wfn.org | UMNS# 05069-Retirees in Indiana help rebuild schools in Liberia,

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Retirees in Indiana help rebuild schools in Liberia, a desk at a time

Jan. 31, 2005	 News media contact:   Fran  Walsh * (615) 742-5458*
Nashville {05069}

NOTE: Photographs and a UMTV report are available with this story at
http://umns.umc.org.

By John Gordon*

FRANKFORT, Ind. (UMNS) - In a basement woodworking shop, there are
sounds of electric saws and drills as retirees turn a hobby into an
international outreach.

About a dozen residents of the United Methodist Church's Wesley Manor
Retirement Community are building desks for students in Liberia, where
schools have been looted during civil wars. The work is part of
Operation Classroom, a United Methodist program to help rebuild schools
in Liberia and Sierra Leone - two countries that have been wracked by
civil wars in recent years.

"A lot of the schools were destroyed," says Don Pershing, a Wesley Manor
resident and one of the desk builders.

"We saw some (desks) that had been built, and I said, 'I think we can do
this.'"

The Wesley Manor woodworkers built 16 desks, which have already been
shipped to Liberia. Now they are working on more.

"We just saw poverty," Pershing says. "And a lot of things we take for
granted, they just don't have over there."

Joe Wagner, coordinator of Operation Classroom, says the effort to help
schools in the two West African countries began in 1987. Internal strife
has wrecked the educational system, he says.

"During the civil war, people would take refuge in schools," Wagner
says. "And because they didn't have any firewood, they would just use
the desks and chairs for firewood to cook with."

Many students are still without desks and sit on rocks during classes,
according to Wagner. In one school, students bring chairs from home.

Operation Classroom is helping 15 schools in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The program is providing scholarships to allow teachers to attend
college to further improve the educational system. Students also receive
work-study scholarships.

Lay leaders in the denomination's Indiana Area started the effort, after
searching for a major project to undertake.

"Many people have nothing," Wagner says. "This project is really very,
very important because the desks are so needed."

Donated books, school supplies and medical equipment are stored at a
warehouse in Lapel, Ind., and shipped at least four times a year in
40-foot-long containers. Since the program began, $6.5 million has been
raised in donated goods and in-kind services.  Wagner says the program
needs another $6.7 million during the next five years.

The program receives financial support from 23 states.

The need among Liberia's people is great. "They don't get much
publicity," Wagner says. "But the need is as bad if not worse than Iraq,
as far as the people's need is concerned."

"They (schools and hospitals) were stripped, absolutely stripped," says
Lowell Brown, another desk builder. "So we're essentially starting from
scratch in refurbishing the institutions there."

Brown says residents of the home include retired pastors, teachers,
doctors, lawyers and engineers - all eager to put their skills to work.

"Personally, I get out of it a lot of deep satisfaction, both working
with my hands as well as working on behalf of people overseas," he says.

Residents of both Liberia and Sierra Leone speak English, so textbooks
salvaged from U.S. schools are also sent there. Operation Classroom
recently received boxloads of books from an Indiana school district.

"Had we not received them, they'd have just been thrown away in the
trash or a dumpster or (been) burned," Wagner says.

Volunteer teams are also sent to Sierra Leone and Liberia for
construction projects, such as building schools, walls and principals'
houses, and renovating buildings and classrooms.

Enrollment in the schools aided by Operation Classroom has grown to more
than 8,000 students, with staffing at 275.

Students also receive vocational training. The project has introduced
power tillers to the region for agricultural programs and helped
establish computer programs.

In addition, Operation Classroom provides trauma counseling for
students. Wagner says most of the soldiers in the civil wars were
children.

"A lot of them were kidnapped and taken out, and now they're back and
we're trying to provide an education for them," he says.

"Our motto has been to take the guns out of the children's hands and
give them tools to place in their hands for a productive life."

The five-year plan for Operation Classroom includes supplying additional
desks and chairs, science equipment and vocational equipment, and
continuing with construction projects. Generators are needed, since some
buildings still have no electricity.

Donations will also provide additional scholarships for students and
teachers. Wagner says progress is being made, but much work remains.

"The need is astronomical," he says. "It's going to take years."

More information on Operation Classroom is available at
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/operationclassroom/. The program receives
support through the United Methodist Church's Advance for Christ and His
Church. For more information, go to http://gbgm-umc.org/advance/.

# # #

*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer in Marshall, Texas.

News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5458
or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org