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Home -> Adoption Info -> Humanitarian Aid -> Projects Mount Barclay Christian SchoolWelcome
Welcome to the Mount Barclay Project. This area of our website is designed to keep you informed and in touch with news and events surrounding our humanitarian project in Liberia. Please feel free to come on in, wander about and check out anything that interests you. We hope you will learn to love the community of Mount Barclay, as we do.
What's New?
Margaret Nice and Judy Elkins recently returned to Liberia to escort two little sisters ready to travel home. They took this opportunity to visit the Mount Barclay school and helped the community celebrate a groundbreaking ceremony for the new kitchen and newly-installed well. The village elders as well as the Ministry of Health and Gender were present along with the children, who performed skits and sang songs.
When this all started a year ago in May of 2007, Judy asked Saah how they were going to choose which children would attend. When Judy was there last spring, Saah started telling everyone that there was going to be a new school built. But with no building or other resources, people said, “How could this be?” Saah responded, “You will have to have faith!” Consequently, the people who had faith signed on early!
“When you go to Mount Barclay, the community needs are overwhelming. In a perfect world, we would provide for every one of them, but we can’t,” said Judy. “From the beginning of this project, we felt strongly that a feeding program and school were the most immediate needs. The needs are great, but our focus needs to stay on these things."
According to Saah, the Mount Barclay school project is the largest humanitarian project in Liberia. He noted that PLAN is the only NGO in Liberia that he knows of that is doing work with absolutely no cost to the people.
The Well
Because the community had no available safe water for cooking and cleaning, PLAN put Saah in touch with Living Water International, a Christian organization that helps communities acquire desperately-needed clean water. Through Living Water, a beautiful well was completed on November 23, 2007 that is currently serving at least 1000 community members. Another 28 wells are in the process of being planned and created.
Storage Building Project
A permanent storage building is essential to the continuation of the project. Commenting on the storage building project, Judy explained that “once we have a secure storage building, we can apply for many more things from organizations like Lutheran Relief for school and medical supplies”. Many of these organizations will not donate supplies until a physical building is in place to safely store them.
The Professional Video Project
Judy Tokstad’s son Brad spent eight hours a day for three weeks filming the school activities. Brad was surprised at how excited the children were to learn and how functional the classrooms were considering the number of students filling them. “The classrooms are jam packed.” Brad said. “First thing in the morning at about 6am, we would pick up a load of about 20 kids. Four to five more loads of kids and staff members are picked up and delivered to the school. This is after many of them have walked four to five miles to get to their pick-up location”.
Brad noted that the kids have all sorts of games that they play with home-made toys that are mostly created by using different sorts of garbage. In the afternoon, those who have to travel the farthest to get home are bussed closer as close as possible to avoid a long walk. Then the bus picks up the women for their vocational classes.
The Women’s Empowerment Movement
The victims of Liberia’s 14-year war were the child soldiers and girls who were kidnapped, enslaved and ultimately, physically abused and raped. When the war ended, their families disowned them and they had no means to support themselves. As a consequence, many had to go into prostitution. Saah believes strongly that with God all things are possible and developed a program for women ages 14-40 to rescue them from this cruel trade. Currently the building is being used for an education program for 200 of these young women to teach them vocational skills in soap making, tailoring, catering, and hair dressing. By the end of March, the women were divided into vocational skill groups and began learning practical skills for one year. At the year’s end, they will be given a machine along with a stipend of $100 for supplies. In addition, they are being taught how to read and write. At the day’s end, they have access to a female counselor and Bible study.
Seventy five percent of the women have sexually transmitted diseases and so many of them have needed medical attention. With the appropriate counseling, medical attention and schooling, these women will become roles models in their community. According to Saah, “Prostitution was of no fault of their own and only due to the fortunes of war”. Saah goes on to note that “95% have remained stable and out of prostitution while they participate in the program”.
Church Use
The building is also being used for a church and the community is currently coming up with a name for their church—something they are very proud to be participating with.
History
Liberia is awakening from the nightmare of a 14-year civil war, leaving thousands of children needing hope of a better future. For many years PLAN has placed Liberian orphans into adoptive families, yet many remain. Those who remain are Liberia’s future leaders.
The future sustainability and stability of Liberia hinges upon access to livelihood opportunities and basic social services including healthcare, water and sanitation, education, shelter, food security and agriculture. Investments made by the world community through organizations like PLAN are bringing stability and peace to Liberia, and also significantly improving access to food, security, agriculture and employment. By bringing the community together with a common mission, the Mount Barclay Community Project serves as a catalyst to restore hope in Liberia.
PLAN is committed to continuing its adoption work as well as its humanitarian outreach to Liberians needing basic social services. When PLAN set out to develop a humanitarian effort in Liberia, it was apparent from the beginning that food and education were crucial the most crucial basic socal services that needed to be met. If these children are not educated, their future is bleak; if they are hungry, they cannot learn.
In May of 2007, PLAN’s Liberian contact, Saah Joseph, led us to Mount Barclay. Mount Barclay is a refugee camp outside the capital city of Monrovia with about 15,000 residents living in abject poverty. With no school for its approximately 1,500 children, PLAN carried out its vision to build one. Although the area is economically poor, the landscape is quite beautiful with rubber trees and a vast amount of open space. A local family donated land to PLAN and on September 14, 2007, Judy and Ed Elkins traveled to Mount Barclay to dedicate a school for 600 children proudly named by the community, Mount Barclay Christian School. With this project, PLAN has an opportunity to affect not only the children of Mount Barclay, but the entire community.
September 2007 - School Dedication Celebration
Just four months after Saah led us to Mount Barclay, a big celebration was held at the PLAN office in Monrovia to commemorate the dedication of Mount Barclay Christian school on September 14, 2007. Officials from the Ministry of Education and the media attended and Judy Elkins, Director of International Programs and her husband Ed were on hand for the festivities. For many of the children this was their first time attending a school.
The needs are great and so little helps so much...
As we stated previouslly, it was apparent from the beginning that without food, it would be difficult for the children to learn. Consequently, one hot meal is provided six days a week for every child and staff member. For some, this is the only meal they will receive. Mount Barclay School’s greatest needs include the following:
Feeding Program ($5,000 per month): Pays for food expenses for 600 children and salaries and food for 30 teachers and one nurse. $25 feeds five children for one month. Salaries for 30 teachers and one nurse are included in the feeding program costs and are $50 per month per employee.
Uniforms ($9,000): 600 uniforms are needed. Each uniform costs $15. Most of the kids attending the school have only one outfit to wear and one pair of shoes, if any. Judy noted that she saw one little boy who came to school in nothing but his underwear. After negotiating with tailors, it was determined that the cost of uniforms would be about $9,000. So, maybe they won’t have shoes to wear to school, but at least they will have one, clean uniform to wear every day.
Kitchen Upgrade ($2,000): The current kitchen structure consists of a tarp and four poles. You can only imagine how difficult it must be to prepare a meal six days a week for more than 600. Nonetheless, the cooks are looking forward to having a real kitchen for this tremendous daily task.
Permanent Storage/Admin. Offices/Clinic ($10,000): In order to gain access to medical, food and school supplies through organizations such as Lutheran Relief, we are required to have a storage facility that is safe and secure. It was further determined that there was a need for a permanent medical clinic as well as office space for the school administrators.
School Enclosure ($25,000): The open-air school needs to be enclosed to protect students against bad weather and potentially dangerous animals, snakes and insects. Although the first idea was to build a temporary structure, it became evident with the addition of a cement floor and tin roof, the school would have a solid infrastructure which can later be adapted (with minimal expense) to a permanent structure.
Transportation Fund ($500 per month): Mount Barclay is becoming well known throughout the area and because of this, a small bus was donated to help transport children and employees as well as pay for a driver. Gas is expensive in Liberia and Saah has figured that it is costing about $500 U.S. dollars a month to pay for the driver, maintain the bus and fuel it.
How You Can Help:
We invite you to partner with us in the Mount Barclay Christian School project and to pray for the nation of Liberia and specifically for the Mount Barclay community. We are proud to say that one hundred percent of any donation will be directed to the project! No gift is too small.
Your $25 monthly donation will help sponsor a child, provide food, education, medical services and also contribute to the overall Mount Barclay Project. Gifts can be directed to any specific part of the project for example: teacher’s salaries $30 per month (we will need 20 teachers and staff.) You will receive a photo and information on your sponsored child and we will keep you updated on the progress of the Mount Barclay Project.
 Your donations may be sent to:
Mount Barclay Project
c/o PLAN Loving Adoptions Now, Inc.
PO Box 667
McMinnville, OR 97128
Visa is accepted for this project!
Thank you so much for making a difference in the life of a child!
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