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Recalling how beautiful and happy the children of Liberia seemed in 1969 when I served in Klay, Liberia as a Peace Corps volunteer, I was struck by how much the devastation of years of civil war had impacted the children of Liberia.  My work as a member of a Maternal and Child-Health Education program in Liberia (’69 – ’71) and counseling work in schools today, inspired me to initiate some action that might help bring back the smiles and sense of peace to these children born into war. 

 Children helping children is the basis for the beginnings of the project now called Hands Across the Water (HAW).  It is the mission of this project to create hope for children in war-torn Liberia by rebuilding educational resources through the non-profit organization of Friends of Liberia (FOL) and their Liberian Education Assistance Project (LEAP).  The vision of HAW is for children to live in a world of peace, supporting each other through compassion, communication and action.

 As an elementary school counselor, I saw how wonderfully inspired American children could get when they became aware of the suffering of other children in the world.  The HAW children generated ideas for this project and inspired the adults in their lives to help them generate educational and financial resources for FOL/LEAP since 2001.  An email communication was established between students of Pleasanton, CA and Johnsonville, Liberia through Johnsonville’s principal and director of LEAP in Liberia, Ernest Shaw.  Lacking electricity, Principal Shaw took a taxi to Monrovia these past years and typed his students’ communications at an Internet café.  The first year, we gathered school supplies and with the help of a community grant shipped them to Johnsonville.

 For the past three school years, students from Pleasanton Unified School District worked with their teachers, parents and community organizations to raise resources to send to FOL.  The students successfully exchanged letters, artwork, and emails, culminating in the production of two beautiful quilts (pictures included) that blended the artwork of African and American students.  Through student and community efforts this year, HAW was able to provide classroom supplies and enough funds to allow Principal Shaw to purchase a generator, computer and wiring to provide electricity to the school and clinic in Johnsonville, thus benefiting the entire village.

 Activities the students supported this year included a “Dollars for Scholars” drive where children sought work at home to earn a dollar, the raffle of student artwork produced with community grants, and sales of food or items at student stores or PTA functions.  Students applied for grants from community organizations to support their efforts.

 This year, the email communications between HAW and Liberian students will focus on a variety of topics so students can teach other students, at their respective schools, what they have learned.  One such topic will be the environment so Liberian students can share what they are being taught to do to help save their rainforest.  In return, the American children can share what they are doing to save resources by recycling used items.  They will support that concept by helping to locate refurbished laptop computers for teachers and sharing a gently used elementary reading book with a Liberia friend (adding their own personal message inside).  HAW in Pleasanton will continue to remain connected to Johnsonville, but we hope to inspire other school-to-school connections between LEAP schools and American communities.  

 HELPING OUT - Several other Liberian schools have requested an American school or community connection and we are determined to work with FOL/LEAP to help make that happen.  As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, you can be a catalyst in your community to build awareness through even one small activity.  LEAP and HAW are working to create tools that can be used for presentations by you in your community.   Anything any classroom teacher, scout or church group, school leadership group or business could do to contribute even a few dollars for FOL/LEAP would be a big help for the children. 

 Financial resources for LEAP are the most useful as the LEAP educators have been trained to seek grants from FOL and other organizations to help train other Liberians teachers, thus helping more school children across Liberia.  However, for those groups that might prefer to gather useful items to ship, requested donations include refurbished laptop computers and printers for teachers, gently used elementary reading books for students and support to ship these items over to Africa.  FOL has established a shipping connection that has been reliable in getting the materials to the LEAP educators twice a year.  We would like to look to the community for other ideas on shipping that we might consider during the school year.

 We would like to issue a call to other former Peace Corp volunteers to see if they might like to facilitate some local connection with Liberians.  You may contact me, Sharon (Mosher) Tangney by calling (925) 462-0739 or emailing me at kttjsharon@comcast.net. 

Please note that all donations to this project are made by check to FOL/HAW rather than to Hands Across the Water.  Please know that contributions of any size matter and are greatly appreciated.  Do you recall the peace and smiles we loved to see on the faces of these gorgeous Liberian children before they saw the horrors of war?  A good education can support their dreams of a better world. 

Sharon (Mosher) Tangney
Peace Corps ’69 – 71, Klay & Monrovia

Licensed Educational Psychologist & School Counselor
Pleasanton, CA.

kttjsharon@comcast.net