Our Adoption Saga Part 1

As many of you know we became involved with Liberia because in the summer of 2007 Rusty and I decided we were suppose to adopt. In the summer of 2008 we were matched with two little girls, Alice and Mercy.
Alice: Mercy:

By this time we knew we were going to be living in Liberia so we decided it best to wait on moving forward with the adoption until we were here in country. The month before we arrived the president of Liberia put into effect a moritorium on adoption. We were still hopeful that this moritorium would be short as the government was working on new laws. During this time we started visiting the orphange and met the girls. They are charming and we have loved going on the weekends and playing with the children. After a few months I really felt God was telling me they were not the right ones for us. We decided to meet with their biological mother and hear her story, hoping this would help us decide what direction we should go. Our meeting with Fatu went well and her story is sad. Like many women she is uneducated, had no job, has no home of her own, has four of five children remaining at home and the father abandoned her.
Fatu:
Martin:

Rachel:
We took Fatu "home" that day to see where she was living. Her home, which belongs to her pastor, is a 10' x 20' shack with grass mat walls and when the rains come water and raw sewage flow through on the floor where she sleeps along with two other adults and about 10 children. No matter how I prayed and tried to convince myself we should take two of her children, I could find no peace. Until the day I finally let go and acknowledge God was saying no I was very troubled. I could see that Fatu very much loves her girls and thought she was doing what was best for them by giving them a chance at a better life in America. We have been here for 15 months and there is still a moritorium on adoption. All children in the orphanage without adoption decrees or a special medical need are to be sent back to family. It is so interesting how God works. We would not have been allowed to adopt Alice and Mercy anyway.

Fatu took the girls from the orphanage several months ago after finding out we were not going to adopt them. Mercy is living with Fatu but Alice has be staying with another woman and we haven't had a chance to see her since Fatu took them out of the orphanage, until today. It is very common here to send you child/children to live with other family or friends if you do not have the means to care for them.

After visiting with Fatu and getting to know her we felt we should do what we could to help her get on her own feet. We decided to set her up with a market close to where she is living. While she doesn't make a big profit it is better than nothing. We also started discussing other living options with her. We really want to leave her with something of her own, where she doesn't have to worry about how to pay rent and/or feed her children. Like I said the market doesn't provide much of an income but it should be enough to feed her family. So we have been hunting all over Paynesville in search of a lot to build her a small home on. The "land business" is very difficult here. There is no title company or land registry in Liberia so it is quite common for people to sell land to multiple people or sell land that doesn't belong to them. We have looked at about half a dozen lots and none of them have been legitimate until last weekend. I think we have finally found a lot that is dry and actually belongs to the guy wanting to sell it to Fatu. We took Fatu and her children to see the lot today and get some pictures. Rusty should close the deal tomorrow!

Fatu and her children (plus the small girl who belongs to her pastor and his wife)

Walking to talk to the neighbor to be sure the property is legitimate. Fatu wanted to bring her pastor's wife and the women Alice has been staying with to see the property.

We can not single handedly save everyone in Liberia but we can change the lives of this single mom and her children by giving them a dry home of their own. Rusty estimates we can buy the lot and build her a home for $9000 USD. On one hand this is quite a bit of money, but on the other it is a small amount to give a family a home of their own. If you would like to help us make this a reality for Fatu, Martin, Rachel, Alice and Mercy, you can send a donation to us at:

Jack & D'Linda Laird

1468 E. Smith Rd.

Bellingham, Wa 98226.

This is not a project through SIM and so is not tax deductable.

Overdue

So I see from the date of my last post that it's been almost 6 weeks since we've blogged. Really I didn't have to look though, I could tell by the emails from my parents complaining about our lack of reporting. So lets see...what's happened the last 6 weeks.

About three weeks ago we went out to a potluck for missionaries at Christian Aid Ministries (CAM). They have potlucks occasionally and this one served to say farewell to our neighbors the Sacras as they head back to the US for a couple years. CAM provides support for medical clinics and has a feeding program for orphanages. To facilitate all that support they have a large warehouse with pallet racking. But pallet racking can be used for more than storing pallets of rice and medical supplies, it can be used for climbing and jumping off. Which Kobe did, and broke his wrist.

While it was hurting that evening Kobe decided he didn't want to bother Dr. Sacra as all the missionaries thanked him for his medical care over the past 15 years. We actually waited two days until Monday to go get x-rays and confirm that it was in fact broken. Don't worry though, it hasn't slowed him down.

One thing you see everywhere are children (and adults) walking around with baskets of various foods and goods to sell. One of our favorites are what the Liberians call "flour chips". I like to call them funions though because they vaguely resemble Funions with a slight onion flavor. One of the girls who sells them, Jackie, was sitting by my office looking very sad about a month ago. I stopped to buy some and she, almost in tears, asked if I could help her find somewhere else to live. Over the next two weeks Jamie and I met with Jackie a few times and learned her story.

Jackie's story is very common in Liberia. A child from the village is sent to live with relatives in the city so they can get an education. What ends up happening is the child becomes a servant for the family in the city. Instead of getting to go to school Jackie was walking around selling flour chips so her auntie could go to school.

Jamie and I were trying to figure out a better option for Jackie. We talked with some friends but were having a hard time finding somewhere safe for a 14 year old girl to live. We were just about to give up looking when we found out that a Liberian friend was just moving into a new house (and had some spare room). We tried to call this friend a couple weeks ago, but our cell service was down due to a lightning strike. It turned out, this friend was also trying to call us the same weekend to talk...she didn't know why, but just thought there was some reason she needed to talk to us. We ended up driving to this friends house and she agreed to meet Jackie and the two hit it off almost instantly. Jackie moved into the home last week. Here she is standing on the porch.

To show appreciation to the friend for taking Jackie in we helped to provide some furniture and shelving for the house. Jamie and I put together some shelves for the kitchen and a bookshelf to take out this weekend. You will also note the new license plate in the windshield. After living here for 15 months we finally have a license plate that isn't paper.

Work has been busy too. We've started to build a fence around the ELWA campus for security. Here the guys are mixing the concrete. The drum in the middle of the picture is the water.
The contractor wanted to pose with the footing.

Jamie working on Blessing's hair.

Blessing continues to grow and is 10 months old now. She's crawls faster than I can run and is on the verge of walking (running?). We are trying to start the process to adopt her as a special needs case but progress has been slow. I think I will leave that post for Jamie. One of the highlights of our time here in Liberia has definitely been our visits to a couple local orphanages. It has also been challenging though as we go through the ups and downs of international adoption along with a dozen +/- other families who are trying to bring children home. Maybe I can get Jamie to write a little about that journey too...