Samaritan's Purse
Many of you know that Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational evangelistic organization that does relief work all over the world. SP's mission is to "meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.." SP came to work in Liberia in 2003 after the country had been devastated by civil war.
Liberia
Liberia was formed in 1822 as a settlement of freed slaves that came from the US. If you'd like to read more about Liberia and its history here are a few links you can go to: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/lr.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/liberia/taylor-bio.html
http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/charles_taylor.htm
As you see in these links, Liberia has suffered periods of civil war since 1989 and lasting until 2003, which has destroyed the country in many ways. Ryan and I live in the capitol city of Monrovia, and the destruction is evident as you drive down the streets. There are many large buildings that were torn apart during the war, some which only have the outside structure standing. Squatters have taken up residence in many of these buildings.
SP in Liberia
Samaritan's Purse came to Liberia and 2003 and began implementing programs to help the people recover after the war. Since 2003 the SP office here has grown substantially and the number of programs and staff continues to increase. Right now we have around 30 projects running, which fall under the following areas: water and sanitation, food distribution, HIV/AIDS, ministry, church construction, livestock, livelihood, health programs, infrastructure rehabilitation, building wells and latrines, children's programs and more. There are many specific projects within these categories. We have around 280 national staff and around 15 expat staff. SP receives funding from both donors in the states, as well as a lot of grant funding (such as USAID).
What Ryan does
Ryan is helping to manage the largest grant project SP Liberia has right now. It is a 3 year food program which encompasses distribution of commodities, food for work, infrastructure rehabilitation and health. The actual project is implemented in what we call the "upcountry”, which includes the rural areas of Liberia to the north of Monrovia. Ryan has actually been traveling for the past week and a half, visiting one of our sub-offices which is at the very top of Liberia. By car it can take 9 hours to drive there because the roads are so bad, but we can also take UN helicopters which take about an hour and a half. Ryan has been visiting communities there every day that are the beneficiaries of the food distribution program. I haven't been able to travel yet, but it is interesting to hear his stories and about how different it is there than here in the city. People are much more poor and live simpler lives. They are also not nearly as used to seeing white people as they are here in Monrovia. There are so many NGO's (non-governmental organizations) here in the city that is pretty common to see foreigners around. The current manager of this program will be leaving SP in a few months, and Ryan will take over the program at that time.
What I do
I am the Finance Manager for SP Liberia. Basically, I am responsible for managing the money that flows in and out of our office. We receive much of our funding from the international headquarters in Boone, North Carolina, so I work closely with the field accounting department there. We also receive money from SP affiliate offices (such as SP Canada) and from grantors (such as USAID). I have 5 finance staff also helping me here in Liberia. We are responsible to track and report how all of the money is spent on the different projects. I then report all of our accounting transactions here in Boone back to the US headquarters, where they are uploaded into their system and eventually end up in the financials and the annual report. Overall, we need to be excellent stewards of the money God has provided, and to ensure that the money is correctly spent on the programs that the donors intended for it to be.
A little more about our life here...
Like I mentioned at the beginning, life has been a bit crazy the past few weeks. It was an extremely busy month for me at work, but I enjoy the work and know I will learn so much while I am here. Ryan of course has been busy as well since he has been traveling the past couple of weeks. He learned to ride a motorbike while he has been upcountry, which I hear can wear you out! :) I also learned to drive a stick shift this past month. I learned on a land cruiser because those are the most common vehicles used here. The driving here is pretty crazy. I've seen crazy driving in other countries, but Liberia is different just because there are absolutely no rules. There are no stop signs or red lights. People go whichever way they want (even if it's coming into head on traffic). The good thing is you can't really go fast because the roads are crowded. There are people everywhere and walking all over the road so you have to make sure not to hit them! That is the hardest thing for me to get used to. I'm posting a picture of a traffic jam we got in a couple weeks ago. As you can see, the people driving the opposite direction from us decided to take up most of the road, so we were forced to drive on the shoulder. It's very interesting. :)
We are really enjoying the place we’re living at. Some people have asked if we have electricity, hot water, etc. We do have power (by generator and battery) most of the time, and we do have hot water for showers. These two things in themselves are a luxury for most of Liberia! So we are very grateful. We attend the church in our compound, which makes it nice on Sundays. : ) It’s a fairly large church with many Liberians as well as expats, and I enjoy the worship there. Liberians are very animated when they sing! This is our view above the church...
Well, this blog has become extremely long. Sorry! I hope this gives you a better idea of what’s going on with us. Please continue to pray for us and that we will serve with God’s strength and not our own. Thank you! We miss you!
