By Baylee Knebel
As the students were looking out the bus window they never realized how different it was from home.
A group of Delta students left for Liberia, Africa on July 15, then they arrived back home on July 31. Going on the trip were senior Marcus Bright and juniors Ella Marcum, Anna Marcum, Marley Dowling and Elizabeth Bamidele.
Dowling said her time spent in Liberia surrounded by their culture was life changing.
“We were driving through Africa with this bus of about 30 people and the people on the streets were just looking at us like we were animals at the zoo,” Dowling said. “Everyone was taking pictures of us and everyone was just like, ‘Look! There’s a bunch of white people on a bus!’”
Dowling attends Union Chapel, but the program that they went to Liberia with is Hope 2 through Harvest Christian Church in Muncie.
She was affected by it so much she already has a plan to go back in December.
“Being across the world in Africa makes it feel 10 times safer than it does here,” Dowling said.
On the trip Dowling had many moments where she experienced God.
One of these experiences was when the students went to a prison and walked around and she saw everyone in chains.
“I was getting so emotional, but it was because I was looking around and seeing the people physically in chains but spiritually they were so free,” Dowling said. “Bringing that back to here, there are so many people that are physically free but spiritually they don’t believe in God and they have spiritual chains.”
When the students arrived at the prison they walked around and looked at the different people in cells.
She said it was especially heartbreaking to students because although some people were there because they did commit horrible crimes, others were completely innocent.
An estimated three-fourths of Liberia’s nationwide prison population are on pre-trial detention and have not been convicted and sentenced by a court.
This could be for different reasons, such as innocence, no evidence or just no available judges.
The decision for Bamidele to go on the trip was fairly simple. She was awaiting her calling from God.
“I wasn’t really sure if God was calling me there or not, but God just kept providing a way for me to go through the money, funding and support,” Bamidele said.
She was able to fund all of the money needed for the trip in the short six months.
The cost of this mission trip was $4,000 per student. This covered plane tickets, shelter, food and vaccines that students had to have.
When Dowling goes back to Liberia in December, her cost will only be $3,500 because she already has vaccines.
For them to be able to afford this they all had to get a job and make good funding strategies.
“We did a babysitting night but a big part of it was asking people to donate,” Ella Marcum said. “But also just getting a job and using my own money was a big part.”
Ella has been on mission trips before. But this one was different.
“We hung out with a lot of the younger kids more,” Ella said. “It’s just a break from over here where there’s a lot of stuff going on and then over there it’s simple.”
