Christian Groenheide Visits Libera
I am Christian Groenheide, a Dutch man. After years of supporting MOWCF, I traveled to Liberia for a personal visit. I knew Emmanuel Tweh, one of its founders, from when he was a refugee in Ghana, long before he founded the orphanage. I did not know what to expect, so I planned to go two weeks during my holidays to help out the orphanage. Things were arranged: flight tickets, visa, inoculations against tropical diseases, etc.. Some of my family and friends were proud of me, and some were worried. Liberia is such a fragile and poor country, and it’s scary to go all alone to a world you do not know. To give the summary of this time, I had the best time of my life! I’ve cried tears of joy and tears of sadness, from the one end of the emotional spectrum to the other. It was an emotional roller coaster. So let me begin my story as I hope I can give you a taste of the beauty I experienced. The hope. The paradise. The wondrous Godly work I’ve witnessed. The wonderful people I got a chance to get to know.
I hopped on a plane, and after a long trip and many connections, I finally got to Robertson International Airport, some 30 minutes drive outside of Monrovia. There Emmanuel waited on me as was promised. I told him, “I’m the big, big man….you’ll recognize me.” He thought that meant the fat man….. But when he saw me he knew big meant big in every dimension. Not just horizontal. I guess I told him the Dutch are the largest people on the planet, but it didn’t quite get through to him that I’m actually that big until he met me face to face.
Driving from the airport, I immediately noticed Monrovia is another planet compared to what I’m used to. We drove 30 minutes back to town and I couldn’t see anything next to the road. I wished it wasn’t that utter dark, but that is Africa. If you see a western country at night then you see all lights. If you see an African country at night, you see nothing.
The next day at dawn Emmanuel met me at the hotel and we would go to his house after a little shopping for drink and food. There I met the family and after that we went to the orphanage to meet the kids and see the orphanage. There I met the 4 kids currently in care of the orphanage. Emmanuel introduced me to all of them, to the caretaker and he showed me the neighborhood and the current state of the house, which you can see in these pictures.
It is our fervent and sincere prayers that God continues to bless your handy work as we all work towards reaching out to the less fortunate in Liberia. We are very confident that with your continuous support MOWCF can impact many lives in and out of Liberia.
We prayerfully ask that you consider making a donation to help these children continue their studies. Few other opportunities make as long lasting of an impact as this.