About A Child's Life

The vision for A Child’s Life began after the Karen Edwards founder and treasurer of the charity visited Liberia and witnessed first hand the poverty these children live in every day. Recovering from a prolonged civil war, Liberia lacks the infrastructure to provide water, power, and sanitation for the majority of the population of its capital city Monrovia. Therefore most children live in extreme poverty with little to no opportunities to improve their lives or living situation.

After spending time with the people of Liberia, Karen dedicated herself to prayer seeking an answer to this problem and heard God’s call to start an organization designed to help the children and their families. A Child's Life was born and the name came from an Oswald Chambers devotional. Speaking about children, Oswald Chambers was stating that we are all called to live our lives like a child's life. Believing and knowing that God loves us and will always take care of us. It is childlike faith that each of us must have to live the life that God has called us to live.

About Liberia

Liberia is located on the West Coast of Africa and covers 43,000 square miles of land and is the only country in Africa founded by United States Colonization while occupied by native Africans. In 1847 it became the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled on that of the United States and naming its capital city Monrovia after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States and a prominent supporter of the colonization.

The Civil War

In 1989 a violent civil war broke out and lasted until 1996. But, the peace was short lived and the second civil war started in 1999 and did not end until 2003. The violence of the war was horrific with warlords and their soldiers raping, killing, and hacking to death those that opposed them. Many of the atrocities involved

the deaths of women and children with some warlords feeding their child soldiers the hearts of children as a means of giving them strength in battle. The war was characterized by the extensive use of child soldiers, boys younger than fifteen years old who were easy prey for all the factions.

Aftermath

As a result of two bloody civil wars; 250,000 lives were lost out of its small population of 3.5 million, its infrastructure completely destroyed, 83.7% of its population living below the recognized poverty threshold, and 111 out of every 1000 children dying before their fifth birthday. Life expectancy overall is just 45 years and employment is just 15% of the population. Liberia is in 182nd place out of 187 countries and territories in 2011 when ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards of a country.

Mission Statement

To bring health and healing to children in Liberia by providing the resources to improve their lives spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally.