Kennett couple aids African students

Editor's note: This is the first installment of a three-part series regarding a Kennett couple's ongoing efforts to educate African students and spread Christian love at Liberia. The second installment publishes in Thursday's edition and the final installment publishes in Saturday's edition.

KENNETT, Mo. - A city couple took their Christian love to Africa, where they watched God's hands at work.

Chancellor and Melissa Wayne's fourth trip to Liberia, Africa, was dedicated to graduating a number of students from high school studies, Chancellor Wayne told The Delta Dunklin Democrat.

“We went over the Thanksgiving break,” said Chancellor Wayne. “We left on November 21st and returned on the 30th. We were in country there for eight or nine days.”

The Christian group, Calvary Love Ministries' Youth Pastor, Akinlade Caulcrick, Jr.'s parents started a children's home and education facility outside of Buchanan, Liberia, nearly a decade ago, Wayne explained.

“Nine years ago,” he said. “There are 35 children that live on campus.

“They also run the only free school in Grand Bassa County,” he added. “Pretty sure it's the only free school in Liberia itself. There are several schools inside of Buchanan, Liberia, but they are private schools.”

Wayne noted Buchanan is a port city and a highway stretches north from the city.

“Right before you get to Saint John's River, if you look east just a little bit you'll see a green dot that comes up on Google Maps,” he said of an Internet search. “If you click on that, it should bring up Calvary Love Ministries chapel.

“There are pictures there of inside the chapel,” he continued. “You can actually see the entire compound, or what the compound was back in February of this year.”

The Kennett chiropractor and his educator wife participate in different projects during each trip.

“Our main aspect for this project was graduation,” he said. “The school a couple years ago was getting ready for the first group of 12th graders and the Liberian government said, 'Hey, we need this before you can graduate.'

“So we were able to get some science equipment to them and some different things that they needed to make that happen,” he explained. “We had five students who were able to graduate.”

Area churches and beyond sponsor the trips, although Wayne said people who travel with the ministry spend about $3,000 each out of pocket in order to participate.

“Ely Baptist Church sponsors,” he noted. “First Baptist Church of Decatur, Alabama sponsors.

“Several churches within the Black River Baptist Association, like Senath First Baptist sponsor as well,” he continued. “They sent over a lot of Care Packages that will arrive December 21. So there's a lot of Christmas presents and things like that in there for the kids.”

Students at the school range in ages from seven or eight years old to adults, Wayne explained.

“One of our graduates was actually 23 years old,” Wayne beamed. “The curriculum is Christian based.

“But it's all your reading, writing and arithmetic,” he emphasized. “They have what they call Pre-K all the way through 12th grade. We had five students graduate and that was the big thing for this trip. Going and doing the graduation.”

Since Calvary's main color is green, some ladies from Malden's First Southern Baptist Church thought they probably could help out with graduation attire for the Liberian students, Wayne explained.

“The ladies got together and ordered six caps and gowns that we took over for them,” he said. “Because Malden's main color is green.

“So we have a number of pictures of the graduates in their Malden Green caps and gowns,” he added with a smile.

The government at Liberia took notice of Calvary's school because the students' test scores are high, he noted.

“The head gentleman that graduated ended up scoring in the 96th percentile on his finals from the state,” Wayne said as his excitement grew. “These kids are smart.

“It was a great opportunity for us,” he added. “We knew, watching these kids grow up over the last three years, we knew we wanted to do a graduation ceremony, but who else was going to put it on? We did. It was really good to be able to go, participate in that, and show them what we're doing.”

A weekend filled with projects morphed into a teaching moment for Wayne and the school boys.

“We got there late Friday night,” he said. “Saturday, we worked around campus a little bit and saw everything we needed to do.

“One of the things I got to do with the boys on Sunday was build a cinderblock barbecue pit,” he explained. “There are hogs on site they've been raising and we taught the boys how to basically go from oink to dinner plate. So we butchered a hog. We knew we were going to have close to 200 people there the next day because all the villages were invited to come. One of the graduates was from a neighboring village. So we butchered it, seasoned it and cooked it all night long and had a roasted pig for the big party the next day.”

Sunday was not just the party, but also a Baccalaureate Service, he said.

“Monday was graduation,” Wayne noted. “One of the things that was interesting to see was a student, Joshua, still has a mother and a couple of uncles that still are alive.

“I don't know his last name, but he was one of the graduates,” Wayne added. “One of Joshua's uncles came and asked for a meeting. They invited Melissa and myself to come to the meeting. We're sitting on the front porch and I asked, 'What are we doing?' She said, 'You'll find out.' The uncle said, 'We appreciate you getting Joshua his education. But now, what do we do? What's our next step?'”

Joshua, over the past year said he wanted a career in construction, Wayne explained.

“So my wife and I went online and found LOIC,” he said. “Liberian Opportunities Technical College. “It's a trade center,” ha continued. “They teach masonry, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, and so forth. They also teach automotive, home economics, all kinds of great, hands-on practical stuff.”

So Wayne scheduled an appointment to meet with the administrator on Tuesday.

And Monday night he and Melissa discussed an important point.

“'Do we just invite Joshua?'” he asked. “'Well, yes,'” Melissa replied. “'Let's invite him to go.'”

The student met the couple at the mission house in the morning, Wayne provided.

“We traveled the 30 minutes or so to Buchanan,” he said. “We get there to campus, we meet with the administrator and said, 'We'd like to start a partnership with you'.

“Calvary will graduate students every year and we need a place for them to go,” Wayne noted. “So that they can get real world, occupational studies. Whether its agriculture, construction or what have you, we need something like that.”

That communication led to a positive response.

“He was very appreciative and said, 'Yes!' We'd love to partner with you!'” Wayne exclaimed. “He asked one question.

“'How are these kids going to be able to pay for the school?'” he continued. “I said, 'If we have deserving students, then we'll find sponsors.' So we talked about the construction program that Joshua wanted to attend.”

Wayne's Internet explorations resulted in more positive information, more indications of God's love and Christian ideals.

“I had looked on the website and saw where December starts registration for the classes that start in March,” he said of the trade center's schedule. “I told him, 'When we leave here today, we want to take that paperwork home with us so we can make sure it's all filled out properly, and get the documentation that you need so that he can start in March.'

“The administrator said they had such an increase in student numbers, that they started a second class in the afternoon, and it just started,” he emphasized. “So if Joshua would like to start, he can start tomorrow.”

An amazing example of God's work, he said.

“We got right into the administrator,” Wayne noted. “Everything just fell into place.

“We got to see God's fingers at work, weaving this whole path for Joshua,” he added. “But we needed to find a sponsor.”

And the couple wasted no time.

“I asked the administrator how much?” he said. “He asked if we were going to buy the PPE from Buchanan or from them.

“I told him, 'We're buying everything from you,'” Wayne continued. “'So we can make sure he has the right steel-toed boots and the right coveralls you'd like him to have.'”

After a little math, the administrator offered the group an answer.

“He added it up and for the year-long program it was $220,” Wayne beamed. “I said immediately, 'His sponsorship is covered.'”