It was in March 2014 that news of an Ebola outbreak in three West African countries was announced. The virus had been discovered in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. It wasn’t long before the deadly disease began spread to additional African countries, in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.
By year’s end, more than 17,000 Ebola cases have been diagnosed. The survival rate is approximately 54 percent. Whole families have died. Many children are now orphans.
When Blue Mountain Elementary Principal Rachel Wardecke heard about an opportunity to help children in Liberia, she asked volunteer Craig Johnson to investigate the cause. He discovered an outreach to serve the children in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia.
Wardecke knew this project would be a good fit for the year-round Helping Hands project at the Blue Mountain Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School (BME). Each month an opportunity for serving others is presented to the students. The needs of these children stunned, and then motivated, the students to get involved.
“They have no shoes, sleep on the floor and maybe have one meal a day,” said Michael Lutsel, a seventh grade student. “The schools have no desks or chairs. They [students] lay on the floor and share books.”
Zachary Lesher explained their action plan. “We collected backpacks, school supplies, shoes, clothing, books, and canned goods.” Donations were accepted until the end of December.
“We teach our children how to be part of our world, how to make a difference, how to understand selflessness. We want to help them grow in character as well as academically,” Wardecke explained.
“It gives them a chance to see what other children have. It gives them a chance to share,” teacher Kathy Goley added.
It is not unusual for parents to sell the backpacks for food money. That some of the donated goods would be sold didn’t bother fourth-grader Kylie Oswald. “I believe that I would rather have food than a backpack.”