Getting Musu Home

This blog post is a bit different - it was written by Sandy Whittle of Red Meets Green.  Red Meets Green is an organizational partner in Liberia working with the Child Reintegration Centre's Transition Coaching and Mentoring department in learning how to reintegrate children back to families, and strengthen and support those families.  Their Liberian social workers Prezton and Sametta, work with CRC Senior Consultant David Musa on various activities, including referrals of children to get them safely home to family, where they belong.

Getting Musu Home
by Sandy Whittle, Red Meets Green

Prezton and Sametta [Liberian Social workers at RMG] were recently contacted by the CRC staff about a 12 year old Liberian girl who had been living on the streets in Sierra Leone and was arrested there.  The CRC had taken the girl, Musu, into their care and reached out to Prez and Sam about collaborating to get the girl safely back to Liberia.
 
Prezton and representatives from the Ministry of Gender in Liberia met some of the CRC staff and the young girl  at the Liberian/Sierra Leonean border.  They brought her back to Liberia and she has since been staying in a safe home funded by UNICEF and run by the Ministry of Gender. 
 
The plan was to trace her family (we knew from Musu that they live a few hours out from Monrovia) and then assess their situation and address all needs for reunification.
 
Well….due to a number of divinely orchestrated circumstances…..word got to the family that their daughter was in Monrovia.  Yesterday I [Sandy] got a call from a very excited Prezton that the family had arrived looking for their precious daughter.  They brought documents and family photos to prove she is their child.  They wept as they shared their story.  Desperate for a way for Musu to go to school, they had sent her to live with a friend/business woman in Sierra Leone who promised to send Musu to school in exchange for Musu living with her to help her around the house.  Apparently, Musu was overloaded with work and beaten in the home so she ran to the streets.  We praise God for the intervention of the Sierra Leonean authorities and the CRC staff!
 
Plans are now underway to do a more formal assessment of this family’s needs and our Red Meets Green Team and the Ministry are working together to ensure a safe and permanent reunification for Musu and her parents.
 
We are filled with gratitude for our relationship with HCW and the CRC.  Because of the CRC, this sweet family can be reunited and due to their mentorship and guidance we are versed in the ways to offer support, encouragement and empowerment.