On Wednesday, Feb. 12, a team from the JNB Foundation concluded its assessment tour of Mot. Oretha During’s Gardernesville Chocolate City home where 47 vulnerable community youths, 32 of whom are girls, have lived for many years. The Durings are Christians, and through their own initiatives, have picked up vulnerable adolescent youths from within their locality, and sponsored them. They placed these youths in their Chocolate City home, providing everything for them-from meals to medical care as well as schooling, extending to college and university levels without any interruption. According to Mot. During, about 7 of these teens are already enrolled at the University of Liberia and the AME University also located in Liberia. Mot. During’s late husband, a former statesman, Dr. J. Adolphus During, assisted with the upkeep of the home and the vulnerable children in the past till his death nearly a decade ago.  Hon. during’s passing undoubtedly, left a deep void in the home, leaving his widow, Mot. During, now 79, to run the couple’s Soul Cleansing Clinic of Jesus Christ’s Gospel Ministry, plus an elementary school they began in 2014. Dr. During served as one of Liberia’s outstanding diplomats during the Samuel Doe years and his tomb carries the marking that he was a devout Christian and an Apostle of Christ Jesus. Mot. During says, her facility currently maintains 10 staff and children at the home receive 3 meals daily. She listed some of their needs as food, mattresses, and scholarships for these vulnerable children that are in school. She also named renovation of the facility, and pleaded for medical care which she said remains a major challenge for them. A private medical clinic, Hope Medical Center, presently provides treatment for all of the children at the facility on a credit basis, she said; Text & Photographs by James Kokulo Fasuekoi

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Portraits of Mother Oretha During at her home.

These two girls living at the home are said to be performing well in their classes.