HISTORY OF BLESS THE CHILDREN FOUNDATION

After 14 years of civil unrest in Liberia, West Africa, the need to rebuild shattered lives was a paramount goal of the country and the entire world at large. Given the situation outlined above, Madam Edith Taryennoh Poah took a visit to Liberia on April 4, 2010 as part of a delegation from Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas on a mission.

During the mission trip to Liberia, she saw several cases ranging from poor healthcare conditions such as: Referral Hospital without medical equipment, no water, no Laboratory to check patients’ lab values, no proper supplies and techniques for surgeries, no laundry room to wash hospital linens or patient personal belongings, people sleeping on hospital bare floors, serious infection control issues including the spread of HIV etc…… to disability, prostitution of teen-agers and poor educational system. In fact, acquiring daily meal was a problem for some families. Also, there was no road network to connect the cities to the towns, and most of all there was no dream to improve the condition of life of the children whose photographs are shown on this site and many others around the country.

It was during this time that Madam Poah considered visiting Putu chiefdom in order to meet with the people. This visit granted her the opportunity that helped her verified ultimate necessities of disadvantaged children and the ones with special needs.

Of all that she saw regarding the terrible lives of children in that war-torn country, the main trigger for BTCF was a girl (Tutu-girl Weldeh Cooper) who was 19 years old at the time we met her. Tutu-girl was born with significant special needs and was eating dirt, garbage for survival because she was neglected. When Madam Poah met Tutu-girl, she  looked two years; her hair was saturated with muds; teeth covered with dirt, drooling muddy secretion; finger nails overgrown with huge quantity of muds stuck within them because she used them to dig out dirt for consumption; dirty blouse soaked with muddy saliva and her entire body completely filthy.

Having met Tutu-girl, Madam Poah decided to organize a foundation under the auspices of Bless The Children Foundation (BTCF) to help cater to both underprivileged children and the ones with special needs.  This foundation was established in America, March 6, 2012. Since then, it had obtained its EIN number, Article of Incorporation, 501c3 /Tax exempt status and also registered in Liberia to operate as a Non-governmental organization (NGO).