Macedonian call, personal contacts to Liberia

Alfred Joe today

I was very surprised when one of the students contacted me and I was very glad to hear the majority of the students at the school survived. Some of the parents including my main interpreter we're killed in the conflicts. They were civilians not warriors. 

The students were my oldest kids in the school and they went with me everywhere. They were my guides in the jungle, they help protect my daughter who was for the time for the jungle was all around us. Every day I played soccer with the boys at to school and I learned play in my bare feet. In the rainy season this was fun. In the school they were my smartest students. I owe them a lot more then I can never repay. They were just kids but they taught me a lot about living in the jungle. The parents of the students at school did much to help me have a good opportunity to help others.

Alfred Joe was the oldest of the boys. He was tall for a Liberian and was very fast. His English was very good and he was the one fellow I could depend when I was in the jungle. When we walk together he would often stop and identify a sound of an animal, warn me of a dangerous snake nearby, let me know if there're people around. His skills in the jungle came in very handy then and later in the Liberian Civil War.

One day, soldiers came into his village and began shooting. They killed about 30 people in his village including Alfred Joe's dad. (Alfred Joe’s dad work for me as a groundskeeper back in 1977.) Alfred Joe and is mentally challenged brother ran into the jungle to escape the gunfire. His brother wasn't able to keep up and took another direction and he was killed. Alfred Joe's speed and knowledge of the jungle saved his life.

Daniel and Moses Tarr like Alfred Joe were excellent students and a big help around the mission. I will tell some of their stories later. It was Moses who contacted me on Facebook and in we have been in communication since. Moses has some very practical ideas of how I can help now. One of the things I am working on right now is improving communication with the men. Alfred Joe lives in the jungle and maybe out of reach of the Internet. Daniel lives in Monrovia poverty prevents them from having a phone. Both of these situations I hope to improve. A personal level I would like to help the three who struggle with poverty. I can't change the world, but I can help a few people. They in turn have language skills which can be a tremendous asset.

Having a personal connection has brought me back to a long time I'll go commitment that I have made. Keep walking

“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”