity.  It’s also helpful to read the Sponsorship FAQ page.

Online donations can be made easily and safely, using a credit/debit card by clicking our Donate button.

In January of 2007 I had the privilege of traveling with my pastor, Bill Pevlor, to Liberia. While he conducted the “Training Trainers Conference” for local pastors, I focused my time on the children of the orphanage by taking pictures and gathering information about them; information that I could use to share the plight of these children with the world.

Although I knew my job was rather simple and straightforward I wasn’t prepared for how much of an impact it would have on me and how it would change my life forever. Of course I wanted the basic information such as name, age, and grade in school, but I also wanted to get some personal information. I wanted to learn the reasons they were at the orphanage, what their likes and dislikes were and the things that make each child unique and different from the rest.

A number of days after first being introduced to the children I sat down with the administrator of the orphanage, Pastor Linus, and another caretaker to gather the information. Going into this job I knew that this would, at times, be a rather depressing task. These were, after-all, orphans in an extremely poor, war-ravaged country. I sat and listened to stories of parents being killed in the war, teenage mothers unable to care for their children, a parent with tuberculosis, a mother whose new husband did not want a child around and kids brought to the orphanage instead of being put on the street to beg.

Most commonly, the story I heard was a single parent or relative too poor to care for a child. I knew that while these stories were sad, these kids were the fortunate ones, to be at a home that cared for them and provided for them. Countless other children were going hungry, begging on streets, in numerous bad situations, taking care of themselves, seemingly without anybody who loved them or cared for them.

It wasn’t all bad though. I was also told of kids who loved to play soccer, eat, sing gospel songs, pray, write and draw. One child, I was told, loved to cook and would often cry when not in the kitchen. Another child loved to read the Bible and would lead the morning devotion for the other children.

As I sat and learned about each of these children they became real to me. A week earlier they were just poor orphans a world away around the globe and a world away from my world; not much different than many I had seen on TV or in a brochure. A couple of days earlier they became orphans that I could touch and play with and look into their eyes. But now they had become orphans who were real to me, who had personalities with likes and dislikes and who had a story of how they got to this point in their life.

They had become a part of my life that could not be forgotten. It’s easy to forget a commercial about helping orphans in a third world country or even forget meeting somebody, but these children had penetrated a place in my heart and mind where I knew that they could never leave. I also knew that I would not be the same for having met them and hearing their stories. I got more then I bargained for on that trip. I knew I would have the opportunity to help some orphans, but I didn’t know that I would end up being the one who was really changed.

If you are interested in positively impacting the life of an orphan in Liberia and having your heart touched also, please browse The Children page and consider sponsoring an Esther’s Hope child. You can also help today by clicking the Donate button to easily make a donation using your credit/debit card.

[This story continues: Liberia's Children Touched My Life - Part 2]