2023 Trip to Liberia - Day 1
Today was our first full day in Liberia. We started our day with breakfast at the hotel. It was served out in an open-air pavilion overlooking a lagoon with the ocean not far beyond. The breeze coming from the ocean was a welcomed break from the heat and humidity that had already set in for the day. After breakfast we headed out to visit The Light of the World Academy to meet Pastor Sylvester Johnson and get a tour of the school.
The drive from our hotel to the school (approximately 35 miles) took about 1.5 hours due to very poor roads and extensive traffic due to a political rally that was taking place. The pictures below depict what we saw for the entirety of our drive.
Upon arrival to the school, we were greeted by Pastor Sylvester and his beautiful family. Little Sarah quicky stole the show. It wasn’t long after our arrival that other children from the community started to come over to see who was visiting their school. All the children were so polite and well behaved. Rumor has it that they have been practicing a dance that they are going to perform for us tomorrow when we attend their Sunday church service.
We continued our tour of the school and then on to the under-construction church and high school building. When we asked Matthew, the construction manager, when the church would be finished, he told us it would be in the May-June timeframe. Pastor Sylvester quickly jumped in to clarify that it will be completed by May. Pastor Sylvester runs “a tight ship”.
We spent some more time visiting with Pastor Sylvester and some of his staff and talked about their plans and visions for the future of the school and overall community and then it was time for the long ride back to the hotel.
Once at the hotel we put together gift bags for the kids, teachers, and staff that we will be meeting with during the upcoming week. We are bringing them pencils, pens, crayons, small toy animals, and some candy. 3 hours later we had 300 gift bags assembled and ready to go. By now it was time for dinner out on the pavilion, near where we had breakfast. After dinner we were all tired from our day and headed back to our rooms.
Today was a wonderful opportunity to get out and experience life in Monrovia and meet some wonderful people. We have found the Liberian people to be full of love, life, and laughter. The children are bright-eyed, full of energy and love going to school. They are the future of Liberia. We look forward to our exciting week ahead to meet with various organizations to discuss partnerships with The Light of the World Christian Academy and the Yellow Flower District community.
Thank you for your continued prayers for our trip and for the people of Liberia.
Jeff