Eighteen days with little chicks and a new latrine

"Okra! Rice! Sweet potatoes! And crayfish for lunch! Wonderful!" That according to Mona Morgan, work team leader just back from Liberia. "That's what I grew up on!" Morgan, from Epworth UMC in Indianapolis, is a Louisiana native. Such was standard fare during her 18-day stay there.

Mona's group of 11 concentrated its efforts on the W.P.L. Brumskine School at Buchanan, a seacoast town, some 81 miles from Monrovia. The port offers jobs and plenty of fish for the table. She considers the schools among the very best UM schools in the country. "Their auditorium, seating about 100, is the talk of Liberia."

An experienced team leader and well-known mission supporter, Morgan has been given a special name: Mother Mona. "Contacts, protocol, relationships are an important part of a visitor's life there."

Work team members

Sylvia Abrell, Castleton UM Church, Indianapolis (nurse); Pat Garrity, Grace UM Church, Indianapolis (nurse); Margaret McLain, Tell City First UM Church, Tell City; the Rev. Alan Rumble, Epworth UM Church, Indianapolis (pastor); Barbara Joan Steele, Shiloh Wesley Chapel, Spencer; Jeffrey and Jane Varner, Gospel Tabernacle, Cannelton; Erica Danielle Day, Tell City First UM Church, Tell City, (nurse); Janet Sue Kraner, Asbury UM Church, Warren; Mona Morgan, Epworth UM Church, Indianapolis (team leader); Jerry Stanley, Epworth UM Church, Indianapolis

Visits with old friends, church and civic leaders cemented the rapport from her four previous trips. "I was on the last work team before the war and the first one back after the war. We asked, 'What can we do?'"

What the group achieved from Oct. 7-24 made the two buildings, one for lower grades, the other for higher ones functional for the 400 students. Damage from the war, plus occupation by refugees and looting called for paint, lumber, floor coverings, roof repair, carpentry and convenience features. Two team members purchased a bicycle for the librarian who had to walk one-and-a-half hours to and from her job. They also delivered 14 dozen hatching eggs to expand local poultry production.

Constructing a latrine was their chief project. Because of the lime used, all workers donned rubber boots for safety. Heavy rains and pumping equipment in need of repair slowed their work. Final work was completed after we left, Morgan said.

Work, its planning and execution, brought team members into close contact with local citizens. Many came to the team to offer sympathy and prayers for the United States' losses and sorrow of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.

Living near the Buchanan work site in an unfurnished rented house, the team slept on backpack cots they'd brought, took their meals prepared by local people, and in the end, emptied their travel bags of gifts and supplies for the school.

Work teams members often led students in singing and reading of Bible stories during breaks. Three nurses on the team offered their help. Those experienced in construction worked hand-in-hand with local builders.

"Much progress is evident," Morgan said. Sewing machines donated earlier allow the girls to learn tailoring and make school uniforms. Typewriters are ready for a typing class and there is still need for a computer. A science lab awaits basic equipment to train budding technicians. The pressing needs are for a generator and funds to purchase fuel for it.

"We keep fueling the fire for education, business and commerce, church growth and stability for a people who experienced war. We touch the lives of people in many ways. Now, we dream of future trips to other schools where love and caring and hospitality await."

For information about work teams, contact the Rev. Joe and Carolyn Wagner, Operation Classroom Coordinators at P.O. Box 277, Colfax, Ind. 46035-0277. E-mail: ocmission@compuserve.com or ccwagner@hotmail.com.

Last updated on 01/14/2004

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