Aristotle visits Liberia

Criticism is something we can avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing. ~Aristotle

I don't usually quote Aristotle, but this was in a book I am reading and hit home. I imagine this will end up on a canvas in my office! This has been one of the hardest lessons of the ministry I am in and the government work God has called me to in Liberia. So often, I know without a doubt what God is calling me to do, yet it goes against the positive public opinion. Many times it is just because when you sit in different seats you see different angles. Sitting in the seat I am in as adoption professional, been there done that adoptive parent, and person talking to the government officials, I have a different angle than many of my critics. I am also charged with the job of caring for all children, not just my personal ones who I want to adopt. I know I made this same mistake as an adoptive parent talking to my adoption agency. I just wanted Eden home, well Eden and the other two children who were being adopted when I want to get Eden. But those to come after them really weren't my concern, but they should have been.

I have been quiet many times for fear of backlash. But what God has revealed to me over the past few weeks is that the only fear that is appropriate, is fear of HIM! He is the one holding Victory in His hands. He brought this home again over Easter. He has conquered the grave. That same spirit that raised Jesus from death lives in me! Why do I have fear of man? Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world!

There are two people that I have dealt with in Liberia who have amazed me time and again at their actions. One is just two people removed from the President. He is a Deputy Minister which is like the officials in the US government who are directly under Secretaries of the different government entities such as the Secretary of State. Mr. Joseph Geebro is Deputy Minister of Health and Social Welfare. My first encounter with this man was when a UNICEF worker advised him to put the passports of my son and the other 8 children being adopted with him on hold. He is the reason that we almost did not get to bring Toben home. He is the reason all of our adoptive families had to pay thousands of dollars to have their plane tickets changed plus the expense of staying in Liberia an extended time. However, I am pleased to say that God has replaced that money! It was His anyway! But that was just the beginning.

Since that time, this man has continually stepped in the way of Liberian children receiving care. In just our tiny organization in Liberia he has held our container captive ultimately requiring us to pay $7,000 in taxes to get what should have been a duty free container out of port. Thus he stopped the construction of a school for the children of Margibi County in Liberia. That $7,000 was going to build the walls and desks to complete the school. So thanks to Mr. Geebro, the children of Marbigi County still don't have a free school on the road to Marshall. The shell sits there, waiting for us to have the funds to complete it and open it. The Ministry of Education in Liberia is so excited about our efforts. Unlike the Ministry of Health, they have been so supportive and told us that they will help in any way they can to see that our efforts to help the Liberian children are successful. What a concept!

The next major intervention of Mr. Geebro came as the death of Matthew, a precious little boy that God entrusted to our care. Matthew's parents had been to three other organizations begging for help, but had been turned away. We were the first ones to say we would take him and all that entailed. He was our first special needs baby. Matthew taught me more than any other child we have had in our care! Matthew will live on in my heart forever...he will be memorialized in many of the actions I take as he is the motivation for them! Matthew lost his fight for life when the Ministry of Health, specifically, Geebro's office and a lady that works for him Ms. Lydia Sherman, refused to allow Matthew to travel to Ghana for the medical care he so desperately needed. We had done everything we knew to do for Matthew. We were not comfortable with Matthew having surgery in Liberia as we were concerned about what would be found when he was opened. However, unknown to me at the time, another US organization was working with the Ministry of Health. This organization was putting Matthew on their blog as if they were in charge of his care....not paying a dime or providing any food or workers for his care....but claiming he was in their care. I am pretty sure that is called fraud, but once again, any words I said in this situation made me out to be the bad guy, back to that criticism quote, while I was the one who had been fighting for Matthew all along! I was the one paying personally for his care when the agency couldn't afford it. I was the one doing the fundraiser to raise the $2,000 he needed for medical care. Which by the way, the amazing foundation called the Hext Foundation, made sure Matthew had all he needed....yet Geebro and Sherman said, NO! He can't leave because he might disappear. Disappear??? He was traveling with the woman that THEY sent to us! We were just working under what we though were their efforts to save Matthew only to find out they would block his care! I was furious! But remained silent for fear of retaliation and because of other people here affected by Matthew's death who would later turn on me as well...another lesson of how pleasing God is the ONLY way to be motivated..people are fickle! The Ministry of Health along with this organization in the US would arrange for Matthew to have surgery in Liberia and would remove him from our custody. Within only three days of Matthew being placed in the care of this other organization at the demand of the Liberian Ministry of Health, Matthew was gone. He lost the battle with life. Lydia herself told us that the home was not fit for foster children and the conditions Matthew were in were not sanitary. Really? Then why did you order him to go there? Aren't you charged with caring for the children of Liberia? Isn't that the whole purpose of the MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE?!

Then most recently, Geebro has been accused of taking the government subsidy checks for 18 orphanages over the past 9 months. The Ministry of Health was supposed to close down these orphanages and relocate/reunify the children. But guess what? He didn't! The children are still in the care of these orphanages, the only difference? Geebro took their money! The man in charge of seeing to the well-being of Liberian children was pocketing the money given by the government to feed them. Did you see that in the Liberian papers? Of course not! Why? Because we are afraid? Afraid of what he will do since his office is in "control" of adoptions.

Well, I'm not afraid anymore! You know why? Because as I was reading my Bible this morning, I started counting the number of times I have "Geebro" written in my Bible. Why? Because as I read, God gave me promises over this man over the past2.5 years! You see, God doesn't take kindly at all to people messing with His orphans! In fact, God says it is better for a man to tie a heavy brick around his leg and jump in a lake than to cause one of his little ones harm! God also says in Proverbs 25 that the Redeemer is strong and will not plead the case of anyone who goes into the field of the fatherless. Now, these officials may not be afraid of me, and they may not think I have any power over them, but God sure does! They may get by with this for awhile, but God will have the final say....just as He did at the Resurrection! Praise God!

So here are a few places where Geebro is written in my Bible:

• Proverbs 22 ~ Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord will plead their case and take the life of those who rob them. ~ In Jesus Name!


• Proverbs 11 ~ The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. ~ In Jesus Name!


• Proverbs 10 ~ He who walks in the integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out. ~ In Jesus Name! ~ Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool...what the wicked fears will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. ~ In Jesus Name! ~ The way of the Lord is a stronghold (protection) to the upright, but ruin to the workers of iniquity ~ In Jesus Name!

And that is just in Proverbs! These are God's promises to me! This is what God has said to me when I have said, should we forget about adoption in Liberia? Should we cave to the demands of UNICEF and Save the Children as they make demands on these government officials if they want to keep their money! I have spoken to NUMEROUS senators, the Minister of Health the advisor to the President, even the Vice President of Liberia. They all know what this man is doing yet he holds his position! I pity these leaders when they get to judgement day as the blood of Matthew as well as the numerous other children who have been denied life because of the direct actions or their careless attitude toward the complaints brought to them about Geebro's office! God will have the final say regardless of what is done or not done on this earth!

The battle has been lonely lately! We have a group of adoption service providers. We are working together, a huge miracle in and of itself! But we are all weary as well. We feel like our efforts to help the children of Liberia are blocked at every angle and the ones with power in Liberia are really not concerned about the children. Like in any political game, they are not the "hot topic", so they get ignored. Adoptive parents are weary. Of course! Many have had their lives on hold for two years or more. That is eternity when you are waiting on a child! It wears you down and wears you out. There are really no words to describe it. When you are in that place, you want someone to blame. And I am the easiest person. I become the bad guy. That makes the battle even lonelier.

But then I read the quote again. Even when it is the people I am helping who want to turn against me, I still must fight on. Why? Because it is the children who need me...and ultimately, it is God I work for, not man! I have been silent because I felt maybe the crowd was right...maybe we needed to be silent and let the "system" work. Well, we are 15 months into a halt on adoptions that has seen the death of at least two children and who knows how many countless others that those of us funded by adoption fees could have helped but didn't because we have no money and our homes are full. Fifteen months into this, being quiet hasn't helped! As I was reading and praying about what to do, Proverbs 31:8-9 came to mind. I looked it up. "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy." These kids are the mute! They are the unfortunate, the afflicted and needy! It is not just the kids, it is their families! They put them in our care because the conditions of Liberia and the neglect of the government brought them to a place of desperation! Proverbs 31 doesn't say be silent and wait. It says open your mouth and defend! I don't know what all that means right now, but I know sitting and waiting is over! Even if I have to go alone, God will give me the sling shot and stones to defend the giant if no army will fight with me.

If you are reading this, would you pray these scriptures with me? It is in God's Word that heaven is moved and battles are won. My bubbly, always smiling children are now forlorn and downcast. They are losing hope! I refuse to stand by while that happens! Pray with me about the next step. Is it a media campaign to expose the officials in Liberia? We have not done that because we have wanted to "play fair" while those on the other side publish untrue accounts of adoption agencies and the mistreatment/trafficking of children while they take the food right out of their mouths and we remain silent. Pray that Madam President would somehow see this post and know the acts of those in her Cabinet toward the children of her country. Pray that those here in the US dancing with the enemy would read this and tell Geebro and his office so they too can read it and hear the Word of God. Pray for their hearts to be changed. Pilot was made for the day of evil, I often wonder if that is true of these people who have all experienced the wonderful American life, whose families are still here in America while they block the poor of Liberia from being adopted and coming to have that same freedom and privilege their families enjoy. Have they too been made for the day of evil that God can use them in the same way He used Pilot, or will God use what is about to come in their demise to turn their hearts to Him and bring them to their knees and ultimately back to relationship with Him.

Pray with me! Write your Senators here in the US! Why when we are going trillions in debt are we sending millions to Liberia for them to eat the food of the children? Write your local media! Put a link to this on your blogs....to steal a Buckner motto...DO SOMETHING! Please!

God, forgive us for remaining silent. Guide us in Your ways as we seek to move forward. Silent us when we should be silent give us stones when we need to slay the giant! ~In Jesus Name ~ Amen and Amen!