Taking time for sentiment...

One of the things I was not looking forward to doing before we go out to Liberia was clearing out our house after having lived in it for twenty years. But in some ways it’s very therapeutic, all those old paint tins you have been keeping just in case you need to do a “touch up” job but for some reason have never used, bits of carpet stored in the loft from when you first moved in and for some unexplained reason have kept thinking that they may be useful, clothes that don’t fit or are some throwback to the ‘70s.

Jenny and I have decided it’s time to be brutal, so we have piles to go to the dump and piles to go to the charity shop and smaller piles that have too much sentimental value that we have to keep them. “The Boy’s World “ book from my Granny published in 1960, with amazing stories about Climbing Mount Everest and the Mystery Lives of Salmon and Eels or a songbook I put together when I went out to work in Sierra Leone in 1974 with a prayer in the back of it that I wrote when I first became a Christian. Fond memories of people and places in the midst of taking the opportunity to get rid of the rubbish…

Decision Made...

Hallelujah! We’ve made the decision! Since we were asked to consider the possibility of Will and I going to Liberia in West Africa and for Will to lead the work of SIM as Director SIM Liberia my brain has hardly stopped thinking about the pros and cons.

Initial reactions were….where? Where is Liberia, and after a session with our newly acquired world atlas, I had some information to go on. A trip to the internet came next and I feel that I have now scratched the surface of the country and have a little knowledge about her history. The country has been through some rather sad years but is now beginning to look much rosier. Will and I have spent many hours discussing Liberia, and many prayers later and in response to God’s leading we have made the decision! WE ARE GOING!!

Back in February we both went to Liberia to help with the SIM review process. Joshua Bogunjoko, the Deputy International Director for SIM, invited us to join the team and spend 10 days in the country interviewing Liberians to discover what the locals wished SIM to be doing for their country.

Following 14 years of civil war we were humbled to meet such dedicated people who had a clear vision of where their country should be going and how they should be going there! We loved their independent spirit, and the fact that although the average Liberian lives on $1 a day no-one ever suggested that they were a poor country, in fact one pastor described his country as a poor rich country!!

The potential is huge and in many ways the country feels that it is at a crossroads, and there is a real will to make life work for the best. Women who had been struggling to fend for their families during the war while their men were away fighting have learnt the benefits of being entrepreneurial and wish to continue learning. Schools that have been burnt out or destroyed need rebuilding, children who have missed their schooling need an education. New teachers need training, Churches need rebuilding and pastors equipped to shepherd their congregation. It is clear there is a will for all of this and more, however there will be problems along the way, lack of resources, and skills and knowledge hover on the horizon. However to the huge credit of the people, is the work undertaken to bring reconciliation to the warring factions. The war was mostly the result of war lords and their supporters fighting for power. It was sad that many children became involved in this war and the work of reconciliation and forgiveness is hard, but essential, in the future development of the country. In all the communities we visited there were people from both sides of the war beginning the process of living and working together. We were really impressed with this work but realise our visit was short and we have a simplified understanding which we hope will develop into a better understanding in the future years we will be living there.

So, I hear you ask, what were the pros and cons? Well, since returning from Swaziland in Southern Africa, all those years ago, after living there for 8 years, our hearts have always had a little of Africa in them and we always said that one day we hoped to return! Will as you may know was born in Nigeria and has a little more African blood flowing through his veins than I do. We do have a real desire to serve, and listening to God as He has prompted us over the last few months has made it quite clear that this is where He wants us to serve. Using our human intellect (which is not all that great we admit!!) we realise that we may have some of the skills that Liberia could use, Will in leadership and management in a variety of placements, and I in my education background. But God hasn’t left us to make the decision on our own and any number of times he has used the bible or a word from a friend or a message on Sunday morning to confirm in our hearts that we are doing the right thing for Him.

So what about the cons!! Well…. There are a few!! Leaving our families for one! My Mum, lives in Mendlesham, Suffolk, and is not so young, although thank God at present well and very active! She has a lovely, relatively new, husband Frank. He keeps us all amused and is an excellent husband and adopted dad for us. Will’s mum and stepfather are getting older too and live in Hampshire. Praise God our parents have been very supportive (but as we plan to move in with my mum and Frank in the Autumn this may change!!? Ha! Ha!) We have one son, Matthew, and beautiful daughter in-law, Jo, in New York and they have a gorgeous daughter, our granddaughter (rather obviously …sorry) Beatrice, who is now nearly 1 year old. We have a second son, Jonathan, who lives in London and who we see a little more often. Both Matt and Jonny have been positive about our new adventure however we are conscious that we will miss them both and don’t want to get out of touch or miss Beatrice growing up. Of course we have some terrific friends who are always there for us and we hope they feel that we have been and will be there for them too! It has not been at all easy to think that we will miss them all so much! We have said that to help with staying touch with all our friends and family we will return home for 2 months every year in the middle of the rainy season when apparently work slows down anyway. So we will be home around June and July or July August, it’s not definite yet.

The climate has been another con. It is consistently very hot and very humid. For 5 months of the year, April to September, it rains fairly hard and fairly constantly, apparently we will get used to sweating profusely but this does give me some concern as with my fair skin and gingerish hair. I don’t think God made me for hotter climates, however I’m trusting that I will acclimatise! I’ll keep you informed!

On balance though we are delighted, excited, nervous, wondering, hopeful, terrified, certain, all in equal parts and I hope that you can join with us in prayer as we engage with this transition time of preparing for life in Liberia.