The Palace of Healing

from the front of the house

from the rear of the house

one of the corner rooms

  For a few years folks at Ricks Institute and Mercer University have been nursing a grand idea of a "Mercer House" on the campus of Ricks. The hope is to establish a permanent place for Mercer's growing interest at Ricks. Already Mercer has a strong partnership with Ricks through the Mercer on Mission program. Since 2008 there have been five trips from Mercer to Ricks (I'm including the in-process trip for 2013). Four of those adventures were joint journeys with the College of Liberal Arts and the Tift College of Education. More than fifty students from Mercer have experienced the "challenges and possibilities" at Ricks.
  As an aside: Most mornings at Ricks the Principal, the Rev. Dr. Olu Q. Menjay, greets students with the call and response that goes:
Menjay: "Every day is a new day, with what?"
Students: "New challenges and new possibilities!"
Menjay: "New challenges and new possibilities!"
  The chance to have a Mercer House is a challenge that brings new possibilities to Ricks and Mercer, and, too, to all of Liberia.
  When the idea first was broached Menjay seized the dream and began working toward its realization. A structure on the campus--ravaged by war and neglect--was selected. The residents of the house, faculty and staff at Ricks, were relocated to other equally dilapidated buildings that bore the testimony of war and want.

the commons area,
which will be a classroom

  Now the Mercer House in waiting has a new zinc roof. The ceiling has been restored (look closely at the photos). The old windows and doors have been removed. Structural repairs to some walls have been completed. The floors, mostly, have been prepared to receive new ceramic tiles.

a prayer of hope

  Yesterday I went through the house and made the photos you see. In a back room I was brought to tears by graffiti on the wall: "The Palace of Healing." I imagined that one of the displaced persons scrawled on the wall something of a prayer for what could become of the building. Perhaps I will explore my impression, or not. I saw what I saw: a prayer of hope. My many trips to Liberian and to Ricks have taught me that Liberians are hopeful people, eager to find healing after the fourteen years of war that nearly destroyed a proud and productive nation. Too, I know about the history of Ricks Institute and its hope for restoration.
  A Mercer House at Ricks would be a fountain of hope. It would be a place, eventually, where Ricks teachers could become better prepared for the tasks they have accepted. It could become a place where College of Liberal Arts students spend a semester learning about Liberia and her challenges. It could become a place where students in the Masters of Public Health program could have a staging ground for surveying local villages for health needs. It could become a place where Ricks and Mercer could show the world--yes, the world--that hope drives and nourishes people of all kinds.