Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Monrovia, Liberia
It has been a week now since the election results. The unbelievable happened. The world is trying to accept a very surprising reality. As am I…
I have a dear friend here in Liberia, Franklin. He was the head of the crematorium during the unprecedented Ebola crisis. Africans do not cremate their dead – they honor and dress and wash and hug and touch them; cremation is unheard of. Ebola changed that. Cremation began to contain the awful epidemic. Once the crisis was over, those who ran the crematorium became outcasts, completely shunned by society here – even though they were heroes and helped to stop this unbelievable crisis.
It has been a week now since the election results. The unbelievable happened. The world is trying to accept a very surprising reality. As am I…
I have a dear friend here in Liberia, Franklin. He was the head of the crematorium during the unprecedented Ebola crisis. Africans do not cremate their dead – they honor and dress and wash and hug and touch them; cremation is unheard of. Ebola changed that. Cremation began to contain the awful epidemic. Once the crisis was over, those who ran the crematorium became outcasts, completely shunned by society here – even though they were heroes and helped to stop this unbelievable crisis.
I traveled to Marshall, the site of the Indian crematorium, when I was first able to return to Liberia after Ebola started to subside. In March 2015. I was completely heart-broken to view the reality of those there. Instead of heroes, they had become outcasts. I made a commitment to do something. I contracted with two men who did construction to help build a school in another county; good intentions but did not work. Then the leader of the team, Franklin, told me he had moved into Monrovia, that he wanted to start a new chapter by going to mechanics school. How could I not help?
I posted a photo of Franklin yesterday on FB – now included here. Complete transformation since we first met post-Ebola 18 months ago. He is in school and excelling in his education and more importantly in his spirit. He sent me this message today:
310 days have been spent already. 56 days remain. God is saying to you that your latter days will be greater than your former days, you will grow from zero to hero, from grass to grace, from stop to top, from boys quarter to headquarter, God will make you the head and not the tail. You will grow from shame to fame by HIS grace.
Complete trust. I am honored to be Franklin’s friend. We are all one human family – and we need each other now more than ever!
With love and gratitude from Liberia,
I posted a photo of Franklin yesterday on FB – now included here. Complete transformation since we first met post-Ebola 18 months ago. He is in school and excelling in his education and more importantly in his spirit. He sent me this message today:
310 days have been spent already. 56 days remain. God is saying to you that your latter days will be greater than your former days, you will grow from zero to hero, from grass to grace, from stop to top, from boys quarter to headquarter, God will make you the head and not the tail. You will grow from shame to fame by HIS grace.
Complete trust. I am honored to be Franklin’s friend. We are all one human family – and we need each other now more than ever!
With love and gratitude from Liberia,
Deborah Lindholm
“Faith is our assurance that there is a Divine plan of infinite love at work even in the most challenging moments, and that we are a part of that plan. Faith gives us the confidence to move ahead with vast visions in the face of enormous odds; it is an invitation to work in active partnership with the Divine in service of a better world.” - Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership
“Faith is our assurance that there is a Divine plan of infinite love at work even in the most challenging moments, and that we are a part of that plan. Faith gives us the confidence to move ahead with vast visions in the face of enormous odds; it is an invitation to work in active partnership with the Divine in service of a better world.” - Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership
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