Comfort's Visit to Liberia

Comfort Gray came to the United States as a refugee from Liberia, where she lost her husband and children in the civil wars .  In the years since then, she has been working as a housekeeper for our church (Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in San Jose ) and doing odd jobs of all sorts to make ends meet here in notoriously expensive San Jose .  I got to know her because she wanted to learn to read and write and do basic math and dreamed of becoming an American citizen.  Now that she has an American passport, her latest dream is to visit the country of her birth in order to reconnect with friends and relatives who survived the wars.

Comfort's income barely covers her rent and spartan utilities, so for her to make the trip, she needs to be able to cover not just the travel costs, but also her rent and utilities while she takes time off from work.

A back-of-the-envelope cost breakdown:
  - airfare $2400
  - rent & utilities in San Jose $1300
  - Liberian visa $130
  - ground transportation $100

Comfort plans to rely on her friends in Liberia for ground transportation, food, and lodging, but I think it would be helpful for us to  provide some pocket money for the trip as well.

Comfort has been a real inspiration to me.  Despite the horrors and challenges she has survived she is always cheerful and eager to help others, so it would mean a lot to me if the community could show how much we appreciate her.