Beacon of Hope

On Friday, 21st November, Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf joined Mercy Ships and the entire community of Tenegar to celebrate the dedication of the Tenegar Clinic.

Mercy Ships and the people of Tenegar rebuilt the clinic over a 10-month period during the 2008 Liberian Field Service, and it will provide basic health care for over 6,000 people in the rural vicinity.

Everyone from cabinet ministers to small schoolchildren listened quietly as President Johnson-Sirleaf praised the efforts of Mercy Ships for its assistance and the local community for its diligence in developing themselves and forging ahead toward being self-sufficient.

“When we got the message that Mercy Ships would [rebuild] the clinic, what a wonderful day it was!” President Johnson-Sirleaf said. “And now we have the results of this major contribution to our medical services.”

Plans are for the new clinic to be staffed and operated by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and services will be offered free to the community.

One building includes a waiting room, pharmacy, lab, records area and two examination rooms for outpatient services. A second is intended to serve maternity needs of the community. 

Following her speech, the President toured the agricultural area which now boasts an organic garden, a chicken coop, 12,000 plantain trees, 10,000 pineapples and a low-lying rice field, and six new wells that provide clean water for the clinic and the community of 1,200.

The word Tenegar is a Mandingo word that means “building my town on a hill.” Certainly this new clinic “on the hill” carries with it the opportunity to provide a shining beacon of hope and healing for years to come.