Geography: Liberia
Founded: 2003
About THINK Liberia
Touching Humanity In Need Of Kindness (THINK) was founded on April 4, 2003 as a humanitarian local NGO to get involved with the peace process through human resource development using advocacy and activism, focusing on the rights and wellbeing of women and children, especially the girl child.
The civil war was still raging and just 2 months after THINK had gotten their accreditation, the hostilities escalated and they were compelled to move to the SKD Sports Complex to respond to the situation at the stadium that provided refuge for approximately 58,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) who had run there from the western suburbs of Monrovia where their displaced people’s camps had been up rooted by the fighting between LURD and Government Forces.
THINK provided play therapy, one hot meal a day and family tracing for 350 children in that camp. While there THINK noticed young women who were either deserters from the government forces militias or used as “war wives” of the fighting forces.
THINK met Samaritan’s Purse International Relief and got funding to open a Rehabilitation Home for girls and young women associated with the fighting forces in October 2003. The THINK Rehabilitation Home now caters to war affected adolescent girls and young women with various social problems such as victims of trafficking, survivors of gender based violence, commercial sex workers and girls separated from their families because of war.
The home provides:
- shelter,
- protection,
- medical care,
- psychosocial support and counseling,
- academic classes using the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) curriculum,
- vocational skills training (Pastry making, food preservation and catering, Tailoring, and Cosmetology),
- life skills training including Reproductive Health,
- awareness about HIV/AIDS,
- prevention and response to GBV,
- peace building,
- parenting, and
- child care for under-five children of 10 of the girls.
The home accommodates 25 girls and 10 of their under-five children. Each cycle of girls stay in the home for nine months. While the girls are occupied with the program, we do family tracing so that upon graduation, the girls, especially those below 18 years can be reunified with their parents. At times there is a need to do reconciliation and conflict resolution between the girls and their families and/or communities. The girls are taken on two field trips during their nine months cycle. They participate in sports and community service. The holistic approach provides an enabling environment where girls can choose what will best fit their needs and be regular in attendance because they live there and are not troubled with transportation costs.