From Leesburg to Liberia, St. James' brings literacy camp to Bromley
School for girls
By Mary Davila, July 13, 2010
[Episcopal News Service]
A hand-made sign hanging on the wall of the
Bromley Episcopal Mission School for girls welcomed the 16 missioners
who traveled from Leesburg, Virginia, to Monrovia, Liberia. The sign
read, "If love hadn't existed in your hearts, you wouldn't have come
this far. Thank you for educating us, and for securing our future."
The mission team, all members of St. James' Episcopal Church in
Leesburg, made the church's third visit to Bromley in two years. The
focus of the June 22-July 5 mission trip was on literacy.
St. James' offers an annual reading camp in Leesburg, working with
rising third graders in the community whose reading skills are below
grade level. The mission team, comprised of youth and adults, adapted
the local reading camp to an international setting, and led seven days
of literacy camp at Bromley.
The Bromley girls expressed their appreciation for the mission, and
they were especially grateful for the connections made with American
teenagers. "I pray that you will continue to send mission teams to us.
And next time, please send even more teenagers," said Bromley student
Kapanah Gaygay, 17. "We connect with other teens. We are so grateful
that they come to visit us, and help us with our education."
The St. James' youth also found the connection to be incredibly
meaningful. "At first glance, it's easy to notice the disrepair, the
destruction, and the trying conditions at the Bromley School. But when
a girl comes and holds your hand, so eager and excited just for your
presence, somehow you see an entirely different side of the school,"
said Shelby Rombach, age 16.
"It made me really value the simple things in life such as water,
food, family, a place to call home, and the power of education --
things that I used to take for granted," said Jessie Joseph, 16. "I
went to Bromley expecting to teach the girls things, but instead I was
taught valuable lessons. The girls really taught me what a true friend
is, and that it can be found in any race, age, or gender. I cannot
wait to go back to those smiling faces again someday."
Bromley was once a premier school for girls in Liberia, but it was
forced to close in 1997 during the height of the 14-year civil war in
Liberia. Bromley re-opened in 2003, its student body comprised largely
of orphaned girls, age 3 to 18. In the past seven years, Bromley has
regained electricity and running water, and the Bromley girls are
motivated to become Liberia's leaders of the future. However, many of
the high school age students struggle with literacy skills, as their
education halted during their elementary years.
The literacy camp sought to strengthen the students' reading skills by
giving them individual attention and creative means of learning.
The camp featured five literacy centers, and all of the activities at
the centers were planned by St. James' youth missioners, age 16 and
17. The youth led a readers' theater group, a group reading center, a
music and sign language station, an art center, and a first aid
center.
After finishing the centers, the group enjoyed an hour of free reading
with the Bromley students. The younger students gravitated to The Cat
and the Hat and The Giving Tree, while the older students preferred
Night John. The missioners brought about 1,000 pounds of supplies for
the reading camp, and gave two books to each of the 80 Bromley
students who attended the camp. The faculty of the Bromley School also
participated in the camp, learning how to use the resources available
to them to engage the students in creative ways.
St. James' plans to send more youth mission teams to Bromley in the
future, with a focus on education, both with Bromley students and
Bromley faculty.
"The love that is shared in that school is breathtaking," said
missioner Jane Horton, 17. "My experience in Liberia completely
changed my perspective on how I live, and I will never take anything
for granted again. In America, we teenagers worry about typical high
school-related problems. For teenagers in Liberia, their problems are,
'will I eat tomorrow?' It just shows us how fortunate we are."
-- Mary Davila is assistant to the rector for youth and children's
ministries at St. James' Episcopal Church in Leesburg, Virginia. She
led the St. James' mission team to Liberia.
Episcopal Life Online
June 2010
Long-term commitment to mission in Liberia
By Kimberly Johnson, June 29, 2010
[Episcopal News Service]
When people ask me about mission, I have a
simple answer: Go! It will change you. It will change the people
around you.
Two years ago, I went on a mission trip with St. David's Episcopal
Church in Ashburn, Virginia, a trip that altered not only my life, but
my career, my world perspective and my attitude towards all the
"simple" things I take as givens. As I expressed my concerns of going
way outside of my comfort zone in traveling to Liberia, West Africa,
to Bromley Episcopal Mission School, my son gifted me with the words
by which I have come to live. He said, "God's work is never in our
comfort zone, Mom."
Through my fortunate brush with Bromley these last two years, I
continue to see that we have an invitation to be God's channels, his
hands and mouth, and to contribute some of our resources, whether
monetary, emotional or spiritual. I've found that when we hear the
still, small voice and we respond by reaching out to others, it is so
surprising what "so-called coincidences," as my priest, the Rev. John
Ohmer refers to them, start pouring into our lives.
In January, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited
Bromley. Along with Bishop of Liberia Jonathan B.B. Hart, she
participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of
phase one of the school's staff housing project, partially funded by a
United Thank Offering grant obtained through St. James' Leesburg,
Virginia, and the Diocese of Virginia. (Bromley is currently raising
the final $8,000 for the staff housing project; $52,000 out of the
$60,000 necessary has already been raised.)
Bromley, once a premier school in Liberia, was founded more than 100
years ago by Bishop Samuel David Ferguson, the first black person to
be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church. It was devastated by
recent wars and forced to close during the most violent period.
When Kingsley Obaji and Maggie Johnson (who is Liberian) from St.
David's rediscovered it, the school had recently reopened with orphans
rescued from refugee camps and was struggling for survival and seeking
support. They began taking mission teams to replace the leaking roof,
bring much-needed supplies of food and clothing and to refurbish the
library, among many other projects. The Obajis rallied support from
local Episcopal churches and when they came to my church, St. James',
Leesburg, with a Bromley presentation they also informed us that they
had room on their upcoming mission to the school. Six weeks later, I
was in Liberia.
During our mission, we accomplished much, not the least of which was
developing relationships with the students and staff at Bromley. As
Buck Blanchard, world mission coordinator for the Diocese of Virginia
says of mission, "It's the people, not the project." All of us on that
mission felt the same affirmation that we could never turn away from
these girls.
I am now preparing for my seventh trip to Liberia, and looking back
over the 21 weeks I have spent there in the past two years I can
hardly believe how my life has been altered. I now work full time
combining humanitarian endeavors for Liberia and writing and I have
never been more fulfilled.
The longer I know the girls at Bromley and watch the school slowly
improve, the more attached I become to this place and these people.
It's really quite amazing to see the seniors graduate and move to
college and to watch the little ones grow and learn. I, like all of
the missioners who have visited Bromley, feel like these girls are my
family.
The school is very far from financial freedom and stability, however.
Although Bromley now accepts local students, they still must support
the original girls and there is much work yet to be done. Education
remains a luxury in Liberia, a country with staggering rates of
illiteracy and unemployment, but Bromley's staff continues to fight
for the education of Liberia's young women -- the very future of the
country. Many Episcopalians have provided girls with scholarships to
Bromley.
As Liberia begins to emerge from the ashes and carnage of past wars,
the students and staff at Bromley have been granted a great gift of
hope through their very own Episcopal Church community. What a
tremendous comfort and reassurance it is to these girls to know that
even across thousands of miles and through 100 years, the Episcopal
Church continues to support and nurture its family and care for the
schools they founded so long ago. Bromley is not forgotten.
An example of the benevolence extended to Bromley was evident when
they recently faced an urgent financial crisis. Largely because of
donor fatigue and rising rice and fuel prices, Bromley was unable to
meet operational costs, a crisis so severe that the school was almost
forced to close for the remainder of the year which would have had
reverberating repercussions. Many friends and supporters of Bromley,
as well as several Episcopal churches, raised almost all of the money
to cover the budget deficit.
The school's administration knows it cannot rely on grants to fund
operating costs and has a plan to establish an agricultural project
that will help prevent further budget shortfalls. Bromley has more
than 150 fertile, riverside acres and for decades operated a thriving
farm. Re-cultivating the farm would generate revenue for the school
and place it firmly on the path to self-sufficiency.
On my first day at Bromley in 2007, I was handed a letter from a small
girl asking me to be her "playmother," which I soon learned was a
great honor. Words seem to be more sacred in Liberia. When a person
agrees to be someone's playmother or playfather or playsister, they
not only agree to remember the girl but also to pray for her and to
offer the support of friendship and love. Every time I return to
Liberia, I take pen pal letters from many Episcopal churches, letters
that offer hope and simple connection. These girls live in a harsh
environment and they feel that if they are remembered, even from
someone on another continent, they are never completely alone.
All of the Bromley girls take great pride in their country. Even in
the center of what most of us would rank as insurmountable odds, these
girls have a passion for life and a resolve that their families, their
country and their lives will soon be great again.
In my opinion, they are already great. Through their shining spirits
and their warm friendship and love, they have given me so much more
than I have given them. They have overcome the traumas of rape,
torture, homelessness, starvation, witnessing unspeakable crimes and
murders and the feeling of being utterly lost.
When I become overwhelmed by the remaining and often daunting work
still necessary at Bromley, I remember the words of a friend who when
asked, "Where in the world do you start?" answered, "You just start."
Through this change in my life I have learned a simple truth: we all
need each other. We can find the answer to our life questions by
answering another: What can I do to offer someone else hope?
The Prayer of St. Francis always offers me strength in mission and I
believe, as the people of Liberia, that the former horrors of war will
be overcome, that God calls us all to build and plant and above all,
to scatter joy.
-- Kimberly Johnson is a missioner from the Diocese of Virginia.
Adult Mission 2009
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