Monrovia, Liberia - It is not just women - it is all members of our treasured human family that we serve.  I read this quote today from a treasured teacher;
"Individuals who choose to love can and do alter our lives in ways that honor the primacy of a love ethic. We do this by choosing to work with individuals we admire and respect; by committing to give our all to relationships; by embracing a global vision wherein we see our lives and our fate as intimately connected to those of everyone else on the planet. Commitment to a love ethic transforms our lives by offering us a different set of values to live by. In large and small ways, we make choices based on a belief that honesty, openness, and personal integrity need to be expressed in public and private decisions." ~ Bell Hooks.
​Love is the only way.  And yes, we are indeed one human family, as I have Known my entire life.

It's Thanksgiving day in Liberia! Deborah and some of our FFW Liberia staff are feeding families for only $14. The impact of $14. That is front and center for me on this holiday here.  $14 buys a big 25 kg bag of rice which will feed many for many days; the staple of the Liberian diet. On Monday staff person Calvin and I filled the FFW car with bags of rice and delivered to our staff at the FFW school clinic and then to the office for our fabulous team.  Then I had Calvin deliver a bag to the family who housed Moses the last several years he was here before departing for college in America.  

Monrovia, Liberia - A Moses is Going to College in America Celebration!  Over thirty people gathered tonight, Moses’ biological family and chosen family, to celebrate him and his amazing accomplishment of having been accepted to ten universities in America.  He has chosen Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania where he will study computer science.

Monrovia, Liberia - Ten days ago, I shared the unbelievably awful news of the sudden death of a beautiful 6-year-old girl named Precious.  She had just graduated from KII and was on her way to 1st grade with such great joy! A very big graduation celebration here in Liberia. ​That was June 29th.  July 4th Precious died in the leading hospital in this country of yellow fever; no ability to help and no medicine here. My outrage and sadness has been tremendous, my heart so broken.

​Then tonight I met hope manifested by her parents, Franklin and his wife Mary.  And I was beyond blessed to meet their new baby daughter, Marylin – parents Mary and Franklin combined their names which is common here in Liberia. 

Monrovia, Liberia - I opened my email yesterday morning to find a message from my dear friend Franklin "I am now in tears mommy, my daughter graduated from K2 on June 29 and died July 4."
He took his daughter to the biggest government hospital here on Wednesday. She died Thursday morning. He told me it was yellow fever, a disease that is transmitted by an infected mosquito and easily prevented by a vaccination. Like malaria, yellow fever lives where poverty lives. Inflation is at a historic nearly 25% - where people can no longer afford to buy cold water or rice – where hospitals have no medicine.

The Foundation for Women cannot solve all the problems of the world. We can however bring some light to the darkness. This week we celebrated the first 8 months of operation of the Liberia Community Health Clinic, our first attempt at bringing quality healthcare to the 1000+ students at one of our partner schools.  

Monrovia, Liberia - It feels like Ebola time. Fear. Wonderment. Confusion. Prayers.

I am one of only a very few people staying in my familiar Liberian compound/home, a place with a capacity for perhaps 200 and usually full of life and joy; as in addition to guests from elsewhere, so many local people come to the Kendeja to enjoy the pool and beach and very special seaside setting.  It is a sacred place.  And today it is empty.  The one major airline that serves Liberia whose crew stays here, Brussels Air, is gone until at least Sunday – even though they kept coming during the long civil war and Ebola; not now.

Monrovia - After months of being home here, I am awe-stuck by the daily reality of members of our human family in Liberia. Friend Emmanuel, who is a lifeguard here where I live and who I consider a son for years now, saw me Saturday and said, “I have a small problem at home – that’s why I have not been here lately.”  He then proceeded to tell me that his older sister had just died giving birth, not at home alone but in a hospital.  The baby girl lived, Emmanuel’s sister died.  Really??  I asked him if he was now taking care of the baby, and he told me his Mom has her; an African grandmother now raising an infant.   He then told me that even though it is almost the end of March, he has not received pay for February – so he has had to stop credit in his phone to find transport money to work – even though he is not being paid.  I expressed my sincere sympathies as he walked off saying, “All will be OK Mom.”  Really? 

Monrovia - I am learning more and more about malaria now that I am personally experiencing it for the second time, this time here in Africa.  It is a beyond challenging and humbling disease.