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This week we had the privilege of visiting Africa Heartwood Project. It is an orphanage in a rural area near Monrovia. Rufus & Victoria, the managers, are Liberians who spent some time in Ghana during the war and have returned to Liberia with several orphaned children. We were impressed by the cleanliness and orderliness of the compound. It is obviously well managed. Everyone has chores to perform and they all learn practical skills like cooking, baking, sewing and gardening. They go to a nearby school through grade six and then they continue their education at a school that is about an hour's walk away. The orphanage recently received their accreditation from the federal government and now can take in some more children. We believe they have twelve residing there now.
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This is the library where they can study. They have a computer they can use when the generator is running.(which isn't often as fuel is very expensive) There is no electricity in the area. Two of the young people demonstrated their drumming skills on these Ghanean drums. They are great sounding drums, by the way.
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They have a dug well on their property which gives them clean water for drinking and washing. There is no running water in the area. As you can imagine, cleanliness is very important when many people are living in close quarters.
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The pantry inside the cookhouse. The white containers on the right contain palm oil that is produced locally from palm nuts.
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This is the food preparation area
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Fish cleaning party outside of the cookhouse. Fish are readily available at the street markets but the purchaser has to clean them.
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Rufus displays the oven where they bake bread and cinnamon rolls. I understand their baked goods are very tasty. We hope to sample them one day. They burn charcoal in the bottom of the oven to produce the heat for baking.
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This is the open air dining hall. The table appears to be large enough for everyone to be seated at the same time.
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The gathering room outside of the library building. It is used for meetings and evening devotionals. The young people all participate in the devotionals.
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The hygiene station or latrine/shower room. Notice the space between the gutter sections. This allows rain water to fill the water barrels which is then used for flushing the toilets
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Victoria and Rufus are soft-spoken and kind. They seemingly have the perfect temperament for managing the orphanage. Their son Gordon, is five years old and is the youngest child at this time.
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