Camphor Mission

East Ohio UMVIM Team 3

2012-02-14T04:10:00.002-05:00

The house is decorated for Valentine's Day!
Everyone received a Valentine from Laura on their pillows!
The day is off to a good and early start!

Team 3 has jumped right into the work of building relationships and structures at the Campohr Mission. Midwives are busy with big bellies at the clinic and vaccinating babies. A group is walking out to Wezion, on of the villages where a well has been dig and culverts will be put in place this week and clean water available. Lindsey, Bill, and Deb visited Cecelia, the Directoress of the mission and did some computer lessons last night. Mr. Gbaa is back on the mission working with John, an American mason, to build the generator house and water tower. The zinc should be going on the roof of the third unit of the guesthouse today, Valentine's Day! Praise God. Lindsey is in town with Danny looking at the completed Map Mural at Bassa High to see what she will be working on at the Camphor School. Kevin is in the library as I type with Mary the new librarian. The teams are being blessed and being a blessing.

Pray for our time at Camphor, the students and teachers, and the people in the surrounding villages. Pray that God would be glorified through all that we do!

Hopes and goals for the week.
Computer lessons with staff
Building of the guesthouse
Continue tiling the girl's dorm
Picnic tables in the boy's dorm porch
Create space for volleyball and hang net
Library training
Mardi Gras celebration and Ash Wednesday service
Super Bowl Football/Soccer Match
6 Wells completed by next week, BIG PRAYERS FOR THAT!
Completion of Map Mural
Art classes with the staff and students

Stay tuned for more updates!
Peace
Kathy Dickriede

Part of Team 3 has arrived

2012-02-11T14:03:00.002-05:00

Part of Team 3 arrived for the Liberian Annual Conference. Lisa and Laura are here with dresses already made from Liberian lappa/fabric. We have worshiped with dynamic speakers and music in Gbnanga at the Annual Conference.

Back on the mission, Lisa has taught Zentangle to 6 of our staff and students and our with 2 of our missionary friends.
We have finished painting the exterior of the boy's dorm.
We moved forward with tiling in the girl's dorm.

Deb Moore arrived, the midwife from Michigan. She has already begun working in the clinic with Meliah and Mary our Officer in Charge and our Traditional Birth Attendant.

Jack continues to work on well digging. We have 4 wells completed and 2 in process. It looks like all 10 will get dug in this dry season.

Work on the third unit of the guesthouse is moving again. We have had a delay with transportation and lumber but the carpenters have been on the mission for 2 days now and a roof is forming. Zinc will be in place on Monday or Tuesday. It is exciting to see it coming into shape. Mr. Gbaa will begin work on the generator house and water tower on Monday.

We feel the prayers from our friends around the world. We have had good times with the children and youth on the mission. The kids have been helpful with all of our projects and ministry. They are eager to help us and spend time learning new words and tasks. We have been blessed in many ways by our relationships on the mission. Irene has been taking good care of us, preparing our food, cleaning, and doing laundry.

We are well. Keep praying about how you are going to be involved with future ministries at Camphor Mission. Prayers, donations, time on the mission, and more.

Thank you for staying connected!
Peace
Kathy Dickriede

Malaria's Defeat, Africa's Future as reported in the Huffington Post 1/29/12

2012-02-03T01:57:00.000-05:00

Africa is taking command of its future by tackling an ancient plague: malaria.

Supported by the lessons learned from the decade to "roll back malaria," which produced a 33 percent decline in malaria deaths in Africa between 2000 and 2010, 41 African presidents have now signed on to end deaths from the disease in their home countries as part of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA).

ALMA is a great illustration of President Barack Obama's pronouncement, made before the parliament in Ghana in 2009, that "Africa's future is up to Africans." The world's support is indispensable, but Africa is getting the job done through mutual accountability, innovation, and collaborative problem solving.

Recently, I committed to weaning Liberia off foreign aid in the next decade. For other African countries, it will take a bit longer, but with sound policies, genuine leadership, and reliable partnership from the world, I believe Africa can be free of the need for development assistance in a generation.

Until that day, we must commit ourselves to ensuring that foreign aid dollars are well spent. That's why African nations have agreed to publish their progress (and setbacks) in the fight against malaria via the ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action (updated quarterly at ALMA2015.org).

This week in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, I will assume the Chairmanship of ALMA, and I want to begin by thanking my predecessor, the founding chairman of ALMA, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, for his vision, leadership, and service.

During his two year tenure -- and thanks to the generous support of the American people and institutions they help fund like the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria -- Africa has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the delivery and use of life-saving tools in the fight against malaria: insecticide-treated mosquito nets, targeted spraying, rapid diagnostic tests, and effective treatments, including preventative care during pregnancy.

Despite this encouraging progress, much work remains to be done. So I want to make the case for why Africa's future depends on winning this fight -- and why it is should matter to all of us.

If you care about the health of mothers and children, you must care about malaria.

Malaria is one of the top three killers of children under the age of five in Africa, claiming a young life every minute. It is a nightmare for parents: in the morning, your child can be laughing and playing, seemingly healthy. By nightfall, she can be fevered and comatose, fighting for her life.

In this age of modern medical advances, it is simply unacceptable for a child to die from a mosquito bite, but help is on the way. In clinical trials, a new malaria vaccine protected over half the children who received it. If, as expected, the vaccine is licensed for use in a few years, it won't replace the need for bed nets, but it will mean that more mothers will be spared the horror of watching their child die from a preventable disease.

If you care about education, you must care about malaria.

Malaria alone accounts for 50 percent of preventable absenteeism in African schools, causing up to 10 million missed days each year. Severe cases in childhood can inflict permanent neurological damage, and babies born to pregnant women who contract malaria are at risk of low birth weight and lasting learning disabilities. Simply put, we cannot train Africa's next generation effectively if we do not protect them from malaria.

If you care about peace -- and the prosperity of every woman, child and community -- you must care about malaria.

Just as deadly mosquitoes suck the blood from our children, malaria drains the lifeblood from our economies, and with it, hope and opportunity from our lives. Most adult cases of malaria don't end in death, but they do keep entrepreneurs from their businesses, farmers from their fields, and market traders from their stalls. The disease costs Africa an estimated $12 billion a year in lost productivity.

But to understand malaria's true impact, consider that the disease can rob individual families in poorer communities of as much as 25 percent of their disposable income. By controlling malaria we eliminate a major obstacle to sustainable economic development and stability in Africa.

Africa must demonstrate its own commitment to this outcome by expanding domestic funding of health. Innovative finance approaches -- such as pooled commodity procurement or airport surcharges -- will be a major topic of discussion at the ALMA meeting this week. We should also commit to using the resources in hand, including investments made in our countries by the World Bank, to fuel continued progress in the malaria fight.

Of course, Africa's challenges don't end with malaria. That's why I look forward to working with my fellow African leaders to broaden ALMA's mission to other issues that affect maternal and child health.

Although President Obama was speaking to Africa that day in Ghana two years ago, he was speaking about all of us. "Your prosperity can expand America's," he said. "Your health and security can contribute to the world's. And the strength of your democracy can help advance human rights for people everywhere."

Africa's future is up to Africans, yet our mission belongs to the world.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, was a recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Team 2

2012-02-03T01:23:00.002-05:00

Blog written by Jennifer Olin-Hitt

2012-02-02T11:30:00.001-05:00

Janjay Erickson woke up at 4:00 this morning to make the bread - small doughnuts, really. Each Wednesday morning she fries up roughly 100 doughnuts, puts them in the plastic container that she hoists atop her head and walks the three miles from her home at Camphor Mission to market to sell them. The sale of 100 doughnuts ($7USD) brings in enough money to supplement her husband's income so that her family can eat for the week.

This morning I walked with Janjay to market. I walked alongside my new friend and her husband down several dusty roads and through a few villages. Every now and then we heard a vehicle creeping up from behind. We stepped off the path, took shelter along the edge while a truck passed by - filled with nine or ten adults also on their way to market. As they passed, they slowed and opened the cab door, indicating that there was room for a few more passengers. We declined. We were walking today.

At the river we crossed the sturdy bridge made from dense fallen African trees. Janjay's feet walked a line as straight and steady as the length of her upright spine that balanced her wares. She walks miles, her gait both purposeful and serene.

Janjay's husband, Rev. Zach Erickson, knows the walking roads of Bassa County, Liberia. The pastor of J.F. Yancy United Methodist Church, is also a science teacher at the Camphor Mission School. In addition, he is completing his science degree at Grand Bassa Community College in the near-by town of Buchanan. He has no car (very few LIberians do). He has a bicycle, but the condition of the roads make it difficult to use. And so Rev. Zach walks. On any given Sunday, Rev. Zach walks the two hours to meet his congregation to preach the Good News of Jesus. On any given weekday, after teaching Camphor students general science all morning, he heads out to walk the fifteen miles to the community college. He makes it in time for evening class. He walks back to the mission long after dark. He is getting the science education that feeds his deep interest, the degree that he trusts will improve the quality of life his family lives.

As Rev. Zach, Janjay, and I walked to market this morning, he sang songs of his deep faith, faith in the sustaining power of Jesus. "This is my story, this is my song..." The story of Rev. Zach and Janjay Erickson is a story about walking and the strength that they find along the way. I was blessed to walk alongside them this morning.

Reflections on water

2012-01-31T04:57:00.001-05:00

On a hot January day at Camphor Mission, VIM friend Jack Hopkins gave me the report that Neenyadah Village was ready to receive a new water well. I was glad to hear this good news because my local congregation, Green Valley UMC in Akron, Ohio had sent enough money with me to fund the digging of a new well somewhere in the Camphor vicinity. Before I traveled to Liberia, I had learned that boys and girls of the rural areas walk miles carrying buckets and cans only to bring home contaminated water for cooking, drinking, and cleaning. Within my very first days at Camphor I saw for myself the parade to and from the river. I saw the river water, stagnant and dark in many places. I also saw the clinic where cases of dysentary are treated.
On that humid January morning, Jack asked if I and several others wanted to take a bush hike out to Neenyadah. Joshua, the well digger employed by Camphor, would be our guide. We hiked the three miles to the village, step in step with Joshua on dusty trails of red dirt. We carried bottles of drinking water that were emptied long before we reached the village. After an hour or so, our party rounded the corner that brought us into the village - a community of over one hundred people. On the edge of the community sits the only water source, a lazy stretch of suspicious river water. Just past the river begins the complex of village buildings, walls constructed by dirt, roofs covered in thatching. But despite the primitive homes, Neenyadah is pristine, devoid of litter. The village is orderly in a gentle sort of way. Children play with dogs. Women cook on fires. In one palava hut a large group of people gathered in a circle of dancing and drumming. Joshua explained that the village is bereaved. Someone had died.

"Come this way," a man of the village directed us to the shade of a tree. Someone rounded up chairs - enough for all of our Camphor party of five. A couple of wooden benches were dragged into the shade. "Good morning," a smiling man greeted us with the firm hand shakes and the fast intimacy that was becoming familiar to me in this West African world. As village men and women took their place in the circle on the benches and on the ground, I realized what was happening - a business conversations of sorts, negotiations between well digger Joshua and village council. Neeyaneedah was soon to receive their fresh water well.

Joshua spoke quick Basa to Neenyadah village chief... Camphor Mission would supply culverts, pump, concrete, all supplies, plus the expertise of Joshua for supervision. The village would supply two men each day to dig. They would supply gravel and sand. The elders discussed the terms - the collaboration was beginning. Details were agreed upon. As Joshua pointed to me, he explained to the elders that a United Methodist congregation in East Ohio, U.S.A., was backing this project 100%. Christians in North America had given so that children in West Africa might have fresh water and live. "Zwo Bamba!" several women exclaimed, the Basa words for gratitude. Their children's life expectancy had just increased significantly. They moved close to embrace me. It was a beautiful way to spend a hot and muggy morning in January.

by Rev. Jennifer Olin-Hitt, pastor at Green Valley UMC

UMVIM Team 2

2012-01-26T08:42:00.003-05:00

Maribeth, Steve, Erin, Jennifer, Sam and Eddie have arrived. All are having a blessed time.
Eddie has been on adventure in the bush visiting UMC schools and churches with Helen Roberts-Evans.
Others have visited villages for well site selection, toured the mission, pounded palm, lead devotions with the girls, played kickball, worked on Map Team project, secured basketball hoops, gifted girls with much needed feminine products, and are getting to know the people on the mission.
Stay tuned for more details and photos!

2012-01-22T08:14:00.001-05:00

We have had a blessed time at Camphor Mission with UMVIM Team 1 from East Ohio. We send Janet, Ted and Ginny Logan home on Sunday and Jack, Kathy and Danny pick up UMVIM Team 2. Keep us in your prayers and that we would be decreased and God's glory would be increased.
Peace

2012-01-20T11:58:00.001-05:00

Camphor Mission says thank you for sending volunteers and school supplies, for prayers and backpacks, for lockers and textbooks, for love and faith, for time and energy, for conversation and dreams, for hope and transformed lives.

If you want to know more about Liberia . . .

2012-01-19T16:22:00.000-05:00

Books about Liberia
Might Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee
This Child Shall Be Great by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
By The Goodness Of God by Bishop John G. Innis
The House At Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper

Movies or Documentaries about Liberia
Liberia: America's Step Child
Pray The Devil Back To Hell
Johnny Mad Dog
Liberia An Uncivil War

Justin and Monica Tarr

2012-01-19T16:20:00.001-05:00

I want to introduce you to two of our students at the Camphor Mission Station. Justin and Monica Tarr are brother and sister, same pa different ma. Their father's name is Rev. Joseph W. Tarr Sr. Rev. Tarrr is second in command at the St. John River District office. Monica's mom's name is Mary James and Justin's mom's name is Nyonjay. Mary is a midwife who sometimes brings goods like cola, bitterball and fufu to sell in the market. Nyonjay sells clothes in the big market in Buchanan that she brings from Monrovia. Justin was born in Buchanan at the government hospital while Monica was born in a home in Buchanan. Buchanan is the provincial capital, a large town just 15 miles from Camphor Mission Station.

Justin is the older brother, 15 years and Monica is just a year younger, 14 years old. They live in the dormitories on the mission. Justin has lived on the Camphor Mission for 6 years and Monica has lived on the mission for 3 years. Both attend school on a church scholarship. This means that they each bring 1 bag of rice, oil, and pay just $125 a year for school fees. Before living and going to school on the mission Monica and Justin lived in different homes in Buchanan but always knew one another. Justin was raised by his mom and Monica was raised by her grandma. As you watch them interact you can see a real love, respect and relationship between them. They look after one another and care about each other deeply.

Monica Marjay Tarr was born on July 1, 1998. She is in the 5th grade and wants to be a United Methodist pastor when she grows up. Meanwhile she likes to play with her friends, study, eat, dance and sing. Monica likes living on the mission better than living in Buchanan. "The teachers teach us good things," she says. Monica's favorite thing to eat is rice, palm butter with cassava leaf. Her favorite colors are pink and blue. She has her ears pierced. Her favorite television that she watches when in Monrovia is African shows and her favorite music is Me and You. Monica is looking forward to connecting with the pastor from East Ohio on the next UMVIM teams to arrive.

Justin Oliver Tarr was born on April 26, 1997. He is in the 9th grade wants to be either a journalist or a mechanical engineer. He was excited to hear that two engineers will be visiting the mission soon from the East Ohio Conference. Justin likes being at Camphor Mission where he can play with his friends. He likes soccer/football and basketball. He also likes being in Buchanan where he can walk all over (have more freedom), ride a bicycle, and watch football/soccer at the video club (a room with a generator and television to pay for viewing a live games or dvd). Justin's favorite football team is Barcelona. He even enjoys driving a motorcycle! He paid his friend to teach him to drive! Justin's favorite food is dumboy with palm butter. (Dumboy is cassava, a root vegetable, boiled and pounded and served as a staple food in Liberia.) Justin's favorite music is BayJay. Justin will graduate from the 9th grade this year and will attend school in Buchanan at another UMC school, Brumskin.

Monica and Justin want you to know that they their father has 8 children. The oldest brother Joseph is in the Armed Forces of Liberia. The oldest daughter Vicki finished high school and the next 2 older sisters are raising children. Monica has 2 younger sisters by the same ma same pa, Comfort and Patience. Justin and Monica are both sad about their relationship with their step mom, the woman their father is married to now. They say, "She hates us.. We love her and want her to be our mom but we are not allowed in their house," says Justin. Monica reinforces his words with "She does not want any part of us." They are still able to see their father when he comes to the mission to visit and when they are in Buchanan they go to his office.

All of the schools are coming to a close of the first semester. This week has been exam week for the school. They will have one week of classes then a two week break. Justin will go home to Buchanan with his mom for break and Monica will be with her grandma in Buchanan. Pray for Monica and Justin that they do well on their school exams, that they have an opportunity to visit with their father and relationship with their step mom, and that they are safe and healthy.

UMVIM TEAM 1

2012-01-14T07:21:00.001-05:00

Everyone is busy.
Building the guesthouse.
Digging wells.
Math teacher training.
Map mural painting.
Tutoring students.
Substitute teaching.
Devotions with girls dorm.
Visiting villages.
Building relationships.
Eating great food.
Working in the agriculture field.
Participating in traditional birth attendant training.
And . . .
Site seeing in Buchanan.
Traveling by canoe to Edina.
Shopping in Buchanan.
Visiting Peace Corp Volunteers.

Being blessed by time spent stretching us outside of our comfort zone and being a blessing to others.
God is using the gifts God blessed us with for God's glory and kingdom building!
God is good all of the time. . .
All of the time God is good. . .

Peace from
Kathy Danny Ginny Ted Jack Janet and Lindsey

Things we see and don’t see at Camphor Mission . . .

2012-01-04T07:36:00.000-05:00

We don’t see trash.
We don’t see long grass or overgrown palm trees.
We don’t see Tommy Paye, may he rest in peace.
We don’t see mosquito nets in the dorm.

We do see kids coming to school with backpacks and new uniforms.
We see pineapples in the pineapple grove.
We see brick making already in progress.
We see people digging a new boy’s dorm well.
We see healthy babies getting vaccinated at the clinic.
We see all the things we left behind.
We see water draining down our shower and the soffet job keeping bats our of our rafters.

It is a blessing to be at Camphor Mission and not be in crisis mode. Life is good.

Happy New Year Thoughts from a past volunteer

2012-01-02T04:07:00.000-05:00

As 2012 begins, Kathy and Danny are back at Camphor, getting ready to receive visitors. In the weeks prior to their departure on December 31st, I thought a lot about them going without us, and I was sad. I even cried. There is no way I could be going, but Camphor is part of my life now. I wonder how things and people are at Camphor. I think of Tommy Pay, and I cry for the loss of him, but I smile knowing I will see him again in Heaven. I wondered who was going to meet Kathy and Danny at the airport; if everything was still going to be where it was left. I wonder how Irene is, or Bishop or Rev. Kulah or Success or Alvin Joe. I wonder how Esther and Annie are doing in school. Is Seite still at school? How are the students doing in school? Has the road been fixed or going to get fixed, and how is the house progressing? Were there any rats and spiders? How did the Mission celebrate Christmas?

Having been to Camphor, now the Mission and the people are part of my life. I am so blessed to have been able to go to Camphor. God is so good. Even though I had told God I would never go to Africa, I met Kathy and heard the Camphor Mission story, and the Holy Spirit told me it was time to go even though I was over 60 years of age. God has such an adventure planned for each of us if we just let him have control of our life. I will wait for each of Kathy’s posts to the blog and pray for the safety of her and Danny. I will always wonder about the people there and look forward to seeing them in Heaven when we all get there. Visitors are going this year that I don’t know, but I am sure they will come home with feelings similar to mine. This is God’s world.

So enjoy 2012, and may each of you be blessed with health and happiness. And may God bless Camphor Mission Station and the work that is and has been done there.

Blessings,
Jane Sterken

Solar Suitcase

2011-12-30T14:19:00.004-05:00

Our bags are packed . . .
We are ready to go . . .

Thanks to some people at the Hope Ridge UMC, their work with the Advent Conspiracy, and Diane Sawyer's "Person of the Week" segment, we will be taking to the Camphor Mission Clinic a Solar Suitcase to bring light to the night time deliveries. See more about what a Solar Suitcase on their website www.wecaresolar.org

Thanks Rev. Beth and Rev. Jon Wilterdink for your leadership and vision at Hope Ridge UMC!

Camphor Christmas Greeting

2011-12-21T08:36:00.002-05:00

From the Missionary Partners Kathy and Danny Dickriede

Thank you for your prayers in 2011! We journeyed to Camphor Mission Station in Liberia in January to mid March and again the end of June to mid August. God accomplished much in Kingdom building through you, the partnering church and United Methodist volunteers.
Relationships were formed.
Guesthouses were built and slept in.
Maternal Health Wards built, painted, and tiled.
Water wells dug.
UMVIM teams hosted.
Libraries organized and teacher’s taught to use books.
Vacation Bible School held.
Container packed, delivered and backpacks, soccer balls, church pews, bicycles, medical supplies, school supplies, tables, chairs, and more distributed.
Agriculture fields tilled.
Salaries paid.
Traditional Birth Attendants trained.
Garfield UMC (East Ohio) retiled and ceiling refurbished at Garfield UMC on the mission.
Vaccines administered and patients saved and so much more.

Danny and Kathy will be traveling back to Camphor Mission on December 31, 2011. They will be taking 3 UMVIM teams of 24 volunteers, from 15 different churches, and 4 different UMC conferences represented! Passion and energy for the Camphor Mission Station is sure to spread to all of these partner ministry areas!
Please be praying for the things we hope to accomplish.
Nine clean water wells dug.
Preaching and worshiping in local UMC congregations.
Developing relationships.
Completing the 3rd unit of the Judy Olin Guesthouse.
Continue library training.
Gaining knowledge on agriculture needs.
Painting a mural of the world on the school wall.
Tutoring students.
Continue training Traditional Birth Attendant.
Building of a generator house and submersible pump for guesthouse and dining hall.
Preparing for East Ohio Pedaling Parsons in 2013.

Rev. Kathy Dickriede will be back in the states in April 2012 and will be eager to share the story of the 3Cs Mission of the East Ohio Conference. Get her on your church’s worship or meeting schedule now by contacting kathyd@camphormission.org Follow the missionary partners on the 3Cs website, www.eocumc.com/3Cs and click on Liberia. While on this website learn more about the way the East Ohio Conference is at work in Sierra Leone, Russia, and Zimbabwe.

Camphor Updates

2011-12-02T15:46:00.002-05:00

We just received great updates from Obediah at Camphor Mission

Kathy!

We have been having a nice time since you left especially with the opening of school, the distribution of the back packs that were supervise by Rev. Kulah, Cecelia's general clean up campaign with the student and all of the mission staff involvement and many other new developments around campus.

AGRICULTURE
The clearing of the palm farm to give camphor a face lift for visitor has just begun.Since you left us salary has been current with only December to contend with.While it is true that the feeding of the student is our priority we are still concern with salary payment.

SCHOOL
The present enrollment at the school is 306 out of this number there are 53 boardings students which includes 11 church scholarship students, 5 missionary sponsorship students, 2 students sponsored by Terry from Norway and the rest are regular boarding students. the balance of the students are villager or day students. Due to the election period in our country, parents were a bit not responding to tuition payment but promise to do payment after the christmas break. Extend our sincere greetings to all of our friends at Mentor, Garfield and the entire East Ohio Conference on behalf of the kids at camphor.
pls say hi to Danny and the rest of the friends of camphor in East Ohio

VEHICLES
just forgot to inform you yesterday, with the funds left and that of what was received, we were able to repair the vehicle UMC-26 and is now in good running condition. A new Nissan Pathfinder engine (used engine) was bought along with a double water tank,battery and the repair of the under career as well as tires were all bought and the vehicle is now serving the clinic as well as the mission station. The cooling system is now under repair so please consider this in your search for a vehicle during your arrival with visitors in January. We spent almost four thousand dollars to do all of these. there was no way to trade the ambulance as it is still packing at the same place. The African car is also not been sold.

WATER WELLS
These are the villages that have been selected for the 2012 water well projec comes January. The villages are: Doubai Town, Fineboy Town, Banwon Town, Whenzon, Oldlady Market, Lee Town, James Zayway Town, Goah Town, Joe Johnny Town, Giahdyu Town. Joshua is already inform about these villages and will soon be called upon to start the site selection along with the Elders.

May God bless you.
Obadiah

Team 2 arriving end of January until early February

2011-11-22T21:33:00.000-05:00

Team 3 arriving mid February for 2 weeks!

2011-11-22T17:24:00.006-05:00

We are missing a few folks from the photo, Lindsay, John, Laura, and Lisa!

Team 1 coming to Camphor Mission January 2012

2011-11-20T21:36:00.001-05:00

Who is Camphor?

2011-11-10T15:48:00.001-05:00

Clink on this link to learn more about the namesake for the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia West Africa.
http://camphorumcstpaul.org/page10

Prayers for the Liberia National Election Runoff

2011-11-05T09:04:00.000-04:00

Brethren Of The Household Of Faith, my sincere greetings to all of you in Jesus Precious name.

My sincere appeal to you is to individually and collectively remember Liberia in your prayers as we prepare ourselves for the run off election on November 8,2011. We want the process to be peaceful, free fair and transparent. We do not want post election violence. Add your voices to our voices that God will work on the hearts of those that do not to see a peaceful Liberia.

Thank you for your powerful prayers.

In Mission,
Rev. G.Roosevelt Goah,Sr.
District Superintend
St.John River District, Liberia Annual Conference
United Methodist Church
Grand Bassa County

Tommy Paye

2011-11-01T08:46:00.002-04:00

We just learned that Tommy Paye, our friend and landscaper/caretaker of the Camphor Mission guesthouse died. Tommy was a reliable worker who walked from his village in Goba to work every day. He planted plantain trees at the guesthouse for us. He kept our grass short and made us smile each day with his greeting. We ask for prayers for Tommy's family. We will miss his presence when we return to Liberia in January.
Peace and prayers.

Goals for 2012

2011-10-20T16:18:00.005-04:00

Three UMVIM teams are being organized to travel to Camphor Mission Station! We are taking over 20 people from 4 Conference (East Ohio, Detroit, Texas, and New York) and 14 local churches.

We hope to
build new relationships and strengthen old ones,
work with the people in Liberia to paint a mural of the world on the school wall,
work with Traditional Birth Attendants,
complete the construction on the 3rd unit of the guesthouse,
build a water tower and generator house,
participate in girl's health education,
train a Liberian Librarian,
work with the agriculture staff,
tutor students,
train teachers,
dig at least 8 new water wells in villages without a clean water source,
continue staff salary payments,
and more!
We are ambitious but we are empowered by the holy spirit! Who knows what we can accomplish!

A new longterm UMVIMer to Camphor Mission

2011-10-14T08:40:00.005-04:00

Deb is a midwife from the Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Here is how she got connected to Liberia!

When Debra and Jeremiah Johnson asked me to come to Kenya for baby #8, I opened my heart to God and said "if I get to Africa, where else would You like me to work?" Immediately, Nancy Eubanks, trainer for the longterm UMVIM program, invited me to the GBGM Ind. Vol. training in Ark. and while I was there, she told me she knew the perfect place, mentioned Kathy and Camphor Mission Station, and God connected us!

I've worked as a midwife now for over 30 years, taught ICEA (Int. Childbirth Ed. Assoc.) Prepared Childbirth classes, graduated from nursing school in '90, worked in several hospitals a total of 12 years, incorporated the Women's Health Clinic in '83, received federal N/P 501(c)3 status in '85, and over the last 6-8 years, have been exploring candidacy for ministry. That door hasn't opened, but this one did. I look forward to sharing with my sister midwives in Camphor the support and skills that I've been practicing here.

We are so excited that Deb will be at Camphor Mission from February until the end of May! Praise God for answered prayers!
Peace

Nobel Peace Prize

2011-10-07T09:52:00.004-04:00

Have you heard the news? Our very own Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia was among three woman honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Please be praying for Liberia this week and next. The National Elections are being held on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. They will be electing a president and vice president and many of the legislative offices. Pray for wisdom, peace, hope, calm, justice, and nonviolence.

Thank you for partnering with Camphor Mission Station!

New from Camphor Mission Station

2011-10-07T09:41:00.002-04:00

An official notice from Cecelia M. Cephas, Directoress of the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia

The school was open on schedule as per the mandate of the Ministry of Education and the Department of General Education.
We are very graceful to all of our donors especially the Mentor UMC, Church of Savior, Charles and Judy H. Calkins, Pocatello First UMC, Washington UMC, Wooster UMC, Brecksville UMC, Garfield UMC, Gay Street UMC, Main Street UMC, St. Lukes UMC in Kansas City and Ken Lutgen, Peoria UMC, Oregon/Idaho Conference and all of those donors who have made financial and moral contributions for the kids and families at Camphor. Please extend our sincere gratitude from the Camphor Mission and their brothers and sisters in Liberia and in My own name as Directress of the Mission Station.

As mentioned previously, the school was open as schedule and we presently have 305 students from kindergarten to 9th grade. of the above number of students we have: 31 Boarding students, 11 local church students from the mother District of St. John River, 6 missionary sponsored students, 4 students on sports scholarship yet to be funded, with a total of 52 students living in the dorms. There are 253 village day students, 200 are on the Irene Innis Scholarship sponsored by the Peoria fund and 53 are supported by the Oregon/Idaho funds.

The back packs sent by churches in East Ohio were distributed to all of the students and they were very much happy about the donation because these back packs were a great help to them during the rainy season in Liberia.

Another interesting incident at Camphor is the full payment of salary for the months of August and September on schedule with October and November pending, sincere thanks to the donors for this boast.

The Camphor families are in a joyous mood with respect to this development, all of the mini projects on the campus (repair of boy's hand dug well, basketball court repair, boy's dormitory renovations) are expected to start this October as we are now in the dry season but we are still experiencing a little rain. Photo exhibits of the opening activities at the mission will be sent to you right after our election break. The school was closed on yesterday,October 6,2011 for the pending election and is expected to resume on Thursday, October 13, 2011.

Please be in prayer for a peaceful election season. The national election for president and the legislative branch happens on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. Please be in prayer for Liberia.

Please extend my gratitude on behalf of the Camphor Mission Station and all of the workers to our donors. We are grateful for their help especially those who visited at Camphor during my illness and absence at the mission.

All of the 15 teachers are back at the school as well as the other work force.
Christ above all yours,
Cecelia M. Cephas

Reflections from some volunteers.

2011-09-14T09:42:00.002-04:00

Two teams made up of members from Mentor United Methodist Church
served at the Camphor Mission Station, Liberia, West Africa this summer.
Read on as they share some of their thoughts and experiences.

June 25-July 11 Tom Holt & Laura Vidmar
July 9—25 Rhonda & Larry Hoon
Paula & Bob Coleman

From Laura . . .
When we received our commissioning for the trip to Camphor Mission, we were given a rock and scripture was read from the book of Joshua. In the scripture, Joshua was commanding the people to place rocks as a reminder of what God had done for them that day. We were asked to take our rock to Liberia and to leave it somewhere we felt the presence of God most strongly.

The rock that I carried was left under the front seat of our Land Rover. It was in that Land Rover that three of us set out in the very dark of night to make the journey from Camphor Mission to the government hospital in Buchanan, carrying with us a Bassa woman who was very near death. I prayed ardently throughout the trip for any number of different things. First that we would all arrive safely in Buchanan, later that if we didn’t we would not be left in pain along the roadside. God quickly answered those prayers and we delivered our patient to the hospital where she received life-saving surgery. The following day we returned to Buchanan in that Land Rover to give blood for her to continue to help her to heal. That didn’t go smoothly for me and I overheard others of our group consider the possibility that I might need to remain in that hospital overnight. When I was able I told one of my fellow travelers, ―If you can just help me to the Land Rover I will be alright.‖ He did and I was. In the weeks that followed, a young Bassa boy was not as fortunate and ended his fight with malaria in the same Land Rover making the same trip.

My overwhelming thought while in Liberia—at Camphor Mission, in Buchanan, in Monrovia and most notably in the Land Rover—was ―Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

Rhonda Hoon . . .
The maternal health clinic at Camphor Mission has painted walls courtesy of Tom Holt. Paula Coleman and I installed a tile floor with the help of a local contractor and other clinic staff. During this time a baby girl was born. God gave us the opportunity to work for and with the women from Grand Bassa County.

Paula Coleman . . .
I think that it is great fun to sing and play games with children. At Camphor Mission I had the opportunity to spend parts of five days doing what we termed ―VBS.‖ It was different than VBS at Mentor UMC because we never knew who was coming and we were also not always able to communicate directly with all of the boys and girls (as most of them used Bassa and Liberian English). So, our expressive hand motions and some translating made VBS fun and exciting for the 25-80 children
that came on different days. We had a great time together.

Bob Coleman . . .
One of my projects at Camphor Mission was to get a solar panel kit (donated by Jim & Mary Lou Haines) up and running. Working with Emmanuel Josiah, a Camphor teen, we assembled the kit and tested a light bulb that came with the kit. All who were watching were amazed to see it light up. As there is no electricity at Camphor their only ability to create power is through a generator that runs off gasoline that costs about double the U. S. price, if you can haul it the hour and a half trip to and
from Buchanan, the nearest source. After our initial set up, every morning I would place the components out for Emmanuel who would assemble the panels on his own, hooking them up to a battery storage device. The panels were able to create sufficient power that we could run a fan and Rev. Kathy was able to charge her computer. We supplemented our physical work with some reading about solar energy which Emmanuel and others soaked up like sponges. They were amazed at the size and scope of some of the solar arrays that exist around the world that power entire cities. Perhaps the Camphor Mission solar project will create a budding solar engineer!

Larry Hoon . . .
I was given the responsibility to disassemble the church pews donated by the Andover church and re-assemble them when we arrived at Camphor Mission. With help from Bob Coleman, Matthew (our driver) and Stephen (a 15 year old student at Camphor), we had the pews together and in place at the church in time for service on Sunday.

The following week, Stephen and I took some extra pieces from the pews and made some more comfortable sitting benches at the girls’ dorm. We also tightened up as many of the wobbly school desks as we could. Working with Stephen was the highlight of my week. We shared water and food. I found him to be a quick learner and a hard worker. When I asked him if he was ready to quit for the day, he said, ―I’m with you,‖ meaning he was done when I was done. He made me stretch

Dr. Danny & Rev. Kathy Dickriede will again travel to Camphor in January 2012 returning home in early March 2012. You are invited to join them in ministry at the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia, West Africa. The next dates for Camphor Mission Station UMVIM Trips — January/February/March 2012.

Brochures and applications available from Becky & Charlie Suran, UMVIM coordinators at MUMC – csuran@roadrunner.com or Kathy Dickriede, kathyd@camphormission.org.

UMVIM, United Methodist Volunteers in Mission is the UMC arm of the General Board of Minis-
tries that provides a way for everyone to serve and share the love of God in ways that make a Chris-
tian difference.

Garfield UMC Renovations

2011-08-10T21:46:00.003-04:00

Funds were provided by Garfield UMC, Pepperpike, Ohio, East Ohio Conference for renovations to the sanctuary at the Garfield Church on the Camphor Mission. Ceramic tile is completed! Praise God. The church leadership is moving on to complete the proposed project by replacing the ceiling of the church.

Traditional Birth Attendants and New Water Filters

2011-08-09T03:29:00.004-04:00

Bob Sterken from Main Street UMC in Mansfield helped to procure 40 water filter systems. The water filter system is a simple device that attaches to a local bucket to filter dirty creek water and turn it into clean drinkable water easily and quickly. Bob taught the clinic staff how to make and use the bucket and together they taught and shared this resource with the over 40 TBA's at their monthly training in June 29th. The TBA's were amazed and excited about this new life saving resource. Some traveled home with a bucket other's will carry a bucket to the clinic for their next meeting and make and receive the water filter system.

East Ohio UMVIMers and Camphor Mission

2011-08-07T16:38:00.007-04:00

How far to Camphor Mission Station?

2011-08-06T08:43:00.003-04:00

We are 5070 miles from home when we are at Camphor Mission! Larry Hoon created a mile marker post at Camphor telling each of us and all of Camphor how far we have traveled to do the work that God has called us to do!

Bicycle Distribution

2011-08-06T06:48:00.004-04:00

Thanks to donations on our recent container that arrived at Camphor we were able to distribute bikes to people. A bike was given to one of our students who travels the farthest distance to school. He rides his bike over 8 miles to school. He had been walking beginning his day at 5:30 in the morning to make the trip. Another bike was given to Rev. Zack Erickson who teaches on the mission and walks 15 miles to and from Camphor to community college and one and half hours to preach on Sundays. Another bike was given to Solo, one of our builders who lives in Buchanan and lives and works with the effects of polio. Solo is like a son to us, is the hardest worker we know, and has been more than generous with us.

Ganta Hospital Supplies

2011-08-06T05:11:00.006-04:00

We were able to deliver medical supplies to the Ganta Hospital through the efforts of Laurie Joyce, MedWish, and the Bishop 3Cs Initiative in the East Ohio Conference. These supplies will help meet the needs for better sanitation and surgeries at the hospital.

Thank you East Ohio and MedWish for these needed supplies.

Relationships with East Ohio and Camphor Mission

2011-07-25T14:44:00.006-04:00

Vacation Bible School at Camphor Mission

2011-07-25T14:09:00.003-04:00

Andover pews are moved to Garfield UMC at Camphor

2011-07-25T13:40:00.005-04:00

Maternal Health Ward

2011-07-25T12:55:00.004-04:00

Team 1 painted
Team 2 tiled
And the clinic staff took care of the rest!

2011-07-25T08:59:00.002-04:00

Team 2 Update

2011-07-21T16:04:00.003-04:00

We have been busy at Camphor Mission . . .
playing with kids
doing a Vacation Bible School
tiling the clinic and the entry to the girl's dorm
putting Andover church pews in the Garfield church
making benches for the girl's dorm
cooking lessons
fixing basketball hoops and playing a pick up game with students and staff
experimenting with solar panels
visiting villages
getting dresses made
giving away pillowcase dresses
hanging up signs on the mission
canoeing to the chimpanzees
tightening up chairs and desks
beginning tile work on the church floor
teaching and being taught crocheting
learning about agriculture
pushed a car
swimming at the beach
introducing Liberian children to their ocean! so fun!
visiting LAC, Liberian Agriculture Company, and the waterfall on their property
stimulated the economy with lappa shopping
learning more about Liberia than we know about Ohio!
Buchanan market
worshiped with the people on the mission
experienced the death of a child in a neighboring village, malaria
hosted Peace Corp volunteer on the mission, welcome Natalie!
ate terrific food, thanks to Irene
visited Team 1's miracle patient who survived a ruptured uterus
baby born on the mission!
exercised with Coach Toe
story time with Helen, Tall Tales of the Bush
and enjoyed the quiet, relationships, and laughter on the mission.

We were blessed.

A blessing

2011-07-12T09:53:00.000-04:00

Oh, the backpacks! They are so excited about 300 of them! An announcement has been made on the radio in Bassa that the first 300 people who register for school at Camphor Mission will get a backpack filled with school supplies. They are trying to encourage especially girls to come to school and be strong learners. Today, I met a boy from a village, Abel who did not go to school last year because he could not afford the school fees and the school supply he needed. He was coming to the mission today to get the registration information. He heard the radio announcement and because of the backpacks and the supplies he does not now need to buy, he is able to register for school. You who donated items and funds, you are changing lives, making a real difference in the world, and being a living witness to new life that is found in Christ. Praise Jesus!

Team 2 from East Ohio

2011-07-11T15:13:00.002-04:00

The group has arrived and doing well at Camphor. Already two church pews constructed and one Liberian trained in power tools! A tour of the mission and supplies purchased for tiling project in the new Maternal Health ward at the clinic at Camphor. God is good, all the time! All of the time, God is good.

Peace. More news soon!

Team 1 and Team 2

2011-07-10T08:51:00.004-04:00

Team 1 is about to go to the airport to head for Ohio! They have had a great time in Liberia; Camphor Mission, West Point, the Beach and Buchanan, Mamba Point, pizza, and plenty of rice.

Team 2 is about to land and begin their adventure! Praise God for visitors, laughter, fun, love, faith, and surprises! Stay tuned for more posting and photos from Team 1 as they return to the states.

Keep us all in your prayers.

Camphor Mission Container Has Arrived!

2011-07-08T03:21:00.004-04:00

The 20 foot container that was sent by Mentor UMC has arrived on the Camphor Mission. Danny needed to find a crane to get it off the semi truck. It was a not an easy task. He traveled to an international company BRE then to the port and finally arrived on the mission with a very large crane that lifted the container and set it in place. Tada!

Since then we have been busy unloading supplies for Camphor, Ganta, Gbanga, and other UMC schools. It has been exciting to share the resources. The visitors are convinced that the backpacks have been reproducing in the container! Over 300 backpacks for the first 300 students registered for school. It will be very exciting for the people in the village!

Thanks to the Wooster UMC for tables and chairs that will be put to use immediately with a teacher training that is being held at Camphor.
Thanks to Mentor UMC for backpacks, birthing kits, and so much more!
Thanks to Vienna UMC for office furniture.
Thanks to Andover for the church pews! The congregation is SO excited! Larry will be putting them together with some students over the next 2 weeks.
Thanks to MedWish and Laurie Joyce for hospital and medical supplies.
Thanks to Bill at Sagamore for the baby scale, the Camphor Clinic was thrilled!
Thanks to Faith UMC for little girl pillow case dressed, Nancy will do some distribution over the next 2 weeks.
Thanks to Garretsville UMC and Gay Street UMc for helping to send school supplies! Connie Irvin you're the best!
Thanks to Jordan Martin for toothpaste and toothbrushes.
Thanks to Orchard Path UMC for the school shoes.
Thanks to Kevin Shaner for sorting books.
Thanks to Jack for agriculture supplies.
Thanks to Bill Otte and others for lockers.
And for all of the people I have missed, the people at Camphor are dancing, singing, jumping with joy to receive these needed items! Praise God!

Peoria UMC, thanks for sending Kathy on this trip. She has brought much energy, laughter, and spirit to this group. She has been the blessed eyes and ears for you at Camphor. The folks at Camphor were thrilled to have her on the mission again and introduce her to the village students that you help to support. Kathy was the person who handed out the graduation certificates to the 9th graders at the closing ceremonies.

What a blessing to be a part of UMVIM ministries!

Camphor Mission

2011-06-30T06:42:00.007-04:00

The team is having a great time at Camphor. The rainy season has not given us as many challenges as we anticipated. We enjoyed a day at the Buchanan beach on Saturday. As I post this entry, it is Sunday and we are preparing for worship at the Garfield Memorial UMC church on the Camphor Mission Station. We will celebrate communion with our friends here.

Some news about the team . . .
Laura has visited a village for vaccination, organized crafts with students, and helped deliver a baby.
Tom has hauled water, worked with children, helped staff, worked in the agriculture field, and removed spiders from rooms each night before bed!
Mary is organizing a staff team building workshop, working with Esther in the library, and playing with students.
Catherine and Kate are being loved on by ALL of the children and students here that are their age. They are building some strong relationships with some of the older girls that are their peers. Catherine and Kate are youth themselves.
Kathy "Steinie" is representing Peoria strong! Passing out graduation certificates to 9th grade graduates, interviewing the agriculture staff, vaccinating in villages, and organizing activities with students.
Jan is leading us in music, playing with kids, working with Esther in the library and dancing in the village of Duo!
Jane is working in the library with Esther, playing with students and leading us in devotions.
Bob trained the traditional birth attendants in life saving new clean water techniques and working with the clinic staff.
Meghan is organizing all of us with games, crafts with kids, library time, and cleaning the house!

All are helping with the container unloading, visiting villages, laughing, eating well, sleeping comfortably, and being a blessing. God is leading us on this journey and we feel your prayers and God's presence in real ways. Ipo Gredipo Szwo! We give God thanks.

Peace.
Kathy and Danny

Hello Camphor Mission Supporters!

2011-06-29T11:38:00.000-04:00

We arrived safely to the Camphor Mission on Sunday, June 26th. We have 10 visitors with us from Peoria UMC, Mt. Vernon Gay Street, Main Street in Mansfield, and Mentor UMC. As I write this on Tuesday people are already out in the villages doing polio vaccinations, reading and doing crafts in the library, in town buying supplies for tiling projects, paying salaries, preparing for lunch with other western UMC visitors, preparing staff team building workshop, and working in the agriculture department. We have been blessed by Irene's cooking and great hospitality. We have been visited by the children on the mission and will participate in the school's closing ceremonies on Friday. What a blessing it is to be here!
We will be in contact as we can.
Stay tuned for stories and photos.

Mentor UMC Middle School Mission Week

2011-06-24T23:05:00.004-04:00

Mentor UMC Middle Schoolers spent last week in mission all over Lake, Geauga and Cuyahoga County. They also advocated for and learned about the students at the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia. They raised over $600 for four student's school fees. Meet Jarlington, Daniel, O'George and Chinda, students at the JF Yancy School in Liberia. Lives have been changed, both here in Ohio and in Liberia.

Next East Ohio UMVIM Trip to Liberia!

2011-06-20T17:19:00.003-04:00

CAMPHOR MISSION STATION IS A
SCHOOL CLINIC CHURCH FARM
IN LIBERIA, WEST AFRICA

3CS AND THE CAMPHOR MISSION STATION UMVIM TRIP!
January/February/March 2012

UMVIM, United Methodist Volunteer in Ministry is the UMC arm of the General Board of Ministries that provides a way for everyone to serve and share the love of God in ways that make a Christian difference.
www.camphormission.org

Dr. Danny and Rev. Kathy Dickriede will travel to Camphor, leaving the U.S. in January and returning in early March 2012. You are invited to join them in ministry at the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia West Africa.

General Information
Who can apply? All members and friends of United Methodist Churches (18 years and older, can be younger if parent is traveling with you.)

Need a passport and VISA? Absolutely.

Need shots & a mosquito net? Most definitely. Yellow Fever

How many are going on each trip? Up to 10 people.

Language skills needed? Liberia is primarily an English speaking country.

Estimated Cost? $3200 covers airfare, GBGM Insurance, food & lodging, projects, and sightseeing.

Not covered? Valid US Passport, Travel Visa for Liberia $131, vaccinations, and souvenirs

Some of our tasks while in Liberia? Work on construction building, Education, VBS, and Community Based Health Education. Much to be decided once teams are formed.

Trip timing: 2 weeks. Direct flights from Atlanta to Monrovia leave on Saturdays, arrive in Monrovia on Sunday and arrive back to Atlanta on a Monday mornings.

Team 1 January 7-January 23
One week with no students on the mission. Perhaps cleaning classrooms, painting, tiling girl’s dorm, preparing for student arrival. Then second week, student tutoring, village visits, water well digging in local villages, agriculture program, guesthouse construction.

Team 2 January 21-Febraury 6
Student tutoring, TBA training, village visits, water well digging in local villages, agriculture program, guesthouse construction.

Let us know if attending Annual Confernce is of interest to you.
February 6-11, 2012 Liberia Annual Conference

Team 3 February 18-March 5
Student tutoring, TBA training, village visits, water well digging in local villages, agriculture program, guesthouse construction.

Let Kathy or Becky know which weeks you would like to travel and we will arrange the trip and organize a group.

Deadline for sign up: September 1, 2011. Contact Mentor UMC UMVIM Coordinators, Charlie and Becky Suran for an application. csuran@roadrunner.com

Future Meetings
Locations TBD
Sunday, September 18 at 4:00 pm
Sunday, October 23 at 4:00 pm
Sunday, November, 20 at 4:00 pm

Commissioning in local congregations in December/January/ February/March depending on travel dates for team.

Trip Payment Schedule
Tickets to be purchased by October 1, 2011 for all travelers.
$500 by August 1
$500 by September 1
$1000 by October 1
$600 by November 1
$600 by December 1
Checks payable to Mentor UMC, Camphor UMVIM in memo.

Brochures & Applications Available at Mentor UMC, 8600 Mentor Ave. Mentor, Ohio 44060 or Contact Becky and Charlie Suran, UMVIM coordinators at Mentor UMC. csuran@roadrunner.com or kathyd@camphormission.org

UMVIM Teams Ready To Go!

2011-05-23T10:56:00.004-04:00

Last night we commissioned two UMVIM teams to travel to Camphor Mission this summer. Please pray for the volunteers as they travel from June 25th to July 25th. Everyone is very excited! We were just missing one person, Kathy Steinheimer from First UMC in Peoria. Kathy and Danny will be traveling with the groups too.

Choir Coins for Camphor

2011-05-19T07:17:00.005-04:00

Ministry, advocacy, education, contributing to the needs of others, and prayer support can happen in a variety of settings. Big prayers and thanks to the Mentor UMC choir who so faithfully give their time to ministry and practice. Every week at choir, people have the opportunity to give to Camphor Mission. $154.82 was just donated. Enough to go to market for to feed some of the 70 boarding students for a week. Thanks choir for the coins for Camphor! Enjoy the video of the Garfield UMC church choir and congregation.

Camphor Mission Donations

2011-05-11T07:12:00.004-04:00

Thank God for answered prayers.
The Peoria UMC has raised $10,000 for village students scholarships and salary support. When these funds arrive, this will help get the mission station current on salary. Monthly salary for 55 employees is $3500.

GreenValley UMC has raised $725 for feeding students for almost a month at Camphor Mission.

A member of the Wooster UMC recently donated $3000 for 2 water wells to be dug in a village around the Camphor Mission.

The Garfield UMC in Pepperpike, Ohio is partnering with the staff and congregation to meet the needs at the Garfield UMC at the Camphor Mission Station.

The Pedaling Parson's group of the East Ohio Conference is riding bikes this summer to support the work at Camphor Mission.

Many other donations come to Camphor through the GBGM advance Advance # 12548A, thank you.

The needs for water wells really have been met at this time. We will have funds for more wells than we can put in during this next dry season because of the amazing work of Geneva Rotary, Jordan Martin, Seville UMC, Stan Gault, and others. Churches and donors will need to get in line as Joshua can dig perhaps 5-7 wells a season. Praise God for the abundance! Clean water will always be a need, but it not only takes resources but time, accountability, and presence. There will be a time in the future when more funds are needed for clean water wells around Camphor . . .

But if you want your donation to go to work at Camphor NOW, here are ways you can support the mission.
The Camphor Mission Station continues to struggle with salary support, feeding boarding students, and maintaining an operating budget.

Your prayers and partnership with the Camphor Mission help change lives in Liberia.

If you would like to know more or have questions, please contact Kathy at kathyd@Camphormission.org

Another village gets clean water!

2011-04-25T22:24:00.005-04:00

Many thanks to the Seville UMC for their efforts in raising funds for more than 2 hand dug water wells in villages around the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia! They were challenged to change the world and do their part in being the hands and feet of Jesus. The children in the church raised over $1500 with a matching donation from an anonymous donor. Funds are still coming in and people in the congregation are praying about their participation in an UMVIM trip to Camphor in 2012. God is good!

Here is how they did it in the words of Teare a volunteer in the children's ministries at Seville UMC.
It all started when they heard Kathy share in worship about the ministries at the Camphor Mission. An anonymous person approached me and said that if the children could raise the money for one well, they would put up the $1500 for a second well. The children made the well and put it in the foyer. Every week for about 3 months everyone would drop some money in the well. The children made treats in Sunday School to sell at a bake sale. Parents also donated baked goods. We had one generous man offer to make up the difference if the kids didn't reach their goal. In the meantime, the UMM, UMW and MYF made generous donations as well. Every two - three weeks the kids would make an announcement about how much we made and how much we needed. Their enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone! By the last Sunday, they had met their goal without the help of the man, who also wishes to remain anonymous, so he went ahead and gave $500 anyway! God is good! Teare

Loading the Container!

2011-04-23T13:16:00.003-04:00

The 20 foot container of items from the Mentor UMC and other churches in the East Ohio Conference is loaded and on its way to the Camphor Mission Station. Thanks to the Mentor High School Boy's Basketball team for their help in loading! Should arrive at Camphor late May early June! Prayers for its arrival on the mission.

Q&A with Lindsey at Camphor Mission.

2011-04-04T21:28:00.003-04:00

Q: Did Kaysanee, the carpenter at Camphor get the full bed done for the UMVIM Team from Minnesota?
Kaysanee is a handful. The double bed was varnished and put together in time for the Minnesota team, one bunk bed has been put in the first unit, and ohhh 4 of my locks have been changed, but the other things on his list have yet to be done. Right after ya'll left, he was busy building the casket for the man in Goba that died. Then he got busy getting the principal house ready, and then they asked him to help with some stuff on the palm house...all on top of his usual productivity! I mention "Danny's list" every time I see him, so at least I know he hasn't forgotten!

Q: Has there been any progress on the Maternal Health Ward addition?
A: The clinic addition is pretty much the same as when ya'll left. Functional, but not pretty. I asked if they were going to paint or tile and they said yes, but they don't have the money right now I didn't probe more, but that is where their minds are with it. They have been paid January and February, but have not been paid March yet. That doesn't seem to be unusual though and they weren't concerned yet.

Q: How is the car working?
A: The car is out again. I've "fixed" it twice and after the last time, I went to Monrovia for my residency, left the key with Cecilia for Pediamar and Irene to go to town Saturday, and when I came back, it was leaking gas. I still didn't have it fixed, so have been using Danny's bike to get to town the past two weekends. Will you ask him when/how often I should have the oil changed?

Q: How is your work going?
A: Book Club is alive and well, as is the librarian. There are currently 47 kids who have participated in the club and I have kids asking me all day long every day if I am going to the library. I've made library hours and then Esther is in there on Tuesdays and Thursdays for extra time. Right now she is working on reshelving books and directing kids to leave books in specified locations once they are done with them rather than putting them back on the shelf. She is really doing well and I hope to eventually work her into the book club stuff.

My mornings pretty much consist of chasing teachers. I have no desire to "manage Liberians", but have started working with Kulah on the idea of taking teacher attendance as it is one of his responsibilities according to the employee handbook. I have actually noticed a bit of improvement which is encouraging. I really want to talk with Cecilia about punishments and see if we can create some policy on how to handle kids that teachers have problems with...or more like, make problems with. Cecilia seems to be on board with the idea that kids should only be punished after class which makes me hopeful for even a tiny change.

I do library time until 2 when the kids (and I) go eat. Usually by 3 or 3:30 I have some sort of activity going on. I try to rotate
between games, drawing, crafts, singing, etc. but some days the kids request something specific so I go for it. We usually do that activity until about 5. I kind of roam the mission after that - chatting with kids who are sitting around, learning to cook from Nancy and Jenny, play soccer/kickball, etc. This time is really my favorite time. Many of the kids have started to trust me and are talking to me about things they usually only talk about among themselves. I have had lots of good breakthroughs with the older girls especially, which has been so incredible, but is also a big responsibility. It is almost like I would rather not know some of the things they are sharing, but it is a great opportunity to minister to them and try to help them see past their cultural norms to what God asks of us. I probably enjoy this time the most because it is very counselor-esque. I started doing devotions with the girls and the boys for a week, but they have really been cracking down on being around the dorms by 7 and
in the dorms by 8 so timing has not been too good for that. I have been going into the girls dorm and doing devotions with them, but feel like I am neglecting the boys a little bit. I am hoping to maybe get a small group started for at least some of them one afternoon a week.

Computer class for adults on the mission is also in the works. All the clinic staff keeps asking me to teach them in addition to Kulah, Cecilia, and Obediah. We have a total of 4 laptops that we can share and learn on which I think is great, but trying to get everyone to keep charge on their laptops for a certain day/night for computer lesson seems to be impossible. I would just run generator and let people charge while we have the lesson, but my generator is down and Sampson has it in Buchanan. (Speaking of Sampson, he lost his sister this week - prayers for his family would be greatly appreciated I'm sure.)

I am also really wanting to try to start taking an art lesson to the contained classrooms once a week. I have talked to AB and he says he would like to help if they are in his off period. I have been dropping the ball on getting this rolling, but hopefully will get to it soon! I think it would be a great interactive activity to break up the day for these students and a great way for them to work on establishing imagination, articulation of feelings, and forming independent ideas.

Q: What else is happening at Camphor?
A: Other big news - The road is getting grated this week!!! BRE is coming out I think on Thursday to fix our road because the President is coming to Camphor on the 17th. I'm not exactly sure how all this came to be to be quite honest, but what a blessing! I think Bishop organized it all. Getting the road fixed is a HUGE need.

I am doing well. My blog post was representative of a frustration, but like I said, I am really starting to look forward to those times. I am so overwhelmed with God's presence in my life right now that I cannot even explain it. I can see Him working in me, in the lives of the kids here, and even in my friends and family at home because of what is going on here. I am getting butterflies just thinking about how great He is. Every moment of every day is a blessing and a gift, and He is just teaching me how to see it as that!

I really have not been lonely even though there aren't teams here. I leave the house around 7:30, come home to eat, and then don't go back until around 9 every night so I don't really have time to be lonely!

On Sundays I am at Camphor!

2011-04-04T20:55:00.004-04:00

Sharing the Camphor story with the folks at Mentor UMC. Looking forward to traveling to other churches in the Annual Conference to share the vision and work of the 3C's; clinics, classrooms, and churches. Working in relationship with folks in Russia, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

StuCo 56 at Mentor UMC

2011-03-22T21:12:00.002-04:00

Check out the 5th and 6th grade ministry at Mentor UMC packing up the backpacks for the container heading to Camphor Mission Station! Way to go! Thanks everyone. Over 300 backpacks to the students at Camphor for the fall of 2011!

Container Loading

2011-03-15T09:58:00.005-04:00

The photo is of the port in Monrovia, Liberia.

Please be praying for us. We are loading a 20 foot container of items to send to the Camphor Mission Station. Firestone Cargo Donation program will be shipping the container April 15th. We will be sending school supplies, pillow case dresses, baby quilts and blankets, 300 backpacks, lockers, medical supplies, church pews, books, furniture, beds, desks, filing cabinets, agricultural tools, car parts, bikes, and more. It is exciting to see these months of work, energy, and time come together over these next two weeks.

Big thanks, Zwoo Bomba to
Mentor UMC Connie Irvin and the whole congregation.
Garrettsville UMC
Kevin Schaner, Larry Hoon, Pryde Bass and Lynda Otte
West Union UMC
Vienna UMC
Garfield UMC
Andover UMC
Wooster UMC
and other churches that I have forgotten.
You will be such a blessing to the Camphor Mission.

Lindsey's Blog

2011-03-10T21:36:00.003-05:00

Be sure to keep in touch with the work that Lindsey is doing at Camphor.
http://inpursuitofhisglory.blogspot.com/

Lindsey is a blessing, a gift, a counselor, a friend, an assistant kickball coach, mentor, juggler, bible study leader, go to girl, construction coordinator, a daughter, librarian, ring master, and so much more!

2011-03-08T07:02:00.000-05:00

2011-03-08T06:36:00.001-05:00

Finally photos from 2011

2011-03-08T06:23:00.002-05:00

Great Progress

2011-02-19T06:21:00.002-05:00

We are bricking up the 3rd guesthouse unit.
Two water pumps in local villages through Jordan's Wishing Wells and one coming from Brecksville UMC.
They birthed their first baby for this year in the new Maternal Health Wing of the clinic. A strong big healthy baby boy!
Hiring of a librarian and training with Kevin, East Ohio UMVIM volunteer.
Salaries current at Camphor Mission.
New administration in place, Cecilia Cephas named Superintendent/Principal.
Moved into the 2nd unit of the guesthouse.
Girl's septic repaired.

Exciting times at Camphor Mission!

Blessed in Liberia

2011-02-11T14:13:00.003-05:00

We are finishing our time in Ganta at the Liberia Annual Conference. We have been blessed with dynamic worship and bible study. Bishop Palmer has been leading the "Hour of Power" bible study has been lead by a pastor couple from the Plowpoint ministry in North Carolina. The Annual Conference is doing the hard but great work of reconciliation and empowerment. The theme has been Developing Disciplined Christian Leaders. We have been impressed with the faithfulness and diligence of the clergy and laity. I have been challenged by the spirit to think more about being the mouth piece of God, how I work in ministry, how I spend time in the word of God, and so much more. So glad that I have come to be a part of this conference!

Danny has been busy teaching CPR to the dental clinic students and worked in the Out Patient Department at the Ganta UMC Hospital. He was much needed help with the crowd of patience and increase in clients from the conference. It was great to see friends and help out!

We head back to Monrovia to pick up three visitors, Kevin, Janet and Jack. We will head back to Camphor for 2 more short weeks! The time has gone fast! But there is more work to do.

Kevin will work in the library with a new librarian and with teachers.
Jack will work with the agriculture program and students.
Janet will work with tutoring students and the phonic's teacher.
Danny has jobs running, bricking up the third unit of the guesthouse, completing the girl's septic, making a window in the pantry of the second unit and finishing the plumbing of the kitchen sink and painting of the second unit, securing doors and windows of the final phase of the clinic health addition, and finishing two water pumps in neighboring villages,
Kathy will do some consulting with the new administration and organize work for a team of visitors coming in March and of course helping to support Danny on the many challenges that will come to his list.
Lindsey will continue to meet students and initiate new ways to be in ministry.

Life is good! We have seen many old and new friends at Annual Conference. People from Sierra Leone that we such a surprise and joy to see, people from the states, and Liberians from all over. It has been much fun!

More to come soon, as my computer should arrive on Sunday with the new visitors!
Kathy

Hello

2011-02-04T05:11:00.000-05:00

The second unit of the guest house is almost finished with painting. There is small masonary and plumbing work to be done in the kitchen then paint the kitchen and we will move into that space. Danny is organizing work for the remaining block to be put in place so the bricks will no longer be used for other projects.

The mission was able to pay another month's salary, November 2010 with funds from the Liberia Annual Conference. The mission is trying to move forward. They anticipate Bishop Innis appointing a new Superintendent/Principal next week at their Annual Conference in Ganta. Kathy continues to work as a consultant to the business office and registrar. Lindsey is the new assistant girl's kickball coach and has an office space in the library. The mission just hired their first librarian to work with Kevin for two weeks to be trained and ready to use the library at Camphor. We will have three more visitors the end of February! A true blessing.

We are well. We continue to laught, sing, dance, read, and build relationships with sutdents and staff at Camphor. We will have much to share when we return to Ohio early March!

Peace

Clinic Maternal Child Health Addition

2011-02-03T17:29:00.003-05:00

The structure is in place-walls up, roof on-for the New Maternal Child Health Ward. The work of finishing a window, painting and tiling is left to be done. We were visited by Dr. Cherian Thomas, Director of UMCOR Health. He was pleased by the progress. The new Ward will give delivering mothers more privacy, a cleaner more sterile environment, with an inside bathroom/shower. Thanks to Mentor UMC for the financial resources to make this possible.

Danny says "this building makes me smile!"

Update from Camphor

2011-02-03T17:28:00.001-05:00

We have been busy at Camphor mission. Ian has been getting to know people while helping to build the country kitchen behind the guesthouse. He has been tying sticks mixing the mud plaster, hauling planks of wood from a nearby town, and cutting grass with a cutlass.
Brittany has been at the clinic vaccinating babies and hoping for the birth of a baby. We all walked to market- about 3 plus miles out and gave out worm medicine and vaccinations to the crowd. On the way to the market, we passed by a village where voter registration was taking place. They are preparing for a presidential election in October of this year.

We have exercised with John Toe, painted the second guesthouse, worshiped, experienced hospitality, greeting, and gift giving. We have washed clothes and hauled our own water.

Thanks to MUMC, we were about to pay one months salary to the staff at the mission and hand out Rosaries from Brittany's aunt.

We continue to be challenged by cars, transportation, keys, and regular workers. We continue to move forward with water wells in villages, teaching at the clinic, and have goals of moving into the second guesthouse by early February.

Lynn and Ian are back in the states now and Brittany will return at the end of January. Please keep us in your prayers.

Words from Brittany

2011-01-31T04:54:00.002-05:00

This January, I spent my J-term in Liberia with Kathy and Danny. I studied Liberia’s healthcare system under Danny at the Camphor Mission Clinic. The clinic can’t do a lot in terms of surgeries or specialized medicine, but there are some effective preventative programs in place that save babies. For instance, walked into the bush to reach villages for vaccination campaigns for pertussis, H flu, diphtheria, babies for Hep B. I also helped hand out the de-worming pills and an oral polio vaccination. The clinic is also equipped to treat and test for malaria. I acted as the lab-tech most days and helped by pricking fingers and testing blood for malaria.

Although Camphor Clinic practices mostly preventative, the Ganta UMC Hospital is providing surgery and diagnostic care. There is an eye clinic that removes cataracts, two operating rooms that repair hernias and perform c-sections, and a maxilo-facial dentist office that can pull teeth and repair facial trauma cases. I was blessed to work with foreign and local doctors and staff to see all of these clinics in action.

I learned a lot from each and every case I saw in both Ganta and Camphor. Danny was a great teacher who took the time to explain each case to me.

Medicine was the focus of my internship but I have had priceless experiences. I got to know the Camphor clinic staff. They taught me about my own culture and traditions as they taught me their own. I have made some great memories vaccinating babies, seeing Kathy’s love and passion with the school kids, playing countless hours of kickball and finding paradise beach. This trip has had a profound impact on my future and I owe everyone along the way for the helping to form who I will become.

Now it is back to Center College I go for one more semester of classes.

Ganta and the East Ohio Conference 3C's

2011-01-18T06:43:00.001-05:00

Container Shipment News from Laurie Joyce
I just received an email from Luke at Brothers Brother Foundation and I want to share some good news. The Medwish container with dressing, wound care and medical supplies was unloaded at the Ganta Hospital this past Friday. Luke relates that it was a time of celebration.... God is good! A second Medwish container is ready for shipment this month to Liberia. It contains hospital equipment that Victor selected for the Ganta Hospital when he was here in October.
My journey since our 3-C's Mission Trip to Liberia last year has been amazing. I'm thankful for the vision of Bishop Hopkins and the hard work of the 3-C's Task Force to carry this vision forward. Many thanks to Victor and Zaye at Ganta for writing to me about their struggle to accomplish their infection control goals and helping their patients to heal. Thanks to Kathy for getting me in contact with Pat Ginley, who worked closely with Mimi and the folks at Medwish to make this happen. Lastly, I thank Luke at BBF for graciously working with the East Ohio Conference as we continue in mission with the people of Liberia.
Grace and Peace,
Laurie

And now . . .
We are hear at Ganta now excited to see the items that Laurie is writing about. Another Med Wish container is due to arrive later this month, January 28th! Danny and a med student Brittany are working in the Out Patient Department and Lindsey another volunteer is doing physical therapy with the orthopedic department here at Ganta. We are coming full circle with our work with the 3C's! God is good!

Liberia!

2011-01-18T06:08:00.002-05:00

We saw Lynn and Ian off at the airport on Sunday to travel back to Ohio and we greeted our new visitor Lindsey from Texas! Together with Lindsey and Brittany, Danny and I traveled by taxi up country to Ganta Mission. After a 5 hour taxi ride we arrived to the Ganta Mission where there is a hospital, school, church, and maintenance ministry. Brittany is seeing patience and hoping to get into the OR and dental surgery department. She is still waiting for a baby to deliver. We did meet twins on the ward who were delivered by C-section yesterday. I am able to check emails and update the blog at the internet cafe that is here on the mission. We will return to Camphor Mission later this week.

The mission is trying. There have been some administration changes since we arrived. Paul Glaydor is no longer on the mission and Rev. Kulah, the pastor at the Garfield UMC on the Camphor Mission is now the acting Superintendent. There is much to explain and many unknowns in this decision. Danny and I are sad that we have not met our friend, Paul, on the mission but we are also aware of the need to let the Liberian Annual Conference do their work of managing employees. Please keep all of the staff in your prayers. They continue to struggle with salary, organizing, and many other challenges.

In spite of all of the challenges, the Camphor Mission keeps trying! Classes have resumed this week as students return to the school and dormitories, the clinic is seeing patience and continuing their vaccination program, two villages have been identified to receive 2 new hand dug water wells and pumps this February, the agriculture program is still attempting to grow food for the dining hall, and more than 5 building projects need to be completed.

We have been recieved at the mission and throughout the Liberia Annual Conference with open arms and great energy! We have found good friends we are excited to see. We keep making friends, deepening relationships, and sharing the journey with one another. We will stay in touch as we can!

Peace

Computer tragedy and we are well!

2011-01-09T14:11:00.001-05:00

Due to extenuating circumstances beyond its owner's control, one red plastic protected white Mac/Apple computer flew out of the back of the unlatched door of a white Nissan on Tuesday, January 2, 2011 as its journey on the dusty, rattled road from Monrovia to Buchanan. The Apple computer once traveled the world was discovered to have sustained injuries of a cracked screen making use impossible at this time. The computer is awaiting care in the states when it travels home with friends Lynn and Ian. Internet cafes can be found in Liberia with occasional power so staying in contact will be sporadic. I am told that cracked computer screens are a common occurrence in college students and should be fixable.

The blessing is that now I can remain more present here at Camphor not being so concerned about relationships and connections at home. In due time I can share stories about this journey. God is teaching me new lessons all of the time; calm and patience, discernment of culture and problems, wisdom about boundaries and responsibility.

Danny and I are well. The guesthouse is beautiful and feels like home. We just saw Mr. Gbaa and Adelphus, some of the builders, while we are in town in Buchanan today. It has been a great homecoming with people so happy to see us.

Lynn and Ian are working to complete the second unit of the guesthouse with paint and a few side projects. Brittany and Danny are learning and teaching in the clinic. Danny is excited about his role as faculty and Brittany is full of stories at the end of the day.

Kathy is . . . well, enjoying the quiet at times. Doing much listening to a staff that has not been paid for 3 months, a staff in turmoil and in need of prayer. We all are helping to move the final items into the guesthouse.

We are well. Staying focused on the God who led us here, who protects, challenges, and meets us along the way. We feel your prayers and know that in Jesus name you will continue to pray.

Peace from an old computer at a Buchanan internet cafe!

We have arrived in Liberia!

2011-01-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Danny and I left on New Year's day to travel with 3 other missionary volunteers, Brittany Corrigan who is a premed student at Center College in Kentucky will be working with Danny for 4 weeks doing a J Term class, Lynn and Ian Kallay will be here for 2 weeks, helping in the school, moving us into the guest house, and experiencing life in rural Liberia.

For the first time we were able to fly directly from Atlanta to Monrovia! Such a time and energy saver! We have been in Monrovia at the UMC compound for two days. We have enjoyed seeing friends again and just resting. We traveled to West Point to see our friend Sam's church building a three story school building, great progress has been made.

We will travel to Camphor Mission on Tuesday. We are eager to see the people at the mission, stay in the Judy Olin Guest House, and share stories and life. We will be in touch as we can. Please pray for all of us and especially the people at Camphor. The staff has not been paid since September salary so it has been difficult to work, teach, and keep their spirits up during this holiday season.

Introducing Lindsey, Long term UMVIM Volunteer to Camphor Mission

2010-12-30T20:16:00.004-05:00

"It is true that God may have called you to be exactly where you are. But, it is absolutely vital to grasp that he didn’t call you there so you could settle in and live your life in comfort and superficial peace." Francis Chan

I have no doubt in my mind that a short twenty-three years ago, God carefully placed me in the hands of parents and family that would raise me in Galveston, TX and in the halls of Moody Methodist Church. I have no doubt that He purposefully constructed the experiences I have had, the education I am blessed enough to have obtained, and the potential employment opportunities that are knocking at my door. I also have no doubt in my mind that He has called me to leave these things behind to go serve Him, and I could not be more excited about it.

I have an indescribable passion for international mission and have been blessed to have had the chance to be a part of many trips and adventures throughout high school and college. God has taught me about His faithfulness as He has commissioned me to do construction in Mexico, sent me to play countless hours of soccer in Belize, love on the widowed and orphaned in Brazil and Guatemala, help establish an orphanage in Ghana, hold VBS in South Africa, work with a team of therapists at a school for children with disabilities in Costa Rica, and more.

Although I should have learned a long time ago that His plan for me is far greater than the one I could create, I am in awe of the opportunity that He has entrusted me with this time around. The time I spent at Texas A&M pursuing a degree in psychology as well as the invaluable information I gained at the University of Texas University earning my Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling have proven to be part of God’s glorious and intricate plan for me.

Although Liberia’s infrastructure and economy have begun to stabilize over the past few years, the hearts of the people are likely to still be burdened with grief and traumatic memories of the civil wars that they have experiences in the recent past. Through the community that has been established at Camphor Mission Station, I will have the honor to serve as a counselor for God’s children who are struggling with how to move forward. I am overwhelmed with God’s graciousness for giving me the opportunity to use my areas of academic interest in conjunction with my passion for mission.

I also hope to get involved in the church's ministry. Because I have seen first hand how important it is to live within a community of believers that will support your walk in faith, hold you accountable, and advise you with a heart that is ultimately for Christ, I am hoping that God will use me to help organize and establish small groups/bible studies within the community at the mission station.

As I prepare for my trip, I am seeking out those of you who will commit to praying for my full dependence upon God throughout my experience, peace for the love ones I am leaving behind, and the hearts of the Liberians I have yet to meet. Prayer and confidence in His will are the most important needs for my trip. If you would like to follow my journey, I am honored to have the chance share what God is doing in me and through my on blog at InPursuitOfHisGlory.blogspot.com

Shalom,

Lindsey Brown

Camphor Clinic

2010-12-02T08:40:00.003-05:00

Here are the latest photos of the new Maternal Health Ward at the Camphor Clinic. Funds were donated by the Mentor UMC to begin the completion of this structure.

Christmas Cards to support Camphor Water Wells

2010-11-29T13:57:00.003-05:00

Jordan Martin is back with Christmas cards to benefit Camphor Mission. Designs created by kids at the Camphor Mission Station. Support the raising of funds for water wells in the villages around Camphor Mission Station.
Each package contains 16 cards (4 of each of the four designs) for a $12 donation.
Cards can be purchased at online at www.jordanswishingwells.com or on Sundays at Mentor UMC, 8600 Mentor Ave. Mentor, Ohio 44060.

East Ohio UMVIM Team

2010-11-15T12:53:00.002-05:00

We are headed to Camphor Mission Station June 25-July 25, 2011! We are so excited to meet all of you in ministry!

A Creative Donor, being a blessing

2010-11-01T21:23:00.002-04:00

Field of Sunflowers I (size 18” x 18”) Field of Sunflowers II (size 18” x 18”)
An Opportunity to own two Diane Arthurs signed prints….all proceeds going to an Camphor Mission Liberia Africa

I have an opportunity to help a child in Liberia Africa and hope you will help me.

Through my church, the United Methodist church of Chagrin Falls, I was given $5.00 as seed money. I am to take the $5 and multiply it in any creative way that I want. The monies I make will go to the Camphor Mission in Liberia Africa. Camphor is a United Methodist Mission that my church has been affiliated with for a few years. This mission is a clinic and school. To learn more, you can go to www.camphormission.org. or Goggle Camphor Mission. Some of the children that are educated there have to walk 1-2 hrs to and from their home each day and back. We can sponsor a child, who would stay at the mission during the week and go home on the weekend, for $300.00 one year. My goal is to personally sponsor a child for one year.
God gives every one of us a talent and he has blessed me with the talent of being artistic. I have a wonderful career and business using my talent and I decided to use it, to give back.

I am putting up on eBay auction, 2 signed prints called “Field of Sunflowers I & II” These prints are each 18” x 18”. I have chosen these specific prints because right now they have been mocked up for a set of dinnerware through Lifetime Brands. This is not a DONE deal, but they mocked up the design so that a major department store will pick up the design for dinnerware. I have seen the mock ups and they are wonderful. You may have seen some of my Christmas designs in Kohl’s last year, and” Evergreen Ernie “is at www. Pfaltzsgraff.com

These prints will go on eBay today with a starting bid of $50.00. All proceeds will be going towards the Camphor Mission. If you are interested in bidding on these prints go to:

www.eBay.com and search Diane Arthurs signed print for charity.

I will personally sign the prints for the highest bidder. The closing of the bid will be November 9, 2010.
I would also appreciate it if you emailed this note out to all those on your email list. Let the bidding begin.
Thank You, Diane

Camphor Update

2010-10-31T22:40:00.003-04:00

From Paul Glaydor Camphor Mission Station Superintendent/Principal

Judy Olin UMVIM Guesthouse
After its completion, the first unit was used recently by two guest groups; St. James UMC (team of eight) from Kansas Missouri on October 21 (one night), and a German team(team of five) from the Christian Health Association (CHAL) that has been sponsoring TBA and other health related programs at the mission. This team actually came to inspect CHAL’s work at the mission when they got attracted by the Guest House after they lost their hotel in Buchanan to Presidential delegates attending a Cabinet retreat of President Sirleaf.

Feeding
This is an area of major concern at Camphor. I am in discussion with some NGO’s regarding the feeding program. I had a very positive conversation with one of the guests who stayed at the guest house. She is associated with an American based NGO responsible for school feeding. She has promised to get us on her list of schools for feeding but that could be next year. If our partnership relationship with the Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC) is concretized by the end of this year, we should be getting some support also from that end.

UMVIM Longterm Volunteers
I am happy that a lot of volunteers are coming in next year hopefully to help with program support for the various projects. I am specifically pleased about the return of Janet Keckner and Kevin Schanner both of whom will be working with the school in the areas of teaching math and supporting the reading program/Library.

Jordan's Wishing Wells
The new hand pumps will be helpful for the village communities. Krayngar town will be the first town on my list. They are offering us land for our rubber plantation that is being arranged with LAC. Guehzeo Town and other towns could benefit at this time. This should be exciting news for the villagers. Extend our thanks to all donors who are partaking in providing “life” through safe drinking water for our people.

Camphor Guesthouse

2010-10-31T17:44:00.001-04:00

We moved in furnitures last week. Two teams have already stayed here; St. James UMC volunteers (team of eight) and a German team from Chal (team of five). To God be the glory for great things He is doing at Camphor. May God bless all cheerful givers to this project.

Paul Glaydor

Walking to school

2010-10-24T16:11:00.001-04:00

Garfield UMC at Camphor Mission Station

2010-10-21T15:50:00.002-04:00

Donations for the new floor made by the Garfield UMC in Pepperpike, Ohio East Ohio Conference.

Camphor Guesthouse

2010-10-21T15:44:00.002-04:00

East Ohio 3C's Clinics are on the move!

2010-09-10T09:30:00.002-04:00

Tom and Laurie Joyce visited Liberia in February 2010. They had a great visit and have been moved to action. Laurie is actively helping to work with the Ganta Hospital, Camphor Clinic in Liberia and the Manjama Clinic in Sierra Leone.

Laurie and Tom had a great visit with Mimi at MedWish last week! Very impressed by the scope of their operations. The three pallets of medical supplies headed for Ganta were truly overwhelming. It's hard to imagine until you are standing next to the tall pallets.(I sent a picture!!) Mimi also sent me the packing list and I am thrilled they will be receiving so much of their needed medical supplies. MedWish and Brother's Brother Foundation in Pittsburgh are working together to ship these items to Ganta. Camphor will receive some items from Medwish in the future.

The East Ohio Conference and Clinics in West Africa are a partnership at work!

Westlake UMC Block Party

2010-09-09T18:11:00.004-04:00

Kathy Dickriede and Kevin Schaner share about Camphor Mission Station at the Westlake UMC first ever summer block party. Introducing the neighborhood to the ministries the church, worship, music, missions and clean and dirty water needs. It was an exciting event. Thanks for sharing the photo Nancy Danburg!

Mentor UMW Camphor Event

2010-08-26T12:37:00.002-04:00

Eighty or more United Methodist Women of Mentor UM Church gathered on Sunday evening, August 22nd for our first Girls' Mission Night Out. Daughters age 2 to 82(or more!) were in attendance. There was even a daughter-mother-grandmother combination in the crowd!

The evening began with the women creating their own dinner salads and the meals were only complete after creating desserts with a chocolate fountain!

Kathy Dickriede then showed slides of Liberian women and girls at work, worship and play, reminding us of our similarities. We had fun "talking" with Sarah Forsyth in Baltimore via "Skype." Sarah told us about her months at Camphor and described how her nursing skills were used at the Camphor birthing center.

The women and girls were energized by all that they had heard and were eager to create something for the folks at Camphor. So, they used their talents to either make and write notecards, or bead bracelets or prepare birthing kits.
By the end of the evening there were bracelets, letters, and completed birthing kits to be delivered to the Camphor Mission Station, in addition to an excited buzz about gathering together again, soon!

Renovations for Boy's Dorm

2010-08-26T12:30:00.002-04:00

Staff housing and boy's dormitory renovations have begun at the Camphor Mission, I wish to inform you that I have begun the process of renovating the dormitories from funds received as miscellaneous gifts through GBGM Advance. The boys’ dormitory is being reorganized for face lift and to provide some security as I indicated in my June “Update”(See photo). The roof of the girls’ dormitory also is being worked on. These are proactive initiatives as students will be in school by next week.

We have hired four new teachers including a phonics teacher, in the kindergarten and elementary division because of the necessity to upgrade the level of the lower school as mentioned in my “Academic Report” and a Business Manager for the School and Mission. We will have to provide housing for these new staffs. Some of them are temporarily staying at my house while others will be “shagging up” with other staffs until we can arrange housing.

Peoria UMC GIC

2010-08-19T15:32:00.003-04:00

Kathy and Danny traveled to Peoria UMC to share the Camphor Story. Peoria has been long time supporters of the Camphor Mission Station providing water, agriculture tools and funds, feeding program, scholarships, latrines, staff housing, UMVIM teams, music, school supplies, text and library books, salary support, and so much more! Thank you Peoria!

Camphor Update

2010-08-17T10:23:00.002-04:00

I am pleased to update you on activities at the Mission since May. The last update was in April of 2010. I have however been posting sporadic information about special events at the Mission. It is my hope that this information will meet you strong in the service or our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and that it will help you as you partner with us in ministry here at Camphor.

Special Project
Funds for latrines and scholarship from Peoria were received; totaling USD 9,100.00(Peoria - $5,000.00, Latrine - $4,100.00). The latrine project was started immediately. Up to date, two units have been completed; one designated for the Teachers’ Quarter and another for the Security (Togba’s) residential community which will be proximate for the Dinning Hall staff as well (see photos). Construction of the third unit was started. We had earlier earmarked the third unit for the Clinic area so that the families of the OIC, the TBA Coordinator and other staffs in that community will have access, but upon a second thought, we intend to complete the one started by the District near the school building so that the students will have access to one upon resumption of school, considering that the OIC, the TBA Coordinator, etc. are presently using the latrine next to the Clinic. Upon the completion of this unit, if any funds are left, we will renovate the one next to the church parsonage so that residents in that community will have access to one. But, in the meantime, they have access to the one built near the Teacher’s Quarter.

Funds - Advance Gifts
Balance 40% salaries for May and all of June for teachers and other mission staff were paid out from Peoria Scholarship/Salary support. We also received undesignated advance gifts in the amount of USD 8,100.00 for the months of May and June. Part of this amount will be used to settle July salaries, begin renovation on the boys and girls dormitories, in preparation for the reopening of school and continue other projects at the Mission; i.e. on-going timber project, Palm project, housing improvement, etc. Thanks to Peoria and all cheerful givers who made this possible. It is our prayer that God will continue to shower His blessings upon you and give you what it takes to remain in the business of building His kingdom here on earth.

School:
We closed school for academic 2009/2010 on June 27th. With school not in section, the Campus is quiet with little activity, except for the administrative staff and a few teachers retained to make preparation for next academic year (2010/2011).We are presently working on entrance examinations, recruitment of additional teachers for new courses that will be introduced and for those for which we did not have teachers last year (Geography, French, etc.). First entrance examinations were administered on Saturday, August 7 at various centers. Second entrance exams will be administered this Saturday, August 14th. This year, the number of examination centers was increased to cover other areas that are distant from the mission where parents have expressed the desire to enroll their children at the mission. These include Ganta, Gbarnga, Kakata, Unification Town, Gorblee (The Liberia Agricultural Company) community.
We intend to spread the work load of present teachers among new ones so that each teacher will be more effective. Our focus from now on will be “quality learning”, especially on the lower school (kindergarten and elementary) through a robust reading and writing skills development program. We have engaged the expertise of a veteran Phonics and Reading Skills teacher who will work with our kindergarten and lower school for three hours each week.

The School Board approved the proposed increase in tuition. Justification was to increase feeding and improve other boarding facilities, etc. We have already purchased two (2.5Kva) generators for each of the dormitories in order to provide some minimum amount of electricity for study and other activities that will be scheduled during evening hours. We will hopefully be enclosing the front way of the boys’ dormitory to have a single door at the entrance. This will ensure some level of security. The cost of doing this has been estimated at US 800.00. Total renovation; including refurbishing of beds and making additional ones, adding a Dean’s apartment at the back and painting is estimated at USD 2,100.00. Study is being done for the Girls Dormitory. It also needs some renovation. There is presently a profused leakage from the roof that needs to be corrected. Part of advance gifts received for May and June will be used to begin the process of renovating the dormitories so that we will catch up with the reopening of school scheduled for September 1st.

The mission support project launched during the closing ceremonies of the J.F. Yancy School may be getting some external support. We have just submitted an investment proposal upon request of the management of the Liberia Agricultural Company (LAC) for possible consideration. This proposal is for a partnership with that company for the planting of 36,000 rubber trees on the mission’s tree farm. This investment when concluded will hopefully generate about USD 8,000.00 monthly. Do keep us in prayer so that our God who is a God of empowerment will make this project come to fruition.

Agriculture:
The amount of USD 675.00 was received for planting of additional rubber trees. A total of three thousand (3,000) rubber strums were purchased from this amount and are being planted. This will bring the total number of trees planted to four thousand and five hundred (4,500). As stated earlier, the Management of the Liberia Agricultural Company is considering getting in partnership with the Mission in planting some thirty-six thousand (36,000) additional trees. This will require securing additional two hundred acres of land for the mission. We have begun talking with Elders of towns and villages in close proximity to the mission for this additional land. Bishop Innis has been informed about this development, and will be involved with the negotiations for this additional land with the villagers.

The present rubber farm is being intercropped with plantain. This will also provide feeding subsidy for the students, while at the same time; hopefully provide some cash in the short-term. About five thousand plantain heads have been targeted for this project.

Land has been cleared for off-season cabbage plantation. We realize the high demand for cabbage from sale experience of the pilot project of about a few hundred heads planted last season. The department will be busy, after the on-going planting of rubber, with planting approximately 3,000 heads of cabbage. Harvesting of the palm farm has resumed after a temporary lull in production due to administrative reasons. The first consignment of “soap production” will commence next week. Funds have been allocated for this. We have engaged the services of another contractor to do the Palm Processing House due to the busy schedule of Mr. Nelson with the completion of the Judy Olin Guest House. The foundation has since been completed. Materials required to elevate and roof the structure were long since purchased and are in stock in warehouse.

The Timber production project is on-going. The mission has also got in partnership with Goah-yah Section in Wee Statutory District of Grand Bassa County for a community forest management arrangement. The citizens and elders of Goah-yah has given the mission access to their community forest covering over eight thousand hectares of tropical forest that has over 35 commercial species. We managed to purchase one new chainsaw and pit sawing is presently in progress there. Seven hundred (700) out of the targeted one thousand (1,000) 2” X 6” X 14” timbers for the maiden production of this project has been produced and awaiting transportation for market (see photos). Negotiations are on-going with the management of the Liberia Agricultural Company (LAC) to purchase the first product of five hundred pieces. The balance five hundred pieces will be reserved for roofing of the third unit of the Judy Olin Guest House. Subsequent productions will be purchased by the Liberia Agricultural Company. Total cash expected from the projected monthly production of one thousand timbers will be USD 4,000.00. These are all part of our financial sustainability program.

Clinic:
The Community Health Outreach program at the clinic is on-going. Immunization program is continuing. A total of two hundred and seventy-two (272) persons; including pregnant women, mothers and children were vaccinated against yellow fever, measles and polio. The TBA monthly consultative meetings and other community health outreach programs involving TBAs are also continuing. A good quantity of drugs was purchased recently from drugs fund and funds generated at the clinic. Kerosene to preserve vaccination is available.

Church:
Regular worship services continue at the James A. Garfield United Methodist Church.
Tiling of the chancery was completed and painting of both the inside and outside of the parsonage was done from funding from James A. Garfield UMC of the East Ohio Conference. Presently we have in stock thirty (30) cartoons of floor tile to continue the tiling of the rest of the church. Tiles on hand will be able to complete only twenty-five percent of the sanctuary. We are in need of more tiles and other materials for completing the renovation of the church and parsonage. Thanks to the people of Garfield (East Ohio) for the kind of partnership that continues to improve Garfield at Camphor.

Judy Olin Memorial Guest House
The first unit (Bunk House) of the Guest has been finally completed and ready for habitation. We had earlier planned to move in available furniture before Volunteer Sarah Forsyth could leave, but this was not possible because finishing touches on the bathroom was expected a couple of days before she left. The second unit (for medium term stay) is being tiled and will be completed (also ready for habitation) by next week. The delay has been due to inadvertent omission of tiles from the final estimates. We have however been managing the situation and tiles for the first unit have been provided. Sixty percent of tiles for the second unit have also been provided from undesignated gifts to Camphor. I have been in series of meetings with Bishop Innis and the Board of Trustees of the Liberia Annual Conference. Serious efforts are being made to move USD 7,000.00 worth of materials for the third unit hopefully within a week’s time. Tiles to complete the second unit will be made available through this arrangement within the next couple of days. We will need funds for interior decorations (curtains, start-up furniture, etc) and landscaping of the yard. I have given contracts out for clearing of the surrounding.

Mission Business Manager:
Efforts at getting a Business Manager for the School and Mission are yielding some results. Two applications have been received. Both applicants have degree in Accounting and are also teachers. What a blessing, after a long search. Copies of their applications and credentials have been submitted to various agencies and individuals concerned for review. Formal interviews are set for Monday, August 16th by the School Board and Mission Council after which final selection will be made. We hope to achieve this before the reopening of school.

Local Friends of Camphor
Initiatives for establishing local Friends of Camphor is also gaining some grounds. This group which will comprise of Camphor Mission alumni, former key players at the Mission, prominent United Methodists, Company representatives, Businessmen, Donors and Partners, etc., when finally established as a working unit will operate in like manner as Friends of Camphor in the overseas donor community in doing the following:

Promote the Mission in the country and community
Identify local sources of funding for the Mission
Target and gain access to social development funds of local companies, Mission Support grants, etc. for the benefit the Mission
Help identify and bring into contact with the Mission; donors, partners and other resource persons who will render program support to the Mission.
Work along with the leadership of the Mission to focus on development and expansion of the Mission.
Work in the general interest of the Mission.

We have established contacts and are presently holding talks with two individual local company representatives; Madame Theresa Doegbah, Managing Director of the Seatrans Shipping and Stevedoring Company and Mr. Edwin Nelson, Purchasing Manager of the Liberia Agricultural Company (LAC) both of whom have shown great interest in the ministry of the mission and have been doing advocacy and making financial contributions to mission support and the financial sustainability program of the Mission in recent time. Madame Doegba has agreed in principle to serve. She recently donated USD 500.00 towards Village Girls’ Education and Mission Support, while Mr. Nelson who also has been making financial contribution, is presently advocating for the mission with his company for the planting of 36,000 rubber trees for the mission’s financial sustainability program. We hope that we will be able to come across other well meaning personalities, including United Methodist who will work in the interest of the mission.

Others
GBGM Individual Volunteer, Sarah Forsyth ended her two months stay and service here at the Mission on July 29th. She returned home on the 31st July after a 24-hour change in her flight from Monrovia. An elaborate farewell program was held which was spearheaded by staffs of the clinic. Personnel of other projects at the Mission participated. The Agriculture Department presented flowers for her participation in agricultural activities while the clinic, church and other projects made presentations. We are very grateful for having Sarah here. She served well. The new UMCOR Country Director, Cynthia Harvey arrives here at the mission on Wednesday, August 11th. A team of engineers from “Power From the Son” a U.S. based organization visited the Mission on Tuesday, August 3, to evaluate the electricity situation with the objective of preparing a proposal for electrification of the mission in the future. Discussions are on-going with a number of donors, including Ms. Sarah Forsyth for the establishment of a “staff development fund” to benefit staffs who will be willing train and to return after their training to serve the mission. This is in support of our expansion program of projects at the Mission. Ms. Sarah Forsyth also has set up a fund drive for the purchase of one utility vehicle for the mission, considering the necessity of having transportation at the Mission. The “African Car” an old twenty-one years old vehicle donated by Ganta Mission several years ago seems to be finally giving up in serving as ambulance and the only utility transportation for the mission.

Terje Wibe of the Norwegian United Methodist Church visited the mission and donated five tables and seventy-five chairs for the dinning hall at the mission, and USD hundred dollars for tuition for children of the late Jerry Innis, former instructor at the school. The tables are still at the Ganta Vocational Center, where they were made awaiting collection. We are thankful for these donations, and pray that God will grant him, the Norwegian Conference of the UMC and all donors the grace that is sufficient to continue and prosper their ministries.

It is my hope that these updates will provide information that will be helpful to your partnership with and support for the Camphor Ministry to the glory of God. May the grace, peace and love of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit abide with you all as we work together to build God’s kingdom here on earth.

Telling the Camphor Story,

Paul J. Glaydor, Sr.
MISSION SUPERINTENDENT
CAMPHOR UNITED METHODIST MISSION STATION

Kentucky Derby Party

2010-08-09T17:38:00.003-04:00

Mentor UMC hosted a party of the Year of 100 Gatherings. the Fellowship Committee hosted a Kentucky Derby Party with appetizers, drinks, and the movie Seabiscuit. It was a fun night with all of our gambling debts going to the Camphor Mission. A fun night with big hats and all!

Unique Fundraiser

2010-08-06T23:44:00.003-04:00

Thanks Kurt and Jan Reichert and friends from Bass Lake, Michigan! They held a Yard Sale during their two week vacation to raised over $200 for the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia. What a great way to make a difference! Thanks for being a part of this ministry.

Sarah's Last Reflections on her time at Camphor

2010-07-29T13:35:00.003-04:00

The last several weeks have been full of events at the mission. During the week of July 12-16 My Daughter’s Place, the girl’s vocational school, held a workshop at the mission with students from other vocational programs in Buchanan and Monrovia. These programs are designed to give young adults a chance to learn cooking, tailoring, carpentry, computer skills and other trades so they can make a life for themselves, as many of them were unable to attend school while growing up during the Liberian civil war. It was a week of learning, sports, fellowship and fun. Our own Anthony Jackson and John Toe from the clinic also participated in the program doing HIV/AIDS and family planning education.

At the clinic we have been continuing with vaccinations; we just received a new supply of Pentavalent vaccines (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Hepatitis B and H. Influenza) from the Ministry of Health in Buchanan, and we used it to have an infant vaccination outreach day at the Johnny Joe Town market. Sometimes the Ministry of Health runs out of vaccines and last week they (and we) were also out of the ACT (artemisinin combination therapy) tablets that we use as our primary treatment for malaria. The clinic has been using Quinine in these cases, which we is what we use as first-line therapy for malaria patients that are either pregnant or severely ill. Recently we added either Doxycycline or Fansidar when administering the Quinine, as it is more effective than the Quinine alone based on the reading and learning that I have done here and shared with the staff.

Paul recently took time to show me some sites outside the mission where Camphor has some revenue-generating projects in the works. One of these is the timber project, which is in partnership with Paul’s village of Goah-yah, about an hour’s drive from Camphor. From there it was a long hike out in the bush to the timber processing site; it felt like a real jungle trek! The workers often stay out overnight in the bush and all the timber that is produced has to be hauled out by manpower alone. The timber is used directly for building at Camphor and portions of it are also sold for profit by the mission and by the people of Goah-yah who own the land. I also toured the LAC (Liberian Agriculture Company) plantation, whose primary product is latex rubber. LAC has been involved with the mission through providing student scholarships and in assisting Camphor’s efforts to establish its own rubber tree farm. It takes about seven years for the trees to be mature enough to harvest the rubber, but it, along with many other projects, are part of a long-term plan to eventually make Camphor Mission self-sustaining. The LAC plantation itself is beautiful and we were able to tour the community there, including the tree farms, hospital, staff living areas and the club house, which is at the top of a hill with a fantastic view of Grand Bassa County.

Liberia celebrated its Independence Day on July 26th, and I spent the day with the Glaydors and Mary Gargar at the beach in Buchanan. We had a picnic of rice, cassava greens, and fufu with fish and pepper soup, and the weather was perfect- it didn’t even rain (all day!) In downtown Buchanan the streets were full of commotion; most businesses were closed except for a few restaurants and street vendors, but the streets were full of people enjoying the day dancing and celebrating.

My time here at Camphor is quickly coming to a close and I am thankful to God for the experience; it has been the fulfillment of a life-long goal for me. Although I am ready to go home and see friends and family again, in some ways I feel like I just started to really understand the culture and how I could best serve the mission, and with more time I could have made further progress. However, I have no regrets and I have made some cherished friends and have learned so much during my time here. I plan to remain in contact with Paul and to still be involved with the mission, and will hopefully be back to visit someday. An effort to raise funds for a new (used) vehicle for the mission is currently underway through the support of my friends, family and local church, so hopefully there will be a blog update on that front in the near future!
Peace and God Bless,
Sarah

News from the week of July 18th

2010-07-25T22:49:00.003-04:00

The Camphor United Methodist Mission is a ministry of the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in an underprivileged village community in Grand Bassa County, Liberia. The Mission is providing education, health care, Christian discipleship and community empowerment etc. for village people and their children. It operates a Junior High school, a clinic, a church an agricultural program aimed at reaching financial sustainability, etc. The leadership plans to move the school Junior High school to full high school by 2012 due to increased in number of village children moving on to high school, whose parents cannot afford the cost of sending their children to big cities for high school. This will require attracting additional qualified teachers to move and settle on the Mission which is a predominantly village setting. Creating incentives such as good housing facilities, salaries, etc will help accomplish this. The housing project is therefore being looked at as a priority.

Partnering Church
Kathy spent a great morning of worship at the Geneva UMC, sharing the stories about Camphor Mission. A good contact was made with people who may want to travel to the Camphor Mission in 2011. News about other UMVIM trips to Russia, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe were shared. So many opportunities for mission and ministry in East Ohio Conference.

Strongsville UMC, Christmas in July
Camphor Mission was blessed with Christmas presents of school supplies, backpacks, educational board games, and other goodies as Strongsville UMC hosted a meal and information time to learn more about the Bishop 3C's Initiative. These items will be a part of other donations being sent to Camphor Mission early 2011 on a container. Kathy and Danny Dickriede shared about the ministry that they joined at the Camphor Mission. It was exciting to meet generous members of the congregation, people who were curious about what the UMC is doing around the world, and meet other people who had served on the mission field in the past. Strongsville has been long time supporters of retired GBGM missionary Beth Ferrell. Check out the www.eocumc.com for more information about Missions and UMVIM trips scheduled for the future. See the exciting ways you can be a part of the ministry in these places.

Traditional Birth Attendants Refresher Training Workshop

2010-07-13T19:22:00.004-04:00

The Traditional Birth Attendants refresher training Workshop at the Camphor Mission Station Clinic started from June 21-25, 2010. It was organized to provide follow-up training for the TBAs who are conducting most of the deliveries in the catchment area of the George Z. Dean Memorial Clinic.

The workshop brought together 52-participants with prior training from 40-villages plus 8-TBAs helper. However, the training was marked by many unprecedented events. During the opening, one of the TBAs felt off and was urgently rushed to the clinic. Thank God that she recovered within 3-hours. She was later sent to her village. Also, during the course of the exercise, one of the TBAs lost her baby. She was also sent back to her family. Still, another one lost her sister

The opening ceremony of the Refresher workshop was attended by the senior staff of the Camphor United Methodist Mission Station and some local authorities who expressed their full support for the overall continued conduct of the TBAs program in the catchment area.

The workshop was facilitated by two persons. The focus of the training was to educate the TBAs on how to prepare their report in order to facilitate a follow-up on whether they are doing well.
The Pre-test was an oral test. Its scores range from 0/10 - 8/10.

The following topics were facilitated under the indicated areas:
Traditional Birth Attendants Basic Information
Introduction
Woman and Baby problems
Preventing problems
Referral

Woman Information
Bleeding too much
Sickness with pain and fever
Birth delay
Swelling and fits
Too many children/ family planning

Baby Information
Baby has trouble breathing at birth
Baby born too small
Baby is sick

General Health
Family planning
Child survival
Malaria
Hygiene

Before the beginning of the trainings, the TBAs were asked to say their individual perspective of the program since it began. All of them recounted the many benefits their communities have enjoyed from the training. It was clearly revealed by the TBAs that the knowledge being acquired is helping them to address the challenges they meet on a daily basis as community Health Volunteers (CHV). The TBAs said the training is practical because what are being taught is encountered on a daily basis in their respective communities. However, they appealed to the LAC/UMC Health Program to obtain License for them to do legal practice. The TBAs also appealed for increase in the workshop’s stipend. In response to the appeal to raise the stipend given to them during the training, the Training Management said that the workshop is sponsored 100% by the Trinity Church while the Community is not providing any support. As such, they only need to make themselves available for the training in order to prevent maternal and new born death in the catchment area.

At the close of the TBAs refresher training, post-test was given. It was done orally, one at a time, with the score ranging from 4/10 - 8/10, the lower to the highest. The TBAs were very happy for the knowledge and expressed the importance of the report for deliveries.

There is still widespread involvement of the community ownership of the project as evidenced by the outcome so far.

Challenges
However, there are still grave challenges that tend to undermine the successes being scored. The most of these challenges are the lack of safe drinking water, lack of mosquito nets, subsistence farming which do not provide financial income to the villagers, the bad road condition which can most often delay referral to the health centers and some villagers are still going to black baggers for purchase of drug, especially for pregnant women.

Recommendation from TBAs
Increment of stipend to 10USD
Construction of hand pumps in the villages
Distribution of mosquito nets in the villages
Up-grading of outreach program in the catchment area
Video for TBAs

Note:
Monitoring and Evaluation is still ongoing for TBAs in the catchment area every quarter.

Sanitation and health provided by Peoria UMC at Camphor

2010-07-13T19:18:00.002-04:00

Construction of new latrines for clean sanitation began on Monday, the 4th of July. The first unit will hopefully be completed by tomorrow Monday, the 12th. Many thanks to Charles Bush and others at Peoria who continue to make improvements at the Camphor Mission Station a priority.

J.F. Yancy Elementary & Jr. High School Closing Exercises

2010-07-13T19:06:00.003-04:00

Closing exercises of the J. F. Yancy Elementary & Junior High School at the Camphor United Methodist Mission was held on June 27. Eleven (11) kindergarten students were graduated to move to the elementary division. This was the first time for kindergarten graduation. Fifteen (15) ninth graders were graduated also to attend high school. Some students were awarded for resilience at their academic pursuits, good conduct and academic excellence, while others were expelled for gross indiscipline. Ms. Churchemar Krangar, a village girl who after being a mother of two children continued her education at the school until she graduated was honored for her determination. Student Alphonso Brown who also started as a kindergarten student and continued until he was graduated was also honored.

During the occasion, a “village girls’ education program targeted at getting a hundred and fifty (150) girls in school next academic year was launched. Launching the program, Madame Theresa Doegbah, Chief Executive Officer of Seatran Shipping & Stevedoring Company, who herself started her life as a village girl expressed her appreciation for the thoughtfulness of the leadership of the school in helping get village girls in school. She held the cheery congregation captivated as she told her own story; being an underprivileged village girl. Madame Doegbah then encouraged parents to send their school-aged girls to school as education could change their lives for better. Closing her launching statements, she offered to support student Churchemar Krangar in all of her high school academic pursuits and further donated a check of US five hundred dollars ($500.00) as initial contribution to Mission Support and Girls’ education at the Mission . Speaking also at the program was Mr. Edwin Nelson, Purchasing Manager of the Liberia Agricultural Company who also told his story being a village boy. Mr. Nelson highlighted ways in which the Mission could get support from his company and other local companies. In closing, he offered to sponsor student Alphonso Brown throughout high school and university, and donated a check of fifteen thousand (15,000.00) Liberian dollars on behalf of his family towards Mission support and village children education.

The District Superintendent of the St. John River District, Rev. G. Roosevelt Goah served as Guest Speaker. He spoke on the topic: “Focus on the Future with Hope”. Rev. Goah reminded the graduating classes that there is a future ahead of them that has hope, but it depends on the preparation they make for themselves today. He said their graduation from the J.F. Yancy Elementary & Junior High School was the first step they have made in preparing themselves for the uncertain future, and therefore they should be hopeful. He further admonished them to continue their academic pursuits.

Giving highlights of academic activities at the School for 2009/2010, the Principal and Mission Director, Paul J. Glaydor, Sr. said that out of 297 students who ended the school year, a total of 205 made strait passes (with no deficiencies) to various classes, 33 will attend vacation school to clear deficiencies and 53 failed. Mr. Glaydor then outlined plans for next academic year, which he said will include working towards attracting new and additional qualified teachers, introducing phonics as a course for the improvement of reading and spelling skills in the lower (kindergarten) classes and computer studies for middle and upper schools ( 4th to 9th grades). He also said that dormitory facilities and feeding will be improved.

J.F. YANCY ELEMENTARY & JR. HIGH SCHOOL: ACADEMIC 2009/2010

2010-07-13T19:04:00.001-04:00

PRESENTED BY: PAUL J. GLAYDOR, SR., PRINCIPAL
AT THE CLOSING EXERCISES OF ACADEMIC 2009/2010
SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2010

Madame Guest Speaker, Chairperson and members of the School Board, Members of the faculty Senate, the District Superintendent and officers of the St. John River District/UMC, Directress, Department of General Education and Ministry/the United Methodist Church, County Education Office/Grand Bassa County, Government Officials, Special Guests, Distinguished invitees, parents, friends and well-wishers Ladies and gentlemen.

It is my distinguished pleasure to present to you highlights of academic activities here at the J.F. Yancy Elementary & Junior High School, Camphor Mission for the academic period 2009/2010 which ends today, June 27, 2010.

We assumed leadership of the school on March 1, 2010 from a decision of the 177th Session of the Liberia Annual Conference held in Gbarnga in February of 2010 after briefly serving as Mission Station Superintendent for Camphor Mission. From the onset of this appointment to provide leadership of the school we saw the responsibility as a big challenge, and yet, an opportunity. It was a challenge considering the several limitations and conditions of scarcity under which we would have to operate the school. A ninety percent dependence on donors for financial support, insufficient facilities and programs to motivate teachers; including inability to pay salaries for some long periods, were some of our fears. Other specific concerns were getting community people to respond to the need for early learning and supporting the continuous education of their children, the effect of indigenous village community traditions on decisions of both parents and school-aged children on schooling, and the consequent low level of girls’ enrollment at school within this community, high poverty levels of parents that would not allow them to send their children to school etc. In all of these conditions however, we found an opportunity to respond to God’s call to serve a deprived community, a community that is left behind in the contest for education, health care and prospect.

Our first response to this call was to try to create a conducive environment in which children in this community will receive the kind of education that will make them capable of meeting the numerous challenges of life with confidence, despite any limiting conditions. This meant to us first, making frantic efforts to provide incentives that will improve learning and learning conditions. Establishing good relationship with villagers and encouraging them to send their children to school in time, adhering to prescribed curriculum, ensuring professional teaching skills and methods, improving students/ teachers’ and teacher to teacher relationship, addressing discipline issues, motivating teachers and support staff for increased productivity were laudable goals. We are pleased, Madam Chairperson, to report that much of these have fallen in place, and that is why we are here today. Many thanks to you and members of the School Board, our donors both local and overseas, the Department of General Education and all those who have lent helping hands.

Enrollment
Academic 2009/2010 began on schedule. The doors of the school were opened and classes began on September 1, 2009 with a total enrollment of three hundred and fifty (327) students. This number included two hundred and seventy (247) community (village) students and 80 boarding students. Sadly noted, the enrollment of girls was only twenty-six percent (26%) of the total enrollment. Out of the total enrollment, thirty (30) students dropped and one (1) was expelled for gross indiscipline. The school year ended therefore with a total of two hundred and ninety-seven (297) students.

Instructional Activities
Instructional activities were carried out throughout the period under the supervision of sixteen (16) teachers. The lower school (kindergarten) had five (5) self-contained teachers, whereas the middle and upper schools (Elementary & Junior High) schools jointly had eleven (11) teachers. The various instructional departments remained active during the period in report. Mathematics, science, language arts and social studies were given major attention considering that these subjects are the focus of national examinations and foundation for future academic pursuits and professional studies. Overall academic activities at the school resulted into a total number of two hundred and five (205) students making straight passes (with no deficiency) to various classes. A total of thirty-three (33) students who have deficiency in one subject were recommended by the Academic Committee for vacation school as prescribed by the Division of General Education and Ministry of the Liberia Annual Conference/UMC and a total of fifty-three (53) with deficiency in two or more subjects failed. In the category of those who passed, we will today be graduating fifteen (15) students ten (10) boys and five (5) girls) from Junior High School to enter high school, and eleven (11) students; nine (9) boys and two (2) girls from kindergarten to primary school. Madame Chairperson, the above statistics puts academic performance at the school at seventy-nine percent (79%) which is above average. Many thanks to our able teachers and support staff for working assiduously towards achieving these goals. We are also grateful to our parents for the level of support they gave us and their children during the academic period.

As part of instructional activities several workshops aimed at improving the instructional skills of teachers were held during the period in report. In furtherance to securing qualified teachers, a number of our teachers will be enrolling at teacher’s training institutes on an in-service basis. We are making special arrangements to ensure that after the completion of their studies, they will return to the school.

Campus life of students
As stated in our report on enrollment, there are a total of eighty (80) students that are boarding on campus; fifty-five (55) boys and twenty-five (25) girls. They are resident in two separate dormitories (boys’ dormitory and girls’ dormitory). The school has ably borne the responsibility of feeding, providing lodging, medical care and doing guidance and counseling. Madame Chairperson, we would like to report that our staff has not only seen these children as students, but as members of our various families because we realize that every child needs a parent, and that these children are away from their parents. During the period in report, cordial relationship existed between these students and our faculty and staff, including other mission personnel not connected directly with the school but who are staff of other projects at the Mission Station. The school has provided them a minimum of two meals per day, safe drinking water, given intermittent electricity, provided recreational and sporting facilities and activities, nurtured them in Christian discipline and discipleship. We proffer many thanks to all faculty members and mission staffs who have helped us maintained our children on campus.

Rewards and Discipline
It is good to give people their flowers while they are alive. The Holy Scripture also states that we should not spare the rod and spoil our children. The Camphor Mission Station is a place that provides secured learning environment, supports social transformation and encourages the molding of responsible character. On account of the aforesaid, some students will be receiving award for good character while others will be receiving notice of disciplinary actions including expulsion for gross indiscipline.

We like to note that discipline here at the Mission Station is intended to correct, and not to destroy. As such, we are very careful on the process that leads to taking disciplinary action against a student. The process for disciplining students begin with classroom punishment or “special attention”, and then to work punishment or counseling on second or repeated offenses. Suspension is the third alternative and then expulsion is the final option for continuous defiance. This process is prescribed by the Department of General Education and Ministry and is standard for all United Methodist Schools. A student will be expelled who has gone through the abovementioned stages of discipline and the school’s administration no longer sees any way that he/she can improve. Against this background, Madame Chairperson, the faculty senate and the Administration of the school have unanimously decided that seven students be expelled on account of gross indiscipline and glaring academic incompetence.

Our objective of deciding expulsion is to avoid such students influencing other students of good conduct, especially those sharing dormitory facilities.

On the other hand, awards will be given to students who have demeaned themselves during their entire academic sojourn here at the school. The process of giving award is based on collaborative reports of discipline and good conduct from a majority of instructors, other mission staffs, background checks with parents and community dwellers. A second condition is the resilience of students at academic pursuit and excellence; in spite of the many odds against which this underprivileged community is existing. The following students will receive awards for good conduct, academic excellence and resilience. They are:

1. Alphonso Brown(longest staying student – from ABC to 9th grade)
2. China Dossen
3. Isaac Yates
4. Churchemar Krangar (longest staying student – from ABC to 9th grade)
5. Christiana Brooks
6. Ruth Sayuo
7. Annie Nimene

Students Alphonso Brown and Churchemar Krangar will receive “Resilience Awards”, in addition to good conduct, and academic excellence.

2010/2011 In Preview
Madame Chairperson, we are pleased to inform you of the following goals that we have set for academic 2010/2011.

1. Staff Development: As we embark on moving the school to full high school beginning 2012, the prerequisites of improving the instructional skills of teachers will be of major interest during the next school year. We will be advocating for scholarships for teacher to advance their studies in teacher training institutions. We are pleased to report that some of our teachers are already ahead of this process. Three of them have been enlisted for study at the Kakata Rural Teacher Training Institute under a government sponsored program. We will also be advocating for improved facilities; housing, salaries, etc for teachers. This we believe will attract more qualified teachers.

2. Academic Activities: Considering that kindergarten and primary education are the foundation levels of any academic pursuits, we will give these areas much attention. Every academic shrewdness depends on its foundation. Improving reading, writing and spelling skills of the lower school will be focused. We have identified resource persons who will help us introduce Phonics as a subject for the next academic year. We are also making frantic efforts to introduce French during the next academic year as required by the Ministry of Education. Information technology (computer studies) will be introduced to the middle and upper schools (4th through 9th grades).

3. Boarding facilities: As we advocate for increase in student population for the next academic year, dormitory facilities will be improved and possibly extended to accommodate more students. Electrification of the dormitories has already begun to provide reasonable “lightning time” for study and other extra curricular activities scheduled during evening time. The feeding program will also be enhanced. We are anticipating providing three meals daily beginning academic 2010/2011.

4. Girls’ Education: Realizing the low level of girls’ enrollment at school in our country and specifically in this community, it is our intention to steadily increase the percentage of girls who come to school here at the Mission. We have targeted to recruit and enroll about one hundred and fifty (150) girls during the next academic year which will put the percentage of girls’ enrollment from 26% to at least 31% for the first time. This process will continue each year until we can hopefully narrow the gap to a reasonable proportion or attain a one to one ratio.

5. Extra Curricular Activities: Madame Chairperson, subject to the School Board’s approval, we will create a Department of Extra Curricular Activities in the school that will focus on occupying the “out of classroom” time of the students with meaningful activities. These activities will include sports and recreation, academic clubs, press clubs, drama clubs, devotional and spiritual growth programs to include Bible study groups and evening services, choir, and etc.We have realized that when children are kept idle, they find anything to do. It is our responsibility as school administrators to give direction to what students do while here on campus.

6. Discipline: The United Methodist Church and the United Methodist School System give us the charge to develop in students Christian principles and moral standards. Doing this will require relentless efforts to keep a well demeaned student population. In order to ensure this, students and parents will jointly be required to sign a “behavior bond” prior to admission. In addition, our discipline process as prescribed in the Handbook of United Methodist Schools will be strictly adhered to. Students who are found to be grossly indiscipline and perform very poorly in their academic activities will be expelled.

Madame Chairperson, distinguished guests, parents, in closing, we wish to extend many thanks to our students, parents, donors and all who helped in making academic 2009/2010 a smashing success. As we will embark upon the journey into 2011/2012, it is our hope that you will continue to give us your support and cooperation so that together, we will mould the minds of your children, in order that our homes, our church and society will be better places to be. Long live the J.F. Yancy Elementary & Junior High School, long live the Camphor United Methodist Mission.

God bless you.

Submitted: Paul J. Glaydor, Sr.
PRINCIPAL

Checking in again…

2010-06-28T19:40:00.002-04:00

The days have been going by quickly here in Africa! Most weekdays I am at the clinic from 8am-4pm, seeing patients along with Mary, the resident RN. The majority of the patients are either pregnant women or young children, and more than half of the patients that come in are treated for malaria. We don’t have the ability to do many diagnostic tests, so we often have to “do our best” and treat based on the patient’s symptoms, history and physical exam. As I am learning, medicine in the rural tropics is very different! Other ongoing activities at the clinic include oral polio vaccination for children and onchoceriasis medication distribution throughout Camphor and other surrounding villages. I have tagged along a few times with Agatha, the clinic registrar to administer polio vaccines and it has been an interesting experience to travel on foot to the different villages and go inside people’s homes. Our clinic director, Meleiah, has been distributing Ivermectin as part of a nationwide campaign to prevent and treat onchoceriasis, or “river blindness”, which is caused by a parasite transmitted by the bite of a black fly. The medicine has to be given every year for several years in order to be effective, so she has been making her yearly rounds with “the stick” to measure people’s height so that they get the right dose.

One recent highlight was the trip to Monrovia from June 9-11. My primary reason for traveling was to buy drugs and supplies for the clinic, but I was also able to do a little sightseeing as well, which was nice. Paul, two of the students at Camphor and I all started the journey in the African car, but it broke down about an hour after we started driving. After trying to find and fix the problem himself with no success, Paul sent me ahead with a group of travelers that agreed to take me part of the way for a small fee and then find me a taxi. I felt a little bad for leaving them behind! Thankfully the necessary repairs were made quickly with some professional help, and Paul and the students made it safely to Monrovia later that evening.

I also recently visited Ganta United Methodist Mission up north in Nimba County with Nyamah and Helen, who are both UM missionaries both working in Monrovia. We happened to be there when the school was having an end-of-the-year concert for the students and we were treated to the soulful sounds of a fantastic local gospel choir and a band all the way from Arizona in the US. I was also able to tour the hospital and eye clinic while I was there. Ganta Hospital is definitely a much bigger place than Camphor, with full-time physician staff, inpatient units, and even a nursing school. There are several permanent missionaries that live there and mission teams coming through all the time. It was good to see what it was like, but it also made me glad that I am “stationed” at Camphor where I definitely feel needed.

Another recent event was the TBA refresher training, where I helped teach and answer questions along with Meleiah. It was a nice change of pace from work at the clinic. We also had the school commencement program on June 27th. The outgoing 9th grade class and the kindergarten class celebrated their graduation, and many of the other students were present to support their classmates. Everyone at the mission spent the last several weeks preparing for the program; preparing the students report cards and certificates, painting the mission gates, re-surfacing the road and cutting the grass. Now Paul and the mission staff can rest (at least for a little while!) after a successful program.
More next time!
Peace,
Sarah

Judy Olin UMVIM Guesthouse

2010-06-21T12:31:00.001-04:00

The Guest house is on “finishing”. I really did not know that the “finishing touches” (smoothening of external walls and pillars, tiles laying, painting, etc) was the most meticulous stage of construction. Mr. Gbaa says so. It’s taking some time. We are however slowly, but surely getting to completion of the two units.

Liberia comes to East Ohio and Mentor UMC

2010-06-21T12:05:00.003-04:00

Shaffa Seward, Liberia Annual Conference UMVIM coordinator arrived in East Ohio on Sunday, June 13th. Shaffa spent time at Lakeside for Annual Conference and then shared in ministry with the Jr. High Mission Group at Mentor UMC. The photos of our attempt to cook Liberian rice and beans and plantains, YUMMY, and of us hauling water and filling up larger vessels for washing and cooking. Shaffa and the group watched Pray the Devil Back To Hell and learned about the realities of life in Liberia and their history of war. A great time with one another.

The Story Continues…

2010-06-03T21:20:00.001-04:00

I am starting to adjust to life here and have had some interesting experiences in my second week. I was able to visit the school Wednesday morning for a few hours when they needed a “substitute” teacher for the k-2 class. It was last-minute and I didn’t have much time to prepare a lesson plan, so I did a short geography lesson followed by some drawing/coloring time with some “special” paper, crayons, and stickers from the US courtesy of my mom (Thanks, mom!)

Later on in the clinic that day we had a very sick baby come in that needed to go to the hospital. Luckily Paul was available and the “African car” was working that day, so he was able to take mom, dad, and baby to the government hospital in Buchanan. I tagged along to monitor the baby’s condition and also to see the hospital, which I had never been to. When we arrived, the staff sent us directly to the lab, where we waited to have tests done and then waited for results. I became a little frustrated because it seemed that priority was placed on paperwork and following routines, and since we had arrived no vital signs or assessment of any kind had been done by the hospital staff. They finally started IV fluids and other treatments after about an hour and a half, and while the baby’s condition had yet to really improve I knew there was little else I could do at that point, so Paul and I left. It was an interesting experience, one I am still processing. I’m glad we were able to help. I received an update from someone that went to Buchanan the next day. They said the baby was still alive and doing ok at that time.
On Saturday I was able to attend the monthly meeting of the TBA’s (traditional birth attendants) at a nearby village a few miles from Camphor. The TBA’s, who all received training at Camphor, now meet monthly for “continuing education” and to discuss new experiences and things learned in the past month. A big part of the discussion this day was on the importance of having a designated birthing area or “delivery house” in the village and some of the challenges in accomplishing this. Having a space like this helps improves sanitation in the village by keeping the birthing area separate from where people eat, sleep, and bathe. We will follow up with them next month to see if they have made any progress. We finished our visit by checking up on the “delivery kits” that were given to the village as part of the TBA initiative. Each contains a series of plastic containers and bags, gloves, disinfectant, and other supplies and we wanted to make sure the kits were being maintained and used appropriately.

Nyamah, our UMCOR representative in Monrovia, came on Friday and Saturday to visit for the TBA meeting and also brought the clinic some supplies (see picture) which were much appreciated. The weekend finished up on Sunday with service at Paul’s church, Mt. Galilee UMC, where they celebrated mother’s day and crowned (and sashed, pinned, flowered, and gifted!) the mother of the year for the church. It was a colorful event with lots of dancing and singing.
More next week!

Sarah, UMVIM

UMVIM Training in St. Simon, Georgia

2010-05-29T08:38:00.003-04:00

Here is a photo of our UMVIM training. Great conversation and renewed energy for serving!