Liberia
Please join us in welcoming Darius Smith to our team. Darius is a Liberian man who is well acquainted with caring for orphaned and vulnerable children. When Darius was young his mother worked with our partners at the Jahzjet Orphanage in Liberia. I met Darius 15 years ago when he was a child assisting at Jahzjet. Darius is partnering with us to assure that we have a high quality of care for our children. He is visiting each of our foster homes and providing guidance and up-to-date information on every child. This is a big responsibility, but Darius is enjoying it and doing a wonderful job. This will help in our new Hearts of Compassion ministry.
Darius has nearly completed an assessment of every foster home in which we care for children in Liberia. We are learning a lot. Our Zorzor Christian Academy next door to our group home is highly regarded. They have an 80% pass rate for the National Exam. That is considered very high. We are also learning that we care for more children than we knew. This also happened in Zorzor. The group home in Zorzor is full, but when our team encounters children in great need, we have been helping them in their own homes. This is a great way to minister; the family remains intact. However, we need to increase the amount of funds we send to care for all the needs well.
Additionally, we have learned that our well at the group home is not adequate anymore. Our partners at the group home, in compassion, have opened the water well to villagers. So, the well is working overtime! We have some “good” problems like this to address. We are thankful for the insightful information that we are receiving through Darius’ work.