Missions agency head
urges help for Liberia
By Elliott Wright
NEW YORK (UMNS) – Concerned about Liberia's deteriorating situation, the top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries is calling on the international community to establish stability in the West African country.
The Rev. R. Randy Day voiced particular
concern for the loss of life and the
destruction of basic institutions. He noted
that, during the week of July 14, Ganta
United Methodist Hospital in northern
Liberia was heavily damaged by rebel
forces opposed to the government of President
Charles Taylor.
The destroyed facilities included a
prosthesis clinic, run in cooperation with
the Leahy Children of War Fund, which
provided artificial limbs to young people.
"We call upon the United Nations and such organizations as the Economic Committee of West African States (ECOWAS) to speedily stabilize the situation in Liberia," Day said July 21. "We appeal to those same international bodies to bring to justice Charles Taylor, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity by a U.N. tribunal in Freetown, Sierra Leone."
U.S. Marines arrived in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, on July 21 to protect the U.S. Embassy and help evacuate foreigners.
Liberian church leaders and Taylor
himself have asked for a U.S. peacekeeping
force to help restore order, and
President Bush has said he is watching the
situation. West African states have already
promised to send a force there.
Day noted that the United Methodist
Church and its predecessors had been in
mission in Liberia since the country was
founded in 1822.
United Methodists in the United States and elsewhere join with "our brothers and sisters of the United Methodist Church in Liberia in prayer for an end to hostilities and for the healing of their nation," he said.
The United Methodist Committee on
Relief, which manages extensive program
of relief, rehabilitation and health ministries,
had been aware for some weeks that
the Ganta hospital was again in danger,
Day said. The facility, built in 1926, has
been a victim of periodic episodes of civil
war in Liberia in the past 10 years.
"UMCOR has already identified resources that will make it possible for the church to provide some medical services in the Ganta area, if the situation stabilizes enough to allow personnel to set up temporary facilities," he said.
Six missionaries and eight other non-
Liberian mission employees were airlifted
out of Liberia in early June. Day said they
were temporarily assigned to other health
and refugee ministries in West Africa.
Liberian medical staff had remained, and
Day expressed relief that those at Ganta
were safe and were voluntarily working in
other clinics.
The hospital is part of a larger mission
complex that includes primary and
secondary schools, a demonstration farm,
vocational training facilities, and a leprosy
and tuberculosis rehabilitation unit. All
the facilities except the leprosarium were
severely damaged in mid-July, including
the original Stone House, built from local
rock by the founding missionary, George
Way Harley.
American Methodist mission work
dates to the start of what is today Liberia,
when freed slaves from the U.S. arrived
there to start a new country. Some of the
original settlers were Methodist, and the
first Methodist missionary arrived in the
early 1830s.
The Liberian Annual Conference, headed by Bishop John Innis, is part of the United Methodist Church's West Africa Central Conference. It has about 140,000 members.
"The general board remains committed to our strong relationship with the Liberian Church and to our mission partnership with Bishop Innis," Day said.
Day urged United Methodists and
friends of the church to help. Checks can
be designated for Liberia Emergency
Fund, Advance #150300, and dropped in
church offering plates or sent to UMCOR,
475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New
York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations
can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.
Wright is acting information officer
at the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries.
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