May 12, 2023

The last two years at Gifts of Hope School have been incredibly fruitful. The Lord blessed our school community in many ways. In this summary, we want to look at key achievements of the past and current academic year – student enrollment and academic progress, new facilities/buildings and many more are intriguing features of the period under review.

• Student enrollment: Enrollment for last school year (2021 – 2022) was a total of 257 students. There were 136 males and 121 females. At the time of closing, 90% of the students received promotion to the subsequent grade. The current school year (2022 – 2023), our enrollment rose to 271 pupils, 144 males and 127 females. Kindergarten has 88 children; this number is part of the total enrollment. This year in April, our 6th graders (19 students) wrote the National Exams, which was administered by the West African Examination Council (WAEC). We expect a satisfactory result.

• NewFacilities/Building: In 2022 Gifts of Hope received a generous gift from the 4th grade class at Redding Christian School. That money was used to build a much needed facility, a palava hut. Today, the palava hut provides comfort and beautiful, refreshing shade for students, staff and visitors. Special thanks go to Mrs. Jodi Van Vugt for leading her students in the fundraiser. Another milestone in the history of GOH was the construction and completion of our Jr. High Building. It was officially dedicated on March 31 this year. The new facility is described by many, including representatives of the Ministry of Education, as magnificent and conducive for learning. Many thanks again to Christian Education in Liberia for providing the funding.

• Students Health Care Service: From its beginning (2020) till now, the students’ mini clinic has been of tremendous help to the overall wellbeing of GOH students. In July 2022, the clinic’s annual report indicated that a total of 183 students received treatment at the clinic that year. Their health problems included malaria, diarrhea, stomach pain, headache, wounds, measles, mumps and cold. During this current school year, over 146 students have received care and treatment for various health conditions. In a recent conversation with the clinic’s Nurse, she underscored the importance of the clinic’s role in maintaining a healthy school community. According to Ms. Benetta Richards, most of the kids are able to stay in school because of the care and treatment they receive from the clinic.

• School Feeding / lunch: Similar to the clinic, the availability of food at GOH has been really helpful. Although the food is not provided to all students free of charge, it is subsidized and is sold at affordable price ($50 Liberian dollars or 32 cents USD).Additionally, our school garden has been a major source of supply to the kitchen. We had 3 months supply of sweet potatoes harvest and since March until now we have been harvesting cassava and cooking it on Fridays. A major boost to our feeding program came in January, a financial gift form the 3rd grade class at Hudsonville Christian School. A Special thank you to Mrs Henrietta Konynenbelt, Mrs. Kelly Caryl, Mrs. Harlie Hubers, and Mrs. Jenna Schramm. This financial gift enabled us to buy 20 bags of 25kg rice. This supply lasted over two months. 

• We want to use this time to thank Christian Education in Liberia and their friends and partners for all the support to Gifts of Hope School. May God continue to bless all your endeavors.