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

It’s a complex issue to say the least, there are no easy answers. There is definitely no one way that is working that everyone can get behind (at least not on a large scale). Based on some estimates 3 Trillion dollars as been poured into Africa in the last 30 years with little change and often the people are worse than when the aid began. Where did it go? Who was responsible to make sure it was spent wisely? There is no shortage of books telling you why everyone else has it wrong but in the last chapter, where you expect the authors to finally tell you what needs to be done; you find very little solid ideas. In a word it’s maddening.

Is there one approach that will work? Maybe, but no one has found it yet, so for now we have to answer no. There ARE programs doing more harm than good though, programs that foster a cycle of dependency, that throw money at a problem until it either gets results or dies (in which case it is usually the Africans who are blamed for its failing). These are things we HAVE to learn from, HAVE to make sure are not repeated. The stakes are too high to continue down a path that is inefficient and does as much harm as good.

That’s why we choose water. Is it the only way? Of course not, is it the best way? Short answer, I don’t know, but what I DO know is what I can see. Villages literally healing before our eyes, the burden of something they themselves had no control over being lifted off and thrown away with just one action. We aren’t paving roads, clothing them, feeding them, handing out cash, building a factory to get them all employed. We are also certainly not changing their culture and way of life, which is something to be embraced. We are empowering, we are righting a wrong that needs to be undone. A wrong caused by pollution, senseless war and killing, sometimes a misunderstanding of health, and countless other things.

Water is a base on which a thriving community can be built and the Africans know how to build it. They have the desire, work ethic and drive to start building and never stop. Laziness is something that will make you an outcast and certainly not an option if you want your family to survive. What water gives them is that chance, that RIGHT, that ability. The Africans don’t view this as a handout; they view this as their one chance to finally, after generations of struggling, create something for their future. Villages are not asking for more (they never asked for the well either), they aren’t expecting anything else. In most cases they can’t believe anyone at all would ever care about their situation, they weren’t dependent on anyone before we got there and they aren’t dependent on anyone when we leave. They ARE farming more, building more, planning for the future more, and sick less. Staggeringly less, far less than most of us could have hoped or dreamed.

So what’s left for us? What’s our community here to do next?

First: Stand back and watch. Watch what hope, when given to a human being can do. Watch what empowering someone can do for their life. Let the Africans do what they do best; build a community based on hard work, respect and most importantly love.

Second: Learn, see what works and what doesn’t. We are not the first or the last to fund the drilling of water wells, far from it, but there is no blueprint. We must be willing to learn and humble enough to change.

Third: Spread that same hope here. We could all use a little hope right? We all want just a little of that joy and love you see when you look at the pictures of Africans rejoicing around a well. Show others that it still exists, that a new video game, filling a shopping cart at Walmart, or clawing up the corporate ladder is not where joy, love and hope hang out. Those things are part of the human spirit and anyone can have them and more importantly everyone SHOULD have them.

Thanks for reading,

-Andy at Let Them LOL

The question seems simple enough, but for those who have traveled to that place that is one of the poorest countries on earth, an answer doesn’t come easy. Over the past few days I have talked to many of our team members who have all struggled to answer that question.

Here are some thoughts to help shape an answer:

A statement I have said over and over each year is: “It’s beautifully devastating.”

Overwhelming and yet hopeful.

Going from one of the poorest countries in the world back to one of the richest feels like whiplash.

While there you have these moments where you can’t decide whether to laugh or cry, and either one would be appropriate.

You are faced with an incredible dichotomy of extreme extreme poverty among so much beauty.

You are humbled by people who have nothing and yet they will give you everything.

You are forever changed and you know that, but it takes time for you to discover who you now are in light of all you’ve seen.

Now, back to the question:
Let them LOL’s 3rd trip to Sierra Leone Africa was incredibly productive.
Over 50 villages were visited, and assessed.
80 filters were given out and joyfully received as people gained instant access to clean water.
Our medical doctors saw and treated nearly 400 patients.
We were able to give sandals to the workers of the children’s home who had many cuts and foot injuries.
A knitting project was started to provide work for women in the community.
Hope’s Rising Children’s Home was completed and over 20 orphaned and impoverished children now have a home and opportunity for a better future.

We celebrated as we visited site after site of finished wells where the entire village sang songs celebrating the clean water they now had. And we were re-challenged and invigorated as we saw village after village drinking out of nasty, contaminated water sources waiting for clean water wells. We were reminded how important this work is and inspired to continue in that. We held children who were the lowest of the low, the poorest of the poor. We hugged and kissed them, made them laugh, gave them new clothes, and told them they were special and loved. And most importantly, we were encouraged and grateful to the community of people in the US who heard of the needs of the people of Sierra Leone and stood in the gap to give them a hope for a better future.

And with the sound of laughter from villages with clean water, and orphaned children who now have a home and family, we discovered that Hope is Rising!

From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU all. You are all let them LOL, you are making a HUGE difference in the lives of our friends and neighbors in Sierra Leone.
Kate

PS: Over the next few weeks, we will be posting photos and videos that speak for  themselves on what Sierra Leone is like, but here’s a few to get it started:

Last night, one of the team members sent me a picture of a sweet note her daughter left on her pillow. Here’s some of what it said:

“Dear mom and dad: you are the best…I will be sad when you are in Sierra Leone…but I will have fun with Gramma & Papa! I even know you are going to take care of Sierra Leone great.”

Reading that, it really hit me the amount of sacrifice our team of 14 is making.
Two medical doctors taking personal time from work.
Many moms leaving their families
People using their only vacation time to go help the people of Sierra Leone.
One team member worked a few 80 hour weeks to get their work caught up in time.
Giving and raising the funds to go.

And then the sacrifice of the people who are here:
Friends and family making dinners, helping with driving and watching kids.
Husbands and wives taking on all the home responsibilities while their spouse is gone.

And the lists could go on and on.

As I thought about this, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude.
Thankful that so many people have caught the vision and heart of let them LOL that they were willing to sacrifice so much.
All of this is going to bring about beautiful things! I can not wait to tell the stories of what happens during and as a result of this trip!

This quote by MLK Jr. sums it up:
Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

So thank you team members, thank you families and thank you to all of you who have given time and resources so we have completed wells to visit and a Children’s Home to open!

Kate

The beautiful staff of let them LOL’s Children’s Home.

Two weeks from today another let them LOL team will be heading to Sierra Leone. Our primary purpose: to visit villages for future well sites and to open our Children’s Home.

It seems it takes me about a year after being there to be able to get through a day not tearing up thinking of my friends there and the challenges they face every day just to survive. Our worlds are so different. I have everything and every opportunity at my finger tips; while they struggle for the basic necessities of life. I find my mind drifting off to those red dirt roads. I can be cutting the lawn, grocery shopping, making dinner or driving and my mind wanders. I really feel like I have one foot here and one foot there. Part of my heart is definitely there.

I ran into someone I know at the grocery store the other day. She asked me about our upcoming trip and wondered if it was weird for me to be in the store we were in seeing so many choices when I had seen people who have very little food. I said yes, but I commented on something else that strikes me. While they have very little they have so much joy and fullness of life, a real sense of community. We have so much and can struggle to feel content. “They live in extreme poverty, and yet they are rich in community and contentment. We live in material abundance but a poverty of community and contentment.”

So, I’m packing my bags with a full heart thats ready (and actually looking forward to) being broken again. That may seem weird, but that brokeness has led to a fulness of life and appreciation of each day that I don’t know I would’ve gotten any other way.

I hope you will join me and our team on this journey. We are able to go and do all we are doing because of so many of you. You are a part of this, and we will bring you with us in our hearts! There will be posts and pictures on let them LOL’s facebook page each day of our time there.

Kate

 This little girl is 4 years old. Both of her parents died when their boat tipped over and they drowned. She is one of the children who will be living in let them LOL’s children’s home.

It is hard to believe it has been two years since we launched let them LOL!

We would like to personally and with all our hearts say Thank You for joining us! We endeavored to help those in extreme poverty and in that process we have met some of the most incredible people! Many who are now are closest friends!

Below is our first Blog entry from October 2009

Thanks Again!

With Love,

Joe and Kate (let them LOL cofounders)

Friends and Visitors |
We’ve had a heart to be a part rescuing and helping those inphysical poverty for years now.
We’ve had a heart for the continent of Africa.
We’ve grown in compassion for those who have beensuffering there.
We’ve partnered with organizations over the years to help provide hope for those with none.
We’ve given limbs, sponsored education and housing, and organized a Walk for Water to provide one water well.
Our burden has grown stronger.
We’ve been stirred to do more. We’ve dreamed for years.
We are excited to finally move from “good intentions” to ” action.”
We’re launching this organization “Let them Laugh out Loud” with the hopes of raising more money than we could ever give.
With the hope of inspiring others.
With the hope that together we can do more than we could have done by ourselves.

Get the ring tone.
Wear the shirt.
Use the Water Bottle.
Hang the art.

PASSITON.

Together we can let “hope rise” with the sound of laughter.

Joe and Kate

Look at the joy on Violets face and see the difference YOU are all making.

A community here for a community there.

Kate

Cofounder, let them LOL

A special thank you to Jen Burns for coordinating the 2011 yard sales! See Jen’s thoughts below:

Around 17 months ago, we moved here from Tennessee, and our family was privileged to move down the road from Joe and Kate. We heard them share their passion for building clean water wells in Sierra Leone, Africa, while over our first supper together. We saw a couple who was doing something about what bothered them, and were excited to empower others to do the same. Not having a lot of “extra” money to give to such projects, I’d been frustrated in the past when I would hear of this need. What could my little bit do? Then I thought of the yearly yard sales that I would have with my “leftovers.” These sales enabled our one income stretch to cover the needs of our 8 person family. We would shop all summer at yard sales with the money we had earned from our sale, and purchase the things we needed for the new season. Our used clothing, picture frames, books, toys, and furniture turned into cash at a yard sale.

We talked about it, and did our first one to raise money to send sandals to Africa. It was a success. They connections we made in the community were something that I hadn’t even considered. We were hooked. To be able to give a few days of labor and turn our unwanted stuff into cash to give to such worthy people, it was so rewarding. Once I saw the influence in our neighborhood (people came and then came back with things to donate) I thought of trying to do several on the same weekend. What if all over the Buffalo area there were yard sales showing people a way to make a difference here for a community there. We just had the 2nd annual weekend of sales. It was again rewarding. The people who donated, volunteered, hosted, and shopped ~ all were able to be a part in raising money to build an orphanage for some very needy children.

Jen Burns,  let them LOL Yard Sale Coordinator