A Shot of Organization

"View" from a classroom at The King School in Monrovia

It  has been an exciting week in Liberia preparations!
Starting on Wednesday with my visit to the travel clinic to get immunizations and prescriptions for the trip, I have been focused on getting organized this week.  My visa application went out on Thursday, way too close to the trip for my comfort, but an exercise in faith.  I am already finding so many opportunities for growth in this trip.
I was so blessed on Thursday with the amazing show of support from my peers in the school library system.  They brought school supplies and financial support to put towards the creation of a library system in The King School of Monrovia.  It continues to encourage my heart to be a part of something that combines the efforts of so many people.  I look forward to sharing pictures at a future school library meeting of how these gifts have touched the lives of children in Liberia.
When I got home from that meeting there was an Amazon box awaiting me, filled with book pockets and Environmentally themed picture books.  I hope to enlist some of you students to record yourselves reading those books to share another piece of yourselves with the children in the school there.
Friday night was a great night of planning, with the three of us sitting down over coffee to pull together our various ideas and create a cohesive schedule of teacher training.  We have so much to pack into such a short time!!  It is overwhelming to think about how to best utilize every second that we are there.
I learned that the mantra we will need to repeat to ourselves is TIA (This is Africa).  As much as we can plan and prepare, we need to be flexible and ready for anything.  Planning and organization take on a whole different meaning there.
Oh, so much to learn and grow from...

Ways to Get Involved

Many of you have asked for ways that you can get involved to help out the students in The King's School Liberia.  We have gathered together a few ideas.  We will be taking school supply pouches for each student, and are in need of pencils, little notebooks, pens, erasers, etc. to fill those up.  Useful, but fun, items needed, as well as some little toys that will inspire thinking and activity (card games, Rubik's cube, jacks, etc.).

Also, we would like to take a collection of books to support our theme of taking care of the Environment, and cleaning up trash, recycling, etc.  Below are some sample titles.  If you have other suggestions we welcome them.  If you would like to sponsor one of these books, just post a comment here, or contact me.

Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement!

Intersection

Yesterday I got thinking about how amazing it is to have my two world's collide, as I work with Lake George students to prepare for this trip to Liberia with a team from Church of the King.  As I thought more about that analogy though, I realized it is more of an intersection of the different paths that I follow than a collision.  I hear running through my mind the first two lines of "The Road Less Traveled"  by Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

and sorry I could not travel both

It feels as though I have been given an unusual opportunity to travel both of my paths simultaneously for a stretch.  Being able to make connections with Lake George students, through my role as the Library Media Specialist at the high school, and my Church of the King family, where Nathan and I are youth pastors, is like a dream come true.  It is wonderful to be fully focused on one purpose for a time, although there is so much to overwhelm me in the preparation.  The enthusiasm and creative thinking of students coupled with the experience and focused vision of Mrs. Girling encourage me to stay excited and focused on our purpose of educating the next generation in Liberia to make a positive impact for change.  

Thank you to all of you who are making this journey possible, for paving a way for my roads to intersect and to walk towards a powerful purpose that is only possible when we are joined together in this way.  

One practical update in our preparations is that due to the research that the Environmental class has done we are scheduling a visit to The Green Center in Monrovia to make connections there, and develop a practical plan for The King's School in Monrovia to work with them.  Thank you so much to those students who did the research on solutions for the the problem of trash in Monrovia to inform our lessons on this topic!!  

Roots

Here is an overview from Mrs. Kellie Girling, the principal of The King's School in Corinth, about our trip to Liberia, and the responsibility that we feel to the people there:

LIBERIA TRIP
On February 14th, 2013 over the Winter Break I am leaving for my fourth visit to Liberia, Africa. I will be doing a week of teacher training for hundreds of teachers in the city of Monrovia and surrounding rural regions. Some of the teachers work at The King's School, Liberia, our sister school that is fully supported through our ministry called "Teacher To Teacher." Our 2013 team consists of myself; our fifth grade teacher, Miss Johnson; Lake George High School librarian Sarah Olson; and my father Pastor Bill Davidson of Church of the King, Queensbury.

LIBERIA'S PLIGHTAfter years of Civil War, Liberia is limping along without money, without many buildings, without deeds and titles for land, homes, and businesses forsaken in the war, without sanitation, without clean water, and without a strong governing structure. The key to Liberia's future is spiritual awakening, repentance from corruption, and the capturing of the minds of the future generations through Godly education. The latter is the burden of my heart.
AMERICA'S FREED SLAVESLiberia, being a nation formed for the freed slaves as a place where they could return to their homeland, has been overlooked by its mother, America. With no oil or wealth discovered until recently, we have not taken a political interest. This responsibility weighs heavily on my heart, to equip Liberia's teachers and youth to be tomorrow's leaders. In many ways, the freed slaves have often turned from being the oppressed (as slaves in America) to being the oppressor back in Africa. Perhaps this entitled spirit would not be so pervasive if we had stepped in and helped them, when they cried to the U.S. for aid against their oppressive dictators. Perhaps if we had offered them a better education of their responsibilities of freedom, the child Liberia would have learned what it takes to be a great nation from its mother.
MY COUNTRY, MY HISTORYAs a first generation American, my responsibility to my country and its history is important. I don't feel entitled to our freedoms; I feel they are great responsibilities. I had the privilege of standing in a court of law and swearing my love and allegiance to my new counrty, America. I think every American should get that privilege. To me, part of adopting my country was to do something to better it and glorify God in giving to my new culture. Educating Liberia is part of that responsibility to me. It is a way of giving back to Africa what America has taken.

Preparations

It is official!  I am going to Liberia- the ticket is purchased and plans are in full swing.  I am so excited about the connections our students at Lake George High School are making to the world as they write lesson plans, interact with pictures, and think about global questions.  We are asking questions like, "Where do you begin to clean up an entire country's trash?", "What are the long term effects of civil war on a country?", and "What are the priorities for development?".

The Environmental Science class is creating lesson plans for our teacher training.  They are focusing on what needs to be done with trash, and where students and teachers can begin.  Before change can occur in Liberia, there needs to be education on the importance of those changes.  Students have explored the effects of garbage on the environment, solutions for trash removal, and the options for recycling and composting.  They are putting this all together in complete lesson plans, which will be used during our time in February with Liberian teachers.

We have some photography students working in Photoshop with recent pictures from Liberia.  They are touching up the pictures to show what the land could look like with the removal of trash.  This has fit very nicely into the needed skills of using Photoshop, and applying real life ideas of how photography can impact our perception of real life issues.

In addition to these projects we are looking to involve Biology students in visually dissecting a trash heap to identify the hazards of not taking care of garbage.  Global Studies 10 students will also be engaged in a communication project to explore the long term effects of war on a country, and why it creates long term devastation.

Somewhere between now and February 14th I also need to develop a plan for implementing a library system there in the King's School of Liberia. So many exciting projects and ideas to develop and share... it can almost keep me from thinking about how much I will miss my family for the 11 days I will be away!  Staying focused on the purpose keeps me energized rather than overwhelmed.