July 2023 – 15th Anniversary of the Kuwaa Mission

Kuwaa Mission at Fifteen -Still Moving Strong The Kuwaa Mission celebrates fifteen years of existence this year, 2023! Fifteen years ago, Rev. Dr. Dick Thompson flew to Chicago, IL, from Anchorage, AK, for a long overdue visit to his friend, Rev. Dr. D. Jensen Seyenkulo. The two of them had held phone conversations about helping the Kuwaa people recover from the trauma of the Liberian civil war. The list was long and discouraging. They agreed to meet face-to-face and brainstorm. The appropriate time came in 2008. In April of 2008, they met in the home of Jensen and his wife, Linda, where they threw ideas around for several days, pausing occasionally to pray together and separately, asking God for direction. The task before the two men was huge. The Kuwaa area was deplorable even before the Civil Crisis. There were no motor roads, not even motorbike trails. Because of the lack of roads in the district, there was no durable infrastructure, no schools, no health facilities, or, most importantly, no access to fresh, good drinking water in the entire district. The crisis had worsened the already pitiful condition of the people. Where would the two men begin? What would they begin with? The whole undertaking required a lot of prayers since both men had no funds with which to begin. The idea of involving some Lutheran congregations in Alaska with which Dick was familiar became attractive. Those congregations supported the Mission financially and produced local and international volunteers to advance Dick and Jensen’s dream and execute the Mission’s work. One of those international volunteers whose involvement transformed the Mission was Stan Olsen. Stan, a member of Central Lutheran Church of Anchorage, Alaska, was not new to Liberia. He had served his church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a volunteer, working with the Lutheran Church in Liberia. Therefore, he was familiar with the Liberian situation enough that when he heard of the Kuwaa Mission, he knew what to expect if he volunteered. Stan volunteered, and it only took one visit for him to adopt the Mission and the people in Kuwaa land. The rise or fall of the Mission entirely depended on Stan for many years. He made annual trips to Liberia to provide oversight supervision and direction to the Mission work and advise the Board. Stan would later become the CEO, succeeding Jensen, who had followed Dick, the first CEO. The late Rev. Chris Kowula, a Kuwaa pastor who had worked with Dick on the Kuwaa Bible translations in the 70s, was significant at the start of the Mission. Stan and the entire Mission depended on Chris to provide the local connection to Liberia. He worked tirelessly to keep the Mission alive and visible among the Kuwaa people in the absence of the US team. Chris was called home to be with the Lord in 2017. Within a few months of the meeting in Chicago; Ed and Diane Stelling, former Lutheran Bible Translators missionaries to the Kuwaa people, who had served with the Thompsons in the 70s, declared their support for the Mission. Ed and Diane had seen the living conditions of the people before the civil crisis. They could only imagine how much worse it had become with the coming of war. Upon hearing that their colleagues, Dick and Jensen, were taking some initiatives to help improve the lives of the people they loved, Ed and Diane joined the team. Three things were important to them, making it possible for these people to hear God’s Word of promise and hope, providing education, and assisting the Kuwaa people to live healthy, productive lives. This was a valuable connection to the Mission as the Stelling’s involvement would complete the principal players needed to form the initiative’s foundation. The Stelling’s involvement would also bring on board some congregations in California. They immediately connected their worshiping community, Christ, Costa Mesa, with the Mission. Christ in Costa Mesa has been the Mission’s supporting and praying community for the past fifteen years. It wasn’t long before the Mission was blessed with another dedicated servant of the Lord, Cindy Ellis Bye. Cindy, a worshipper at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in Anchorage at the time, had heard Dick Thompson’s presentation on the Kuwaa Mission and God’s call to this small group of disciples. Although she was moving to Billings, Montana, Cindy committed to the Mission and never looked back. She joined the team in 2009 with an engineering background in water and wastewater management and a vast knowledge of rural life. She desired to use her knowledge to help the Kuwaa people. Although her engineering background was helpful in her work with the people, it was her love for the people that consumed her. Cindy traveled to Liberia seven times, and most of those times, she spent up to four months at a time living in the villages with the Kuwaa people, covering five-to-seven-hour distances on foot between villages, eating what they ate, and sleeping where they slept. The same love for these deserted people led Cindy to bring with her Bekki, her college-age daughter, during one of her mission trips. Cindy would go on to serve as the Mission in several capacities, including chairperson of the Mission’s Board of Directors and CEO for many years. She retired in 2018 to attend to her health, but she remains a supporter and a prayer partner of the Mission.  The Mission continued under the leadership of Stan Olson as CEO for many years. Stan continued to make annual visits to Liberia, providing oversight of the work in Liberia and acting as the link between the Liberian team and the Board of Directors. The task was time-consuming and exhausting. Stan did not mind it because of the positive impact he saw in the people’s lives. However, he could not continue permanently. He started to reduce his involvement with the Mission in 2021. Finally, he stepped down from the leadership right before Jensen completed his term as Presiding Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Liberia. All during this time, Pastor Carol George of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Anchorage, AK, gave leadership to the Board. Unlike all her predecessors, Pastor Carol had never been to Liberia. Whereas all her predecessors had at least visited Liberia before heading the organization, she had only heard stories coming from the field. The stories and pictures were enough for Pastor Carol.

Transition

After Stan stepped down from that critical role in 2022, the Board asked Jensen to occupy the Chief Operating Officer (COO) position while Pastor Carol continued as CEO. One of the first things that the Board asked of the new COO was to assess the Mission and report back with recommendations. The assessment was necessary because the devastating effect of Covid on the world had caused a severe pause in the Mission’s activities, almost creating a sense of neglect, which the region had experienced with other organizations that had failed to live up to their commitments. Secondly, Stan had started gradually winding down as he felt the Lord was placing other challenges before him in other parts of the world. A team, including the Field Agent, the Well Technician, and the Health Team, headed by the COO, made several assessment trips. The report was encouraging. It highlighted the fact that the positive impact of the Mission’s work was evident in the communities and that the Mission needed to continue. The Board endorsed the recommendation, and work continues!

Accomplishments                                                  

We are happy to share with our friends some of the things the Mission has accomplished in the fifteen years of its existence.

  • Safe Drinking Water – The Mission has dug and outfitted at least one well in each of the sixteen towns in the district for a total of thirty-seven wells.
  • Clinic – The Mission constructed a clinic in Kondesu and turned it over to the Government of Liberia a little over nine years ago. Accompanying the clinic was an incinerator and a nurses’ quarter. Although the Government agreed to run the clinic, things have not worked out as we had hoped. With the help of our prayer partners, the Mission has supplemented the services that the Government provides on several levels. One of the most significant ways the Mission works with the Government of Liberia is to keep basic medicines in stock for this isolated community. To make that happen, the Mission entered a partnership agreement with the Christian Health Association of Liberia (CHAL) last year, 2022. This partnership enables the clinic to keep the essential medicines in stock for the community.
  • Evangelists’ Training – The Mission has trained fifteen evangelists and deacons at the Lutheran Church in Liberia’s Lay Training Center. These men and women are trained and sent back home to lead the flock.
  • Nurses Training – The Mission has trained one nurse so far. She was trained and sent back to work at the Mission’s clinic. (The remoteness of the Kuwaa region made life difficult for the Mission’s lone health practitioner).
  • Teachers Training – The Mission conducted several Sunday-school teachers’ workshops and helped teachers in the academic schools in the district learn to do simple lesson plans.
  • Technical Training – The Mission has trained a select group of young people in the towns to do simple repairs on the pumps in their respective towns.
  • Days for Girls – The Mission conducts a workshop for school-age girls and provides them kits to help young women remain in school during their monthly periods.
  • Sunday School – The Mission conducts an annual Sunday school session for children (and adults) in select towns. Konjade received this service in 2023; Sassasu and Gatema towns are scheduled to receive this service in 2024.
  • Community Led Total Sanitation Program – The Mission continues to train community leaders to take the initiative of keeping the community clean. Konjade was the last town to receive this training. As in the case of the Sunday School, Sassasu and Gatema are scheduled to benefit from the Community Led Total Sanitation Program next.

What Else Lies in the Immediate Future for the Mission The Board has decided to continue its mission in the abovementioned areas. Instead of digging new wells, however, we will concentrate on rehabilitating the old wells. We will do that by mostly replacing broken parts of the pump systems and reconditioning around the wells. Because of the critical needs of the Kuwaa people, the Board has added three new areas of emphasis to the long list of responsibilities it already has.  

  1. Equipping the Community Health Assistants (CHAs) – The CHAs are men and women in the Kuwaa region and other parts of Liberia who function like “Clinics on Foot.” They are trained by the Government to be in hard-to-reach places, places that are remote and far from medical establishments. Although trained by the Government and promised support, according to the CHAs, the support promised is not forthcoming. This is a critical part of the work of the Mission, providing healthcare for the Kuwaa people. Instead of building clinics, the Board sees this as an opportunity to reach the people with the essential drugs they need to address their common healthcare needs. Therefore, the Board has decided to make this project a major part of their work for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Our research shows that it will cost $150.00 to restock a CHA’s kit every six months.
  2. Equipping the Midwives – The remoteness of the Kuwaa people causes many challenges. One of these challenges is having the right materials to help reduce maternal and infant mortality. Our assessment revealed that, like the CHAs, Traditional Midwives are trained and certified by the Government to help women have safe and healthy deliveries. But, like the CHAs, these midwives need to be equipped with the basic needs for their work. It frustrates them that they lack the simple tub and buckets, for example, needed to do their work effectively. The Kuwaa Mission Board has decided to partner with the Government of Liberia in this area. While the Mission cannot fully equip all the district midwives, it can begin with a few. The Mission will begin with midwives in Baloma, Kenata, Kalata, Golata, and Doi (Kpawolozu).
  3. “The Talking Bible” Initiative – The Kuwaa Mission partners with the Liberia Bible Society and a community radio station, “Radio Life” of Zorzor, Lofa County, to bring the Word of God to the Kuwaa people. Using the Proclaimer, or “The Talking Bible,” a small device containing the New Testament books, read, and dramatized in several local languages, the Kuwaa people will begin hearing the Word of God read to them every weekday morning beginning July this year. This initiative has been anticipated for a long time. While the wells and other healthcare initiatives are essential, the Word of God is the motivating factor behind all we do. The Mission’s purpose opens with these words: “The purpose of the Kuwaa Mission is to help the Kuwaa people to rebuild and live dignified lives under God.” This is possible when God’s Word is heard regularly.
  4. Bibles for Kuwaa land – Based on the appeals from deacons, evangelists, teachers, and others in the Kuwaa region, the Board is working this year to make copies of the Bible available to the Kuwaa people residing in the district who can read the Word of God for themselves.

 The Kuwaa Mission continues to grow strong after fifteen years because of our many prayer partners and supporters. We are grateful to all of you. Some congregations are worth mentioning at this fifteen-year celebration. They include:

  1. Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church of Billings, MT
  2. Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Brush, CO
  3. Central Lutheran of Anchorage, AK
  4. Christ Lutheran of Costa Mesa, CA
  5. Faith Lutheran of Shreveport, LA
  6. First Lutheran of Akin MN
  7. Petersburg Lutheran of Petersburg, AK
  8. Mark Lutheran of Anchorage, AK
  9. Trinity Lutheran of Park Forest, IL

Thanks for all you do to make God’s presence felt worldwide. Your prayers and other forms of support are making a difference. We pray for God’s richest blessings upon you and the ministry that God has called you to. Note: The Kuwaa Mission is an example of ecumenical cooperation between two church denominations that do not usually work together.  Supporting congregations of the Kuwaa Mission are from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  The supporting congregations are focused on the witness of Jesus Christ to brothers and sisters in the Kuwaa Region. Daniel Jensen Seyenkulo – COO, Kuwaa Mission Thank You All!  The Mission has been blessed with the gifts of many people and institutions for these fifteen years. It is impossible to list all of them. However, we would be ungrateful if we did not mention a few by name. Among the institutions are Samaritans Purse, who provided logistic assistance to the Mission by offering their truck and helicopter to transport construction materials through and over the jungle to sites where those materials were needed, and Water Hope deserves mention for the grants that enabled the Mission to purchase materials to construct new wells. Among the people are Tara Orley, an RN from Anchorage, AK, who accompanied Cindy once to help with hygiene; David Hagstrom from Billings, MT, who helped install a solar system that provides power to the clinic; Stephan Bradley, who helped train the local pump technicians; the local volunteers; all the Board members who diligently give of themselves for the success of the Mission, and all other volunteers, we cannot thank you enough. Thank you!

Please consider a donation to this worthy cause!  Your $150 donation will supply the necessary medications to support the work of a Community Health Assistant(CHA) for 6 months!   We need your help to support all 43 of the dedicated people doing this good work!  

Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111 Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

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Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

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