Feeling the Weight of our Work

A few weeks ago I attended a meeting about the status of a global fund that contributes millions and millions of dollars to education in Liberia. It was my first time at a meeting with high level officials from the Ministry. It was a pretty intimate gathering of about 12 people, including the Minister herself as well as the Deputy.

First impressions: My first trip back to the US I will HAVE to organize a movie night and show Pray the Devil Back to Hell movie. There was the conversation. And then there was the spirit behind it. There is a scene in Ghana that reminds me so much of the spirit of the conversation with the Ministry that day.

I walked away feeling funny. They talked about serious issues that have plagued the people and particularly children of Liberia for decades. In the room were “big big” people with the authority and the financial resources to do something about it. There are blockages and setbacks. But I feel that’s not the issue. There was a lightheartedness characterizing the conversations. The representatives from DC managing the fund were urging the Ministry to do many things to fulfill their requirements. The response was positive but lighthearted. There was acknowledgement of the seriousness of the situation but the weight was not palpable. My prayer is that those with the authority and resources to do something about the dire situation of education in the country truly and deeply feel the weight of the situation. May their hearts ache for their country’s children. May they feel the pain of frustration felt by so many youth with minimal possibility for advancement due to substandard education.

And what is the weight we should feel?

• Half of the women in Liberia are illiterate 
• No one passed the entrance examination for local Liberian University this spring. No one. 
• The education system is plagued by bribery and corruption enabling families to use money and sex to pass children through the system without gaining necessary skills or knowledge.

I am convinced that change rides on passion. Not money, not position. If people have no passion spurring them to inconvenience themselves in large or small ways to enact change, it’s difficult to move them to do much of anything, no matter how much money is involved.

In preparing to come here, the verse that settled on my heart was:

I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.    I Chronicles 7:12b-16

This is a complex country. Like much of West Africa, it is a highly churched country. It was highly churched before the war, then many of the youth committed atrocities against their own countrymen including murder, rape, maiming, cannibalism, etc.

Praise God the war is now over.  But the battle continues. 

And Liberia continues to be highly churched. Some Liberians, like many West Africans, will not hesitate to invoke the name of Jesus in one breath and offer "worship" to lesser god/idol of money, possible wealth or power in the next moment. It’s complex. But God is God and is so faithful. Sincerity and true repentance moves Him. I believe it has and continues to happen here: people who have humbled themselves turning from wicked ways and seeking God. My prayer is that it happens en masse and that will usher in true change.