When the team first arrived about a little over a month ago, we walked up to the home, the kids put on a little singing performance for us, and then we stayed a little longer to play with the kids.  I couldn’t help but notice that one of the kids had a severe burn on his foot that had destroyed all of his toes.  He is so young and it seemed extremely sad to me.  After watching him over the next couple of days, I noticed a few things.

First I noticed this kid was full of energy and that he loved running around and teasing the other kids.  He has 2 friends that help him to accomplish this.  Because of this, I was a little hesitant to get to know him because the little troublemakers always give me the hardest time to connect with.  Even when I would babysit in the states, I would try to keep my distance from the ones who never listened and give them something to distract them from being bad.

Another thing I noticed was that when the kids were eating, this child was more like a human garbage can than anything else.  He would always go to the other kids and try to get their leftovers, and when he couldn’t get them, he would bite them.  I thought it was a little funny I am not going to lie, but obviously he was punished because of it.  After seeing this, I had to know this kids story.  Where he came from, and why he is the way he is.

I learned his name was Justin.  In the home, he is known as troublemaker #3.  Mainly because of the things I have already shared.  He is 4 years old and before coming to the home has more of a story than most of us will probably ever have in our entire lives.  He was found living on the street begging for scraps and having to fend for himself.  Hopefully like me, this story does something inside you to let you know thats not right.  I did not know him then, but when he was brought into to home around March last year,  he never smiled, and would not interact with the other kids.  I guess if I was in his shoes I couldn’t really blame him.

It took a couple weeks, but one day I was sitting at the home and this little trouble maker managed to steal my heart.  There are times when at the home that I let the littler kids sit on my lap, and this wasn’t really one of those times, but Justin was siting next to me and we were making noises at each other (the true way to my heart is to be able to communicate with strange noises) and somehow he ended up on my lap.  It was innocent and cute, so I just went with it.  He kept looking into my eyes saying my name and giving that cute little kid giggle and I just fell in love.

Now when I see him and go to the home, he is almost always the first one to run up and give me a big hug.  When we walk to school he always wants to be right next to me and if the other kids in his school try to call me pumwey, he defends me and lets them know that my name is Jen!

I am sure that most of you have young kids in your life.  Whether its your own kids, nieces, nephews, siblings, or kids that you babysit.  I would like to ask out of love, what makes them any different from a kid like Justin?  Sure they probably have had a home to sleep in since they were born and didn’t have to live on the street and steal food from people, but its not his fault.  That is not the life he chose for himself, its just what he had to deal with before things could get better for him.  Like most 4 year olds, he is full of energy, loves playing with other kids and is obsessed with repeating everything you say.  Take some time today to pray for and remember kids like Justin who need an opportunity to become something great, even if they are a little mischievous.

As always, thanks for reading my post.  Everything is going really well here in Mokanji. I still need about $3,000 to be able to stay the full 2 years so if you want to help out with that I would greatly appreciate it!  The place that you can do that is ltlol.com/jenprevity. Thank you so much and if you wish to contact me, or have questions my email is jenprev1@gmail.com

Jen
Let them LOL
Sierra Leone, On the Ground Coordinator

*these are my “africa” pants

Its been three weeks since I returned from my forth trip to Sierra Leone. It may seem counter-intuitive but going on the trips is the easy part. Let me explain: yes there’s the 24+ hours of travel just to get there, yes its really hot, yes you give up the many comforts of home, yes your are faced with heart wrenching poverty, yes you work all day, and sometimes stay up until 3am organizing the work for the next day. But the resolve of the people, the hope that is growing in your heart and theirs is invigorating. Knowing that you are able to be a part of change, and see the results in front of you is very exciting!

The real work is when you are home. Its the long to-do list, its the many phone calls (sometimes from Africa at 5am), its the meetings with potential donors, its the stuffing envelopes late at night, etc. etc. None of whats happening there happens without the hard day in and day out non glamorous work.

This week I have faced challenges associated with the work we are doing, and it can be emotionally draining. Someone recently said to me, that many people would give up when faced with some of the challenges you face with our work.

This morning I woke up and decided I would wear my Africa clothes. What are my Africa clothes? I have what I call my “uniform” for when I travel to Sierra Leone. Its safari type pants, and a LOL tee. My Africa pants sit in my closet all year waiting for the next trip. Today I thought, if I wear my Africa clothes, I will be reminded and invigorated here to press on and work hard for LOL which is my heart’s passion. When I pulled the pants out of my closet they had that old familiar Africa smell (yes they are clean). It is a smell of Mokanji, a war-torn place that holds so much potential, a place where some of my truest friends live, a place that holds so much of my heart.

Looking at these pants I’m wearing, I remember these are the pants I wore as I sat next to a baby dying from water-related disease. The same pants that later saw clean water for the first time coming out of a LOL well. The same pants that held an orphaned child who now calls Hope’s Rising their home. And the same pants that traveled the dusty roads seeing village after village still needing clean water.

My heart is full when I think of the changes that have come to Mokanji, Sierra Leone already because so many people have given to those on the other side of the world so that they could have a chance, so they could dare to hope that tomorrow can be better than today.

Its amazing how doing something so simple as putting on my Africa clothes refreshes the fire of the passion to do that thing I believe I am called to do, and to press on with an even greater resolve.

Sometimes in the tasks to accomplish our passions, we can lose the heart of why we do what we do. Sometimes we can just get discouraged.  Maybe if we found ways to remind ourselves why we started in the first place we can be renewed to see it through to completion. Last year on a trip, the nationals gave me the name “Tiowa”-tie-Oh-wah (not sure on the spelling), it means to see it to completion. Today, I wear my Africa pants to encourage my heart to live up to that name.

What is your passion? What is that thing that you must do? I challenge all of us today to find ways to wear it on our sleeve.

Kate
let them LOL

Abdul was so proud to show his friend (a missionary’s son) his new bed and plastic box. Did you read that right? He was excited to have a bed and plastic box. See, the children of Hope’s Rising each get one small plastic box. In that they keep ALL their belongings.

I can’t stop thinking about this. We have so much, and still are often unsatisfied, wanting more, waiting for our next material fix. And this precious little boy, without parents to love him, with little food, who was regularly beaten was filled with joy over a bed and a box!

The missionary’s son said that the boys were “lucky” because “now they didn’t have to worry about getting flogged, they would get plenty of food to eat, they have soft beds to sleep in, and they get to go to school.”

WOW

Ironically on Saturday (the same day the boys moved in) our family spent the day going through our basement purging of all the excess we have. We probably could do that every Saturday for the next few weeks and still have so much more than we need!

This is not meant to put a guilt trip on you, or tell you to go and sell everything you have. But maybe we can all learn a lesson from the plastic box. How much do we really need? What could we do without to help someone else? Someone who just needs the basic things: a bed, education, clean water and a small plastic box.

Kate

The first was the chance to join LTLOL on a trip half way around the world to Sierra Leone, Africa in order to film the trip.

The second was a result of the first. It was a gift more life changing than I ever could have imagined. It was a gift of knowledge. Knowledge of my own selfishness. It hurt to receive. But I would never return it.

The people of Sierra Leone are beautiful. They are beautiful in their love because they love with all everything they are. They are beautiful in their charity because they give everything they have. They are beautiful in their spirit because they still smile and laugh and love in the face of hopelessness.

And yet, they are finding something to hope in. The hope they are finding is one that most of us have never needed. The hope of life. The hope of a life without Typhoid Fever or Yellow Fever or Malaria or starvation… And the list goes on and on and on. However, even with all of these potentially life ending scenarios that many of them face and fear, they remain true to their hope.

All of the hope that they have has started small, and grown over the past three years from one simple thing; being given the gift of clean water. Let Them Laugh Out Loud has invested hundreds of thousands of donated dollars into the Mokanji area of Sierra Leone for the sole purpose of giving life sustaining resources to those that do not have them.

And I got to, and get to continue to be involved. I get to go and see these changes first hand. And that’s why I go. Not for myself, but so that I can capture these changes. So that I can record the despair, the love, the need, the joy, and mostly, the hope that LTLOL is giving. Then bring that footage back so that those back home can know and understand that it is a worthwhile investment. And for those that have yet to see the need, that they will understand and join in the mission to help.

I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it. I couldn’t be happier to be going back. And I couldn’t have been shown in a more uncompromising manner how selfish I am. And I’m thankful.

Click here to sponsor Nick’s trip or another team member

Nick Thompson
2012 & 2013 Let them LOL trip team member

But those things can not be the motive because they will not sustain you.
They wont sustain the countless hours that so many volunteer behind the scenes.
They wont sustain you when you have to make the hard decisions.
They wont sustain you when in order to do the greatest good and the right thing, you have to let your heart break once again.

What does sustain is LOVE.
A love to go on even when its hard.
A love that holds on to the hope that you are making a real difference, even if its not always obvious.
A love that continues to give even when it hurts.

It is a pure divine love, one that transcends time and is greater than anything we may face.

The amazing thing is that through our trials, that love is perfected, and our resolve remains. We continue to empower those experiencing unjust suffering by providing them with the basic resources.

Why? Because that’s what love asks of us.

Kate
Let them LOL

“If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.” Mother Teresea

When I hear the words “every 20 seconds someone dies from water related illness”.. it grips my heart in a helpless way that I can’t explain. I picture my Natalie, Christopher, Emilie, Nathan, Bobby, or Kati having diseases that can be cured as simple as having a well to produce clean water, and I get ANGRY! I think of all the clean water we use.. to water plants, to clean dishes… and worst of all.. to flush our toilets. It is a problem that cannot be ignored.. I can not just sit back and say the problem is too big, so I will do nothing!

It happens to be that Sierra Leone is the world’s poorest country… and from the mouths of my friends that have visited over the past few years.. they will attest that there is a legitimate crisis for clean water! In the villages, they can’t go down the street and find a store to get a drink out of a water fountain. They can’t go to the local hospital and get an I-V because they are dehydrated. They walk miles every day to collect water that is contaminated. They usually don’t even understand that it is making them sick. I have a dr. friend that has visited 2 years in a row now and he said the best thing we can do is get the water wells dug. It is vital to the survival of the people. The difference is measurable in the villages that they revisit after the well has been dug… no water related illness there the next year!!!!!!

I have been asked, why do that instead of doing something local.
If that WAS all I was involved with, is that REALLY a BAD thing?

Each one of us has gifts… passions for different things. Circumstances in our lives that make us more sensitive to certain needs in our communities. Can you imagine how our world would look if we didn’t have people who cared about animals? or crops? or the environment? etc. We are lucky to have so many educated people in our communities that care about these things, and are working hard for us to enjoy the beauty, the food, the health care, the scientific discovery, and on and on. We have so much, so the responsibility is on us to find ways to share our wealth of knowledge and resources.

An opportunity came across my path when I first moved to Buffalo, to become a part of an organization who was trying to make a difference in this water crisis. Just a comment… “Have you ever thought about doing a yard sale?” turned into a life changing event for me. It became a way for me, someone who didn’t think she had much else to give financially, to become involved in something that my heart cries out to fix!

So why partner with “Let them LOL?” There are other organizations to partner with in this way… YES!!! fortunately there are. It is encouraging that there are more organizations doing the same type thing… but I happen to live around the corner from the couple who started this one.. and because of that, my heart is more connected with this group at this time. I am also drawn to the fact that at this time, LOL is managed 100% by volunteers, so I feel really good about the money I give being used for what it is collected for. But to be honest, even if up to half of it was going towards the projects… so that someone was paid to take care of the organization… my heart would still be very happy about it. It takes so much work to run something of this magnitude.

I am excited to find a way to help people here… and people far away. My heart is to NOT ignore the needs of the people around me… but to find ways to meet both!

We live in a land of stuff. Our trash is better than MANY countries best.
Many of us have so much stuff we have to rent storage sheds, add on rooms, and build garages to hold it all. We have more clothes than we want to mess with, and more toys than our children will ever play with. We have dishes and other household items that are in great shape, but we just don’t want to use them anymore because they don’t match the color scheme we are changing to. We have clothes that we just bought last month that our kids grew out of and they don’t even looked worn! We have some stuff with tags still on it, sitting in our closets and drawers.. forgotten and not being used. All of these things add up to many usable items that could be someone else’s “just what I was looking for!”
Not everyone in America is like that though. There have been a few years of my life, that if it weren’t for yard sales, I don’t know how I could have clothed and found shoes for my 6 kids. I know the joy I experience in finding just what I need at thrift stores and yard sales and clearance racks, to make my budget meet the needs of my family. I am thankful my children are being teachable and willing to wear gently used items and spend their money wisely. They love it when they find a pair of American Eagle jeans for a $1!

The LOL Yard Sales have turned into an amazing event for me. I have watched now for the past 3 years and seen over and over again, local families purchasing items that they need, want, and have been looking for, at a fraction of the cost they would at a store… and the money they spend on it go to help a family across the ocean receive a clean water well. I have seen families with obvious financial needs take home grocery bags full of shoes, clothing, and household items and giant smiles on their faces. I have seen a man rejoice openly when he found the double stroller they have been looking for… at a price he could afford. I have watched young children say, “this is the best day of my life” as they spend a few dollars and go home with toys that would have cost $100 in the store.

Helping people here in our community while we are helping others is a BEAUTIFUL thing to be a part of. With no extra effort, we are doing two things at once. Each shopper, those that donate time, energy, items, and money, all have a part in making a difference in this water crisis! Every dollar raised is bringing a well closer to reality to a village in desperate need. As I help organize the sales each year, I am overwhelmed with the chance I have to be a part of a beautiful community here in Western New York, who is willing to look into the closets, attics, basements, and storage bins of their comfortable homes, weed through their stuff and be generous as they turn their extras into water wells!

Jen Burns
LOL Yard Sale Coordinator

This is the constant dichotomy i find myself living in. The joy of the home I have here, and the pull of my home there. It is an uncomfortable, unsettled feeling that I live with each day. But I think that is ok. I believe we aren’t called to a life of comfort, but a life of stretching, of heart break, of giving, of growth. As my heart longs to hold the children of Hope’s Rising, it grows bigger and bigger in love. I hold and kiss, and love and appreciate my children here even more.

I may feel divided, like I have two homes, but I have one heart that grows bigger everyday!

Kate
let them LOL

Below is a Blessing a friend recently sent me:

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

by Sr. Ruth Fox, OSB (1985)

During my two trips to Sierra Leone I have been given many gifts by the Africans, none of which I feel like I deserve and every gift is a struggle to accept. I’ve been given an African shirt by a man that is now a friend for life, I have received 1 chicken, 1 rooster (that was really annoying the next 2 mornings but turned out to be delicious), bananas, coconuts, tons of yams, a necklace, pictures of a women’s son that had died (who I then grieved with) and many other things. This is a post though about one man and his gifts specifically.

His name is Emanuel, and if you aren’t aware of him by now, he is the director of Let Them LOL’s new Hope’s Rising Children’s Home. He is the pastor of a small mud walled church in a village named Mofindo, he is married and has sons, he farms, and also travels from village to village pastoring to people with no church of their own to attend. Once arriving on the trip this year we found that he has been very ill for some time, he had lost weight to the point where it was hard to recognize him. In short his body was a shell of what it once was but he continued on, helping with construction of the new home, meeting with me to learn what his new duties would be, traveling in the car for hours while hardly mentioning at all how severely he was suffering. It wasn’t until our volunteer doctors were able to reach him in March that he has finally been able to win his fight with dysentery.

Midway through my trip in January as Emanuel and I were spending a day together working he says, “I am working on a gift for you”. I often will repeat what has just been said to me while giving a response to make sure I heard the person correctly without it sounding like I didn’t understand them, so I said, “You’re working on a gift for me, are you making it yourself? You don’t have to do that Emanuel.” His response to me stopped me in my tracks and his hard to type out now “No, my wife is making it, but we are trying to get enough money to buy what she needs.”…

Post over, ‘nuff said, right?

The frankness and openness of the Africans sometimes confuses people and is hard to explain at times. He didn’t say it to make me feel bad or to get more credit for giving me a gift, it was nothing like that. It is not uncommon at all to give away the very best of what you have, something you NEED, or that you had worked very hard to get, not in Sierra Leone. It was more of an apology, it was him saying ‘sorry I haven’t given you anything yet, but I promise I am working really hard on it’. So what can I say? There is a monument of silence where we are just looking at each other and I smile and say “Emanuel, I can’t wait to see it, thank you so much”, and his smile beamed.

I almost wish that was the end but his giving spirit goes on. Two days later is Friday, Emanuel and the two house moms for the children’s home show up that morning wearing all traditional African clothing, and it is awesome. My trip mate Bryan points to Emanuel’s shoes, they are flip flops handmade from car tires. This is something I had been looking for since the trip began, and had just finished telling Bryan about. A book I had been reading before our trip was set in a time before the war in Sierra Leone, was written by an African-American, and mentioned sandals just like these throughout the book as the official footwear of Sierra Leone. After the war, things like this were pushed out of the market by cheaper and easier dollar store type flip flops and are now in the “traditional” category instead of the norm.

I said, “Emanuel is there a place nearby where we can get those? Do they sell them in Morriba Town? Did you make them yourself? How much do they cost? They look comfortable, are they comfortable?” I had gotten myself a little excited and it was about to cost me. Emanuel smiles and shows them off a little, telling and showing how proud he is that I noticed and appreciate something about his traditional clothing. Then it happens, he kicks them off and tosses them to me, leaving himself barefoot in the red dirt and tells me they are now mine.

Aww man, come on! When will the heartbreakingly amazing giving end?! I stand there in awe, say “no” but it is clear that taking them is the only option he is giving me. I kick off my shoes and give them to him but they are too big and after an hour of trying to wear them he gives them back. I wish I could have those puppies glued permanently to my feet, let me tell you. I wore them the rest of the trip and almost every village I visit admires them and smiles seeing me wear them. I have also continued to wear them at home. If it is above 30 degrees they are usually on my feet. Every step I take is literally in my friend Emanuel’s shoes and it is a great constant reminder of what it truly means to be giving.

The gifts did come. That Sunday after church we ate a meal prepared by his wife as one big family in front of Emanuel’s house. Bryan and I were presented with amazing handmade African shirts made from hand woven fabric with needlework decorating the front. A few days later he added to it with wraps (for carrying children) for our wives. Truly, special gifts from the heart, and a piece of Africa that I will have for the rest of my life.

This is the man that lives in, directs, and protects our children’s home. A strong man, who when needed, protected the not-yet-open home with words and actions that would make any protective mother proud. A man that when it was time to lead the orphans to their new home, announced that the children may not have parents of their own but that he was their father now, with the same pride any new father feels. A man of integrity, and honor, who has built his life on hard work. A man I am proud to call my friend.

Thanks for reading

Andy from Let Them LOL

So I’ll start from the beginning….the travel was it’s own element for me….the hours of flying, the drive from Freetown to Mokanji required two doses of dramamine for me but when the vehicle finally stopped…..I forgot about all of that. We received a homecoming welcome even though half of us on the team had never been to the village. They pretty much had a parade for us….there was dancing, singing, as they had a celebration for our group as we arrived and it continued as we walked and they walked us all the way up the hill to the hospital where we would be staying in Mokanji. It was overwhelming to say the least to see their excitement towards people(us) whom most of them had never seen or met. Their gratitude grabbed my heart. From that moment, I never felt afraid or out of place. I felt like we knew each other even though I didn’t know the names of the hundreds of faces looking and smiling at me, children grabbing my hands and not letting go……it all seemed right in that moment.

As I adjusted to the scenery around me, I realized after several days that you just don’t get relief from what you are seeing. It’s all day, everyday and everything begins to look the same. I began to lose track of days not knowing what day it was. When I thought about the people living there, I wondered how they keep track of days as well. Everyday is the same for them for the most part…..everyday is a day of survival, the whole day focuses on getting food, preparing it, washing clothes, and getting water…it takes the whole day just to do these things.

Through the week I had the opportunity to work in the medical clinic, go out on village assessments, and help with the children’s home. I felt frustration seeing the numbers of people with more severe needs who could be easily treated if we were only in America! I felt discouraged learning about the water sources for some of the villages we visited…..streams, water holes, bucket wells. They were washing clothes and bathing in the very water they were drinking. In the midst of frustration and discouragement, I felt hope though knowing that LTLOL has money funded to place wells in some of these villages we were assessing and providing something as simple as clean water is a place to start. The need is so vast that you have to have tunnel vision and just start in one place. We made no promises that they would receive a well but they were still grateful that we were even there…..it gave them hope.

Probably the hardest day for me was the day the orphans were dropped off. The children coming to live in the home were either being raised by grandparents, aunts, uncles or people in their village because the child had no mother or father. Children were showing up with the clothes on their back and that was it. A few were afraid and it broke my heart to think what was going through their mind, “where am I” , “who are these people….white people”, “what is happening to me”, it was overwhelming. However, after 24 hours most of them had a adjusted and I realized that they would soon realize this was a good thing. The home is beautiful, they will have the opportunity to be in school, they will be loved and cared for by the house parents, and they will have food and clean water! It truly is hope rising in each of their little lives.

As far as me personally, I learned that I can adapt to the situations around me and I have mastered the art of taking a shower with a bucket! I was reminded that it is my responsibilty to help whether I get on the plane and go or whether I contribute financially right here. The truth is that a smile and a hug works in any language……whether it be across the ocean or across the street. Are the physical needs greater in Africa, of course,  but the unviersal need for most humans I would say is to know what love looks like and feels like.

How does this play out in my own life…..towards my immediate family, my friends, my neighbors, in the city of Buffalo, and now towards my friends in Africa……do they know what love looks like and feels like from me and am I doing it well.

We can all do something…….if you aren’t sure where to start check out www.ltlol.com

Thank you to those of you that were a part of my trip, I am grateful for the opportunity to have made new friends there….you were a part of the many smiles and hugs given and received.

Jenna Cowart
2012 Team Member