ELWA Building Destroyed by Fire

Last week, our partner hospital in Liberia, ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) reported that one its buildings caught fire and burned down. The building containing the radio station was destroyed by fire late last week. The cause of the fire is yet to be established. ELWA is still able to broadcast its radio station from a satellite site.

“[Praise the Lord] that we are still broadcasting the gospel which we trust will give some hope and courage to our many listeners and sympathizers during this crucial period,” said one of the ELWA administrators.

More discouraging news come from Liberia as the presidential elections took a violent turn last week. This update comes from our missionary friends in Liberia:

Today was a rough day in Liberia. Our runoff election is scheduled for tomorrow but one of the political parties is asking all of their supporters to boycott the elections. They had a protest today and began to march into town. Things became heated when the Liberian police backed by the UN tried to stop them and several people were killed. We had some of our missionaries in town and they had a bit of a harrowing time getting home. Everyone is safe and we are now restricting our movements. Please be praying for peace and righteousness to prevail.

Hospitals of Hope has had a presence in Liberia, Africa since for several years now.

In our first two years of working in Liberia, we primarily focused on JFK Medical Center in Monrovia, Liberia, the main government hospital in this country of 3.5 million people. When we began work there, JFK was in need of basic equipment, but Hospitals of Hope has donated $1.1 million of medical equipment to JFK, greatly increasing its capacity to effectively treat patients.

Since then, we have shifted our focus to ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa), a well-respected and established ministry, which has been at work in Liberia since the 1950s and began as a ministry of SIM (then Sudan Interior Mission).
Although ELWA offers quality care and has great plans for the future, the hospital is in dire need. With only 1 doctor for every 28,000 people in Liberia, ELWA is swamped with patients, and their limited resources are stretched thin. In summer 2010 we sent a volunteer team to work at ELWA, and, in early 2011, we partnered with the Brother's Brother Foundation to send necessary equipment to the hospital.

Join with us as we pray for both ELWA as they recover from this fire and for peace in Liberia through the remainder of the elections.

Update from 11/16/11

It was announced this week that President Sirleaf was re-elected as Liberia's president. Below is a congratulatory statement from the United States that also describes last week's election protest.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY CLINTON

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I want to congratulate the Liberian people for exercising their right to vote in last week's presidential and legislative elections. These historic elections are important milestones on Liberia's path toward democratic reconciliation. The United States congratulates President Sirleaf on her re-election and we will continue to work with her and all elected officials to advance democracy, and promote peace and prosperity.

The United States commends the National Elections Commission for conducting free, fair, and transparent elections. We applaud the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and others for sending observers to monitor the elections, as well as the UN Mission in Liberia for promoting security during the electoral process.

The violence on November 7th marred this otherwise peaceful process, so we welcome the creation of a Special Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the incident. We are also deeply disappointed by the Congress for Democratic Change’s decision to boycott the run-off election in an attempt to delegitimize the election. We urge all political parties to respect the election results and resolve their differences peacefully.

The United States is a long standing friend of the Liberian people and we are committed to their future. Congratulations on this momentous occasion.