Update from Liberia
Joni Byker reports from Liberia.
I was privileged to travel to River Gee County a couple of weeks ago to gather stories from our health program. This county is in the southeastern part of Liberia, and it was my first time seeing it! It was great to get to know the trained community health volunteers and to hear how their training has made a difference!
The program focuses on health for children 5 years old and younger, as well as pregnant women. Since the program has begun, there have been zero deaths in children under 5 in our communities! Praise God!
Our Church-based Livelihood Program continues to grow and expand. We are currently expanding into three more communities in the Bokomu District, which is an unreached area we have been working in for over a year. A road was recently made to reach these communities, and I am excited to be able to empower and teach the women in Bokomu!
Currently, in all of Liberia, we have 814 women attending classes.
A few months ago, it was announced that Liberia is hosting its first marathon! In addition to the marathon is a 10k run-equivalent to 6 miles.
Right now there are over 40 Samaritan's Purse staff who have signed up to run this event (the 10k, not the marathon), including myself. Training at a regular schedule has been very difficult considering all of my traveling up country, but yesterday, we had a practice run of 3 miles and I felt great!
WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Please be in prayer for all of our staff. We have made the transition from dry season to rainy season, and with that comes many colds and especially malaria.
Please pray for one of our staff members who had a motorbike accident (they are OK, just very sore), and for another collegue who has broken her hand.
Please pray for our health and safety as we do our work here in Liberia.
