FAITHFUL OBSERVATIONS: Operation Christmas Child lands in Liberia

Back in March we had a fascinating interview with Cliff Hall, who volunteers as an area coordinator for the Samaritan Purse/Operation Christmas Child program. We learned from Cliff that the Christmas “shoeboxes” are delivered at various times of the year around the world in carefully planned events.

In fact, Cliff informed me two of his volunteers were going to Liberia for a series of distributions in May and perhaps we would like to interview them upon their return. This sounded like a great story to hear what happens on the ground, even more impressive when you realize that much of what Samaritan’s Purse does depends on volunteers. These two volunteers had to raise $3,200 each to take the trip and work with local volunteers on the ground in Liberia.

We met with Jannell Farrell from Moscow and Ed Leivas from Athol, both year-round volunteers with Operation Christmas Child, about leaving their families to take the trip from May 14 through the 23rd to Liberia. Upon arrival in North Carolina at Samaritan’s Purse headquarters, they boarded a DC-8 cargo plane with 30 other volunteers and 11,000 “shoe boxes” to Liberia. This was bound to be an interesting story!

Many people may not be familiar with the country of Liberia other than the fact it is in Africa. Give us some background.

Liberia is a relatively small country on the west coast of Africa, about the size of Tennessee and home to about 4.7 million people. Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world and the economy is extremely underdeveloped, largely due to the First Liberian Civil War in 1989-96. The civil war destroyed much of Liberia’s economy, especially the infrastructure in and around the capital of Monrovia. Unemployment is 75% and they have made the U.S. dollar their official currency and English is the official language. The country is about 60% Christian and 28% Muslim.

In 1823 freed Christian American slaves went to Liberia to spread the gospel and establish a nation. In 1847 Liberia became a country, making it the oldest republic in Africa. They modeled their government and constitution after the U.S., forming the three branches of government and in their preamble acknowledged the goodness of God. Since then with the civil wars and division they removed references to “Christian” beginnings from this preamble.

The capital of Liberia is Monrovia, named after President Monroe in America. Beginning in the 1920s, rubber plantations became the driving force of the economy and they have all but been destroyed also. A Second Liberian Civil War erupted in 1997 and lasted until 2003 and this was the final blow. Although most Americans are not familiar with these events, it has turned Liberia into a basket case among the nations of Africa.

This sounds like culture shock arriving into what amounts to a Third-World country. What is the impact of Christian ministries like Samaritan’s Purse in a country like this?

Samaritan’s Purse has been in Liberia for many years but made world headlines when the ebola outbreak happened in 2014 there. More than 4,800 Liberians died and over 10,500 were infected. The hospital built by SIM ministries in 1965 had all but been destroyed in the civil wars and then put back into a bare-bones operation and was staffed in part by Samaritan’s Purse, including Dr. Kent Brantley, a Samaritan’s Purse post-resident who then contracted the disease. That story is told in the book and film “Facing Darkness.” Samaritan’s Purse was key in rebuilding the new 46,000-square-foot ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) hospital, which was badly needed in that country. Samaritan’s Purse hired and trained locals to build this hospital to train them in construction skills. This, along with drilling wells, providing clean water, job training and many other ministries are all a part of the Samaritan’s Purse outreach in Liberia.

Just setting the stage for your story is amazing. Now we need to hear what it was like distributing shoeboxes over the five distributions.

First, we have to say the planning and preparation between the Liberian National Leadership Team and our National Leadership Team of Samaritan’s Purse was amazing! Pastors, teachers and others on the ground had been trained and equipped and had been planning these distributions months ahead of time. The pastors know their flock and they had the names and ages of the children who would be receiving a shoebox gift at their distribution to ensure the Samaritan’s Purse mission of ‘One shoebox for One child for One lifetime.’ The children were excited but not sure of what to expect; some walk an hour and a half to the event. The pastors and their trained volunteers open the program with songs and prayers and then they take the covering off the boxes and the excitement begins. That is where our team gets to assist by handing each child their very own shoebox gift. The pastor does a countdown of “One … Two … and then Three” and they get to open the box. There is a lot of joy and drama in the room, as you have to remember that this is a country still recovering from war and disease and most children have very little.

Jannell, we are sure you have stories or memories that have stayed with you of what you saw at these distributions. We’d like to hear of these.

At our very first distribution, I remember, in particular, one little girl who pulled out a pair of pink sandal shoes from her box, and she was jumping up and down with joy. Her eyes were closed tight, and she was hugging her shoes to her chest, smiling so big. She said, “God knows my size!” Many others were so thankful for simple items such as toothbrushes, bars of soap, calculators and school supplies, and especially the stuffed animals. One boy, who must have been only 3 or 4 years old, was holding his soap bar and excitedly saying to everyone, “You see my soap!” We were humbled.

Ed, is there anything that stood out for you?

I guess I was shocked at little things. One boy had a bar of soap, still in the wrapper, but he kept smelling it and had his friends smell it. He just kept saying, “Smell that soap, doesn’t it smell good?” Another little girl came up and presented me her box and I had to assure her that it was really her box and she could keep it. If people who filled the boxes could see the impact these had they would be blessed to have been a part of the great commission. One boy found pencils and paper.

What about the long-term impact of these distributions?

With each shoebox, each child receives a booklet written in their own language called “The Greatest Gift” and they are presented with the gospel message. Each child is also invited to be part of a 12-week discipleship course called “The Greatest Journey.” This course is designed to impart the gospel of Christ and the messages of the Bible in 12 lessons so that the child can learn who Jesus is, and how to follow Him and be His disciple. They also learn how to share their faith in Jesus with others. For each child that completes this course they receive a certificate, through a graduation ceremony, and they receive a New Testament Bible in their own language. They also write down nine people that they will share the good news with and give that paper to their pastor/teacher. More than 8.9 million children have reported decisions for Jesus Christ through The Greatest Journey program! This ministry is impacting the world for Jesus Christ one shoebox at a time!

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If anyone would like more information they can go to samaritanspurse.org or if they would like to know about volunteer opportunities in this area they can contact Cliff Hall: chall@samaritan.org

If your group or church wants to hear more about the trip to Liberia, you can also contact Jannell Farrell at jannellf@frontier.com or Ed Leivas at edleivas@gmail.com.

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Bob Shillingstad’s religion columns appear Saturdays in The Press. Email Bob: bjshill@mac.com