Happy Thanksgiving

I met so many strong, proud Liberian women working to rebuild their ravaged country — like Tetee, who supports her family by selling goods in her small shop. Please honor their daily struggles with a Thanksgiving gift. Photo: Nancy Farese for Mercy Corps

Thanksgiving 2009

Dear Friend,

Last week I was in Liberia. By chance, I arrived right after their Thanksgiving holiday. It's celebrated a bit differently than in the U.S. There, people bring food to church to share with the poor. In a country as destitute as Liberia, that's enough to set one thinking about the meaning of generosity and gratitude.

Liberia is a West African country that has an Atlantic coastline, lush tropical rainforests and fruits like coconut and papaya that suggest sweet abundance.

Sadly, life there is anything but abundant. I've never seen a place so wrecked. Liberia was brutalized by 14 years of conflict, and even now — six years after a peace agreement and three years after President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Africa's first democratically elected woman president — the country is struggling mightily to return to its basic level of functioning before the violence began. It remains one of the poorest countries on earth.

Mercy Corps has been working in Liberia since 2002. With the generous support of donors like you, we have focused on rebuilding democracy and agricultural livelihoods, and improving food security.

This Thanksgiving, I hope you will consider joining me by making a donation equivalent to the cost of your holiday meal. Your generosity will support Mercy Corps programs that fight hunger in Liberia and around the world.

In Liberia, I visited villages where we have worked and talked with women farmers and shopkeepers and community leaders who are determined to turn their lives around. I was so moved by their stories of hardship and their positive spirit.

Now that I've met the people of Liberia, I want to help — and I'm hoping that everyone will pitch in. Your Thanksgiving gift will go a long way in a place where:

$35 buys a 100-pound bag of rice and
$72 sends a village child to school for a year.

Thank you, and happy Thanksgiving.

Bija Gutoff
Senior Writer/Editor

Donate Now ›