SPH Global Vision - Amy Rowlands (going to Liberia with Tearfund)

Having worked for the last few years as a manager in the NHS, at the beginning of April I am going to be working in Liberia for 6 months as an Intern with Tearfund’s Disaster Management Team (DMT).

I’ve wanted to work in the relief sector for a number of years, since an MSc in Control of Infectious Diseases with a module focusing on the effects of conflict on health, and time spent overseas.

During the Internship, I’m likely to be based in Nimba County in the north-east of Liberia on the border with the Ivory Coast. The purpose of the Internship is to provide those wishing to pursue a career in relief work who have existing transferable professional skills with the relevant relief experience which is often so hard to come by. As a member of the Liberian DMT, I will be trained in the role of an Area Coordinator, which will involve exposure to a challenging environment and learning the operating practices, structures, systems, projects and standards of the relief sector. I will have responsibility for tasks involved in programme strategy and policy, project, personnel and finance management, programme logistics and technical support. I will also represent Tearfund to other agencies and donors.

Prayer points:

·          Prayer during this time of preparation, getting ready to leave loved ones, deciding what to take and what not to, trusting in God for the big and the small.

·          Once I arrive… prayer for my physical safety in a country so recently caught up in years of conflict would be very much appreciated, and for a personal sense of peace about living and working in a potentially unstable environment.

·          The field locations are isolated – pray for friendship and good relationships and fellowship with local staff and for protection from loneliness.

·          Also a real growth of my relationship with, trust in and dependence on God, and guidance as to whether this is what God wants me to do and where He wants me to be longer term.

Other bits…

Tearfund has been working in Liberia since 1995. From 1996 to 2000 DMT successfully completed a large-scale relief and rehabilitation programme in Lofa County and around the town of Greenville. Since that time Tearfund has been working with its main local partner in Liberia, the Association of Evangelicals of Liberia (AEL).

With the end of the 14-year civil war and the security conditions in place to permit larger-scale return after the war, since October 2004 DMT has been undertaking a full operational programme in partnership with AEL.

Current projects are based in Gbarpolu, Nimba and Sinoe Counties funded by ECHO, UN, Jersey Government, World Relief Canada/Canadian Food Grains Bank and DfID. Tearfund are working with war affected communities helping them to re-establish their lives. Tearfund’s current projects take integrated approach to community reconstruction in the following sectors: HIV/AIDS, food security, agricultural extension work, water and sanitation provision to communities and public health promotion. Tearfund encourages more intensive yet sustainable agricultural techniques, such as encouraging a change from shifting cultivation, use of composting, swamp rice cultivation and use of higher yielding varieties of seeds.  Training in these techniques is complimented by building solidarity through the formation of farmers associations. Tearfund also works with the local administration and community leaders to address issues at policy level and at the practical level concerning the livelihoods and welfare of project beneficiaries.