Child Development Program

With rainy season in full downpour, our field team has been shrinking. Several of our staff are taking some much needed time off to rest and reset for another busy program year.

Timothy is a shy, soft-spoken little boy who is in my small group on Friday afternoons. He's usually pretty quiet, but he always gives me a hug when he sees me and flashes me a smile that just melts my heart.

Last Friday was a holiday here in Liberia, and some new friends of ours at the U.S. Embassy wanted to surprise 30 kids with handmade, one-of-a-kind teddy bears courtesy of Mother Bear Project.

Little did they know that they were in for a surprise themselves! The kids wouldn't let their new friends leave without giving them an amazing cultural presentation. The children sang, danced, drummed, and even showed off their spelling skills. (Special thanks to Martin for including my name as one of his words!)

Ludo (commonly called ‘parcheesi’) is an extremely popular board game here in Liberia. The older boys at Fatu’s orphanage play it constantly. These past few weeks, I’ve taken the time to learn the game and play with them. As they beat me, the boys always "lecture" me about life, politics, and football. Just recently we’ve expanded into subjects like God, the Bible, and church.  

All this week, we are celebrating Easter with the children who participate in the Child Development Program. It is our prayer that the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection will come alive for these kids as we tell the Easter story in a fun, new, and exciting way.

The Child Development Program Bible Contest started a few months ago as a challenge for the older kids at one of the homes we work with. In order to answer questions and fill out worksheets during small group time, they had to look up different Scriptures. The problem, however, was that there just wasn’t enough Bibles to go around. So, we started bringing Bibles to the home whenever we’d meet for small groups, and then all the kids were asking to keep them. Mariel told them she’d gladly give them one of their own–but they’d have to earn it.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Child Development Program. It began with a desire to get to know the older students at some of our homes, but has grown into a weekly program with 120 participants in 11 small groups at three different homes. The past year has been a learning process for us: learning to address social issues specific to orphanage life, learning lots of new names, and exploring options for education.

December 25th is just around the corner, and the kids in our Child Development Program have been getting in the Christmas spirit this week! The kids got a chance to explore their creativity as they worked on some special Christmas crafts. (Thank you, North Lindale Church, for donating the materials. They were put to great use, and they put a smile on all the kids' faces!) Since we want to encourage the individuality of every child that we work with, all the kids had the opportunity to choose their own project and decorate it any way they liked.

Orphan Relief and Rescue is excited to welcome Elena Pellizzaris to our growing field team in Liberia. Elena fell in love with the children of Liberia and the vision of Orphan Relief and Rescue while she was visiting for a few weeks last year. She comes to us with several years of experience teaching preschool and elementary age children near Philadelphia, PA. The expertise she brings to the field will greatly benefit our Child Development Program where she will be working closely with Mariel.

Will and Brian came to Liberia with a set plan: play soccer and disciple the boys at Fatu’s orphanage three times a week. Due to school exams, however, they had to delay the start of their soccer program by a week, and instead focused on tutoring the kids for their big tests. Here's the rest of the story straight from Will and Brian: