Our story
2006
Fr Sam Tony and Eva Williams help with container to Liberia.
Peter and I flew into abijan drove to San Pedro then over the boarder into Liberia meeting teachers in Harper
Fr Sam, Fr Sarius and teachers from Grandcess who had made the 4-6hour journey from Grandcess to Harper to see us. Deputy Headmistress and Peter at the front
2008
2010
Grand Cess December 2010.
Clive was welcomed by some 30 children who had dressed up in their school holidays with some teachers and villagers to wait by the river crossing to greet him. It was an emotional re-union. The books, pens, laptops and wind up lamps were distributed to the school the next day, not to mention the football boots (12 pairs), Footballs (Six), Cameras (two) basic medicines and children’s clothes. HAC donated two wind up lamps to the maternity ward of the hospital in Grand Cess as they all too often fell back to candles when expensive fuel for them ran out.
Clive also photographed the children with their photographs taken last year. This made matching names much easier. Many children ran straight home with the photo we gave them as often it was the first photo they had ever had. Basic computer lessons were carried out with the Microsoft office type products being a real hit. The laptops were kitted out with Rosetta Stone voice recognition and language software, spoken English is very useful for obtaining work. A solar charger as pictured was supplied for use with the laptops.
2011
In Grand Cess you may remember Dwagbe who two years ago touched my heart with her confidence by throwing herself into my arms at the age of three, has now at 5 years started school. Her mum and dad were so proud and the smile I photographed on my visit with St Patricks being her first school photo says it all.
2012
Children learn how to make pews. Six boys from St Patrick’s school made 12 pews for the church of St Peter Claver in Barclayville. These boys were Jerome Charlie, Flama Davis, Gabriel Nmahteen, Tarplah Sikloh, Saleti Donyen Jr and Patrick Juwle.
Keeping teachers motivated. Teachers pay in Grand Cess still languishes behind their peers in the cities so we agreed a small increase to help them start to close the gap.
Having increased the teachers pay it still costs only an average £35 to send a child to school in Grand Cess for a year and £155 to send a youngster onward to college in one of the cities.
Our objective is to help the best academics that go on to college to a point where they can earn a living, and also review the possibilities for apprenticeships with those that have a tendency to be better with their hands. The community, Parish Council, Priests, Sisters, parents and Helpachild all reinforce the reasoning that an education for a child should be provided onward by each youngster who earns a living as a result of a HAC scholarship.
Grand Cess to college.
This year HAC is providing scholarships at college for six students; Martin Wreh, Patrick Tarplah, Philomena Frank and Jacqueline Wesseh, Sophia Doe, Theresa Tieh. (This year’s leavers below).
2013
Monrovia – Sisters Hospitals.
Sister Margaret (from Ghana) and Sister Maria (from Spain) took Clive on a tour of the maternity / aids clinic and described their challenging work. 1 in 12 women die during childbearing and 7% of children in Liberia die at birth, mostly due to a lack of incubation facilities and antibiotics.
Clive explained our mission at HAC particularly for the children of Africa but with priority for the children of Grand Cess.
Sister Margaret asked particularly for help with four children who were affected by either loss of a parent or whose mothers were aids patients. Consultation with the other Trustees was required and it was decided that we can help the four children subject to a review of the circumstances of each to see how long the commitment can remain.
Sisters Hospitals also help disabled
This little girl visited the Sisters whilst we were there to have her prosthetic limb refitted, and joked with Sister Maria that even with her leg she could out run her. These Sisters attend to a range of people in Africa that are too often totally forgotten.
UN requires Helpachild to become a registered NGO.
HAC has been informed by the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL) that it must register as an NGO (Non Government Organisation). Application takes 3 to 6 months and HAC would have to have a Monrovia “office” and stop over place which the priests in Monrovia along with the Sisters Hospitals have kindly offered to help us achieve.
2013
Catherine and Angela are intending to walk the Thames Path this summer (approximately 180 miles) to raise money for our parish charity, Helpachild. As you are no doubt aware the charity sponsors children in the town of Grand Cess in Liberia Africa to go to school and for the brightest children to go on to college. The cost of keeping a child in school for a year is £30 and Helpachild has done well to ensure that 100 children are now in school and 4 young people have gone on to college, but as a parish we need to raise sufficient money continuously to ensure that they can remain there.
Here is a message from Catherine and Angela:
“We need your help over the next few months with prayers, encouragement when we are flagging and sponsorship if possible. It would also be great if some of you would join us on part of the walk as we are not sure that we will have enough to say to each other for 180 miles (although our husbands don’t think we will have a problem!) See our proposed calendar for the weekends when we will be walking (exact days to be confirmed and may be weather dependent). All we ask if you do join us is a contribution towards Helpachild (suggested donation £5 although if you can manage more that would be great). We will give you regular updates on our progress and what it means for Helpachild.”
