Liberian

Imagine for a moment the state of Tennessee and its capitol city Nashville. Now imagine that, other than privately owned generators, there is no electrical power in the entire state, no running water and no sanitation services. Except for Nashville, where some cell phone coverage is available if you can afford it, there are no communications of any kind available other than to the very few that can afford the $1,000 cost to purchase a satellite phone and the $1 per minute to use it. Also understand that a job, such as a certified school teacher, pays $20 per week or less.

As you walk down the streets look at all the high rise buildings and imagine that most of the windows are shattered from automatic weapons fire, that the upper floors are abandoned because there is no electricity to power the elevators and because the businesses that once used them have fled the state. As you walk down the streets there are bullet holes in every building, street sign and utility pole. Many of the buildings you pass are burned out but have been reclaimed by street vendors and others, at least on the first floor. Each person you meet on the street, all 1.5 million of them, has one or more relatives that have been killed by rebels within the past ten years.

Imagine that, if you can find a car or truck going, it takes 15 or more hours to reach Memphis. If your tire fails on the way there is nowhere to buy another except in Nashville. In the city of Nashville people live in shacks built in back alleys and against buildings. Everything that they need, food, water, clothing, must be purchased and yet 9 out of 10 people do not have a job. Most do menial tasks each day such as selling cold water, hauling goods long distances in a wheel barrow or selling food that they have prepared that morning. The goal in life is not to “get ahead” but to stay alive. Many (most) people in Nashville are hungry.

Once you leave Nashville the situation changes. If you live near Knoxville or Chattanooga you are able to raise your own food. Of course you have to plant and harvest it first. Potatoes and turnips make up almost every day’s meal but, if you can hunt, there is the possibility of a raccoon, possum or ground hog from time to time.

Think of every home in most towns outside Nashville having been burned and the families not killed being forced to flee into the woods to hide out. As they are hiding they are systematically being hunted and killed. Know that if you live outside of Nashville and have a serious injury you will likely die before you can get to a hospital. Besides, most of the doctors have left the state long ago.

Now imagine that you can’t find your parents or perhaps your children. As you walk down the street you pass thousands of children whose parents were both slaughtered during the rebels’ killing march through the outer areas of the state as they converged upon the capitol city. They are orphaned. If they’re lucky they can find a relative to help them. But many are alone to fend for themselves or starve. There is no welfare system to rescue them, no school they can afford to attend and no place to learn a trade or business that will enable them to earn a living in the future. They are caught in a trap that will ensure the next generation of Liberians will be less literate, less prosperous and more likely to turn to crime than any in the past. If you can imagine all of this, you can imagine what it is like to live in Liberia.

Now imagine a native Liberian who loves his people enough to leave the comfort of the United States, return with his wife and three year old daughter to one of the most remote areas of the country and put into place a children’s village to reach these orphans and other children for the sake of Jesus Christ. To give them medical care, an education, a home to live in, food to eat, job training and a personal knowledge of the Savior. This is the work that God has called Shadrach and Gertrude Saywon to join Him in.