Mt. Barclay Community Christian School

Mt. Barclay is a large permanent refugee area outside of Monrovia, capital of Liberia, consisting of many small tribal or family villages. There were several thousand school age children in that area and there was great need for a school and a feeding program.

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September, 2007:  Mt. Barclay Christian School started!  PLAN Adoption, along with committed donors, were able to provide funding for the building, teachers’ salaries, supplies and a feeding program—all at no cost to the students.  The school was rustic by our standards; open air with woven mats separated the rooms and bare sand floors, yet it was so exciting to the students.  More than 900 children began school and many walked several miles each day. Daily, after classes were over, each student was served a warm meal. For many, it was their only meal of the day.

 

Other ministries partnered to provide the following:

Well—Living Water International drilled a well which provided safe drinking and cooking water to the school and surrounding communities.  Living Water went on to drill 28 wells for the Mt. Barclay refugee area.

Bridge of Hope—provided a shortcut of several miles to many children following the path to school over a large swamp area that filled during the rainy season

Uniforms—Required by the government, fundraising by PLAN provided uniforms as the families could not afford them. .

Kitchen—Cooking enough food to serve 900 kids and staff under blue tarps stretched over poles and over open fires, is hard to imagine. Yet, within weeks, improvement in the health of the children became noticeable.

Books, latrines, further completion of outside of school and cement floors inside, and a school bus

In 2013, Saah Joseph, administrator of Mt. Barclay Community Christian School, and as an elected representative for his district, persuaded the government to approve paying the teachers’ salaries.  This moved the school toward the path of self sufficiency.