an overview

As I posted earlier, we are here safe and sound and almost settled in. We are serving in Liberia with Rafiki. Rafiki (Swahili for friend) is an organization that focuses on African childcare (education, food, clothing, housing, Biblical instruction). There are 28 children at this village so far and we are hoping to get more soon. The children are young as this is a new village. Their ages range from 2 – 10.

You might wonder what we are doing here. Well, Dad is helping in whatever way possible especially in the kitchen. Don’t worry, he doesn’t cook, but he does make sure everything gets done and that the children are well provided for. Mom teaches a group of four-year-olds along with the help of Iryna and Joe. I help Mrs. Veneman (the director’s wife) with the three-year-olds and Mrs. McKeighan (director of education) with the first graders. We all do odd jobs around the place and enjoy it very much.

Liberia is in West Africa on the coast so where we are it is very sandy. In fact, we are only a half a mile from the beach, so we sometimes take some of the children to go play in the sand and look for shells. It is very hot and humid here, especially being so close to the ocean. I have found it interesting that the houses here are made out of banana leaves woven together. I guess it is cooler. Just a little trivial fact for you.

There is much I could say right now but I only mean to give an overview. We will be here for a year and I mean to post every week, so there will be plenty of time in the future to give a more detailed account. Comments are greatly appreciated too (hint, hint).

For those of you who were asking for our address here it is:

Rafiki Foundation

c/o Patty Family

p o box 1815

Monrovia, Liberia

West Africa

Thanks for checking this. I will try to post every week so stay tuned!