haven missions seeks to improve the lives of orphans in post-war Liberia by implementing a five-part program as follows:

1. Children’s Village: haven missions seeks to build an orphanage to shelter, nurture, educate, and care for children orphaned by the war in Liberia.  At the present time, these children have been left to fend for themselves on the streets, instinctively following their wiles, their own dark, unsafe and often sub-human methods for survival. They must rifle through huge piles of garbage all over Monrovia, scavenging for remnants of spoiled food, bits and pieces already picked over by stray dogs and cats.  Waste management is virtually non-existent in Liberia.  Everywhere in the city, there are huge piles of garbage, a breeding ground for rats, flies, and malaria-carrying mosquitoes.  These rodents and insects in turn infect the populace with a myriad of diseases: cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea to name a few, all of which are endemic. Because of their cyclical nature, they cause constant outbreaks. Malnutrition contributes to the death of 1 in every 6 children in Liberia. Shelter and nutrition are therefore the crucial mainstays of our program. 

 

2. haven Clinic: In a country where disease is rampant, where life expectancy reaches only 47.7 years, and 10-12% of the population is infected with the HIV/AIDS virus, it is incumbent upon us, with regard to health issues, to minister to the orphans of haven’s Children’s Village as well as the women and children in the local community. We plan to build a clinic on the premises of the Children’s Village and to begin by addressing the most basic of human health needs, pre-natal care, immunizations, and antibiotics. Our emphasis would be to address not only these needs but in time, to expand our services to include needs beyond the basic ones described here. Currently, there are only 4 clinics throughout the entire city of Monrovia providing free healthcare to Monrovia’s 1.6 million residents.

 

3. Safe Drinking Water and Hygiene Education: The absence of good, safe water for drinking, cooking, and for hygienic maintenance wreaks havoc in the lives of Liberians by causing cholera, dysentery and diarrhea, diseases that kill if treatment is not received. Attacking the essence of this problem is vital for farming, growth, health, and eventual stability in Liberia.  Our goal is to provide safe drinking water for the residents of haven village by digging wells and more importantly, by teaching the children to assist in the program’s development. Such instruction and knowledge will further their resolve to strive for the elimination of variants which undermine attempts to better themselves and those in their communities. Cholera, a disease caused by drinking, or eating food cooked with contaminated water, is the leading cause of death in post-war Liberia. We will build a well for the local community as well and conduct classes to train the orphans and residents of the community in basic hygiene.

 

4. Education and Vocational Training: Our plans are to build a school to educate not only the orphans but also the children of the community. UNICEF reports that out of Liberia’s population of 1 million children, 500,000 have never attended school. We will also provide after-school vocational training classes for the orphans, and  these classes will be totally accessible and completely free of charge to the women and youth of the community. They will be taught skills in useful trades, skills that will enable them to become self-sufficient and financially independent. Examples of courses to be offered include, but are not limited to: sewing, baking and culinary, tie-dye, carpentry, carving/sculpture, plumbing, agriculture, and electrical repair.

 

5. Sponsorship/Mentoring Program: A mentoring program will be established, one which hopefully will inspire the children at haven to reach for goals which otherwise might have seemed unattainable.  A pre-screened, pre-selected sponsor will be assigned by haven to each child.  A private bank account, or graduate trust fund intended only for that child, will be set up, monitored and overseen by haven. Each child will benefit from a “dollar a day” plan, funds to be deposited by the sponsor into this account which over time will enable them to become independent upon leaving haven.  The funds will go untouched and upon their reaching the age of eighteen, will be presented to them. These accumulated funds will enable the child to either attend a University or perhaps open a small business upon leaving Haven. Sponsors/Mentors will be encouraged to discuss various options with the now adult child. The mentor will also be encouraged to keep in contact with their protégé, sharing his or her passions, experiences, thoughts and ideas, which will hopefully serve to inspire dreams toward the realization of full potential.

 

6. Agriculture: We will be planting a 25-acre farm, which will serve as the primary source of food for the orphanage. The orphans will care for the farm as part of their vocational training, overseen by professional farmers. We are also investing in a 1000-acre rubber plantation, which by our calculations is projected to ensure haven’s financial self-sufficiency in 7 years, when the rubber plants mature. At this time, upon reaching self-sufficiency, we will begin implementing programs to aid local communities by providing necessary improvements to better the lives of Liberia’s children.