The Story of St. Paul's at Kakata
the United Faith Center for Children
an orphanage-to-be in Kakata, Liberia
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1. In the Beginning
Chapter 2. The Next Step
Chapter 3. Getting Formal
Chapter 4. January 2008
Chapter 5. January 2009
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 The story begins some years ago, not at St. Paul's, but at another parish. Rev. Pat was priest, and Frank, Kroh and their daughter Varcia were parishioners. Frank and Kroh are from Liberia – a country that had been ravaged by civil war. They maintained close ties with their homeland, and did what they could to help people back in Liberia. For example, one of their projects was to collect used bicycles, which they shipped to Liberia in rented containers. Liberia is a poor country, with very low wages, and very high unemployment rates. There, even a well used bicycle is a highly valued gift. They grew close to Rev, Pat through mutual work on these projects, but then, when Rev. Pat left the parish and parish ministry, distance intervened, and they lost contact with each other.
Later, Rev. Pat was persuaded to return to parish ministry, and she became Priest-In-Charge here at St. Paul's in Willimantic. Frank and Kroh found her here, and a renewed relationship developed between them, a relationship that now also includes the parish of St. Paul's. Frank and Kroh make the long trip from Waterbury to worship at St. Paul's whenever they can. The congregation welcomed them, considers them part of the family, and joined them in their projects. For example, in May 2006 the parish collected 30 bicycles for shipment – not bad for a very small church! More have been collected since. In another project, St. Paul's gathered a considerable quantity of children's tee shirts for distribution to existing Liberian orphanages,
On a return visit to Liberia, Frank, Kroh and Varcia were overwhelmed by the terrible number of poor, vulnerable children left without parents. Varcia cried. A vision came to Kroh: an orphanage for perhaps forty children. That vision developed as follows: In a few years, Frank and Kroh will return to Liberia to stay. Frank will take over his grandfather's grocery store, which comes with some additional land. There they will build their home. On the remaining land Frank will develop an organic garden which will grow food, partly for the orphanage. Frank's mother owns another 4 acre site where the orphanage will be built.
Kroh will be the director. It should have a staff of 6 during waking hours, and 2 or 3 while children are sleeping. Liberia is a poor country, and wages are very low. As a result, both construction and operating costs are extremely low compared to the cost for an equivalent project in this country. The first very rough estimates were $40,000 for construction costs (mainly materials) and $8 to $10,000 per year for operating costs.
The costs may be low, but they are not trivial. What next?
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A strong interest developed at St. Paul's. In the late fall of 2006, a meeting was arranged to discuss the possibilities. Frank and Kroh Stewart, the project initiators, were there. St. Paul's was represented by Rev. Patricia Gallagher, Anne Hayes, Alfred Leonardi, and Patricia Mulhall. In a wide ranging discussion the following topics were covered:
~ need for such a facility
~ types of services that would be offered
~ ideas abut staffing
~ estimated cost for the facility and for its operation
~ possible sources of funding
~ possible board members
The meeting resulted in the following assignments:
~ Frank and Kroh would be responsible for obtaining drawings of the facility
~ Rev. Pat would contact potential board members,
~ and investigate the steps required to become an independent 501(c)3 non-profit
The meeting concluded with a decision to have a formal organizational meeting as soon as the drawings were available.
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The long, tedious process of obtaining IRS recognition of “St. Paul's at Kakata” as an independent, non-sectarian 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization was started. The plans for the orphanage arrived from Liberia, and so the planned organizational meeting was held at St. Paul's Willimantic, on February 11, 2007. Board members were chosen and officers elected.
Previous discussions were continued and expanded to reflect the new information and organization. The Board started work on the new organization's structure, and the related bylaws. Obviously, the mission is a complex one. The actual operation will be in Liberia - but most of the Board will be here in Connecticut. The Board understands this, and realizes that it has a great deal of work to do just in developing a structure capable of efficient functioning, under these circumstances, and over the long term.
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After the organizational meeting, fund raising began and work continued on developing organizational structure. Meanwhile, things started happening in the real world. With the help of a significant contribution from St. Paul's, enough money was raised to start construction before the '07 spring rainy season began. The land for the orphanage was donated by Mrs. Lucy C. Stewart on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. John H.B. Stewart, Sr.
Construction in Liberia is very labor intensive: excavation is by hand and concrete blocks are hand made, on site. Backfill is by hand and the rainy season does the compaction. Unemployment is high and prevailing wages are low so that labor costs are modest.
At this point, the foundation is in and backfilled, and enough blocks have been made to start building the walls. An impressive amount can be accomplished with hand labor - 18,300 blocks are ready for wall building! Laying the block for the walls will start this month
On this side of the Atlantic the organizational/financial end also has made significant progress. Fund raising continues and an endowment fund has been established.
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A difficult project in a difficult time - and no one with deep pockets in sight..... However, in Africa progress towards an operating orphanage continues. Our GC/Construction Manager, Solomon Stewart, has managed to get the walls about halfway up even in the face of dramatically rising construction material prices.
On this side of the Atlantic fund raising, as well as work on organizational structure, continues. Rev. Pat retired from St. Paul's and moved to Florida, where she continues her role as President. Allan Gee, a graphic design professional, joined us with a major contribution of his time. As a result we have a completely new version of the Kakata website, as well as a large assortment of promotional designs and material.
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