I read a documentary on Sean’s life in Liberia and it touched my heart so much.To live in any war zone, it’s not easy.Couple with that, it sends shocks down my spine to find out that a peaceful man like Sean was killed in cold blood.

His job was marvelous and humane.He had the feel and touch for the African child.May God bless the work he started.

Stephen T Marvie,Jr. A corporate banker in Monrovia,Liberia

I have just read your wonderful website and feel compelled to greet you and remember Sean with you.  I was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, in 1989-1990.  I was assigned to the clinic at the Catholic mission in Tappita.  I lived in a house up the hill from the mission.  The house belonged to the Salesians, and was being kept for Sean.  Sean opted to stay in the guest house at the mission, and I was allowed to rent the house.  Sean was a great and dear friend, to me and the other three USPC volunteers in Tappita. The others were Jim Smith, Denise Barrett and Cathy Pantaleo.  I have kept in contact with Jim.  He lives near Washington DC and works as a planner for the city of Olney, MD.  He and his wife had their second baby right before Christmas.

I was living and working in St. Paul, MN (My hometown) when I saw Sean’s face on the evening news and heard that he had been martyred in Africa.  This came a bare two months after the murders of the 6 nuns in Liberia, all of whom were dear friends also.  I grieved for a long time for all of them.

In 1994 — at the age of 46! — I married for the first time, a widower with grown children.  Now I have 12 grandchildren!  I love it.  Louie and I are retired and spend the winters in deep south Texas, just 5 miles from the Mexican border.  Once a week, I go to Mexico and volunteer at a free clinic there, sponsored by the Sisters of St. Dorothy.  The area is called Las Flores and can only be described as Liberia with all the charm removed.  The poverty may be no worse than Liberia, and there is no war going on, but the people are not as industrious as the Liberians.  They are not neat or tidy, and the Liberians were constantly sweeping up around their houses and palaver huts.

I met Dermot on his visit to Liberia in 1989.  In fact, we rode in the mission’s ambulance from Monrovia to Tappita.  Dermot took some film or video of the event (though filming without a permit was STRICTLY forbidden by the Doe government!).  I believe I was in some of that footage.  A dear friend of mine saw it on the BBC or ITV and wrote to me about it.  She lives in Rochester, Northumberland.  I think I may have met Sally, too, when she came to Tappita.  I do remember that Sean spoke of her frequently.

Thank you for the lovely website and the chance to remember Sean.

Sincerely,

Molly O’Brien Bartscher Weslaco TX U.S.A.

Dear Friends,

Only a little note to say thank you very much for the items that came on the container last month. They were mightily wonderful. Volunteers of Sean received a small but significant amount of the container’s items.

After receiving them from Sister, we held meeting and planned a distribution strategy. We were forced to change our plan during the distribution because of the unexpected huge size of the target group. A report of our distribution follows below.

Cheers. John

Photos of the excited children can be seen through the Flickr link on the right side of this page

This entry was originally posted in November 2006 but has been added to explain the activities of this very worthy group:

Volunteering Like Sean Devereux

Everyone has a mission to fulfill in life. Some do it well, some don’t. Sean Devereux fulfilled his well in Liberia. Now his former students, friends, co-workers, and admirers are trying to emulate him.

When Sean Devereux (British) came to Liberia in the late ‘80’s, he came with a single mission purpose: to serve. Later on, his motto became even more concise: “While my heart beats, I have to do what I think I can do, and that is to help those who are less fortunate”.

This was Sean’s mission purpose and this he fulfilled well in Liberia and later on in Somalia. Unfortunately, he was killed in 1993 in Somalia. But fortunately he and his legacy live on in the hearts and minds of Liberians with and among whom he served.

Inspired by Sean to serve the needy, Volunteers of Sean (VOS), a non-for-profit organization, aims at reaching out to people in need and doing those things that Sean did, not in a big way but in a small and effective manner. Read the rest of this entry »

Another sign of Sean Devereux’ positive impact on the lives of Liberians has just been uncovered with the revelation that the Liberia Football Association (FA) Second Division team, Devereux FC, is in fact named in memory of Sean.

Two weeks after Mrs Maureen Devereux’ visit to Liberia, a group of young men rang me up and said: “We listened to Sean’s mother on radio Veritas and we understand she is in Liberia. We would like to meet her. Devereux FC is named in memory of Sean”. I was awestruck! Read the rest of this entry »