 Our Widow Outreach Program As the new year begins we look back on an eventful 2015 with so much thankfulness. What a year it was! We reminisce about the good and the bad as God weaved his way through it all. Every moment has meaning. When we look back on 2015 we are so thankful for all that God accomplished. Your partnership with us helped us impact more families and more lives in Liberia, Africa than ever before. Fighting Ebola In the spring of 2014 the deadly Ebola virus swept across the Liberian border from Guinea. Bringing with it a record outbreak the world had never seen before. Causing families, businesses, ministries, and non-profits in West Africa to take drastic courses of action in 2015. Today, January 14th, Liberia celebrates its third, and hopefully final, declaration of being Ebola free!! "In 2015 we experienced our most dangerous, yet incredibly meaningful and gratifying, humanitarian work we have ever done." As the Ebola virus quickly spread through Liberia in 2015, our Liberian staff dedicated themselves to serving their country through CHAP's End Ebola Public Awareness and Protection Campaign. This campaign included establishing public hand washing stations, distribution of sanitizing supplies and information, and person-to-person community outreach. The belief was that Ebola could not be stopped until Liberians were educated on what Ebola is and how to protect against it. People needed to be taught what to look for and how to report possible Ebola infections so that the sick could quickly be removed from the community and receive proper medical care.  End Ebola Campaign Our Country Director, Aaron Paul, worked in cooperation with the Liberian Ministry of Healthy to learn proper procedures and ran training workshops to educate our staff and numerous community volunteers. He then led them out into the surrounding communities to educate and supply as many people as possible. In Liberia this kind of campaign requires face-to-face interaction, and with a total population in our target area of over 20,000 people it was a daunting task. Our staff performed brilliantly. Their community interaction also allowed them to identify widows and handicapped people in desperate need of food. A ministry that continues today through our Widow Outreach Program. We cannot thank our team on the ground in Liberia enough for their diligence, sacrifice, and hard-work during this crisis. And a huge thank you to our partnership with Equip 2 Serve, a joining of efforts that was established during the Ebola outbreak. We continue to brainstorm and discuss ways that we can work together moving forward for a better Liberia in 2016.  Diamond Creek Feeding Program New Ventures in 2015 Despite the bad of 2015 and our fight to End Ebola, it brought with it so much good. We began three new programs/projects in 2015, one to widows in the Sinkor Monrovia area. A community that surrounds our office in Liberia. We can't think of a more impactful and amazing way to reach the community than to gather women and disabled individuals on the front steps of our office. Where we spend time in God's word, encourage and build relations, and send them home with some rice to nourish their bodies. A ministry that has been on our hearts for years came to fruition and continues to grow as we now minister to over 150 widows through our Widow Outreach Program. The second program is our Feeding Program at Diamond Creek Community School. Through this outreach we provide two meals a week to students at Diamond Creek, ranging in age from 4-16 years old. We are also able to bless the dedicated and amazing teachers once a month with a meal. Through this feeding program we are able to feed 165 students on a weekly basis. Liberia is one of the most impoverished countries in the world and malnutrition among children is a major concern. Malnutrition results in poor concentration, decreased energy, weight loss, dry skin, weakened muscles, and an increased susceptibility to infection and disease. Through our feeding program we are directly fighting a hunger and malnutrition crisis and helping these kids reach their full potential! Our goal in 2016 is to increase our feeding program from two days a week to five! Looking beyond that we would love to reach more schools and more students! Donate to our Feeding Program today to help us reach these goals! Finally we began a Farming Project in Kanweaken, Liberia located in River Gee County. A very rural area, with impassable roads, we aim to bring about sustainability and economic growth to families and a town. We started out with 10 families and hope to see that number increase in 2016. Find out more about our River Gee Farming Project. "Through the Diamond Creek Feeding Program we are able to feed 165 students on a weekly basis." 2015 was a year that certainly tested us personally and organizationally. We came out of it with a renewed passion for our humanitarian work in Liberia, and a deep appreciation for the incredible work our staff in Liberia has done over the past year.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for giving to CHAP International in 2015. Your financial support served a purpose and made an enormous impact. We would love for you to be a part of what we are doing in 2016 as we reach more widows, feed more kids, and continue to impact a nation. If you didn't give in 2015 and would like to get involved please email us today at [email protected].
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