Field trips for young ones living at the Bishop Judith Craig Children’s Village in Duahzon, Liberia, will be much easier thanks to the gift of a 16-seat bus.
“We need to expose the children of the village to the world around them,” said the Rev. Robert N. Sieh, director.
The bus, 64 mattresses and various other items, worth more than $20,000 total, were givento the village by the Detroit Conference of The United Methodist Church, and by Maple Grove United Methodist Church in Columbus, Ohio.
The bus will help with administrative tasks and overall efficiency.
The Rev. Robert N. Sieh, director of The United Methodist Church’s Bishop Judith Craig Children’s Village, stands outside the center. Photo by E Julu Swen, UMNS.
“We are always spending money to rent vehicles to either pick up visiting guests, go to the market, or take the children and staff members to the hospital,” Sieh said.
The United Methodist clergyman called the bus “a blessing … from our brothers and sisters in the United States of America.”
As for the mattresses, Sieh said that gift from Maple Grove United Methodist Church was needed and timely.
“Though we have about 70 children, making sleeping comfortable for 64 of them with new mattresses is an outstanding way the U.S. church is partnering with the church in Liberia,” he said.
He added that other churches throughout the United Methodist connection have been involved in helping the village meet the needs of disadvantaged children.
Students work together on spelling words in the combined kindergarten and first grade classroom at the Bishop Judith Craig Children's Village in Duahzon, Liberia, in June 2017. File photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.
“We are in partnership with several United Methodist churches overseas to make sure the children of the village are secure and treated well,” he said.
The village provides basic education, health care and counseling for the children.
The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries solicits support for the village through Advance #11820A.
Namesake Bishop Judith Craig is retired from the active episcopacy but teaches church leadership and serves as bishop in residence at Methodist Theological School in Ohio.
The village was established in 2000 to provide care for children left orphaned by civil war in Liberia.
Swen is a communicator in Liberia. News media contact: Vicki Brown, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.
