Last year the information about Ubuntu Liberia was posted and women who were interested in going began to think seriously about such an opportunity. By September several of us had responded and were sent an email from the Team Leader Linda Crowell saying that there was a team for Liberia.
At first there were five of us plus whoever would be assigned by National United Methodist Women to go with us. We sent out our biographies and pictures to all the team members so we would know more about each other. We were encouraged to start making our travel arrangements with the recommended agency. By the end of October, the itineraries were set with us leaving from major cities near us, meeting at Newark, NJ, and traveling together through Brussels, Belgium and on to Monrovia, Liberia.
Lots of information about the trip was sent out by Linda. We received legal forms to fill out and send back. There were also pages of cultural sensitivity, various packing lists, and a service of sending forth for use in our churches as we were about to leave.
Later in the fall two more persons decided to go. Eight persons was the limit for the number who could be in a team so we were set. Linda was also communicating with Alfreda Anderson, coordinator of Liberia United Methodist Women about the program. Alfreda was featured in an article in the December response magazine talking about our Ubuntu trip.
Our first conference call was January 6. Several of us were experiencing heavy snowfalls so it was interesting talking about traveling to Liberia where the weather was in the 80’s. We heard each other’s voices and got better acquainted. We talked about what we might want to share with our Liberia sisters. We reviewed what we needed to do to continue to get ready to go. We also made assignments of what each team member would be responsible for.
About a week later we learned that one of our team members was not going to be able to go due to a family member’s illness. Our next conference call was January 20. By then we knew who our member representing National United Methodist Women would be and she joined in on the call. Unfortunately during the phone call we discovered that another member had medical problems and could not go. Then one more had to remove herself for medical reasons.
Our final team members are Linda Crowell, Team Leader, from Cleveland OH (East Ohio Conference); Carol Banks from McRae, Georgia, (South Georgia); Rita Gaither-Gant, representing National, from Indianapolis, Indiana (Indiana); Arlene Mackie from Springfield, Massachusetts (New England); and Diana Miller from Gladwin, Michigan (Detroit).