H.E.L.L.O.’s work began during the last stages of the Liberian civil war in 2003.
Co-Founder Ebenezer Flomo, a teacher in Monrovia, Liberia,
prayed for the war to end and to be used by God to help his suffering countrymen.
Co-Founder Janelle Voxland, a mother of three in Minnesota, U.S.A.
and a recent widow,
prayed for a purpose in her suffering and for God to use her to help children in need.
It is their belief that God orchestrated their online meeting.
As they got to know each other, Eb told Janelle about his meager salary and his responsibility to financially provide for his family, who lived in a displacement camp and were essentially refugees in their own country.
He explained about the soaring prices of staple food such as rice, as well as of people dying from bullets, mortars, disease, and starvation. One hundred dollars would provide three months of food and clothing for his entire family. Janelle said, “I’ll pray about that.”
Ten minutes later, Janelle’s parents entered her house and handed her a “thank you gift” from their friends who had borrowed Janelle’s car for the winter. The “gift” was $100.
Janelle sent $120 and asking Eb to use the extra twenty to buy some toys for his little cousins. Eb bought 100 small toys and brought them to the Maimu displacement camp. He gave a toy to seventeen of his cousins and said, “Go tell your friends.”
Later on, four hundred children came to receive a toy.
Eb and his friend Joe told the children that they had not been forgotten, that God had heard their prayers for help, and He would answer them.
Eb, Joe, and four hundred war-affected children then sang praises to God and prayed together that God would continue to show His mercy and provide for their needs.
They made an orange drink for the children and gave every child a cup to drink.
Jesus said, “Whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of
these little ones
because he is my disciple, he will not lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42
H.E.L.L.O., Help Encourage Liberia’s Little Ones, was born.