Hello again! I’m excited to be writing a new batch of updates on Care Mission in Liberia and sharing some news! I hope everyone reading this is well. I so appreciate all of the continued support for Care Mission as they enter their sixth year of educating youth in Ganta! As always, donations can be made on our website and we have a new(ish) monthly giving option if you prefer to spread your support throughout the year.

The school wrapped up another busy year with 171 students instructed by 11 teachers and assisted by five support staff. Five teachers continued to participate in our Teacher Training Program, taking classes from local institutions to gain their next level of certifications. Graduates were celebrated last month and now everyone is on “summer” break before classes resume in September. As a side note, like lots of countries in the tropics, Liberia doesn’t have four seasons, so really this is more of a “mid-rainy season break”. The weather is a little cooler with the rain compared to dry season which spans October to May.

The Big News!

Our big news (which I am delayed in announcing) is that we have purchased an acre of land just outside Ganta City on which to build our very own school building! Though we have lovingly improved, expanded, and electrified our current building, the rental situation we are in has become somewhat uncertain. Since we cannot buy the current building or rent something similar on better terms, we decided to work towards a place of our own to ensure the continuation of our school.

The land we purchased comprises four lots on high ground covered in a mix of palm and forest trees. We anticipate that transforming this land into a new school will be a long-term project and plan to remain in our current building for the next four years as we work towards land preparation, design, fundraising, and construction. That being said, the first few stages are already underway! A large area has been cleared and planted with cassava and rice. This not only helps get the area ready for construction, but the harvest will be used for school meals during the year.

Local community members have been hired to help with land clearing and planting, as well as several teachers and students connected to Care Mission. The farm they are making- while typical for Liberia- looks pretty different from those in the US. And without any motorized equipment it is truly hard work! The brush is cleared by machete and everything is planted and weeded by hand.

Some of the next steps for the new land will be designing the first building and making bricks on-site. We are very excited about this new challenge and the freedom and stability it will bring to Care Mission. To help us in this new venture, make a donation here.

I’ll keep sharing news- and possibly more details on Liberian farming- as I learn them (-; Stay well!

5 Care Mission staff are embarking on a new chapter in their educational journey this summer! Joanna, Joel, Josiah, and Prince will be starting or resuming classes through the local training institute LICOSSES to earn their AA degrees, while our school administrator Ampee will be resuming her BS degree at Liberia International Christian College (LICC). All are benefitting from our new Teacher Training Project that covers tuition fees for committed staff who want to increase their knowledge. They have chosen a wide variety of majors including education, administration, science, math, and language arts.

Teachers continuing their education with help from Care Mission this year. From left to right Prince, Joanna, Ampee, Joel, and Josiah.

Why do we need a teacher training program?

Over half of teachers in Liberia are under-trained for their grade level and subject (World Bank, 2010). This scarcity of trained teachers is felt by schools country-wide seeking to hire qualified staff, and our school is no exception. We are currently forced to share some of our upper-elementary teachers with other schools, and some teachers have not completed training recommended for their positions. Our teachers are eager to reach higher levels of competency, but just like in the US, the cost of additional training is not affordable. Most of our staff support large families with their salaries and don’t have access to credit at fair interest rates. That is why we are committing $13,000 of our donated funds to remove the cost barrier to advanced training for up to eight of our staff members.

From left to right, teachers Prince, Josiah, Joanna, and Joel

Good luck teachers!

We are so excited for our staff as they take on this new challenge. We hope their hard work will benefit their careers and the students they instruct. We are so grateful to our donors for helping with this project that will directly impact so many lives. If you would like to contribute, please visit our donations page or contact us!

1. “World Bank. 2011. Out of the Ashes : Learning Lessons from the Past to Guide Education Recovery in Liberia. Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/27588 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

Do you spend $130 on groceries for a week? Did you know that same amount can also buy education, supplies, and clothes for a child in Liberia for a full year!!?

We’re trying out a new program in 2023! Donors to Care Mission have been helping to fund scholarships for children in need since 2020, but for those interested in a more personal connection, we will be matching up donors and students. We hope this will be a rewarding experience for donors and help students get to know someone who is helping them from the other side of the world.

Sponsors and matched students will have the chance to communicate, likely through a combination of emails, photos, and videos, though specifics may vary based on the age of the student, etc.  

Help students like Prince and Princess, siblings who live with their aunt.

Steward, fifth grader who lives with his widowed mother and little sister (left) and Oretha, an eight-year-old whose family needs support (right).

Your donation of $130 pays for:

• Registration and Tuition ———-$96
• Uniforms and shoes —————$25
• School supplies ——————–$9

If this amount can fit into your annual budget and you are interested in the program, please contact me at camiusa2020@gmail.com.

Of course, general donations of any amount are always very welcome as well and can be made here. General funds are put towards school lunch, teacher salary support, and our computer and technology program. Supporting through the general fund helps keep tuition costs low for all students, while making sure that all students get fed, teachers are paid a competitive wage, and the standard of education remains high.

Hello Readers! Libby here, writing to report on my recent visit to Care Mission in Liberia. Last month, Matt and I were finally able see the school and meet the students, staff, and parents we have been hearing about since 2018. We also got the see the fruits of your donations! We met the caregivers and students benefiting from free or reduced tuition, dropped off the first batch of computers and projectors for the technology program, and (of course) played on the playground! On our first day, the school gave a great welcome with a program of songs, speeches, and the gift of traditional country cloth.

We sat down with parents and teachers who shared honest feedback on what they love about Care Mission (high quality teaching was the most common remark) and what they would like to see (a computer lab, textbooks, a well on campus, and higher salaries). We expressed our appreciation for their hard work, and promised to help with as many of their ideas as we can. I learned that many parents are sending their children to Care Mission from distant neighborhoods, having carefully selected our school from the large number of private schools in town. According to these parents, they made this choice because “the teachers at this school can really teach!”

The second day of our visit began with some time in the classroom where we heard recitations and songs from the nursery classes, then learned about gravity and friction in the third grade class. The teachers were great and the students were attentive and interactive, but the lack of books or other visual aids was a stark difference to schools in the US. We spent the afternoon attempting to partially remedy this problem with a quick training on the new laptops and projectors. Setting up in a spare room, we met teachers in pairs to give them some instruction. The teachers were all eager to learn and full of ideas for how to incorporate these tools into their lessons.

That night we stayed up late at Director Sampson Gaye’s house, going through reports and crunching the numbers to see how the various requests from parents and staff could be met. The electric company was uncooperative that night, forcing us to do most of this work by cell phone light.

The third and final day of our visit, we came to campus with a few new soccer balls, copybooks, and a current stabilizer. While all the gifts were appreciated, there was a clear favorite.

We are back home now, and most of the red dust has been washed off our shoes and bags. We are eating fresh vegetables again, but dreaming of GB and pepper soup, and eagerly anticipating an occasion to wear our new clothes. And of course, we are sorely missing all of our Liberian friends! I am so grateful that I had the chance to return to Ganta after 8 years away, and it was inspiring and energizing to see Sampson and everyone at Care Mission in action! The work they are doing has real effect on the lives of students and staff and their prospects for the future.

Since our return, the work has been continuing. Additional computers and projectors have been purchased and we are hoping to hire a full-time IT person. We have updated the Care Mission USA budget to reflect the gaps that most need to be filled and will be giving more money to support the food program and salaries. And there are many, many more ideas for the future!

Thanks to the support of donors and partners, there is now electricity at Care Mission School! Technicians from the local grid were hired to complete the wiring and meter installation this week, and current is now running! As an aside, Sampson noted that the “thunder controller” was also installed– better known in the US as a lightening rod.

Having electricity means that our building can now be used for evening adult education classes, and support classroom technology such as laptops, projectors, and tablets. All of this furthers our mission of making the Care Mission School a community hub and source of quality education!

In other news, eight teachers participated in a teacher training workshop over the last ten days. The training facilitator was contracted by Care Mission from the Community Early Childhood Development Program to improve teaching skills and lesson planning in the areas of phonics, reading and writing for early childhood.

As we all ride the wave of pandemics, the passion of Care Mission staff to keep students healthy and learning has led them to a new project this summer! The school was selected to be one of the leading local partners on an Ebola preparedness and Covid-19 prevention Project sponsored by Save the Children.

Save the children is a multi-national NGO that has long worked to improve the health, education, and safety of children in Liberia. Through their Pandemic Preparedness Project, $11,000 has been allocated to improve drinking water and hygiene for students in Nimba County. In July the work has focused on two public schools where a total of 2,400 children are enrolled. Care Mission staff have been busy at both schools conducting baseline assessments, completing the repair of two broken drinking water wells, and helping to form, educate, and re-energize school health and hygiene clubs.  To improve the sustainability and support for these clubs, Care Mission staff chose to include members of the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) at each school.

We are very pleased that Sampson and the Care Mission School Administration were selected to be a local leader for this grant-funded project. This is a strong endorsement of the work that Care Mission School is doing in the local community and the ability of the staff to take on new challenges.

With electricity access increasing in Ganta, Care Mission is eager to up their education game with some new technology. There is so much educational content available online, and in a place where access to paper learning materials is limited, exposing students to online content could mean a huge broadening of their learning opportunities.

Our initial plan is to get the Care Mission school connected to the local grid, then purchase a few computers and projectors, primarily for teachers and students in the upper grade levels. We estimate that this will cost about $4,000 USD.

Eventually, we would like to increase access to the internet and get devices for more students, but we are still exploring the best way to do this, perhaps using tablets, e-readers, or even a computer lab!

If you are interested in this effort or have ideas for us, please reach out and consider making a donation on our donations page!

Liberia has not been experiencing high rates of the Corona Virus Disease, so following an initial shut-down last spring, life has slowly been returning to normal. While the government allowed schools to reopen in December 2020, a lot of parents are under even more economic strain than usual following the shut-down.

This is why a simple cost-share program for school fees is one of our main focuses for fundraising this year. We are hoping to cut school fees in half by raising $95 for 100 students. This will allow Care Mission to keep operating to its usual standard, while allowing parents to invest in their children’s education at a level that is feasible for them.

Thanks to our donors we have already raised $2,500 towards this $9,500 goal! If you are able and interested in helping with this effort, please consider making a donation.

Here are a few of our scholarship applicants:

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These students range from nursery to second grade. Some are orphans, others are being raised in single parent households. When asked, they ALL reported that lunch and the playground were their favorite things at school! Specifically, Oretha likes potato green soup and Praise likes the seesaw. Jeremiah likes sports. Etmonia enjoys recitation and singing in class.

Please consider making a gift on our donations page to help these students and others!

Starting in the fall, the school’s founder Sampson was able to hire a local work crew and welder to design and construct a swing set, teeter totter, and a double slide/ fort!

This project was made possible by our summer fundraising campaign for a safe designated play area on the school campus.

 You can see photos below of the whole process from construction to completion.

This play equipment is a totally new experience for most of these kids– and they seem to be enjoying it! I am so glad and proud that Care Mission School has invested in their community this way. Designated spaces for play and learning are so important for all children!