Dear Friends of Hope,
I’m a little more than two weeks out since my return from Liberia. There are 1,000’s of images, stories, and updates and I look forward to sharing many with you during the year. For now, I will share a couple of thoughts and feelings that are sticking with me like a shadow…. these are the ones used as we plan and dream together for the future of hope. I will also be sharing more stories and experiences at our event on March 21st in Seattle. If you haven’t gotten tickets, there are still a few available. Purchase yours today! Please join us to celebrate our accomplishments, shared humanity and stories of hope. Together we are making the seemingly impossible, possible.
My New Favorite Place
This past year, as you may remember, we received a grant from Project Redwood of Tides Foundation. This grant funded the first vocational classroom at Hope International. We received the grant and within days…literally days…the tile was lain, the machines were bought, the instructors were hired, and the students registered. I find that is always the case in Liberia. The will and the skill are there, and when we add the resources to the mix, they are off and running.
There are currently two beginning classroom sessions running, morning and afternoon. The morning class is night school students and community members and the afternoon session are day students and community members.
The classroom is light-filled and sweetly industrious. Every time I entered the classroom, the energy of possibility for these students was buzzing. The students are beginning with a portfolio of hand stitches and will move to the machines in Session 2 beginning in February, and a new class of beginners
will start.
These women (and a few men) are eagerly learning a skill that will help support them and their families. Most Liberians still wear (at least in part) traditional, hand-sewn clothing, providing small enterprise opportunities for those with the know-how. Once they receive their vocational certificate, 30 students will have the opportunity to apply for a micro-loan of $160 for the purchase of their own foot-powered sewing machine. These loans will be regenerated annually so 30 more students will have this same opportunity. We have dreams of beginning our second vocational classroom next year, stay tuned…in the meantime, enjoy these photos of this beautiful happening.
My Not So Favorite Places
The photos we share of the smiling, happy students cannot capture the bigger picture of Liberia, generally. Even when there, nestled in the compound of the school, it’s easy to forget what life is like outside of the walls.
I was struck anew at the conditions that these students and all children of Liberia find themselves living in. It’s easy to forget that Liberia is the 4th poorest country in the world. In this 4th poorest country, there is no public
sanitation service. What that means is that there are piles and piles of burning garbage everywhere, and much of it is plastic.
I don’t want to be a downer here, as there is so much to celebrate, but on a particularly rough day in Liberia, I found myself in a room crying thinking “this air quality is on no one’s radar is it? “
Sometimes this is overwhelming. But if I trust in anything, it’s that when hope enters the picture (and I mean hope in general, not just our work together), things can change. Tangible shifts happen. Our focus will always be on the school and ensuring educational opportunities for the nearly 1,200 students. In 2020, we are also working towards addressing the surrounding community of the Hope Campus. We will be asking how we can extend the school’s presence into the communities our students live in. It feels big and daunting,
and at the same time, essential. We will work to establish granting partnerships to support the community's ongoing needs for medical care and sanitation services.
Thank you for partnering with Liberia in the most beautiful ways. It is no small thing that we are doing together. Feeling deeply grateful for all that you make possible.
With Deep Respect and Hope,
Jackie
