Mr. Howe's Fascinating Experience in Liberia

Last summer Ninth Age teacher, Skip Howe, spent two weeks in Liberia doing teacher training and traveling around to different areas and meeting people who are agents of change. One of the people he met was a woman who is absolutely incredible. Her name is Martha, and her story is amazing. In the 1990’s, her country of Liberia was in the midst of a lengthy civil war that would eventually take more than 200,000 lives and make orphans of about 50,000 children. Martha saw needs all around her but had no resources to do anything about it. All she had was $5.00. What could she possibly do with that sum of money? Most people in her situation would have thought of themselves and how far they could stretch it to feed themselves. No one would fault anyone for having that thought. Martha had a different plan for the money though. She decided to start an orphanage. There were some buildings that were in poor repair that had been used as an orphanage in the past, but they had been abandoned. She moved in and word soon got out that there was an orphanage where children could go. The number of children fluctuated but settled at about fifty. These boys and girls ranged in age from very young to their late teens. Martha soon realized that if she could raise $70.00 a month she could feed all of the children enough nutritious meals to keep them alive until times got better. Help came from a variety of sources and fortunately most months the needed money was in place. Times were not always peaceful though. The battles that raged across the country sometimes came near the orphanage. On more than one instance, Martha had to take all of the children and hide deep in the forest as the fighting raged nearby. In those instances she left all of the doors to the orphanage open so that the rebels would think that the buildings had already been looted and nothing of value was left inside. Her strategy worked and she was able to sneak back in the middle of the night and bring food to the children who were still hiding in the woods. When the war ended Martha continued running the orphanage and decided to start a school since she knew that the boys and girls would need an education if they hoped to have a good life in Liberia. This has increased her financial burden but there are people in Liberia and abroad who have stepped forward and offer support each month. The orphanage and school are functioning but there are still many needs. The government has at long last promised to start helping as well but to this point no help has come. So what is the next step? Skip is working with on starting a child sponsorship program with Martha’s school and a few others that he visited last summer. The program will be administered through the group he went to Liberia with called Compassion Corps. It will take some time to set up though since the internet is very slow in Liberia. He is also trying to set up some kind of a pen pal program between classes here in the states and in Liberia. This too has hurdles which will be overcome with patience and perseverance. If you would like to get involved send him an email (showe@calvertschoolmd.org) or leave a comment below. His life was changed by what he experienced this past summer. Now he is trying to change the lives of some children in Liberia. Join him…you won’t be disappointed.