By Emily Bell | Project Leader
Dear supporters,
Thank you for continuing to give our girls the chance to go to school. Earlier this summer, we were prepared to start the recruitment process for three new classes of Kindergarten through referral forms submitted by local partner organizations. Before we could start, however, the Ebola outbreak engulfed Liberia's capital, Monrovia. On July 30th, President Sirleaf recommended that schools close and large meetings cease. We decided to close summer school at the MTM Academy for the safety of our girls, staff, and community.
On July 31st, the girls and their families came to school for their last day. We gave care packages to the girls that included workbook pages to keep them busy and learning, medicine for fever and bacterial illnesses, Ebola awareness posters, health care referral forms, oral rehydration solutions, chlorine, soap, and rice. All students, parents, and staff also attended an awareness class led by doctors and staff from UNICEF, the IRC, and Ministry of Health. While the school is closed, all expat staff members have been relocated to the US.
To date, we've had no reported cases of Ebola related illness in students or staff.
On Friday August 22nd, our founder Katie Meyler arrived back in Liberia to help the West Point community, where the majority of our girls live. You can follow her journey at http://racingheartblog.tumblr.com/.
Thank you for your continued support. We hope to reopen school as soon as it's safe for our girls. Until then, we will keep fighting for a better, faster, more organized response to the outbreak, both in West Point and across Liberia. Please direct any questions, comments, or words of support to emilyb@morethanme.org.
In this together,
Emily & the MTM Team
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