Today I received a call to prayer from Dr. Olu Menjay, the president of the Liberia Baptist Missionary & Educational Convention, Inc., asking us to cover Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone in prayer during this time of medical crisis related to the Ebola outbreak in these three West African countries.
Current stories of the spread of this deadly Ebola virus in this region are making daily international headlines. Ebola is dangerous, often fatal, and reaching epidemic status in West Africa.
I first met Dr. Menjay in 2006 at the General Assembly meeting of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. In addition to his work with the Convention, Dr. Menjay is also the Principal and CEO of Ricks Institute, a Christian boarding school for students just out of Liberia’s capital city, Monrovia. At his invitation, Passport came to Ricks to build an Initiative Course on their campus and talk about hosting a Passport camp. We also agreed to invite our Passport campers to help purchase solar panels that were placed on the roof of the administrative building in 2008. Passport campers gave over $64,000 for those panels, through our summer camp offering.
That first visit formed a strong bond. We have held three sessions of PASSPORTLiberia, in 2008, 2010 and 2013. Above is a picture of the first team, made up of Americans and Liberians including Scott Ford Passport’s Operations Coordinator, and Dr. Olu Menjay, the two men standing top right.
Currently, Ricks Institute students come to the United States on scholarship to study at Mercer University, and some spend their summers working on staff with Passport camps. This summer, we were privileged to work with James Blay, an M. Div. student at the McAfee School of Theology, and Massa Mamey, a Mercer graduate who will be returning to Liberia at the end of August.
The Republic of Liberia was founded in 1847 by freed slaves from America returning to African soil after the Emancipation Proclamation freed all U.S. slaves near the end of the U.S. Civil War.
In the 1990s, Liberia had its own period of civil war, which devastated the country’s infrastructure on almost every level. Finally, in 2003 the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement put enough national and international pressure on the leaders to finally end the war. In 2005, Liberia had free elections and voted into office the first female president of any African country, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Liberians are strong, resilient people, and Liberia is an ally to the United States.
In learning about the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, I discovered that they took over the fish market to pray and sing for months to gain attention for their cause. Perhaps it is time for us to join and again mobilize for prayer toward ending the spread of Ebola in this region.
I believe in the power of prayer. And for me, a call to prayer can also include a call to action, so that even as we pray for peace or healing, we are actively helping that prayer become a reality through our support and action. So consider giving financially toward ending this epidemic. It should be noted that doctors and medical professionals both from humanitarian organizations and from mission sending organizations are on the front lines of this crisis, and at high risk for their own safety.
Here are some links for sending donations or exploring other ways to act:
- Baptist World Alliance World Aid fund, earmarking the donation to Liberia
- Episcopal Relief and Development, which has work in all three of these countries
- Presbyterian (USA) Disaster Assistance which also has work in all three countries
- Doctors Without Borders is doing great work in the region.
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David Burroughs
David Burroughs is the president & founder of of Passport, Inc.