New School Year Begins with Excitement! 

Smiles and hugs are the first things that come to mind when Ma Olivia, residential life staff member at Liberia Mission, thinks about the start of this 2011-2012 school year.

And indeed there were many smiles and hugs at the opening Mass and opening day of classes at St. Anthony of Padua School on September 5th. This year, our school's Kindergarten through 9th grade classes are educating over 380 students - 40 more than last year! Over the summer, teachers and administrators decided that due to the incredible need in the area and desire among local families, they would open classes to even more students. This is a great undertaking and speaks to the passion for education among our teachers and students!

Now more than a month into the school year, when asked what they liked best, some girls said they like their teachers' "bit by bit" approach to giving notes. A couple boys said they are enjoying the content. But what are the kids really smiling about? More privileges, a new movie projector and ...a computer lab!

According to John Dewan, MHI Board Treasurer and volunteer at Liberia Mission, dreams for the computer lab were actually no dream at all.

"Last fall, when the new school building was constructed, one classroom was outfitted with enhanced electricity and security needed for a computer lab," he said.

This was after the used computers and accessories were shipped to Liberia in June 2010 from Baton Rouge, La.

Now, one year later, the empty room is filled with 15 working computers, a printer and projector.

Untangling mouse wires and configuring monitors were main activities for Bob and Kathy O'Dwyer, John, Sue and Erica Dewan, and their volunteer team, who devoted most of their summer visit to installing the computer lab.

Then came the eagerness of the LMI kids, who helped move the heavy equipment across the campus.

Dewan said that getting one computer to work was a "real prize."

"But the best prize of all," he said, "is seeing the excitement of all the house parents, staff, teachers, students and residents of the mission and school.   They are so grateful for the opportunity to use computers."

Ma Olivia said the students are also enjoying their new movie projector screen and the privilege to choose their after-school chore schedules. This year, the kids are selecting what days they will work on the farm, yard and vocational activities instead of being assigned by the residential staff.

No More Palava

"They were making palava." A young Liberia Mission (LMI) beneficiary vented, explained the  argument that had just taken place. "Palava?" I thought to myself, imagining some sort of Liberian cuisine - maybe another version of cassava leaf.

Wrong. Palava is the Liberian term for conflict, or arguing. It originates from, "palaver," an older word meaning idle chatter or conflict, particularly between European settlers and natives.

Palava is prevalent in Liberia. But it isn't always in the form of external conflict. Since the war especially, palava rests inside the minds and hearts Liberians in many antagonizing forms.

According to Janice Cooper, Liberian mental health specialist, "40% of Liberians have experienced a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

And LMI is taking action.  

Helena Goyner, who was recently named LMI Residential Program Coordinator, explains how the staff has been proactive in decreasing palava within and around the children of Liberia Mission.

Our staff attended a workshop on conflict resolution and psychosocial counseling provided by Mr. S. Benedit Dossen of the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences and his colleagues.

We learned the different types of conflicts - pseudo, fact, ego and value. The workshop team demonstrated each term with a game, which taught us the conflict definitions and the six-step approach to resolving each battle.

Under the psycho-social counseling segment, we learned the main components of stress: stressor, stressful and stressed. And we learned about advocacy in the areas of bio-psychosocial model, coping, counseling, confidentiality, distress, empathy.

We also learned how to be active listeners for our children - we should not always give advice directly. We learned how to help them solve their own problem instead of solving it for them.

Our staff plans to practice what we learned with our children and to focus on solving one problem at a time.

Arrangements for this seminar were initiated first by Amy Spelz, a past international staff member. With the help of cell phone communication and LMI International Director Chris Keeney, we were able to follow through.

Future workshops topics include: student palava managers, psychosocial counseling continued, trauma counseling and social work.