Tara Orley, a nurse from Anchorage, and I recently returned from a trip to Liberia.  It was a fruitful trip, and I was happy to have a buddy along.  We covered a lot of territory, mostly on foot.  We visited 9 of the 16 Kuwaa villages over a period of about 2 weeks.  There will be info on the website and facebook, with lots of photos.  I can’t cover it all here.

We did another Children’s Bible School this year, since it has been so popular in the past.  There were 158 children in attendance for 2 afternoons as lessons were taught about David and Goliath and about Jesus’ love for children.  They memorized Bible verses, sang songs, had snacks, and received school supplies.  The popcorn snack and crayons were a new experience for most of them; they had never seen them before.  We also brought pencils and the essential sharpeners, so that they will quit using razor blades to sharpen pencils.

Tara did workshops at the Fassama and Kondesu Clinics, and several general sanitation workshops.  She brought much needed supplies to the clinics.  We are so thankful to Providence Hospital of Anchorage for the donations!  The Kuwaa people are overjoyed about the new clinic at Kondesu.  They are fully staffed and helping 30 to 40 patients per week.  Although the Liberia Ministry of Health has taken over general operation of the clinic, the Kuwaa Mission helps with additional supplies and transportation.  We really appreciate the sacrifice that the nurse, head midwife, and other clinic staff are making to serve in such a remote area.  Many of their families live elsewhere.

The Liberian people also return that love to us in many ways.  They are so welcoming.  When Tara and I arrived, people came from across town to welcome us.  One good friend brought gifts of watermelon, cucumbers, oranges, a papaya, and pineapple.  That’s a special treat when you come from the cold winter weather of Alaska and Montana.  They all made sure we were fed and well cared for, with things like water for the bath, rice and soup, and a place to sleep.  They do all that they can to keep us healthy and safe.

I am thankful that I was able to make another trip to the welcoming and loving Kuwaa People.  Our projects are going well, and the Mission is doing great things, thanks to all of you for your prayers and financial support.  I also want to thank all of you for your prayers for those of us that travel to Liberia.  They mean a lot to us.

Please join me in prayer:

Loving and gracious God,

We thank you for the rich and welcoming spirit of the Liberian people.  We know that you are with them through the trials of their daily lives.  Keep them close to our hearts, oh Lord, and help us to learn from their deep and sustaining faith.  We ask for safety and good health for the workers digging wells and doing the other projects of the Kuwaa Mission.  We ask for peace in the country, as they have national elections this year.  Guide and protect us all, and help us remember that we are all brothers and sisters in You.                        

Amen.

Cindy Bye

Happy New Year! As we look forward to 2017 we ask for your continued support and prayers as our work continues in Liberia.

Romans 12:4-5

“For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”

We have our most ambitious work program yet planned for this year.  We will be installing 6 new wells and doing repairs on 3 other wells.  We are installing 3 wells in Fassama, the largest city in the area, as a result of a grant we received from Water Hope.  We will also install one well in each of the villages of Kalata, Sasasu and Kpaulazu.

In addition to installing and repairing these wells we will be holding a week long workshop to teach youth, men and women, in the village how to maintain their new well.  It’s a simple process but one that they need training in, and that the village elders need to buy into to actually allow these trainees to perform the simple maintenance on the wells.

Based on the UNICEF program “Community Led Total Sanitation” we will be conducting several one day sanitation workshops led by our Liberian facilitator in several of the villages. The goal is to visit the positive as well as negative sanitation practices in the village.  Ultimately we hope the women, who are the main movers and shakers for getting things done, will realize why they should not have feces, both human and animal, spread widely around the village.  Secondly, to get them to realize that the people in the village can take steps on their own to control this problem, mainly by building outhouses.  We provide them with a pick and shovel.  A couple months later our facilitator will return to check on their progress.  Hopefully as more villages participate the lessons will be transferred by women from one village to another without our assistance.

Finally, in an attempt to keep the news of our mission in front of our supporters we are developing a congregational representative contact program. Please consider becoming the representative for your congregation. Please contact Karen Voris at kvoris@kuwaamission.org for more information.

 As we embrace 2017 we give thanks for your involvement in our mission.

 Your sister in Christ,

 Karen Voris

            The Kuwaa Mission would like to thank our many supporters – individuals, couples, families and congregations for your prayers and financial contributions.  We would like to take this opportunity to suggest other ways you can assist the Kuwaa Mission and the Kuwaa people.

            We are so grateful for the efforts of those who represent the Kuwaa Mission to their congregations.  Congregational representatives tell the story of the Kuwaa Mission to their fellow members and encourage special offerings and events to raise money for specific projects such as a well or children’s bible school.  If you would like to help us with this, please contact our board member Karen Voris at Karen.Voris@kuwaamission.org   As a congregational representative, you could inform your members of these other ways to help:

            If you have insurance through Thrivent, you can help the Kuwaa people by choosing the Kuwaa Mission for their Thrivent Choice dollars program.  Thrivent has provided over 300 million dollars to charities since 2010.  Go to this website: https://www.thrivent.com/making-a-difference/living-generously/thrivent-choice/ and choose the “Kuwaa Mission” to help us receive these funds through Thrivent.

           Another opportunity to assist the Kuwaa Mission is every time you do your online shopping with Amazon.   For eligible purchases, the Kuwaa Mission receives .05% of your payment.  You order through smile.amazon.com – same products and prices  – but we get a small portion as a donation from Amazon.  For more information, and to register the Kuwaa Mission as your charity, please go to this website: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/ch/about

Our “Kondesu Clinic” that we constructed two years ago is fully functional and supported by the Liberian Ministry of Health.  Due to funding problems from the national ministry, as is typical of all Liberian Ministries from the national government, the clinic does not receive supplies and medicines as frequently as needed.  Please help us buy supplies and medicines in Liberia to take to the clinic please mark your gift “Clinic Supplies”.  Our website: www.kuwaamission.org has all the information as to where to send your support.   Thank you!