Amy Mercer, Lee University librarian, standing, reading to a group of children at the Phebe Grey Orphanage library in Liberia. Ms. Mercer and Lori Mattace, Lee University Public Services librarian, seated, joined with other members of Lee’s library staff to prepare a library of 700 books for the orphanage school.
Members of the Lee team say goodbye to their Liberian hosts and friends. Front row, from left, Samuel Sumo; Barbara Curran; Bishop Moses Hart, Liberian national overseer; Lori Mattace; Amy Mercer; Spencer Smith and Rachen Richarsl. Back row, from left, Bishop David Kaimue, director of the Liberian Bible Institute; Dr. Arlie Tagayuna; Dr. Carolyn Dirksen; Pastor Madia Clark; Abbigail Christopher; Georgia Wright; Dr. Murl Dirksen; and three friends from Liberia.
Lee students Barbara Curran, left, and Georgia Wright lead a Bible study for girls at the Phebe Grey Orphanage and school in Monrovia, Liberia.
A group from Lee University took a three-week trip to Liberia to bring supplies and aid to the Phebe Gray Orphanage, all of which were donated or fundraised by Lee faculty, staff, and students.
Faculty and staff who traveled to Liberia included Dr. Carolyn Dirksen, Dr. Murl Dirksen, Lori Mattace, Amy Mercer and Dr. Arlie Tagayuna. Lee students on the trip included Abigail Christopher, Barbara Curran, Rachel Richards, Spencer Smith and Georgia Wright.
Multiple departments across campus came together to fundraise and collect needed materials for the orphanage, which is run by the Church of God and has a school for the students.
The education honor society Kappa Delta Pi, Squires Library, and the Early Learning Center collected over 700 books for the library at the orphanage school. Librarians in Lee’s Squires Library worked to catalogue books in a spreadsheet, while two of Lee’s Benevolence classes put books into plastic bags for protection from the tropical humidity. Numerous members of the faculty and staff donated suitcases to transport the books, and new textbooks have been donated for classroom use.
While in Liberia, Ms. Mattace and Ms. Mercer worked to set up the library with the supplies they had brought.
“Amy and I had a wonderful experience in sharing the gift of books and reading with the students of the Phebe Gray Orphanage,” said Ms. Mattace. “The students loved the library and would stop by during their recess to look at books and listen to us read stories.”
Dr. Mava Wilson’s computer information technology class at Lee researched and set up learning games on donated laptops which were taken to the school along with durable cases and long-life batteries. Since the orphanage has no electricity, ten solar packages were donated, each of which has the capacity to light one large room. Donated packages to provide exterior lighting were also installed at the orphanage.
The College of Education faculty made 10 instructional videos to help the teachers at the school with basic teaching techniques and classroom management. A class in the COE also prepared learning games for every grade level.
Dr. Tagayuna and Dr. Murl Dirksen, along with the Lee students on the trip, worked to install the solar panels and paint the buildings. They also performed community needs assessment in a local village, which involved doing focus groups with community leaders about Ebola efforts.
“In the past three weeks, I have gained so much appreciation of the resiliency of Liberians from children at the orphanage,” said Dr. Tagayuna. “Listening to their stories, around 103 of them, and witnessing their plight to recover from civil war and Ebola, I am humbled to know that they are hopeful of the future. Everyone has a special dream. I have never seen children so appreciative and celebratory as when we turned on the first solar light inside their dormitories. They are very thankful for the people who donated the solar lights that now they can study in the evening. They have so little and yet have so much love to give.”
Additionally, a financial donation from Mission Week fundraising at Lee was brought to help the staff at Phebe Gray as other needs arise.
“We were able to get mosquito nets and new bedding for every child,” Dr. Carolyn Dirksen said. “We also treated them all to a special meal, bought medical supplies, and provided tarps for two buildings with leaky roofs. I interviewed all the teachers at the school, and we bought basic classroom supplies for all of them—things as simple as copy books, pencils, textbooks, and maps.”
“They were very touched to learn that the money for all these projects came from Lee students,” Dr. Dirksen added. “This was a remarkable campus-wide project that really made a difference.”