CBC Clinic and ABC

Today began with something that I had not heard for a couple of years. I woke to hearing the beat of a distinct kind of drum and high pitch voices singing. It took a few seconds until I realized where I was and I hopped out of bed and woke Jenny up saying ‘devotion time has started’. We are at the Betty Jonah Orphanage in Camp Four, Nimba County, Liberia. This familiar sound is the children of the orphanage singing along with one of the children playing the drum. What a sweet, unique and precious sound this is in the predawn light without electricity to light their way, just the song in their hearts coming out in a form of worship that for those that hear it will say it is almost angelic. Jenny and I make our way into the room filled with the children singing, while sitting on the floor or a few in the available chairs along the edge of the room. I see Emmanuel sitting in one of the chairs and of course Mother Betty sitting and singing along with the children. This is the normal routine for the children of Mother Betty Jonah Orphanage. The day starts with singing and today was a time of sharing things people are thankful for. We felt privileged to be mentioned as part of the thanks for the visitors who came to invade their little world of worship and life. We, of course, were asked to share what we are thankful for. This is all followed by a prayer to begin the day.

Before I was asked to pray for the day I notice the nurse, Moses, from the CBC clinic come into the room, sit on a small chair and wipe his face as if to remove all the signs of sleep on his face. It is a time of beginning for this small compound in Camp Four Unification Camp. A time similar to the day before and the day after with praise to the Creator that gives us each day. This truly is a day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Now, after I wax poetic about my response to starting the day, I’ll tell you how the day went.

After devotions, we went back to our rooms and got ready to come out for breakfast. We were served doughnuts, oatmeal and fresh pineapple. Great start so far.

We sat under the iconic bush at the orphanage that is known in the area. This bush continues to show beauty among the hard times.

We watched as children emerge from their appropriate dorms dressed in their school uniforms and head next door in the compound to the Randall Godfrey school.

We then decided to head over to the CBC clinic to visit with Nurse Moses and assistant Caroline. We met a young lady who they just finished seeing and prayed for her. We then sat down and visited with them for awhile until we had them check mine and Mike’s blood pressure.

We then got the tour, showing Mike around as Jenny and I have been through this before. We recognize some needs in the clinic from lab supplies (consumables such as blood strips, slides, etc. ), more medication to a reliable phone with data available to Moses where he can use it as a hotspot for the computer to use to look up any help needed to diagnose issues that come up. Moses shares his 2019 year end report that I will present to the church and Mike shares the medical supplies that he and Kim picked out for Mike to take over. Moses and Caroline are great to talk with and completely open to answering all of our questions.

We leave from there to have lunch and we rest for an hour or so and then we head to ABC (African Bible College) to meet with the president of the college for a great discussion. There are 4 students at ABC that came from Camp Four and 3 come from the orphanage. What a great representation of the orphanage and testament to the teaching that begins each day during devotion time.

We took some time to walk around the campus with many faculty willing to stop and visit. They all mentioned that if we know of any teachers that would like to come and teach at the school to pass on the word that they can use more teachers. So, if you have your masters in anything (that is a prerequisite) and you would like to teach young Liberian men and women from a Christian perspective, you can have a spot on the faculty at this fine institution.

We returned back to the orphanage on clean up and have another fine meal followed by some more time enjoying the breeze and the coolness of the evening (I mean this as a relative coolness).

We then had evening devotion time followed by a partial viewing of Father Anthony Jonah’s funeral service from video taken of this ceremony in 2017. This is Mamma Betty’s husband who did much work for the furtherance of the Gospel.

We came to bed after this where we enjoyed the generator running again which allowed our fan to run. This was nice until the fan quit so Jenny and I figured they decided to shut down the generator for the remainder of the night. I was wrong. I did not finish my blog so when I woke up (a little hot) I thought about finishing. I looked for my phone and I noticed the light from my charger in the wall socket. I may be tired, (it is now 2:52 a.m.) but I knew this meant power was coming to the socket. I slid down the bed with my phone as my light to the socket and there it was, the fan’s plug had fallen out enough to break the connection. Well, Jenny woke up at the same time and as I started the fan up again I told her. All I got for an answer was ‘Are you serious?’, before she contentedly slipped back to sleep. I will do the same, enjoying the breeze from the fan. I’m sure I will wake up to the sound of drums and singing again soon.