Brick by Brick: The Business of Rebuilding Liberia
Firestone Natural Rubber Company Continues Donation Cargo Partnership With African Bible College, Ships Gym To Campus In Liberia
When my wife, Becky, and I returned to Liberia in 2008 to help restore the African Bible College in Yepeka, we found a devastated campus. The college’s 20 buildings had been destroyed during the war — looted, blown up and burned. We wondered how to even begin our restoration mission.
Over the past two years, several groups in the United States have sent materials and work teams to West Africa to help rebuild. Firestone Natural Rubber Company has been particularly kind, saving us tens of thousands of dollars by shipping a dozen containers of materials and aid free of charge to Liberia through the Donation Cargo Program.
Most recently, Becky and I were very excited to receive word that the materials for a gym that were donated by my brother’s church in Arizona — everything from steel and metal sheets to glass backboards and breakaway rims — will soon be arriving in Liberia on a Firestone vessel. This will save the Bible College between $15,000 and $20,000 in shipping costs, helping us build what will be the finest gym in Liberia!
With the help of Firestone Natural Rubber Company and others, we are proud to be in our second year of operations with a full cohort of students and faculty. Firestone really does care about our future — and that of Liberia.
Posted by: Del Chinchen
May 24, 2010
