Tenegar Community Development

We were privileged to be able to visit the village of Tenegar, Liberia. This village has been the focus of the Community Development teams on the Africa Mercy. The Liberian Pres. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf grew up in a village nearby, and asked the Mercy Ships teams if they would focus on this village during their most recent 10-month Outreach to Liberia. We were so impressed to see what has been done here.

The village once had a medical clinic operating here before the rebels destroyed it during the war. All that was left was the shell of the building with trees growing through the floor. The construction team comprised primarily of Liberian day workers tore down the old building, and constructed this amazing new clinic/hospital. They dug a clean well, and are in the process of digging latrines back behind the clinic.

Just across from the clinic is where the Agriculture dept. has focused their efforts. Not only has there been an amazing plantain farm planted and gorgeous garden to provide food for the entire village (as well as provide surplus for them to sell), but there also has been a large amount of time spent on training. Training has been focused on overcoming traditional "slash and burn" practices (that depletes soil fertility) and replacing it with organic methods and sustainable practices to improve nutrition.


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The final project that is nearing completion is the construction of a chicken coop to provide eggs and meat for the villagers. It is being built with mud, the same way that the people's homes are built in this area.

Each part of this project has involved the work of the villagers alongside the Africa Mercy crew. As the saying goes, "Give a poor man a fish and feed him for a day...teach a poor man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." The work that has been done here will live on long after the Africa Mercy has sailed away from the port of Monrovia, Liberia. What a blessing it was for me to see first-hand the "Sustainable Community Development" that has taken place in Tenegar, Liberia.