In January of 2021, our Westminster African Mission Committee began serving a new school facility in the community of Bernard Farm, Liberia, West Africa. Our work there has gotten off to a great start with immediate improvements in the educational opportunities available to the community served by Kingdom Embassy School under the leadership of Pastor David Kpadeh.
We have:
- provided scholarships for needy students,
- sent used clothing for resale in local open-air markets,
- shipped school and hygiene supplies for staff and students, and
- equipped a new computer lab currently nearing completion.
We also fund a part-time school nurse, Korlu Jallah, who was one of several community individuals to identify the need for efforts to improve the diets of the youngest children in Bernard Farm. Based on her research and our consultation with a national expert on children’s nutritional needs, we recently launched a year-round feeding program that offers twice-weekly free meals to dozens of preschoolers and kindergarten-aged children.
Westminster funds these meals prepared by a local woman who works in consultation with the school nurse and our local program liaison, Joseph Kpangbala. The program currently serves an average of 50 students per meal. A typical meal might include pasta, beans and collard greens. If any food remains after all registered participants are served, the leftovers are made available to older students.
Good nutrition is essential to children’s cognitive development in our target group. Ms. Jallah is keeping records on each child regarding their height and weight and tracking their school attendance and performance.
Our current fundraising campaign honors Lois Wilson’s many years of extraordinary leadership of the African Mission Committee. We hope to expand this effort to serve more students and are committed to finding additional ways to address our committee’s ongoing efforts to transform the lives of children in Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Your support of this campaign allows us to continue this work.
Please join us! Donations are gratefully accepted.
We hope you will join us in honoring Lois with your generous support. Our goal is to raise $25,000 through this special campaign. Contributions are most gratefully accepted online (wpcalbany.org/give) or by sending your check to Westminster Presbyterian Church, 85 Chestnut St. Albany, NY 12210 (“West African Mission” on the memo line).
Stay tuned! During this campaign we will be sharing a series of focused West African Mission emails along with providing updates on our website (wpcalbany.org). Please help us keep you up-to-date by making sure we have your most current and preferred email address by notifying the Church Office at office@wpcalbany.org or calling 518-436-8544.
See the following blog updates to learn more about our West African mission work and this fundraising campaign:
