Operation Classroom has its roots in Indiana. The program took shape in 1987, led by John Shettle and Bob Bowman, the newly-elected lay leaders of the Indiana North and South Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Operation Classroom would partner with UM Church in Liberia and Sierra Leone, with the mission of:

1. Upgrading UMC secondary education in Liberia and Sierra Leone

2. Being an avenue of renewal for the United Methodist Church

3. Providing hands-on mission experiences for United Methodists. In 1989 a civil war erupted in Liberia, causing people to flee and schools to close.

Under the leadership of Joseph Wagner, OC responded to the new challenges by opening refugee schools in Ivory Coast and in Guinea. In 1991, the war spilled over into Sierra Leone. OC continued to work in those schools that remained open and eventually opened a refugee school in Guinea. Surprisingly, despite the wars, OC was able to assist in the construction of four schools in Liberia and one in Sierra Leone.

Thousands of persons were displaced or became refugees as a result of the wars. Operation Classroom responded to the requests of the UM Bishops of both Liberia and Sierra Leone, providing clothing and basic supplies to help those who were in desperate circumstances. The bishops also asked if we could assist in meeting the mounting medical crises brought on by the wars. OC responded by beginning a partnership with Ganta Hospital in Liberia and Kissy Clinic in Sierra Leone.

In 1994, Operation Classroom was asked to help train West Africans to counsel those suffering from war trauma. Thus, WATTS (West Africa Trauma Training Seminars) was born. Since that time more than 150 Liberians and 75 Sierra Leoneans have received a basic understanding of counseling, and in the process have learned how to deal with their own trauma. Operation Classroom has continued their partnership throughout the years of civil war, by shipping container loads of supplies, providing support for the schools and hospitals, and working with the displaced, refugees, and ex-combatants.

Following the war, OC continued its work with both schools and hospitals. Since a number of other UM conferences have become partners with Ganta Hospital in Liberia, OC has put more focus on Sierra Leone’s Kissy Clinic (now “Kissy UMC General Hospital”).

For over 30 years, the leadership of the UMC in Sierra Leone and Liberia has asked Operation Classroom in a variety of ways – shipping containers of supplies (primarily school related), helping improve health care at Kissy Hospital in Sierra Leone and Ganta Hospital in Liberia, and providing relief (food and funds for unemployed teachers) during the Ebola crisis.

After the war, most of what was once needed to be shipped became available in West Africa, and it made much more sense to contribute to the local economy by purchasing school supplies and textbooks in-country.

Major advances have been made at both Kissy UM Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and the Ganta UM Hospital in Ganta, Liberia. Both hospitals have become largely self-sufficient (which, of course, was the goal) or are supported by other agencies, and our efforts became more appropriate through providing a solid education.

In 2013 Operation Classroom began the process of “shifting gears” – returning to a focus on its original mission to “Partner with the United Methodist Church in Liberia and Sierra Leone to improve secondary education” - partly because the educational environment in the two countries was changing. In Sierra Leone, the government has assumed financial responsibility for the funding of Secondary Schools. And in Liberia, the Liberia Annual Conference of the UMC established a scholarship program for secondary students which OC could partner with, eliminating the need for OC to have an “in-country coordinator.”