Liberia Meets Browntown

LOEP has had an incredibly successful weekend! I only wish you all had been here to take part in the whole event. Nevertheless, your presence was very much felt.

Here's how it went:

As you know Sam Kargbo, Director of CRM Orphanage, has been in the US for a couple of months now on a sponsored trip to raise funds for his work. We have been trying to get a week-end that he could come to Browntown to meet with both LOEP supporters and Browntown Church people and this was the week-end. Phylis came on Friday evening and she and I did some preliminary work to get the stuff ready to pack up the two mobile classrooms that we have to send. We unpacked school supply donations, took inventory and made a shopping list of the stuff that needed to be purchased to fill out the project. Gary and I got up early Saturday to go pick Sam up in Hagerstown MD (about 11/2 hours from Browntown) and Phylis and Grammy went to shop for the additional supplies for the mobile classrooms while we were gone.

We all met back at home and Sam helped Phylis, Mom and me put together the mobile classrooms so he would know how that whole thing is supposed to work with the lesson plans, materials, etc. We had a lovely afternoon working on that and we all three fell in love with Sam as he is absolutely charming in the best possible way - I think he was wondering how he ended up in the mountains of VA with three crazy old white ladies playing with crayons and pencils and paper, but, any way...he seemed to have a good time. After that I dropped Sam at Browntown Church for a dinner and to meet Keith while Phylis and I got stuff ready for the Sunday afternoon Open House at home “on the compound”.

Sunday morning we all went to church and Sam delivered a very fine sermon that had the entire church spellbound (including those of us who would rather be mowing than sitting in church) - he is an excellent speaker and, like so many Liberians we have come to know on this journey, his warmth and charm is simply radiant.

Anyway, the Open House on Sunday afternoon was a huge success. Gary had the TV rigged up with his computer somehow so that the video and all the great Liberia photos could show on a continuous loop and it was fabulous! While Phylis and I took some of the guests out to the Meeting House to see the mobile classrooms and talk about the orphans in school using their little crayons and coloring books, Grammy stayed inside serving food while Gary and Sam presided over the television slide show of Brenda’s photos (with Sam's commentary) and showed the video. The Sam and Gary Show must have been a hit because there were only 16 guests there and we raised $2,600.00 in two hours!! It was fabulously successful. At the church dinner on Saturday night Keith gave Sam $2,000.00 he had raised so the total dollars in Browntown this weekend is more than enough for Sam to put the required 50% down payment on the 25 acres they need to develop a CRM campus that will eventually be a model orphanage. He has shared those plans with us, he has complete faith that it can be done and, after this week-end which exceeded all my expectations, I believe he is absolutely right (I have been pretty skeptical until now, I have to admit). I quoted Brenda a hundred times this week-end, "everything always works out for the Liberia project". The fundraising was done acre by acre - we asked for donations of $400.00 to buy an acre and it really worked! In addition, we have one quarter of the LOEP teacher sponsorships for the full year next year already in hand. I have been thinking that there may be some folks in Liberia who have the impression that Browntown is some kind of magical, mythical place from which support flows like milk and honey. It has been of some concern to me and I have tried to lower expectations in case of disappointment. Guess maybe I need to have more faith - between LOEP (Phylis is such a treasure and mainstay) and Browntown Church the flow of support continues as strong as ever. It is a humbling experience to see the awesome power of compassion and I am so grateful to be on this journey with people of such loving and giving spirit.

Wish you all could have been here to share in this first-hand. Meeting Sam, hearing first-hand the harrowing story of how he came to the wonderful work he and his wife are doing and hearing him tell all about those precious children who have been through so much – it has been an incredibly inspiring experience for all of us.

Trying this out

Hope this works now.

Elderhostel

I was working on a post for the 4-H Center blog, and thought you guys might like to see this. It's video of our Elderhostelers playing their dulcimers.

Btw, you can now sign up on the 4-H Center blog to get email updates of new posts, if anyone's interested.