LAP: About Us

Our organization began in 2007 after Judy Reed and Jane Scharer visited Liberia to reconnect with people Judy had taught from 1964-66 when she was a Peace Corps volunteer in the small village of Gbonkonimah.

In Liberia, they found the infrastructure destroyed by war - no electricity or running water, poor roads, limited housing, few operating schools, and understaffed hospitals. And yet, they also found people struggling to put their lives back together, people who were hopeful that the future would be better. They met with more than 15 of Judy’s former students, and even her former principal. They talked about life 40 years ago. Judy shared photos of the school and village, when her former students were children. When she gave one man a picture of his father, who had been the town chief in the village, he started to cry, saying he had no other photo of his father, who had been killed in the last years of the war. Another man received the only photo he'd ever had of the grandmother who raised him many years ago. The former students told how their children had not been able to go to school for years, how they had fled during the war, how they had barely survived. The two Americans shared the small gifts they had brought, spent part of the money friends had sent along (for school supplies, books desks and chairs), and decided they had to do more when they returned home.

When they got back to the U.S., they gave a presentation on their trip for about 75 family and friends, serving the same Liberian meal they had had in Gbonkonimah. They decided the best way to help was to form a non-profit organization, called the Liberian Assistance Program (LAP) and develop specific projects. LAP is a very small operation, with a small board of directors and advisory council. There are no paid employees. LAP doesn’t want to compete with the large non-profits, that are doing many wonderful things. Instead it wants to work in an intimate way, with very poor people, who just want a chance to help their children go to school, to grow their own food and to have a safe and healthy life. We hope you will join us in making a small difference for Liberians.

Liberia is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast and the Atlantic Ocean. It covers 111,369 square kilometers (43,000 square miles) and has a population of approximately three and a half million. Liberia has a hot equatorial climate with a rainy season from May to September and a dry season from October through April.

Liberia became a nation in 1847, when freed slaves from the United States formed a government based on that of the United States, naming their capital city after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States.

The Liberian government was overthrown by a military-led coup in 1980, which marked the beginning of a period of instability and civil war that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and the country's economy devastated. Today, Liberia is recovering, and despite its lack of adequate infrastructure and poverty, it has experienced economic growth.

The United National Mission in Liberia was established in September 2003 to support the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the peace process. Approximately 15,000 UN troops remain there today.

Helen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President of Liberia in 2005 and took office on Jan. 16, 2006. She is Africa's first elected female head of state.