World Inc.

Eight beautiful young girls with names like Princess and Victoria, and one caregiver named Mother Ruth. These are the ladies that make up “Women’s Organized Resources for Liberian Development”, otherwise known as World Inc. Mother Ruth provides nutritious meals, a loving home, discipline, and a solid education for these young women who would have otherwise have been struggling to survive.

This is the location of our latest agriculture program where we have just started preparing garden beds. First we staked out the area for the beds and then began digging out rocks, glass, plastic and old batteries from the soil – evidence of previous dump piles and misuse of the land during the war. Now we are beginning to add organic material back into the soil including banana leaves, fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, fish remains, manure, and even malt from the local brewery. All of these ingredients are adding nutrients back into the soil to provide a fertile area for planting our gardens.

At the same time, we made nursery boxes where we add soil which has been sifted to remove rocks in preparation for planting seeds. So far, we have planted eggplant, peppers, cabbage, okra and a few others. Mother Ruth admits that she knows little about agriculture so she has been eager to learn. Every day she takes notes on each step of the process and is avidly reading the literature I have provided for her. She has also started teaching the girls how to care for the land that God has provided for them and often they help in small ways around the garden. Each evening the girls go out together and water their young plants. Gardening definitely takes time, energy, and sweat, as well as planning and commitment! These are lessons we are all learning together. I’m excited to see the restoration of this piece of land, how these gardens will provide food for the girls at World Inc. for years to come, and the values these young women will learn from God's beautiful creation!

Give great gifts this Christmas!

Christmas is right around the corner -- 37 days away, if Debbie's countdown is right!

You've told us you'd like simple, direct, personal ways to get involved in improving the lives of the children we're working with. We've heard you loud and clear, and this Christmas we'd like to give you the opportunity to give personal, meaningful gifts to your friends and family.

You can give one of six gifts, big or small, either from you or on someone else's behalf. We'll send your loved one a note on Christmas Eve letting them know that a donation has been made in their name, along with a photo or video of that gift in action.

Check out our Christmas catalog for details, and consider adding Orphan Relief and Rescue to your wish list this year. Help us make Christmas truly merry for the orphaned and abandoned children of Liberia.

Ups and Downs

This marks the 100th ORR Blog post. Thanks for reading!


The last week and a half has been full of ups and downs for Gifty.

Last Monday I had to bring Gifty back to the emergency room due to a high fever, cough and very fast respiratory rate. She was diagnosed with another respiratory infection and readmitted to the hospital for a stronger run of IV antibiotics. On Friday the doctor told me she was not responding very well to the medications and continued to spike fevers at night. He was very concerned because her chronic health problems and inability to fight infections complicates everything. He already had her on the strongest antibiotic that is available here. He laid out a very poor prognosis (which we already know, but it is very hard to hear).

Due to Andrew's keen detective work, some information about Gifty's past was found, including a birth certificate. We now know her birthday, May 28, 2007, which means she is 17months old. I also met with a Social Worker from the Liberian government this week. Her report will hopefully go far in expediting the paperwork that needs to go through for Gifty to be able to leave the country and be adopted.

Despite the fight going on within her small body Gifty continues to grow. According to the hospital scale she is up to 5.8kg. She is a great eater, loves her milk and is trying new foods. She can not get enough of the special crackers that her care taker Tonia buys for her. And we discovered another love of Gifty's. . .Music! She can't get enough of it and starts kicking her legs and bobbing her head every time.

Today when I met with Gifty's doctor he was very happy with how she was doing. She has not had any fevers for 3 days and is breathing normally again. He wanted to discharge her today! I asked for a few more days to insure she is really infection free before we return her to the orphanage. Hopefully if everything goes as planned she will be discharged again on Wednesday.

This cycle of infections will continue until Gifty can receive the surgery she needs to fix her failing liver. Each time she gets sick it is harder on her body and they have to use stronger medicines which are not good for her liver, but are necessary to fight the infection. This is a truly urgent time to pray for a miracle in Gifty's body and for getting her the medical care she needs but is not available in Liberia.

Each time I hold Gifty, I pray for her. I pray that God will bless her and strengthen her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. I whisper truths to her about God and how much he loves her. I remember the promise He gives us that He will complete the good work that He has started in her.

Please join me in these prayers.

Raising Healthy Children Workshop

This past Monday, OR&R hosted our very first “Raising Healthy Children” workshop for orphanage directors and caretakers. It was encouraging to have 25 participants who were excited to learn. The one day workshop covered a wide variety of topics, including: germs, hand washing, hygiene, malaria, ringworm, scabies, dehydration, first aid and nutrition.

The workshop’s theme verse was Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it”. We wanted to encourage and challenge the directors and caretakers to really invest in the lives of the children that they are caring for. It is so important that these children learn good living habits, but we also want them to learn good values and be productive citizens in the future. We want to see the children healthy—physically, mentally and spiritually.

After putting so much time and effort into preparing for the workshop, it was exciting to see the directors and caretakers really paying attention and learning the material. Debbie and I both agree that we could see light bulbs going off in heads all over the room.
After a full day of teaching, learning and sharing, each participant was presented with a certificate. Because it was our first workshop, we learned a lot about planning and teaching the material. We look forward to hosting more workshops in the future to better equip orphanage directors and caretakers to raise healthy children.

[Debbie and Ashley with some of the workshop participants, who proudly are displaying their certificates.]

Francis Gaskin's Latrines

The Longest Day

We started out early in the morning to pick up Beyan, the Director for Childcare Foundation, so he could take us to visit his rice farm. The rice grown on the farm provides food for the children at the orphanage, and October is rice harvesting season. Away we went in our taxi! After about 3 hours on a paved road filled with potholes, we turned onto a long dirt road. Little did I know we had another hour to go. At this point I started to question whether we should have come. The taxi we chartered for the day was not able to make the final leg of this journey as the road was badly eroded, so we walked the rest of the way to the village. I really thought we were almost there until we found out we still had a long walk ahead of us to the farm. All in all it took us about 5 hours to reach the rice farm but it was well worth the trip.

Andrew and I were greeted by a small group of hard-working farmers who gave us a tour and took time to teach us how to harvest rice. In addition, they cooked us a meal completely made from food on the farm. We had country rice (which was excellent), with a sauce made from red palm oil and palava sauce (a type of green leaf vegetable), and squirrel which they had trapped that morning. We ate out of a large community bowl, exactly what you would imagine when you think of Africa! Here we were in the middle of nowhere enjoying this exotic meal with a group of new-found friends. We followed the meal with a handful of freshly picked juicy oranges to give us that extra boost for the long trek home.

I honestly don't think I would have gone if I had known it would take the entire day - 10 hours of driving and over 2 hours of hiking in tempatures reaching almost 100 degrees with swamp-like humidity - but it was an invaluable experience. It reminded me how easy we have it, and just how hard-working the Liberian people are! On the trail back to the taxi I realized that each bag of rice harvested must be carried out on the same trail. Our friends must walk an hour on a muddy path carrying over 100 pounds of rice on their heads, only to return to the farm for another load. Then all that rice has to be transported several hours to the orphanage. That's commitment.

Gifty's Big Day!

Wednesday was a big day for Gifty!

Our precious girl was finally discharged from the hospital. She obviously has chronic issues that are not going away until she can get the surgery she needs (keep praying!), but the doctor decided that she is eating well, growing stronger and infection free so she can have a little freedom.
We picked her up from the hospital and drove straight to the feeding program for a weigh-in. She actually weighed the same as last week, but her belly is smaller and her checks are fatter so that is a good sign.

Gifty loves the Plumpy'nut!

After getting another week's worth of the good stuff we headed to the orphanage home to get Gifty settled in. All the other children were happy to see her back.

Now we start a new phase in Gifty's care, keeping her healthy and getting her stronger. I will be checking on her daily for a while to see how she is adjusting. When I stopped by the orphanage today for a visit she was happy and fever free.

Prayer Update on Gifty

For those of you praying night and day for little Gifty, THANK YOU. I hope you've been encouraged along with us at the amazing progress she's been making, and at the doors that continue to open for her. But the road is still long, with many obstacles between her and the transplant that can save her life.

While she is being discharged tomorrow from the hospital, there is a hunt going on up-country for her aunt. We're not involved in the adoption process at all, but basically the US embassy requires either death certificates for both parents, or else a relative to relinquish custody. In Gifty's case, neither are available. Hence the search is on to find a woman in an extremely remote area--the searchers only have a name to go on, no photo or even a general location!

Please pray for the search--that her aunt will be reached and won't hesitate to come forward. And, as always, please continue to pray for Gifty's protection against infection, for weight gain, and for her amazing caretakers.

New Construction Worker

Orphan Relief and Rescue has always taken great pride in our construction teams. Some guys have been working with us since our first project at Fatu's started back in 2006. As new members are added, they learn skills that are essential to the building trades but are often overlooked here--like how to keep walls level and square, amongst other things.

As our new home construction for Salome continues, the new guys on the jobsite are learning skills that will make them better builders and also help them to get more, higher-paying work later in their careers as well. This jobsite is a little different, though. For the first time, OR&R is employing a female construction worker. Jenneh Flomo started on the jobsite a few weeks ago, hauling water to be mixed with cement for the foundation. In between loads she was always observing how the masons were working. Before long she was learning the proportions of sand, cement, and rock to mix for the footings. Jenneh works just as hard or harder than the men on the jobsite, and we are all excited to help her learn a new trade.

Gifty's Field Trip

Today we took Gifty on a field trip.

Gifty is getting stronger and more alert. The other day she was sitting up on her own, this was the first time I have seen this in the 3 weeks I have been here. She is playing more and even waved goodbye to me as I left her room.

Gifty is still fighting it out in the hospital. Even though Her lung infection is responding to the antibiotics and the cough is much less, the pediatrician is not ready to discharge her yet.

Today we received the OK to take her to the local "Action Against Hunger" clinic to have her evaluated for their feeding program. Piko (one of Gifty's wonderful caregivers) and I piled into a hospital truck with Gifty and 2 other children, their mothers, a Liberian nurse and the driver. After a bit of a hard time finding the place (neither the nurse or the driver knew exactly where it was) we piled into a room with at least 20 other mothers and children.

Gifty (now 15 months old) weighed in at 5.2kg and a whopping 63cm long.

She definitely qualified for the feeding program. This is what we wanted because now she will be supplied with Plumpy'nut nutrition supplement to aid in her healing, growth and malnutrition. Plumpy'nut is a peanut butter type food that has vital vitamins, minerals and other nutrients added. Now Gifty will get to chow down twice a day on the good stuff and hopefully we will see her gaining more weight and strength in the weeks to come.

Relief Update—Feeding Program

Because of your support, we are able to feed over 100 children in four orphanage homes every week. We provide most ingredients for a typical Liberian meal—which usually consists of a bowl of rice with some type of soup topping—by delivering rice, bulgarwheat, beans, milk and palm oil. We then require the orphanage directors to supplement the children’s diets with things like greens, meat and fruit. It is important that the children have food, but it’s more important that they have the proper vitamins and minerals so they will grow and stay healthy.

The four homes currently participating in our feeding program are: Childcare Foundation (24 children), Frances Gaskins (33 children), Gold Child (24 children) and Garmai’s (30 children). Please keep these four homes in your prayers; we hope to see them all self-sufficient in the very near future. Pray that God would continue to provide support for the relief program—the more support the program has, the more homes we are able to feed. If you would like to donate towards the relief program, please designate your donation for ‘relief’.

New at Frances Gaskins

I'm excited to announce a new project this week -- one that might seem small, but I assure you will make a giant impact on the everyday well-being of thirty amazing kids.

Some of our good friends at Mercy Ships have been spending their Saturdays with our other very dear friends at Frances Gaskins Children's Rescue Home, and we've all gotten together to finish a latrine and shower block at the back of the property. (Months ago, their latrine collapsed in a storm, leaving the children literally out in the elements.)

Thanks to the personal help of Mercy Ships staffers and the hard work of our masons alongside the director of the home, Emmanuel, these kids will very soon have a clean, safe bathroom and shower block. Perhaps not the most glamorous of buildings, but definitely one of the most important!

ORR Healthcare News

News from the ORR Healthcare front-

Our fighter, Gifty remains in the hospital. Her lung infection has progressed to pneumonia. She was more spirited today and fever free so we can praise God for that.

Malaria remains a real concern for everyone here, especially during the rainy season when the mosquitoes are at their worst. Last week I treated a girl at Frances Gaskins orphanage for malaria. When I checked on her yesterday she was running and playing and dancing with the rest of the kids.

The big project for this week was cleaning up Childcare Foundation. Many of the children there had developed ringworm and scabies (skin infections) due to their unclean living situation. Ashley and I (with the help of some of their caregivers) scrubbed them down with antiseptic soap and slathered on the appropriate medicines. After a thorough scrubbing and medication application each child received a brand new pair of clean underpants. Below is a picture of a few of the boys sporting their new briefs.

Childcare Foundation Clean-up

A Farm in Virginia

Early in the 1800s, freed slaves from the US were given the opportunity to return to Africa, the home of their ancestors. Most of those freed slaves were transported to Liberia where they built their own homes and started farms or plantations. Often they named the new area after the place they lived in the States. In Liberia, you can find names like Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia. Last week I visited a farm in Virginia owned by a church who sponsors an orphanage called Victorious Faith.

When orphanages are located in the city of Monrovia they often do not have space for a farm, so they purchase land elsewhere and transport the produce into the city to either eat or sell in the market. This plot of land provides food for the children of Victorious Faith and is run single-handedly by a young man named Moses. So far they have grown cassava, cabbage, sweet potatoes, peppers (see photo), and bitterball. But he is fighting an uphill battle.

The difficulty for Moses is that he must walk a long way to find water in a nearby swamp so he can water the garden. His farm is in need of a well or during the upcoming dry season the crops will not survive. As well, during the night thieves often come to steal the crops because Moses lives a mile or two away. He would like to move to the farm to watch over it and protect the land but he is in need of a small house. Even when his crops succeed, they are sometimes destroyed by caterpillars, grasshoppers, and other insects. The produce that is grown on the farm will help feed the children at Victoria's Faith, and we would like to assist Moses in his efforts to provide for those children. If you would like to contribute to the the various Agriculture projects that ORR is involved with, please indicate that your donation is for Capacity Building. Thank you for helping to feed the children!