Schools for Justice

Year End Liberian Children’s Rescue Orphanage Update: (Visit schoolsforjustice.org for more info) The new orphanage building is largely complete! The tiling, painting, floormats, bunk beds, and windows are installed. We spent most of our April trip putting the final touches on the house - building benches, chairs, and tables for the common areas, setting up the children’s rooms, and getting household supplies. We also brought a number of books for the children - many of wh...ich were donated by our sponsors! This year, we plan to plaster and paint the building exterior to finish the orphanage home construction. Though the building campaign will be soon drawing to a close, we will continue to fully fund all orphanage operations, including staff salaries, school tuition, food, medicine, clothing, etc. We’ve established new community partnerships in a drive toward sustainability and increased impact. We’ve been working in Liberia for over 10 years, and during this time our influence in the New Georgian community has increased dramatically. We started by supporting a small night school of <50 students, and now the school has over 300 students and we fully fund an orphanage home of 43 children. We are blessed and humbled to be part of this great work, but this growth has brought us pause - how do we continue to meet the myriad needs of this community now and into the future? While we prayerfully consider the vision and long-term plan for SFJ, we also believe that partnering with established and trustworthy NGOs is a big part of increasing impact and ensuring the sustainability of our work. Here are some examples: We’ve partnered financially with Living Water International to construct a new well specifically for the orphanage building. LWI provides hygiene education and maintenance for the well in addition to initial construction. LWI provided 80% of the funds from outside donors ($16,000), while SFJ funding provided the additional 20% ($4,000). As of early December, construction is complete and the well is now in use! Starting in April, a local chapter of Young Life Africa has been meeting at the orphanage house and investing in the spiritual, mental, and emotional health of the children. In addition to weekly meetings, the older orphanage kids had an opportunity to attend a YLA summer camp in June - because of this experience, some kids are in training to become the next generation of YL leaders. These camps are similar to the camps some of our Ebola orphans attended last year.