by Christina Holder
Soon after Kedrick White was called to return to his homeland of Liberia in 2007, he began volunteering at ELWA* radio, hosting a weekly programme called ‘Music and Sense’. The show brought together his love for God and his love for music, as well as one of his gifts: common sense.
In between sets of his favourite gospel tunes, he talked about how Liberians could take biblical steps to correct societal problems that had been exacerbated by war.
It wasn't long before ELWA staff, who have worked in partnership with SIM in Liberia since 1952, thought it made a lot of sense to offer Kedrick a job. ELWA needed an executive director who could take charge of daily operations on the large campus on the outskirts of Liberia's capital, Monrovia.
Kedrick accepted the position, even though ELWA could offer only a minimal salary. ‘I'll do what I can,’ he said. ‘All of the energy, and all of everything that I have must come into doing this, and doing it the best I can.’
This gifted man had left Liberia when he was only 21. It was 1982, and the peaceful country of his childhood had spiralled into one of violence and uncertainty.
Two years earlier, a 27-year-old Liberian had executed the sitting President William Tolbert. The coup d‘etat launched a 14-year civil war, born of poverty, tribal rivalries and oppression.
As Liberia whirled into the irreversible destruction of brutal civil war, Kedrick was constructing new dreams in the United States. He married, started a family and worked as a church administrator. His new life was safe, secure … hopeful.
As the years passed and the war continued, the thought of going home became less plausible. ‘I didn't care at the time,’ he said. ‘Things were going well for us.’ But God had other plans.
For years Kedrick’s sister had been asking him to come back to Liberia, and one day she surprised him with an air ticket. So in 2007 he finally travelled back to his war-torn homeland.
The Liberia that had been so far away from his mind and heart for so many years suddenly became a place he could no longer live without. God was calling him home. ‘Within two days I knew we had to come back,’ he said.
Lasting change
After years of war, the ELWA staff had become accustomed to a survival mentality. In poverty-stricken Liberia, where unemployment was at about 80%, some at ELWA had lost their vision of being ‘the hands of Jesus’. But many longed for change.
Five years after the war’s end, dilapidated buildings, poor roads, unkempt grounds, the threat of idle combatants and mismanagement of money had left the ministry in a desperate situation.
So Kedrick decided to bring more accountability to the overall management of ELWA, to open a new main road going directly to the campus hospital, and to strengthen campus security.
ELWA staff oversee a hospital 24 hours a day; a radio station that broadcasts Christian programmes throughout parts of West Africa; a powerhouse that provides 24-hour electricity to Liberians and expatriates; and a school that impacts the lives of more than 400 children.
Kedrick hopes that with God's help, lasting changes can take place at ELWA and throughout Liberia. He wants to cast a new vision for the ministry, including plans for a new hospital, cleaner grounds, a guest house complex to meet the needs of visitors to Liberia, and worker incentive programmes.
*Abbreviation for ‘Eternal Love Winning Africa’.
