Scenes from the Liberian Civil War

WILL YOU HELP?

Add comment June 20th, 2006

Saleef

     I can see Saleef now, a tall handsome fellow with a smile as wide as the sea! When he is working, he wears a sleeveless T-shirt, cotton trousers, plastic flip flops, and a baseball cap perched on his head. Otherwise, he proudly wears his traditional garments. I knew Saleef for five years while I was living in West Africa; he was always trying to help people, so thoughtful of every one’s needs.

 
     One day as Saleef was chopping weeds in my back yard and I was trapping colorful butterflies, he suddenly inquired, “Mrs. Ruth, what are you doing with that net? Are you trying to catch fruit as it drops from the trees?” “No, I am catching butterflies,” I replied. “Butterflies?” he responded with a puzzled look on his face. “But you can not eat butterflies!” When I explained to him that collecting African butterflies was my husband’s hobby, he burst out laughing. “Then let me HELP you and Mr. Gary catch butterflies!”

 
     Now Saleef was a very intelligent lad. He spoke and read two languages fluently, plus he was always learning. “Mrs. Ruth, I want to live in America, some big city like Los Angeles or New York. Please tell me about your country.” So I would spend time sharing with him stories from my homeland. Saleef also had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. One day I gave him a New Testament Bible written in the French language. Saleef seemed to devour its every page, comparing its truths with his traditions.

 
     I noticed one afternoon as he sat on the cool cement porch with his back against my house, that he was intently studying two different books, one was the Holy Bible and the other was The Koran. As I walked by he commented to me, “Mrs. Ruth, I am beginning to understand about Jesus, but I just can’t follow Him yet. Because if I do, I may lose everything: my family, my friends, my community respect, my property, my burial rights, even my life.”

 
     “I am so sorry, Saleef, I replied, because Jesus said, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’” “I will think on this matter,” Saleef solemnly concluded. Then I prayerfully walked away.

2 comments June 16th, 2006

God Will Provide

“Ma, I so so hungry-o!” the small child cried. “I sorry child, but we have nothing left to eat.” the compassionate mother empathized as she lovingly wrapped her arms around the sobbing child. In agony the woman approached her husband, “Old Man, our children be hungry and we have no money to buy food. What we do?” With calm assurance he replied, “Get the cooking pot ready, Old Ma; God will provide!”

During the 15 year civil war that raged in Liberia, most families suffered from malnutrition or slow starvation, because of the scarcity of food in that war ravished country. Following is an adaptation of a true story told by Mary Naff, a former missionary and co-laborer in Liberia, who is also a very dear friend of mine.

….So the husband lovingly embraced his wife and then set off on his walk, praying as he went that God would supply a day’s meal for his hungry family. As he turned around the corner, just past a Lebanese shop, he came upon a couple of soldiers fist-fighting. Abruptly he stopped, at fairly close range, and cautiously waited, nervously watching. Suddenly, something hit him on the forehead, causing him to back away and quickly return home!

Totally dejected because he had brought home no food for his family, he slumped down onto a wooden stool, pulled off his sweaty shirt, asking his young daughter to wash it for him. Obediently the girl carried her father’s shirt outside to launder. But soon she came running back, breathless, “Papa, where did you get the $5 that was in your shirt pocket? Can we use it for food?”

God’s supply!! The $5 had evidently been flung from one of the fighters as he tussled, hit the dad’s forehead and slipped into his shirt pocket! God did provide food that day, and I think now you can guess “the rest of the story”!

Add comment June 15th, 2006

Through Some Other Eyes

The song ‘Through Some Other Eyes’ by Andrew Culverwell, expresses the feelings of my heart when I think of all those children orphaned in Liberia, as a result of its fifteen year civil war! Here are the words of the song…

 
Why should the sun shine down on me? I know I don’t deserve it. Why should the rain bring me life again? God knows that I’m not perfect. Looking through some other eyes, I began to realize; some have had a heavier cross to bear, some a steeper hill to climb!

 
Why should a child stand all alone, but I have a Ma and Papa? Why should the world be so very cold, but I’ve had allot of laughter? Looking through some other eyes, I began to realize; some have had a heavier cross to bear, some a steeper hill to climb!

Just to know God loves me so, gives me strength to live—strength to share the pain, the tears, and shame… giving love with so much love to give!
Why is my life so peaceful and still, while some lay awake and frightened? Why does the world say that it’s the end, when I’ve found a new horizon?!

Add comment June 9th, 2006