Thank you to all!

We wanted to say a big thank you to all of you from numerous churches who sewed, collected dresses, shirts, underwear and other needed items for the orphan children this last month.

We at Orphan Relief and Rescue want to say a big thank you! Rebecca Pratt, our VP of Programs, and Gloria Milholland had a ball giving out these clothes to the children that are so needy in Benin and Liberia, West Africa. These items blessed so many this last month. You made many children so happy and excited with these much-needed clothes and toiletries.

Thank you for all the hours of sewing, shopping, as well as the finances you used for these items.

Many blessings upon all of you for all your efforts for these precious children.

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