Several Westminster African Mission Committee members recently had the pleasure of spending time with Matilda Parker from Liberia. Many in our congregation first learned about Matilda’s work in Liberia last October on her visit to the Capital District. That work closely parallels the efforts of our own Mission Committee in providing for the health and education needs of underserved children. Matilda oversees a foundation she started in 2009, and her human service program initiatives target “street people,” both youngsters and adults.
It is a big job for anyone, but Matilda got involved with a solid background in running a large organization. For seven years as a cabinet member in Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration, she held the position of Managing Director of Liberia’s National Port Authority. She was the top executive in charge of all the international ports along the Liberian coast.
Among the programs her foundation funds are major initiatives focussing on drug & alcohol rehabilitation, vocational training, and a rural initiative that uses a traditional mediation approach to solving pursuits that otherwise could end up as standard civil or criminal court cases.
The rehabilitation program–The Destiny Recovery Program–currently serves an average of 115 men, women, and teens in Liberia’s capital city of Monrovia and its sprawling suburban towns. Much of the counseling and group work is provided by volunteer pastors and some trained volunteers. Many participants go on to learn new skills through vocational training. These skills allow folks to make a modest living and improve their lives.
The skills training is referred to as the Save A Lady program, although the majority of participants are men. Vocational training options include cooking, catering, masonry, carpentry, sewing, and entrepreneurship, to name just a few of the most popular choices.
The mediation initiative is not limited to the coastal capital. It is known as The Palava Hut Program and is similar in many ways to U.S-based models of alternative dispute settlement. The palaver hut in traditional Liberian villages is a large, centrally located open-air gathering facility often covered with a huge round thatched or zinc roof. It is the traditional site for festivals, meetings, storytelling, and, in this program, a sort of courtroom where “juries” of respected elders and other honorable citizens settle disputes. The program receives many requests to travel to rural areas. It has many cost-saving as well as time-saving benefits, and often responds to referrals made by the formal government-operated justice system.
Matilda Parker is busy with these programs and various other services. She is making an enormous contribution to a society still struggling in many ways to emerge from a civil war that ended over two decades ago and both the Ebola and COVID epidemics of the past decade.
Before concluding a recent interview, she was asked to identify a highlight of her current visit. She explained that the entire visit was wonderful but would choose her evening as a guest of honor at a dinner as the highlight. That dinner was sponsored by the regional social and community service organization, Capital District SUSU Women, which funded a program for Matilda the past year.
Our Westminster African Mission Committee has forged a strong bond with Matilda Parker and we look forward to cooperating with one another in the future to serve the underserved in Liberia.
Learn more about Matilda Parker in this video.
