Stories From Liberia

Shoebox Gifts for Remote Bolo

There is no road to Bolo, only a footpath. When ministry partners sought to deliver Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts there, one local volunteer, a student named Francis, offered to make the hour-and-a-half walk from the main road to this isolated village. The local chief was pleased by his visit and Francis registered 80 children from the ages of 2 to 14 to receive Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts.

Fifty students (from the local university ABCU) volunteered to carry the shoebox gifts through the jungle to the children of Bolo. In partnership with another organisation, they also brought food, medicine, and a digital player with an audio recording of the New Testament in the Mano language.

Under a tarpaulin shelter put up especially for the occasion, the students led the children in a time of singing. Next, a student began to share the Good News of new life and hope in Jesus with them using the Ministry Partner Guide, and Francis translated into the local dialect.

The children were delighted to receive shoebox gifts and to hear that God knows every person in Bolo by name. The village chief told the delegation that Bolo had never received gifts like this before and he thanked God for Samaritan’s Purse coming.

When he explained that they had no church, one of the village elders offered land for the construction of a building for worship. As a result, the chief requested that ABCU send students to lead the new congregation each Sunday. Just two days later one of ABCU’s students volunteered to start the new church in Bolo.

Shoeboxes Create New Opportunities

In Montserrado county, Operation Christmas Child ministry partners shared shoebox gifts with children of former members of the Liberian armed forces, at the 72^nd military barracks community.  As a result of this outreach, a day-care/primary school has been started! The need for the school was established when the team realised that the The Greatest Journey classes were the only form of children’s activity or education in the area. They discovered that the former armed forces families could not afford to send their children to any public or private schools.  The Operation Christmas Child regional team consulted parents and community leaders, who welcomed the idea, and found a place for the school to start. Now the ‘Kingdom Kids’ day-care and primary school has 164 children attending!