Our Story
Many of the people of Liberia live in villages out in the jungle. They don’t have access to clean drinking water, so they must walk many miles every day to get contaminated water from creeks, streams, ponds and even puddles. This is the same water that animals defecate in as well as laundry and bathing. This clear lack of resources leads to sickness. It is particularly hard on the babies. About 700 children die every year, just in Liberia, because of it. Unfortunately, they currently have no alternatives.
Starting in 2016 Reverend Oliver Adams wanted to make a difference. He had grown up in Liberia and knew the challenges of the people. He canvased churches and other charitable groups to collect enough money to pay to have one hand dug well per year for 4 years (2016-2019). Hand/Shovel dug wells are quite shallow and lead to a short usable lifespan. In addition, wells dug with this approach have collapsed and injured/killed the workers digging them in the past. He knew there had to be a better approach.
In 2020 Oliver talked to an American friend he had known for years by the name of George Wissing about the current situation and the problems he was facing. With George’s technology and mechanical background, he began to research options to improve the drilling process. George and Oliver partnered with WHOlives.org which invented a man-powered drill capable of safely drilling water wells much deeper (>250ft) allowing them to massively extend their usable lifespan. A drill and heavy-duty truck were purchased and shipped to Liberia along with all the supplies needed to start the first well project.
The first well allowed the fresh team to learn how to use the drill and other equipment however it didn’t take long before the team had drilled their initial 4 wells. They had achieved in 1 month what took previously 4 years to complete! They then set out to select the next 20 villages in dire need of fresh water. Upon running into multiple drilling issues at some of the well sites the team needed a way to improve the success rate of hitting water without encountering large boulders or other impediments. George researched devices and quickly sent a ground penetrating radar unit to Oliver to try out. Their first trial worked perfectly and all the wells since have been able to avoid large underground obstacles!
The accessible and clean water was having a tremendous effect on the initial villages. The general health of the people started improving. The children had time to play with each other, since they didn’t have to carry water for many hours each day. The local people in Liberia nicknamed George, Mr. Goodwater and the news spread to dozens of local newspaper articles and publications. Requests for additional wells began pouring in from villages all over the country. It was at this point that Friends Of Liberia really started their mission. While this was amazing to witness it did allow Oliver and George to realize the next challenge – food.
Liberia consumes a substantial amount of rice, however a large portion of the population has minimal access to it. They decided to use the first four villages as test cases to improve the situation. Rice seed was purchased for them along with fertilizer, tools, hoes and machetes, so they could clear the land and plant the seed. A short four months later they harvested their first crop of rice. The result was okay but they knew it could be improved and set out to solve the challenge. Through discussions with experts and locals they concluded that irrigation was required to improve the yield. The team spoke to a local farmer, Jackson, familiar with building efficient irrigation systems and it wasn’t long until Jackson became a full-time member of Friends of Liberia.
Soon the initial four villages had irrigated fields and their next crop yield improved by over 100%. George and Oliver were thrilled with the progress. The success with rice production also allowed them to see the next opportunity which was to come up with a way for the villagers to become self-sufficient. They started working toward finding an outlet for the villagers to sell extra seed rice and earn an income. This would give the villagers a sense of ownership and additionally improve the overall quality of life. Unfortunately, there were no simple options to sell raw rice so the team came up with the idea to build a rice processing plant and sell rice directly to the public. Nobody on the team had experience with a project such as this so they went in search of an expert and found Dr. Quaqua. Dr. Quaqua was a Sr. Research Officer in the agriculture department of Liberia and was extremely knowledgeable about local farming and rice production. He agreed to join the team and soon after had designed the plant and associated machinery which was ordered in late 2021. Land and building supplies were purchased soon after in 2022 and construction began. The project took longer than expected to complete however they processed their first batch (20,000 pounds) of rice, sold to us by the villagers, in May of 2023. This batch took less than a day to process so they knew they needed a way to get more raw rice quicker to allow the factory to operate efficiently.
To accomplish this the team purchased a 900-acre farm from one of the villages in order to plant their own rice for the factory. The farm included a large lake for irrigation and more than 300 acres of easily tillable land. They hired another team to setup the farm which started in the summer of 2023. They are targeting to have the first 100 acres planted by October with an initial harvest in early 2024. The team continues to collect rice as quickly as they can and process it. Some of the rice they are processing in the factory is going to the village people that are working to get the farm operational. Any excess rice will be taken to Monrovia to sell. This will give Friends of Liberia some very needed working capital.
They hope to get rice from villages all over Liberia. This will give the people of Liberia an outlet for their rice, which will in turn give them an income for the first time ever and allow them to build schools and houses as well as buy food to supplement their diet. It will change their way of life!
The current goal of Friends of Liberia Food and Water is to drill one well every four days and start a farming operation at each village. As of July 2023, we have completed over 130 wells and over 100 village farms. All monies received are spent on these projects. We have no paid officers or board members. We are a 501c3 company, so all donations are tax deductible. We appreciate anything you can give to help us continue helping the people of Liberia.