Security fence at Frances Gaskin

In North America, everyday security means locking your car, flipping the deadbolt on the front door, and perhaps setting an alarm. Where I grew up, no one even locked their doors.

But in Liberia, everyone that can afford one has a security fence around their property--a plain, unpainted concrete block wall, with barbed wire if one can afford it.

What we might consider an eyesore is the first line of defense in a country with very high unemployment (85% in 2003 estimates) and tens of thousands of demobilized soldiers. The general feeling is, while a fence can't stop all criminals, you don't want to be the only one in the neighborhood without one.

At Frances Gaskin Children's Refuge, they've had two attacks by armed robbers--one in which they held the house mother at knife point. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, but kids and adults alike were terrified.

I don't want to over-dramatize the situation, but the safety of the orphans we serve is job number one. Liberia is still a fragile environment with the majority still desperate to support themselves. Children, particularly orphans, are perceived as an easy target for predators and traffickers, and any orphanage receiving foreign assistance, large or small, is even more of a target.

So we ask for your help: click here for more information on what we're doing to protect the kids of Frances Gaskin and truly make it the Children's Refuge it should be.