In 2018, CCIM entered Liberia working. The past 6 years the ministry has brought great changes to the community of Salala in its redevelopment project.
We started with the rebuilding of the Church in 2018 creating a place where locals could go to worship and give praise to God.
Next, we renovated the old abandoned school on the mission establishing a six classroom school. The school had been sitting on the grounds unused for years. The floors were crumbling and the woodworks and doors had been destroyed by termite infestation. This took thousands of dollars to rebuild the floors and replace the doors of all six classrooms.
While renovating the school, we established an ongoing vacation Bible school program in the church to help prepare the children for structural classroom instruction.
We shipped a 40-foot container to Liberia in 2019 with pallets of non-perishable foods, 80 to100 bags of clothing and shoes for men, women, and children, pews and a pulpit set and furniture for the church, musical instruments drum set, microphones and more. We also shipped over 300 classroom chairs and school desks, books, blackboards, book bags with school supplies in them, note books and pencils, and items for the people including medication, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and a ram pickup truck needed for construction.
We completed the church in late 2019, and in early 2020 we held a three-day revival. We ordained a God fearing man of faith and his wife as Pastor and First Lady to oversee the mission moving forward and dedicated the church to the community. The church has since grown with over 450 members who attend regularly.
We also sent nine (9) individuals back to school in 2020, to become certified teachers. We paid their room and board while staying on the college campus grounds in Monrovia, the capitol city of Liberia.
At the same time, we filed to register the ministry and the mission school with the Liberian government. This was a challenge, but in January of 2021 after filing all the necessary documentations, our children entered the classroom for the first time in over 28 years. These children had never been in a classroom until now. We now have over 200 students enrolled from pre-kindergarten to six grade that are now receiving an education, bringing hope back to their communities.
We pay the monthly salary of all the teachers, 3 aides that work in the classrooms, Principal, Secretary, Cook, Grounds keepers, Security, and 6 staff working in the cocoa farm, creating 27 new jobs in the region. Year-round employments for families who otherwise would not have any means to support their families. The goal is the creation of 200 additional jobs on the mission alone and additional 1700 through agriculturally based projects.
In 2023, we started building the missionary housing to accommodate missionaries who would like to visit to minister and teach the people. The house was built with some of the amenities we enjoy here in the states; some comfort from home. A four bedroom, Livingroom, dining room; fully sustainable solar powered off grid home completed with indoors plumbing, cooking, air, oversized back patio for church meetings and gathering, a netted front porch completed with mosquito netting for comfort while enjoying cool country night air. We build a large warehouse space for storage adjoint to the house complete with additional room and bath.
We cultivated a 40 to 45 acres cocoa farm in 2022, our first agriculture project. The cocoas are growing very nicely with the help of those workers who are in charge of watering, weeding and protecting the young cocoa as it matures. Our next agriculture project to followed will be coffee and then sugar cane. Keeping the vision alive and working within our 6 keys.
Seeing the work we were doing, in 2022 the Liberian government granted Children of Christ the deed to 286 acres of land for life; including the old abandoned mission site. We met with the Vice President of Liberia who not only welcomed us, but gave us her blessings; a sign of honor.
Our impact in the mission community have gain the trust of the Kpelle people and has lead to the establishment of a respectable report with the local government and in the process, we are working to become a positive influence; one that will helps to create better infrastructure, and innovation throughout the region.