“THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE”

These words form the motto of the country of Liberia in West Africa. They were chosen July 26, 1847 by freed American slaves who had settled in West Africa with the help of our U.S. Congress. They declared their independence on that day as a free and independent nation – independent of English and French colonization unlike their neighboring countries.

While  we were missionaries in Liberia back in the 1970’s, our family celebrated  two Independence Days with all the activities associated with them: July 4 and July 26. The U.S. Embassy would host a large picnic with food and games highlighted with the raising of the American Flag by the embassy Marine Color Guard – a touch of home with the singing of our national anthem. Later that month we gathered with the Lutheran Church of Liberia and joined the Liberians as they worshipped and observed their Independence Day.

In a sense, the Love of Liberty recently brought us back to Liberia and our Kuwaa brothers and sisters in Christ. For over 10 years now we have returned to Liberia, bringing the Kuwaa people fresh clean water wells in each of their  remote villages, constructing a medical clinic in the center of their vast chiefdom and also building/rebuilding log and plank bridges over the many creeks and streams. In addition we have provided school supplies, roofing materials for churches/schools, teacher/evangelist training workshops, Vacation Bible Schools and numerous health classes for women and girls.

All of these activities have brought liberty and freedom to the Kuwaa. They no longer have to fear illness and death from dirty and disease filled drinking water from the streams. They no longer have to walk for miles and hours to get medical help. They are free to worship and be educated in roofed church/school buildings. These freedoms have provided them with improved health and living conditions not known to them previously. To God be the Glory!!

For all  this we thank you, our faithful supporters,  on behalf of the Kuwaa for being our partners in ministry in faraway Liberia through your prayers and financial support. The Kuwaa have the same Lord and Savior as we do. Jesus has freed us all from the fear and bondage of sin, death and the devil and has given all of us liberty to serve Him in love for others, no matter where they might be – next door or around the world.

Have a Happy and Blessed Fourth of July enjoying the Love of Liberty we share!

Ed Stelling,

Kuwaa Mission Advisory Board Member

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Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our Tax ID number is 27-5458111

Donate on our Website or send a Check to the address below.  Thank You!

The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org
 

It is with sad but grateful hearts that we say goodbye to our CEO, Cindy Bye, who has resigned from the Kuwaa Mission – Board of Directors, effective the end of June, 2018.

Cindy  has been a volunteer for the Kuwaa Mission since 2009. In June of that year, Cindy first learned about the Kuwaa Mission when at her church in Anchorage, Alaska, she heard a presentation about the Mission by Rev. Dr. Richard Thompson, a former missionary with the Kuwaa, and Mr. Stan Olsen, a construction manager with experience in Liberia.  At that moment she felt a calling to volunteer and join the Mission. By the end of 2009 Cindy made her first trip to Liberia with her college age daughter,  Bekki.

Over the next 9 years, Cindy would travel to Liberia a total of 7 times, working alongside the Kuwaa people installing water wells to bring safe drinking water to the villages and improve their sanitary conditions.  As a retired water treatment engineer, Cindy believes that everyone has the right to safe clean water. The Kuwaa came to love Cindy, referring to her as Ma Sombee and even having a baby girl named after her.

Cindy says, “The most important lesson that I have learned from the Kuwaa is about the value of relationships. Material things and even the adventure and entertainment we seek do not make us truly happy. The true joy is in relationships. As Jesus said in John 15, ‘I tell you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.’”

We give thanks to the Lord for Cindy and her dedication to the Kuwaa Mission and the Kuwaa people. We wish her God’s richest blessings as she moves forward with new callings in ministry for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Karen Voris,

Kuwaa Mission Board Member

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Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our Tax ID number is 27-5458111

Donate on our Website or send a Check to the address below.  Thank You!

The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org
 

Greetings from the Kuwaa Mission, 

The months of April and May bring the light back to Alaska.  The birds return, the trees begin budding and the flowers start to awaken.

This year at the end of April the ELCA churches held their church wide Synod Assembly in Anchorage and the Kuwaa Mission brought Naomi Ford Wilson (General Secretary of the Lutheran Churches in Liberia) to Alaska to talk about the mission and present workshops.  Her workshops were well received and garnered a lot of interest and funds for the mission’s work   She also went to North Pole where she preached at Lord of Life, a Kuwaa Mission church. Here she also assisted in transporting 46 Days for Girls personal kits back to the Kuwaa people.

This year part of the Mission’s focus is to not only assist with safe water, and medical supplies at the clinics but to assist the women and girls with personal needs.  The Mission is working with the Days for Girls Organization.  Currently there are 5 organizations all over the United States that are producing these kits.  At this time 118 kits have been delivered to the Kuwaa villages along with health education and they have been well received by the women there.  There are another 200 kits ready to go in the next shipment.  The various groups making these kits bear the cost of all items.  However, it is costly to ship everything so please keep this project in your prayers. It is the Mission’s hope that this can become a small business for the Kuwaa people in the future.

All of the above reminded me of 1 John 1:1-2:2  But if we walk in the light……we have fellowship with one another. (v. 7)

In Christ, Karen Kuhnert

Board Volunteer Coordinator

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Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our Tax ID number is 27-5458111

Donate on our Website or send a Check to the address below.  Thank You!

The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org
 

We are excited to bring Naomi Ford, the current General Secretary for the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL), to Alaska for the Alaska Synod ELCA Synod Assembly, April 27-29, 2018 in Anchorage. While in Alaska Ms. Ford will travel to Fairbanks with former CEO of the Kuwaa Mission, Stan Olsen, where they will speak with our partner congregations.  They will also conduct two workshops during the Synod Assembly to talk about cooperative efforts of the LCL and the Kuwaa Mission.

Ms. Ford reports directly to Bishop Daniel Jensen Seyenkulo. She is directly responsible for the implementation of most the LCL’s programs across the country. Naomi also served the LCL under the previous bishop Rev. Sumoward Harris during the recent civil war. She is an active member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Monrovia, the largest congregation in Monrovia. Naomi has personally, and through the LCL, supported the Kuwaa Mission and its role in Liberia since the Kuwaa Mission’s founding in 2010. She is an active supporter of the Days for Girls program that the Kuwaa Mission has recently implemented in the villages we serve in the Kuwaa chiefdom.  Days for Girls gives young girls in the villages a sanitary and reusable means of dealing with their menstrual cycles so that they do not miss days from school each month. This program is changing the status quo, through menstrual care solutions, health education, and income-generation opportunities. These kits have been accepted enthusiastically by all the girls, as well as the more mature women.  We are working to partner with the Days for Girls Enterprise Program to bring this health care need to Liberia.  The LCL is very excited to see this program succeed and wishes to bring it to all their parishes.

Naomi and Stan will also speak of the Big Belly Program which teaches expectant mothers about the changes their body during pregnancy, proper nutrition, care for the baby while in the womb and after birth.  It also encourages the expectant fathers to be involved with the health and wellness of their wives and newborns.

How can you help?

Please pray for safe travel from Liberia for Ms. Ford and safety for her and Stan Olsen as the travel in Alaska.  Please also pray that may will hear about the work of the Lutheran Church in Liberia and the Kuwaa Mission while Ms. Ford is with us in Alaska.  Pray also for the Big Belly Program and Days for Girls.  The Kuwaa Mission board of directors will be working closely with the LCL and Ms. Ford to promote these programs in the Kuwaa region.

Our work would not be possible without each one of you, our faithful supporters. We ask for your continued prayer and financial support and urge you visit with your friends and congregation members to seriously consider adopting a Kuwaa village church or school.

Please feel free to contact any of the board members with any questions you may have and/or to express you desire to be part of our mission.  We will be able to provide you with a rewarding opportunity to serve!

In Christ’s love,

Rev. Carol George

Board Chair

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The Kuwaa Mission Prayer Letter

February 2018

I returned home early February after a successful trip to Liberia in January.  All of our work projects are well underway with competent and trustworthy Liberian’s overseeing the work.

This year we are finishing work on about 30 bridges of various lengths between the end of the main road into the Kuwaa Chiefdom all the way to the clinic.  Motorbikes can travel to the clinic but even then the bridges are questionable.  Our goal is make them useable for a pickup truck.  Emmanuel from Lowoma is spearheading the effort.  Last year we cut most of the timber and planks and now we are cutting the logs that will be hauled by hand to make the initial span crossing.  The people in the villages will do the actual work.

To the clinic in Kondesu we are adding a storeroom, an incinerator and an awning over one of the entrances to provide cover for the patients from the rain  during the rainy season and from the sun during the dry season.

Another very successful Children’s Bible School was held in Mauvordor by Korpu Barsay and Rev. Paye.  Well over 100 children were in attendance.  Korpu also conducted a community sanitation program while there.  We have noticed that over the past 4 years the villages are much cleaner than before we started the program.

We have sent evangelists to Totota for training where the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL) has “Lay Training Center”.  They are very enthusiastic about the program.  It takes place over two years with a 9 week training session occurring twice each year.  Typical topics include: Reformation, Pauline letters, Church history, speaking, Lutheran theology and many other topics.  They all sound interesting and all classes are led by Lutheran Pastors.

I was able to walk between many villages this year and enjoyed visiting with the people.  It was very rewarding to see people of different faiths, especially the Muslims and Christians, working side by side on their respective churches, mosques and other community projects around their village.  There are NO conflicts between these religious groups.

Many, if not most, of the schools and churches are in very bad physical condition.  We sent 18 bundles of metal roofing upcountry to help with 6 different churches but many more need help.  The costs really are quite minimal to us but are generally beyond the reach of the local people.  The people are very willing to do the work but they do need our help purchasing the materials and getting them upcountry to the end of the road.  From there the supplies still need to be carried to the various villages.  On one recently nearly finished church the people carried over 50 bags of cement and 6 bundles of metal roofing on their heads for 7 hours, and this involved several round trips for each person.  I invite individuals, churches and schools to “adopt” a school or church.  This would involve funds for rehabilitation, blackboards, school supplies and the minimal teacher salaries.  It would also enable those interested to travel to Liberia and work alongside the people with the renovation work and teaching.  All of our schools are only up to the 8^th grade and subjects are dealt with on a very basic level.

This year we continued providing kits, based on the program “Days for Girls”, to give young girls in the villages a sanitary and reusable means of dealing with their menstrual periods.  Often when they first start their periods it is embarrassing and often they just drop out of school.  These kits have been accepted enthusiastically by all the girls, as well as the more mature women.  We are working to partner with the Days for Girls Enterprise Program to bring this health care need to Liberia.  The LCL is very excited to see this program succeed and want to bring it to all their parishes.

Additionally. we are also in the initial stages of working with the “Big Belly Program” to teach expectant mothers about the changes their body is going through during pregnancy, proper nutrition, care for the baby while in the womb and afterwards.  Getting the father to participate in this is another big emphasis of the program. We hope to involve the clinic staff with the execution of this program.  Both of these are exciting new programs that will do much to improve the health of the communities.

We also purchased two motorbikes.  One for the use of the clinic so they can reach outlying villages for vaccination’s.  The other was for the parish pastor, Rev. Paye, to enable him to reach most of his villages without having to walk for days.

Samaritan’s Purse again made available  the free use of their helicopter to transfer well supplies and personnel.  This saves countless hours and makes the logistical chores so much easier.

Again I want to thank you, our supporters, for your prayers and financial support.  Without you we would not have accomplished what we have.  I enjoyed, as always, my time upcountry walking with, eating with and visiting with the people.  They are wonderful. They are supportive. They are generally humble.  They need our assistance.

Please visit with your friends and congregations about adopting a school or church building.  It would mean the world to the Liberians and you would gain at least as much as they will.  Please contact Karen Voris our Congregational Coordinator if you are interested in this.  Her email is: kvoris@kuwaamission.org.

Thank your for your continued support, Stan Olsen

 Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our Tax ID number is 27-5458111

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1. Make out check to: The Kuwaa Mission (Send to Bethany Lutheran Church (See Below)
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The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org