East Ohio Conference UMVIM Team

Friends and visitors have arrived in Liberia! We have had a great visit with 12 members of the 26 person delegation from East Ohio. Rev. Gary Olin lead the team of 12 to Camphor Mission to work on the Judy Olin UMVIM Guesthouse. We have been busy laying bricks, raising walls, chunking cement, organizing the library, building relationships, planting cassava with the agriculture department, and teaching in the school. There are many activities to be a part of and staff to interact with at Camphor. It has been a week of blessings, good food, laughter, a dance party in the front yard with the girls from the dorm, new discoveries, and good sharing. We are headed to see chimpanzees by canoe on Saturday followed by church on Sunday with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The team flies out on Sunday night! We then head back to Camphor with Ted Babcock to share Camphor with him! Keep us in your prayers.

Camphor in 2010

Much has already happened at Camphor in 2010.
Boy's dorm interior painted.
New screens on dining hall.
Teacher training held.
Students have returned to classes.
Agriculture producing palm oil for soap making.
Agriculture clearing for more planting.
Salary payment is current.
Visitors from East Ohio arrive January 27th.

Here is a photo of our first toothbrush distribution. The 7th and 8th grade classes are studying about dental health. Perfect timing! Kathy and Danny spoke to both classes on Monday, January 25th. Kathy read two story books from the library and Danny did the health talk. Hurray for Jordan and healthy teeth at Camphor.

New Years

A rare photo of Danny and I together for the blog. New Year's Day in Edina.

Then today we went on a great adventure! We headed by dugout canoe to an island just outside of Monrovia to see chimpanzees! We stayed in the boat as we threw bread at them. It was pretty cool!

Back to Camphor and work on Monday!
Teddy, Lynda and Bobby we will take you here too!

Additional Story

Below is a website for a follow up story to our blog. Enjoy!

http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=5614

Scenes from the New Year!

Here are some scenes from the new year! We are discovering coping skills for restoring our mental health. We had a few visitors from Monrovia for New Year's eve. We took a day trip to Edina, a settlement village not far from Camphor and then to the beach with a Peace Corp Volunteer, Suzanna. It was good to be with the Grays and their son Raphael and to see the sites of Buchanan with their reliable vehicle. Bishop Innis is letting us borrow his Landcruiser again while he is healing in the states. After a bit of car repair it should help with getting supplies for upcoming visitors. Danny also broke down and bought a motorcycle! This will enable us to go to Buchanan when we want and need to. We packed our helmet on the container. Freedom!

The students at the J F Yancy School are on holiday until mid-January. It has been quiet at the mission. Kathy has been busy with teachers going through donated text books from Peoria UMC. There are many resources here to use with students we just need to learn how to use them! Excited about a librarian coming from East Ohio at the end of January! Many books to organize and start using!

Home for the Holidays!

This is a photo of our students traveling home to Monrovia for the four week Christmas break. They will travel for over 4 hours on a dusty, bumpy, hot, bad road. There are nineteen kids crammed in fighting for a spot on the truck. They were so excited. They will be singing the whole way home!

This is the site for the Judy Olin, UMVIM Guesthouse. Phase 1 is completed. We start brick making the week before Christmas. Things are moving along well with this project. Visitors will be sleeping here next year!
Kathy doing pay day the week before Christmas. With a donation from Peoria UMC and Mentor UMC we were able to pay September and October back pay. Not sure when we will pay November and December! The total salary payment for the 47 employees is $3700 a month. Most of the employees make $30-70 a month, with very few making more that $100. They are dedicated employees in spite of this. We are thankful to the people who helped to make this Christmas s

alary possible!Merry Christmas from the Camphor Mission Station in Liberia!

Christmas at Camphor

You must buy your chief a goat. So we walked to a neighboring village to buy a goat and walk it home.


Then you present your goat to the chief, who in our case is Paul Glaydor, Sr. the superintendent of the Camphor Mission.

Then we proceed to opening our presents. A bird book and binoculars for Danny. A coffee press for Kathy.

Then we eat our Christmas meal, Fufu and Goat soup and Pasta.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Camphor Mission.