Frances Blog

Welcome to Frances Blog page.

Here you will find updates and progress report posts related to Frances Swaray mission in Liberia. 

Update from Momo in Liberia

By Stephen Richmond | May 12, 2020 | Comments Off on Update from Momo in Liberia

Good morning from Liberia, I am so blessed to know that you all are praying for me. By the special grace of God I am recovering gradually, thanks all of you for your care and love for Liberia and me. My family and I have been praying for all of you doing this Pandemic, I am aware of the number of people who have died and the grief families are going through due to lost of their love one, I want to encourage you that this too will pass, let us hold unto the hand that was nailed on Calvary. Please continue praying along with me for my full health and please pray for Liberia because we are also facing battle against the coronavirus, our health care system cannot cope with large out break. Again thank for your love and care

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Frances update – May 2020

By Michael Allsop | May 6, 2020 | Comments Off on Frances update – May 2020

Mission update from Frances Swaray

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Newsletter – December 2019

By Michael Allsop | Dec 23, 2019 | Comments Off on Newsletter – December 2019

“The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” – Psalm 33:11

Reflection from Momo

I send greetings from the sunshine of Monrovia. As I reflect on these verses I am reminded that God has a plan and purpose for everyone. At The Koinonia Trust we are happy to be part of His plan and purpose. Liberia has been a country at unrest as demonstrations against the government continue. The journey toward healing from the trauma of war, abuse, and social injustice made so much more difficult in the midst of poverty passed down from one generation to another. We continue with our ministry with the help and support of all our partners in the Lord. We are trusting that God will bring healing to the broken and comfort in times of hardship.

Good News!

After much hard work over the past year our website is now live thekoinoniatrust.com . A big thank you to Mick Allsop for all the help in developing the website.

You can also now follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

There will also be options to donate to The Koinonia Trust or to Frances as she goes back to volunteer in Liberia. You can find both The Koinonia Trust and Frances’s pages on GoFundMe.

Update from Liberia

We were delighted to start this project in September. Momo trained the graduates from 26th to 29th of August 2019 in preparation for the project.

Topics taught were:

  • Child Policy
  • Classroom management
  • Lesson preparation
  • Our vision, values and principle in The  Koinonia Trust
  • Ethics and behavior
  • Integrity
  • Teaching skills
  • Assessment and Evaluation.

We are delighted to have 50 children attend our homework, study and reading classes. We have them for 3 afternoons per week and it is free to attend. Thanks to Irish Aid for sponsoring this project.

Celebrations

We are delighted to congratulate Reuben Kinnie on completion of his vocational training as an electrician. Reuben is a valued member of our team that supervises our homework club and study classes. He hopes to progress his education and has been accepted to do a degree in electrical engineering in 2020. We at The Koinonia Trust are incredibly proud of him and how he has embraced new opportunities. We want to say thank you to all who fund and support us. This is how it is making a difference, it is bringing hope to many!

Personal Development Workshop

These workshops are aimed at building personal capacity and focused on increasing knowledge regarding the aspects of health, how they are interlinked and the impact they have on us; spiritual/emotional/mental/physical and social. We have been developing these workshops based on observations and needs. Transformation in hearts and minds takes time. We were asked to facilitate a group discussion for the inmates at one of the prison compounds. The feedback was encouraging. It is our greatest desire that we will continue to have the opportunity to work within the prison service to bring hope, build capacity and resilience to both inmates and the staff.

Special thanks to Kvinna till Kvinna for the opportunity to facilitate a one-day workshop with their 11 CSO’s, under the program, Supporting Effective Advocacy in Liberia (SEAL). Our workshop focused on personal development and building resilience for leaders while working and living in trauma affected communities. We had 30 leaders of various projects who attended, and the feedback was positive and encouraging.

Prayer Points

  • Pray that God will make the provision for us, so we can continue to maintain what we are doing.
  • Pray for Momo as continues to lead the work in Liberia
  • Pray for Frances as she continues to volunteer and returns in early January. God continues to shape her every year.
  • Pray as Frances develops the resources to support the team here and as she advocates for The Koinonia Trust both in Liberia and Ireland.
  • Pray that the homework, study and reading classes will be a blessing to the community and that they will see Gods love through us.
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Newsletter – August 2019

By Michael Allsop | Aug 22, 2019 | Comments Off on Newsletter – August 2019

Newsletter - August 2019

Reflection from Frances

Learning to love how God loves….I am learning to love the person in front of me regardless of my own pre conceived ideas or notions. Despite sometimes the noticeable differences in culture, traditions, values or norms. Regardless of my own fears or insecurities that can rise out of all those differences. And at the same time I am learning to love myself, the way God made me and not resent, despise or dislike those things that God has created on purpose because it is for a purpose. We are all uniquely created.

What is really our notion of mission? Sometimes I think it can be more about our journey rather than those God has called you to serve. Why do I say this? I say this because he continually turns me upside down and inside out. Asking me to take leaps of faith when I can’t see were my feet are going to land. He continually takes away those things I love until I am empty so He can fill me with his treasures.

Perhaps an unexpected treasure from God is the courage. Sometimes it is not always comfortable, or seen. Sometimes it is just the courage to keep persisting, keep pressing on, keep focusing, and sometimes simply placing one foot in front of the other.

God's Wonderful Treasures

Donegal Presbyterian Church TKT
  • Love and support in a barren place
  • Peace in the midst of an unstable environment
  • Contentment with the little
  • Deep joy at the innovativeness of others
  • Faithfulness from the prayer

A BIG THANK YOU!

Climbing the Heights and Riding the Lows

We want to say a big thank you to Jim and Margaret Morrow who organized a fundraiser for us this year and those in our Donegal family and community who supported them through giving generously and accompanying him on the mountain climbs.

It was aptly named ‘Climbing the heights and riding the lows’ a real reflection of life. They conquered three mountains on a journey that took them from County Kerry back home to County Donegal. A massive €5,740.45 euro was raised and a real blessing to our work in Liberia.

Climbing the Heights and riding the lows

Update from Liberia

Before I left we had facilitated an all day workshop on wholeness and personal development for Liberian leaders who are the partner organisations of 'Kvinna till Kvinna' an organization that work with vulnerable and disadvantaged women.

We had also started facilitating workshops for our local clinic staff on spiritual, physical and emotional health. When I return I will focus on mental health with them and in the meantime Momo is going to do a Trauma Healing Group with them. Momo has been leading the work of The Koinonia Trust since January as President and he has not just embraced the vision but continues to embrace new ideas and has been a huge support to me.

The Koinonia Trust Newsletter
The Koinonia Trust Newsletter

He is working hard developing the education project for young people and the study and reading classes will be commencing in September. At the moment he is preparing the training week for the four graduates who will be supervising the classes. We are grateful to The Irish Embassy/Irish Aid who is supporting this project.

Frances Prayer Points

  • Pray for those who we engage with, that we love them as God loves them and that they would be strengthened in their spiritual walk with God. For those who do not have a relationship with God that they would come to know Him in a personal way. Pray that we will be givers of grace and that we will look for the beauty in the ashes.
  • Continue to pray for Momo as he leads the work that God would strengthen him, guide him and give him wisdom.
  • Pray for Liberia it is unsettled and unstable in some areas that is causing additional suffering to an already hurting nation. Pray that a righteous army of God would rise up and stand in the gap for the nation. That there would be Godly heart and mind transformations from the community right up to the government.
  • Pray for me as I advocate for The Koinonia Trust and the work that it is doing. Pray God will open doors and I find favor with God and man.
  • Pray for the students that will come for the study classes that we will be able to share the love of Christ with them.
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Newsletter – 17th May

By Michael Allsop | May 17, 2019 | Comments Off on Newsletter – 17th May

Newsletter from Momo B. Kinnie

New Community

We are settling well into our new community. We have met some of the local community to discuss who the community leaders are and if there is anything we can do as an organization to support them. The suggestion has come back that once they are organised they would like to be trained in leadership skills and community development. At the moment we have been able to facilitate ongoing workshops in our local clinic within our community. This has been a great opportunity and is a gateway into our local area.

Trauma Healing Groups

  • We have been facilitating trauma healing groups and to date seventy five (75) people have completed sessions of the trauma healing program in various areas in Liberia.
  • We have a trauma healing group ongoing in the compound we are living in.
Koinonia Trust Trauma Healing Groups

Personal Development Workshops

These workshops are aimed at building personal capacity and focused on increasing knowledge regarding the aspects of health, how they are interlinked and the impact they have on us; spiritual/emotional/mental/physical and social. We have been developing these workshops based on observations and needs. Before we can expect behavior change there is the need of transformation in hearts and minds. This is going to take time.

Our latest project

We have been busy making two blackboards and it has been so impressive what these young men are able to do with the few resources they have.

Koinonia Trust Liberia
Koinonia Trust Liberia
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