Not only was the infrastructure and economy of Liberia devastated during its 14-year civil war, but the educational system was destroyed as well.  Most teachers in schools today have minimal education, and the schools they work for have little to no resources for books, supplies or any funding for teacher training.  Beyond the Bricks has come alongside Trudy Petersen who has been training teachers in Liberia over the past 10 years.  Trudy was an instructor at the bible college where her husband, Dave, was instrumental in the reconstruction of the campus in 2009.  She also taught elementary and secondary-aged children at an orphanage school not far from the bible college where she was teaching classes.  Through her experience with education there she saw first-hand the overwhelming needs of the Liberian educational system.  The biggest is well-trained teachers and the second is supplies and resources.  

Many of Trudy’s students at the bible college have graduated and returned to their villages to be educators.  Trudy has been following them and helping bring the needed supplies, curriculum, and teacher training to their respective schools.  Not only has she brought numerous textbooks and boxes of school supplies, but she had also been instrumental in making sure every child in these schools has a Bible.   Last year she developed a curriculum to use the Bible as the primary textbook for all subjects and trained the teachers on how to incorporate scripture in all their lessons.  Since 2009, she and her husband have distributed over 8000 bibles and have done teacher training workshops in over 22 schools.

Beyond the Bricks is committed to seeing that this training continues–not only to ensure a better education system in Liberia–but to enable the children growing up there today to have a better future.  In order to do that, they will need to read better and think analytically.  They will need better-trained teachers and educators as well as appropriate supplies, textbooks, and even technology.  If they are to be competitive in an ever-increasing technological world, they will need access to computers and the knowledge to work them.  We are also committed to bringing every child a Bible.  Not only do these children use this Bible as a textbook and a means of learning to read, but they also take it home and many of their family members in turn can read God’s word.