Using Art to Reach the Illiterate:
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Imagine what your life would be like if your house had nothing in it that contained writing. There would be no books, no Bibles, no magazines, no text messaging... Take a journey with me into Liberia’s bush. As you look around, you will see something strangely missing in nearly every town we enter. There are very few written words. Now, walk with me into a typical mud brick house and look around. There are no books and there is nothing written down. Liberia is an oral society. This means that life’s lessons and history are passed from one generation to another through storytelling rather than through a written means.
Life in an oral society is quite different than life in a written society. For example, there are no recipe books in the bush. If you want to learn to cook, you have to spend time cooking alongside of someone while memorizing their recipes. If you want to learn a craft like carpentry, there are no books to read, you learn through observation and instruction. In Liberia’s bush, books are almost worthless because most people cannot read and if they can read, their reading is so poor that they have very little comprehension. While it is true, Liberians are becoming more and more literate, even among the literate, orality is so engrained in them that they learn differently than we do in America.
When I became a missionary, I quickly learned that I had to change to become like my Liberian friends if I was going to be fruitful. I had to learn to teach in the way this society learns. I found my solution in a Liberian art gallery where I met an artist named Prince Kolley.
I asked Prince to help me paint pictures for the first 8 chapters of the book of Romans. God changed Prince’s life and our ministry while Prince painted. Prince gave his life to Jesus, was reunited with his wife and son, and became a leader in our church while painting Scripture. Our mission used Prince’s art to teach Romans to the illiterate. The results were shocking. By the end of our teaching, hundreds of Liberians were retelling the message of Romans by memory using only Prince’s pictures. Now, our mission uses pictures in every lesson we teach.
One of the strengths of an oral society is their ability to memorize. Last year, we sought to capitalize on this strength with another experiment. We started drawing pictures for every verse in the book of Proverbs. Our goal was to see if it was possible for illiterate people to memorize the Bible word for word, chapter by chapter, book by book. While we are at the beginning of this project, the results are equally encouraging. Over a hundred children from our elementary schools and many others have started memorizing Proverbs. Even a year after memorizing parts of Proverbs, people are still able to quote the Scriptures word for word using only Prince’s pictures. During the 2020-2021 school year, we plan to use this curriculum in all our schools.
COVID-19 Lockdown:
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Last week, we completed the construction of a quarantine house at His Safe Haven Village. On March 16, the COVID-19 virus officially entered Liberia. At that time, our moms voluntarily quarantined themselves with our special needs children inside of His Safe Haven’s fence. While we truly appreciate their love and dedication for our children, we knew their sacrifice was not sustainable. Last week, 3 of our moms left the village for two weeks of vacation. When they return, they will be quarantined for two weeks before reentering the village.
Baby Devine: Written by Suzan McLay
I want to share with you a story of a little boy named Devine. The world will not remember Devine. There will be no monuments marking his life. He was not royal in earthly standards nor was he famous. No, Devine was just a baby. He had 16 days on the earth before the Lord called him home.
From his conception, Devine was unwanted and unloved. When Devine’s father heard about the pregnancy, he made Devine’s mother leave the house. Homeless and alone, Devine’s mother tried to abort Devine, but Devine clung to life! He continued to grow as God prepared him for the world. When Devine was born on June 19, 2020, his arms were slightly deformed, both arms were broken and his legs were permanently wrapped around his body, like he was giving himself a hug. His mother refused to look at him or take care of him. Yet still God was looking after him. A nurse at the hospital where he was born offered to care for him until a home could be found.
Little Devine was brought to the His Safe Haven’s Family on June 25, 2020. Oh there was a huge celebration for him! The Mum’s were singing and dancing and praising the Lord for another blessing He had given them.
Devine was dearly loved at His Safe Haven. He was cared for and he had found home. Then on July 1, 2020, Devine came down with a sickness and was rushed to the hospital. Due to the COVID-19 crisis there are many police checkpoints to cross on our 3 hour car drive. God was watching out for him then too! He allowed safe passing through all the checkpoints. When we reached the main checkpoint, it was almost as if the car was invisible! The gate was up and no guards took any notice of our vehicle passing through!
When Devine reached the hospital he was taken for x-rays where it was determined he had an obstructed bowel and pneumonia. Being too weak and fragile for the needed surgery, he was started on antibiotics and oxygen to try to make him strong enough for surgery. During Devine’s time in the hospital, a lot of people came to pray. Word had spread about the little miracle boy who was loved in a country that disregards, throws away and kills children with special needs. A nurse from his birth came to pray with him, his neighbours on the ward prayed with him. A doctor stopped to pray with him.
One could question if God heard our prayers because Devine’s health continued to decline. He was never strong enough for the surgery. Devine passed into the arms of Jesus on July 6, 2020. We prayed for Devine’s healing and the Lord healing came, just not here on this earth. Devine was small but he has left a big hole in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.
Home for the Deaf: Written by Don Riley
Three days ago, His safe Haven’s leadership met to discuss another child in need. His story was gut wrenching. A mother in the bush decided that her 5 year old son no longer deserved to live. She carried him to the river, stripped him naked and was about to throw him in when someone noticed her. When asked what she was doing, she said that she was going to destroy her son. The boy was carried back to his extremely poor grandmother. The grandmother took the boy, though she did not want him and could not afford to feed him. There he sat suffering until one of our physician assistants learned about his condition. As you know, the Deaf are heavy on our family’s hearts. You can imagine how repulsed we felt when we learned that the mom wanted to kill her son simply because he was born deaf. Our mission is in the process of making this precious boy our son! Please pray that we will be able to rescue this child
