article written by RUTH SCHENK* | rschenk@secc.org
Negative COVID tests in hand along with masks and passports, the first international mission team since COVID began the two-day journey to Liberia, Tuesday, May 25. Their goal is to explore ministry, pray for this country settled by 12,000 freed American slaves and visit girls’ schools founded by Southeast Christian Church members Beth and Tony Weedor.
Landing in Monrovia, Liberia, is a homecoming for Tony and Beth Weedor, who fled the country in 1993 after rebels invaded the mission compound where they worked and lived. For months they walked, hid and prayed they’d survive with their baby girl.
Every road, village, market holds memories. Though they moved to the U.S. 24 years ago, earned multiple advanced degrees, raised four children and worked in ministry throughout the U.S., they never left Liberia behind.
This too is Liberia!
In 2017, Beth founded Petals of Hope International, a school for girls and a second school in 2020. Beth went to school because her grandmother insisted and paid school fees, but it is a far-off dream for most girls in Liberia. Just 16% of urban girls attend school. By high school, the number drops to 3.8%.
“Girls have no rights in Liberia,” Beth said. “They are not considered worthy to attend school, forced into marriage, often victims of female mutilation, rape and violence. My goal is to help one child at a time, one community at a time, one city at a time.”
As the team traveled through the country, Tony often said, “This too is Liberia.”
It is in beautiful resorts popular with the rich and famous. In colorful open markets along the road. In lively church services that last at least two hours. But it’s also in extreme poverty, homes without electricity or running water and in mud-filled roads pocked with gullies. There are no street lights, stop signs or street names. Cars compete with three-wheeled kekehs (kay-kays), motorbikes and walkers. At roadside stands, people buy small jars of gas because it’s more than $6 a gallon.
Though Liberia is mineral rich with diamonds and gold, no profit filters to the people. Just 17 % have access to medical care, 64% live below poverty on less than $1.90 a day and one-fourth have no access to safe drinking water.
Many Liberians are Christians. There are good churches, but beliefs about God are often a mixture of animism, folk Muslim and voodoo.
The team visits Petals of Hope schools every day. Close to the door, we hear the girls singing, “For you, for you, Jesus loves you.”
The girls are never far from Beth’s mind. She raises $30 a month per student to provide uniforms, books and school supplies. There are no fees as their families have nothing to give.
The Weedors built the second school around a large open room that they hope to use as a church. They dream of opening a clinic on the property for those who have no access to medical care.
One morning, we drive through Congo Town, Rehab, Last Mile and a string of small communities to visit Beth’s family in her village. It’s where her umbilical cord is buried to always draw her home.
It seems the entire village is waiting on Beth’s porch with her mother to greet the team. We bring gifts of rice, bananas and herbs, but her mother, now in her 80s opens packages and begins making lunch over a coal fire.
It takes two hands to wash one
The Weedors focus on immediate needs. Girls who need education. A clinic to save lives. A church to share the Gospel and give hope.
When the door opens to meet with Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Gorbee Logan and Dr. Francis Kateh, Deputy Minister of Health, the team rushes through bumper to bumper traffic to their office in Monrovia, praying in the van that God will open doors. Dr. Kateh explains that he went to medical school in Chicago, has been to Louisville and even visited Southeast Christian Church. He and his family were content in the U.S. when God called him back to Liberia to help with medical needs.
He explains there are 303 doctors to care for 4.5 million people and only five dentists. A new program trains village leaders to recognize dangerous health issues such as high infant mortality, malaria and typhoid fever.
When Charlie Vittitow, the dentist who leads missions at Southeast, explained that partners train dental and health workers around the world, the doctors threw the door wide open to work in Liberia.
Tony left Liberia with hope.
“We are grateful for the partnership with Southeast,” he said. “It takes two hands to wash one. We are grateful for our church that cares about our people.”
Vittitow left Liberia thinking how the global church can help.
“It’s difficult to think of only five dentists in Liberia,” he said. “That means many are suffering. And it is a small indication of other staggering social, emotional, physical and spiritual factors that are affecting these people. We can take the skills and resources the Lord has given to help in Liberia.”
See photos from the trip here and here.
*CenterPoint International was given permission by Ms. Schenk to include this article on our blog.