Revive Liberia is currently involved in several projects that are designed to expand Christ’s church inside of Liberia.  We hope to expand the church by providing either direct support to pastors in Liberia, or by providing the means for the pastors to support themselves.

Below is a description of some of the projects we are supporting.  These projects include…

• Alive Liberia
• Evangelism
• Schools and Children Homes
• Wood Mill
• BUV’s
• Internet Cafe
• Container Shipments
• Swimming Pool Covers
• Charcoal Manufacturing
• CD Recordings
• Farming

These projects are in motion today and they all need additional support.  You can help support our work through prayer, donations of equipment or cash,  or by sponsoring a pastor.  Click on the “you can help” tab located at the top of this page to learn more.

Alive Liberia Missions

Formation of a Sister Corporation to Revive Liberia

Revive Liberia asked a group of trusted Liberian men and women to explore the possibility of forming a new organization for us to work with, within Liberia.  We funded this venture and soon a new sister corporation was formed, Alive Liberia Missions.

This corporation consists of a Board of Directors of diverse leaders in Liberia.   No one tribal group is represented and there are numerous oversight conditions on all matters.  We have full confidence in this board and its executives to carry out our joint programs and to distribute money and goods in an honest and timely manner.  Alive Liberia is officially recognized by our Board of Directors as Revive Liberia’s sister organization.

Alive Liberia’s Board of Directors

Apostle Syd Weah Wilson – Chairman

Madam Ruth Caesar – Co- Chairperson

Rev. James Paye – Secretary

Mrs. Christiana C. Marshall – Treasurer

Rev. Richmond F. Cole – Chaplain

Mr. S. Yarlor Saywon – Member

Mrs. Rebecca G. Dole – Member

Thomas Selwa – Member

William Kangar – Executive Director of Alive Liberia, Inc.

Board Members of Alive Liberia Missions

Evangelism

Bagay’s Town

I once visited a small village where Rev. Cole had established a church. It is not all that far from the main road south to Buchanan, maybe 10 miles in toward the ocean.  You get 5 bars on your cell phone.   It is however, isolated and war scarred.

The church there is the only active church within a three hour walk. It has about 80 members and attendees.   It is located on a river and most people fish the river and grow substance crops.  It is poor.  It is also a Zoe (pronounced zo-ee) center in this area.  Zoe is the great-grandfather of voodoo in the Americas.  It is devil worship in it’s purest form.  Human sacrifice is not uncommon.  I met with a village elder who wanted the small church to move to donated land, away from the village center.  This is because it interfered with their Zoe rituals.

The overall feeling in the village was one of fear.  Few children were present and not many people came out to see us, which is unusual.  White men are rare here.  I later found out the reason people were in hiding was because a major Zoe priest had died nearby and there was bad Zoe activity in the area.  People were afraid for their lives.

In October we returned.  This time we were welcomed by the village and village elders.  They were happy we had come to help and offered to us land and help building a church and school.  We see this as a major inroad into an area  where the church has died out due to the war.  We need to raise money to build this facility and we need to find a way for the people there to support it through economic development of their many resources, including farming, fishing and timber.  They need a way to move goods to Monrovia, only 30 miles away by boat.  All that is in the future, we just praise God we have made a foothold in the enemy camp.

One anecdote is of interest.  We met an old woman, easily in her 80’s, who had never seen a white man before.  We were barely 20 miles from the Firestone plantation, where white men have been for 100 years.  She was happy to see us and thanked us for coming to her village.  This is the nature of isolation.   It is not always distance in miles, but distance in the heart and in the mind.

The land around Bagay’s Town. Like paradise.

Skull of dolphin on a pole upon entering Bagay’s Town. They are very proud of it.

Welcome arch of palm branches in October. This means we are honored guests. We did not have this in April.

A Zoe Priest and elder of Bagay’s Town. The hat is the trademark. This man was very nice to us. His granddaughter was with him. We hope and pray he finds Christ soon.

Some of our new Bagay Town friends.

Children of Bagay’s Town. There is no school in the area. Over 800 children are growing up illiterate. Poverty is self perpetuating.

The remains of the church building in Bagay’s Town as seen in October 2007

Schools

In addition to the UBC schools, which we support indirectly, Revive Liberia identified and began helping three schools that are unaffiliated with UBC.

New Life School – This school was started by concerned parents in a very poor part of Monrovia.  The school is in a flood plain and during rainy season (April to October) the children sometimes walk to school with water up to their ankles.

There are 450 children in this school.  Through a generous donation we were able to purchase land to build a school on higher ground.  Funds are needed to build a school house, buy supplies, buy shoes and provide a lunch program.

This school receives no support from any other entity and would be a great project for a church or a group of churches.  We have a 30 minute DVD about this school if you need more information.

Present New Life School Building

Interior of New Life School-the floor is wet.

New Life School Future Location - Higher Ground

John Lucile Savage School – We were introduced to Louiza N. Freeman in 2006.  Mrs. Freeman is a schoolteacher.  During the war she organized this school to teach neighborhood children who had nothing.  She told us in the beginning many of her students were found wondering naked and without food or parents.  An old bombed out roofless building was donated to her and she began teaching.

Today the school proper has a roof and she has over 200 students, grades K through 6.  Her school has no outside support. We donated pool covers for a roof on an addition that increased her space by a third.  We are endeavoring to support this school further in the future.

Selfless devotion to teaching marks this remarkable woman.  She struggles on to educate the youth of Liberia without help, relying only on very small tuition charges (less than $5.00USD a semester).

Founder and Executive Director- Louiza N. Freeman

Teacher and students

The third grade morning class.

Rain coming through in the addition. It now has a good roof using a swimming pool cover.

Sarbil School – Sarbil School educates 150 children in Monrovia.  It is for grades 1 through 12.  It is also the site of our internet café.

Classrooms at Sarbil

Blackboard in the 9th grade classroom.

Delaney Burgess Children’s Mission- Buchanan

The Delaney Burgess Children’s Mission was planned and constructed to operate as an orphanage for children from the interior.  Presently it is being used as a school.  Roughly 75 children, grades 1 through 6, attend the school.  It has been in operation since August.

No children live there now, but in the future we hope it will become a group home for orphaned children.  It’s function as a school will continue to integrate orphaned children into the neighborhood and into society.  Institutional style orphanages are not desirable in Liberia.  The group home concept is important here as children should not be isolated from strong community and tribal affiliations. They must be integrated in order to survive in Liberian society where strong community and family ties are so critical to life.

We intend to develop the concept of group homes and possibly building two more homes to start a small “children’s village” staffed by caring foster parents.  This concept is based on the experience of Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia with a large institutional orphanage they run.  They took over Mother Mary’s orphanage, which we supported at one time.

Visit in April for the Dedication The building was not completely finished, but we were there so it was dedicated.

A school being operated here since August. We are not supporting the school at this time. It is self-supporting

Wood Shop Manufacturing Project

The is a multi-level manufacturing project.  It includes selective logging, lumber processing, lumber drying and manufacturing products for local sale.

Milestones:

• A new shop building was completed next to Sarbil School in Monrovia.  Training has commenced and is ongoing.
• A solar wood dryer was completed next to the new shop  and put into operation.
• A high quality wood moisture tester was delivered and training completed to make sure the wood is dry enough for use.
• Many tools have been delivered to the shop, including specialty wood planes, an electric router and a Jig saw.
• The Master Carpenter, Bavhid, is doing fantastic work, he once made the throne for the Queen of Guinea,  we are fortunate to have a man of his talents and firm Christian faith teaching his craft to others.
• The men in Liberia are finding new wood supplies.  We are now looking in an area near the train lines.  This reduces costs of transport by one half from $2 a board to $1 a board into Monrovia.

A donated Ford F350 truck was recently sent to Liberia.  Lack of good transportation is a major problem and expense in developing countries.  We pray this truck will greatly aid the door project and cut expenses in transport.

Cutting trees in the bush.

Sawing lumber using an Alaskan mill.

Sawyers

Alive Liberia Staff with a new chainsaw for cutting lumber. Dec. 2007

Drying lumber in the solar kiln

More drying lumber.

Workshop annex and the door to the solar kiln.

Hand routing grooves for door panels.

Apostle Wilson, Board Chair of Alive Liberia examining built doors.

Peterson Mill at work. Ours is like this one.

Our mill.

Ford F350 we sent to haul wood and supplies.

Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV)

The Basic Utility Vehicle was developed specifically for developing countries.  That is, a developing country with rough terrain and harsh conditions.  The BUV was developed by a Christian non-profit in the US.  It is the product of years of development by engineers and engineering teams from some of the best engineering schools in the US.  It is not a concept vehicle, it is a reality.

We have shipped two vehicles to Liberia for our use and another was purchased by a separate mission.  Two are in use now as test vehicles and are being used for various jobs both in town and in the country.  Our goal is to start a micro-factory to make them in Liberia.  This will provide jobs and a mode of transportation that is so important to any kind of growth.  We have a developed business plan and anyone interested in investing should contact us.  We need $100,000 to start this micro-factory.  It will be funded by a joint venture agreement with Americans and Liberians. Profit will be directed as the investors see fit, but we hope funds will be donated from the profits to help Liberians.

BUV in Liberia

BUV in Liberia

Computers and an Internet Cafe

• Ubuntu – Is a free operating system utilized by Revive Liberia. Training has been given to key men who are learning Ubuntu.  Books on Ubuntu were delivered in a past shipment.
• Donations – We have gathered donated computers from individuals, Monroe County, Owen County and Cook Urological, Inc.   These computers are repaired, refurbished and out-fitted with new operating systems and applications.
• Liberian Christian College Server – A server and 20 workstations were donated to Liberian Christian College.
• Sarbil Community Center – SCC has set up an internet cafe and a computer school for students and the community.  There has been a 33% failure rate with the computers we sent probably due to their generator, which is not rated for digital products. We recently sent a UPS and power conditioner to alleviate these problems.  What they really need is a good computer rated generator.  We continue to ship computers and parts to the school.

The cellular receiver for internet service. Liberia has an advanced cell system, (G3 for the geeks out there) better than the U.S. system. Most people get the internet over the cell phone system.

Container Shipments

Revive Liberia ships cargo containers to Liberia that contain everything from clothes, tools, vehicles and computers.

Loading a container in Spencer, IN

Rev. Cole unloading a container.

The 20’ container we own. We shipped BUV’s and other goods in this container.

Swimming Pool Covers

We have been picking up used swimming pool covers from businesses in Indianapolis.  These covers are extremely heavy plastic that can be used for roofs.  They last a long time and when covered with thatch, they will last indefinitely.  Many churches and schools use them for roofs.

Charcoal Maker

Charcoal is a major farm industry in Liberia.  Charcoal is used for cooking, ironing clothes and heating water in most urban area homes.  In Liberia charcoal is made using the very ancient mound system.  This process takes up to a month and has low yield.  It is also dangerous, many people loose their lives when they fall through the dirt covering into voids created by wood reduction on large charcoal mounds.  These mounds can be up to 20 feet high and 30 feet in diameter.  We have developed a modern charcoal retort to make charcoal in a day compared to a month.  It is also safe to use and more efficient.

Rendering of a portable charcoal kiln and retort using a 2000 gallon steel tank.

CD Recording

We have recorded three choirs in Edwin Boah’s new church.  I found the acoustics there to be very good and a 21 song CD was produced of both traditional Bassa songs and English language hymns.  This CD is available for $15.00 to help support the mission.

Farming Project

Below are photos of the farming project that is supported by Revive Liberia.  Note how nicely the farm has been laid out.  This is uncommon for a farm in Liberia.  A typical farm is planted haphazardly and random elements play a large part in the success of a crop.

We hope that by improving farm techniques we will enable farmers to increase their yield and to increase the length of their planting season.

As you look at these pictures, notice the nice straight rows.  Then imagine clearing the land and then creating these rows all by hand.  That has been the SOP up until now.  We will be sending a donated tractor in our next cargo container. God is good!

RLM's Farm Project

RLM's Farm Project

RLM's Farm Project