Video of our March Trip to Liberia

The following is an entry from my husband, Dan. You can go to http://www.africanchildsponsorship.com to see the video he refers to in this post:

How was your trip? Are you settling back into normal life in the U.S.?

I’ve been asked these two questions dozens of times since I returned from Africa. And I’m always at a loss for how to answer.

I usually just say… yes, the trip was good and yes, I’m back to normal life now.

But the truth is more complex. We call this a short-term missions trip… yet it is just a part of a long-term effort by a small community of people to help rescue a group of forgotten children in a remote corner of the world that was nearly obliterated by a past war. For Angel and I… there is no normal U.S. life that we come back to. In some ways, we see no distinction of life before the trip and life after. We are merely working here instead of there towards the same goal.

As a filmmaker and photographer, I have always wanted to be able to capture the essence of this journey… the depth of problem, the complexities of Africa, the desperate need for Americans to get off their duff and do something. But the images and video and music never seem to do it justice.

On this recent trip, my role on the trip was to lead the majority of our team at the orphanages. I was helping coordinate over a dozen people that had never been to Liberia. It was an amazing privilege and a challenge at the same time to try to help all these people navigate through the emotional rollercoaster of what we saw and heard. These folks got a crash course in what we learned over a year and a half. They deeply understand what pictures and video can never explain. Some had to hold back tears when they saw what the children face. Others could not stop talking it out… just constantly trying to wrap their American heads around the problems and potential solutions. Many of us had times where we just glazed over and shut down because you don’t know how to deal with it. But over the course of the week… I also saw people change, step up to amazing challenges, work outside their comfort zone, live out the gospel in its purest form. And I saw people connect to the children and believers there in deep ways… and weep when we had to leave.

I did recently put together a short video about our trip and the long-term effort that we are embarking on. I want to say first, that I have done my best to capture the essence of how we feel while being mindful of a number of issues in play. Because of the hot-button issue that international adoption is right now… I can’t even show or tell you everything because I don’t have time to explain the context of it all. In addition, we are trying to be very careful because we don’t want to exploit the pictures of the children or broadcast them around the Internet to emotionally manipulate people to involvement in Africa. These are real kids not some missions or political tool… and we have been trying to treat them with the same dignity, honor, and respect for privacy that we would with your kids if we took pictures or video of them.

That said… these children have incredible needs. I have held the hands of these kids. Sang with them. Played in the dirt with them. Had their smiles permanently etched into my memory. For myself and a small community of passionate people… a missions trip is only a small piece of the puzzle. We cannot stop working until we can assemble enough people to make sure that they are cared for.

Please do more than watch this video. Prayerfully consider what you can do.

God willing, we hope to find enough sponsors to finally sustain the basic needs of the children. In addition, we need to have multiple churches step up and be involved in the renovation of the orphanages. We also need help expanding initiatives that are in the beginning stages including business incubation and education and technology training to help the adults build a better Liberia for future children. We need sponsors, prayers, travelers, donators, adoptive families, networkers, and anybody with a willing heart.

Thanks to many of you who have already taken a step and helped through involvement in our trip. By God’s power, we look forward to the day when these precious children in Liberia will no longer need us to fight for them.

That day has not yet come. Join us.

Dan Rutledge
Charlotte, NC

The video can be found in the left hand navigation at:
http://www.AfricanChildSponsorship.com