Living in the Between

I have been intending to write some concluding thoughts about our most recent trip to Liberia, but that feels too much like an ending.  This trip felt so much like a beginning that I am unwilling to do anything to change that.  The focus on the future and taking intentional steps together towards solutions was such an encouragement to my heart and soul!

Since we have been back home we have continued moving forward, working together to solve one challenge at a time.  We have launched our “Giving Store”, where we saw curriculum resources purchased for every teacher within the first 48 hours!  We are also well on our way to the purchase of all the block that will be needed to start building our school space later this year.  

In Liberia our management team is moving forward with the official Incorporation of Rise Liberia, and the teachers are integrating the use of new learning materials and teaching strategies.

Together we can reach the goal of a sustainable school system in Liberia, and I hope you will join us in this journey!  

Tackling the Challenges Together

Today we had a very productive time with the teachers here on this Rise Liberia trip.  We spent some time hearing from them about the challenges they face in the school and their priorities.  

It was so good to come together to strategize and look for solutions in the here and now as we work towards the larger vision, and make decisions about first steps.  

After we spent some time on teaching strategies that could be put into place immediately, and joined together in prayer for our school, we went outside for a fun photo shoot.  

In addition to a really powerful time tonight, hearing God’s word shared by John and blessing the children, one of our favorite moments was shared in the schoolyard during recess.  The kids gathered around and sang us a song.  We will look forward to sharing the video when we are home!

The Burden is Light

These moments, right here, are what this is all about! 

Today we met with many of our sponsored students here in Liberia, including Tata, who our family sponsors.  It was so good to hear from them, though it’s hard not to be stiff in front of the cameras.  Seeing their smiles and starting to break through those formalities to get to know their hearts made today such a bright time.  

Most of the school day was spent with our students, and then in the afternoon we met as the Rise Liberia team again, adjusting vision and strategy as we worked to define our goals and what success means to us.  It is a blessing to work with this team, who so clearly share a genuine love for the children of Liberia and for education.  

This evening I spoke at the meeting and shared the joy and rest found in Jesus’ invitation to come.   The burden He gives us is light when we are yoked to Him, and allow Him to carry the weight with us.  This is how I feel tonight, the burden on my heart for Liberia is a joy to carry because I know that He shares it.

Walking Together

Today I had the privilege of experiencing first hand the challenges our teachers face in our Rise Liberia school.  I had a story time with each class, from the 5th/6th grade class to the Nursery class.  
There was great enthusiasm for the stories, with some classes clapping after every page.  We also had some good discussions about innnovation, creativity and kindness.  All of this is done at highest volume though, as you are striving to be heard above the enthusiasm of every other class and student in the school!  

I was glad when recess came and I could spend some time with the students outside.  

We also had the opportunity to walk over to the section of land that Pastor Washington has for the school to use for agriculture.  It is beautiful land, and it was lovely to see some of the vegetables already growing.  

The children always love an opportunity to have their picture taken, especially if they can then get a peek- just like our kids in America!  

We even got to see a bit of a soccer game in the school yard before everyone went back to classes, and we switched gears to begin interviewing our sponsored students.  

Interviewing the students is giving us an opportunity to get to know the kids of Rise Liberia on a more individual level, and that is a blessing.  We look forward to sharing the interviews and pictures with sponsors when we are home. 

Our day came to a close with our second Revival Meeting, and oh what joyful worship we shared.  

Now to rest up for another full day tomorrow!  

Rich in Relationship

Today was a blessed day, full of rich relationship and connection.  We started the day in the school, observing the classes and soaking in the presence of these precious children.  
As I stood in the midst of the cacophony of children learning I was overwhelmed by the potential and eagerness of their hearts and minds.  Although there are many challenges ahead I am encouraged by what God is doing here at this beautiful school.  

Chief among the challenges is the need for more space, as classes are separated only by chalkboards, requiring teachers and students to shout above the class next to them to be heard.  As of now, the school is meeting within the church, and doing the very best with what they have, but a designated space will allow them to grow in so many ways.  

After the students went home we met with the Rise Liberia Management team and had a very fruitful time sharing vision and strategizing about the way forward.  We discussed curriculum and innovation as well as finances and administration.  This is a strong team with a great balance of gifts and personality.  

I will be sure to get a good picture of the team in the coming days, but for now I will leave you with one of my favorite images from the day- a kindergarten student coming forward to giver her answer.   What you can’t hear is the round of applause her classmates gave.  Pure joy!

And We’re Off!

We are off and ready for new adventures and building relationships in Liberia!!  Bill, John and I are on the road, at the start of nearly 30 hours of travel.  We are energized and excited to get started on what God has for us during this coming week in Liberia.  We’ll see how we are feeling when we arrive- praying that energy remains!  

I will be staying connected and making updates as frequently as WiFi connections allow. Thank you for all of the support and prayers!  

My family sent me off with a rare group hug- and I will cherish it all week. ❤️

An Opportunity for Giving

Many people have asked me, since hearing about our projects and my time in Liberia, how they could help.  "What can we send?  What can we do?"  I am so thankful that many of you are interested in participating in this way, and now I have an answer for you!

While presenting the Environmental students' research and lesson plans on Liberia we were talking about how the kids there play with tattered soccer balls, because that is all they have.  They just can't withstand the conditions of rough terrain and jagged garbage strewn across the "fields".  One of the people listening mentioned that they had just heard about a ball designed specifically for third world countries in Africa, which sent me on a quest for more information.

That quest led me to the website for the One World Futbol Project, and I am excited about what I found!  They have created a soccer ball (futbol to the rest of the world), which is virtually indestructible, to survive the conditions children play in across the world.  And it gets better, for every ball that we purchase, they will send another one to children in another third world country.  We can share the joy of play with children across the world!!

If you would like to help us in raising money to purchase some of these balls to send to the children in Monrovia, Liberia please contact me at olsons@lkgeorge.org.   Thank you for your continued support for our efforts to improve the lives of children in the school and children's home that we are connected to in Liberia.

Visual Report Back

There is so much to share, but few words to express what our time was like in Liberia.  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.

Breathe deeply

This evening, after spending a full day visiting the school, the Mother Ellen Harley Children's home, and several churches, we made a list of adjectives describing our trip so far. Here are some:

Overwhelming
Exhausting
Hot and sticky
Discouraging
Infuriating
Heartbreaking
Hopeful
Purposeful

A cloud filled sky, a hazy heat, and yet wisps of brilliant sunlight breaking through the weight of the air. This is how Liberia feels to me. I have spent the evening retreating into the make believe world of a novel, and in that escape I have found the air to breathe freely again. To face all those beautiful children, look into their bright eyes and find hope. To recognize progress made, and not feel paralyzed with all that remains.

God is good, "and I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in [Liberia] will carry it on to completion" (Phil 1:6).

I am thankful to have been able to participate, even for a moment, in that process.

Purposeful Perspiration

We have done a lot of sweating the last few days! They have been days full of purpose and meaning.
Each morning we met with about 75 teachers, from both our school and others, for professional development. Some of them spent hours each way getting into town and back again, because traffic has gotten so bad. What commitment they have shown!
I have really been humbled to think of all these teachers have come through, to think that I have something of value to share. We worked well as a team though.
We have covered topics from critical thinking and project based learning to classroom management and Bible in the classroom. With our connecting idea of the Environment and cleaning up garbage in Liberia it all worked together. They were very excited by the pictures Lake George students created in Photoshop to show what their community could look like if the trash was cleaned up. It was great to see some of their creative minds ignite with vision for how they could grow their classroom strategies.

After these exciting mornings we took a short break and then headed into the library to get it ready for students to really use the books. It was very discouraging to see the layers of dust collecting on these beautiful books, but it has really come together, and tomorrow we will open it up to train teachers and students on how to really use them. We have pocketed, labelled, and leveled 919 books!
I cannot wait to share pictures with you all of the before and after. It will be such a blessing to see kids in there tomorrow.

Sustaining a Vision

Wow! We went to visit James at the Green Center today, and all left awestruck by his vision and purpose. He has such a clear mission for the young people of Liberia, to participate in bringing about improvement and change for their country. He talked about all of the six components of the Green Center:
1. Composting (the most critical piece)
2. Recyclables
3. Production
4. Application of composting
5. Motor oil (reuse)
6. Educating youth

He has a social and economic mission for young people to find jobs in improving the health of Liberia.
He agreed to visit the school here and share his vision with the teachers and students. We hope to see real application of the concept of sorting, composting, and recycling. As James said, we must attach value to waste, so that people will be inspired to do something about it.
We did take lots of pictures and even recorded part of our interview with him, which I will share when I am back home and have strong enough access.
Such an inspiring visit!

Safe Travels

We have arrived in Monrovia, Liberia! The trip was long, but very smooth. All of the airline checkpoints went very quickly, with no stops. Even the airport here in Liberia was super organized. There is real growth happening here! Tomorrow we are hoping to visit the Green Center and meet James, the young visionary who is running the center.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for our safe travels, and who have been thinking about the team.
Now we are going to quite literally crash into bed. Sweet dreams all.

Amazing Photos

One of the things Lake George students have created for our teaching time in Liberia are retouched pictures, to show the difference it would make in the community to clean up the garbage.  We will use these as we train teachers to teach using projects, and incorporate real world experiences in their classrooms, focusing on the concept of sanitation, recycling, and environmental concerns.

These are some of the before and after photos.  Aren't these students amazing?

Crunch Time!

It is almost here, and packing is in full swing!  Thank you so much to everyone who has donated school supplies.  They really do make a huge difference.  If anyone would still like to donate any items please have them to one of the team (Dusty Johnson, Kellie Girling, or Sarah Olson) by Tuesday, or at the very latest Wednesday morning, so that we can get them all in.

Our plan is to prepare about 350 school supply bags for the children in The King's School Monrovia, and hand them out to the kids during their assembly day.  Traditionally they have prepared a day of songs and recitations for us, to show their appreciation for us coming, and then a game of football (soccer to us Americans) in the afternoon of course.  We want to show them how much we love them with a little gift that they can use.

Thank you again to everyone who has shown such support for this trip.  Stay tuned for news on our teacher training themes, which I will share soon (maybe on the flight, which may be the next moment I have to sit down and write).

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.