BBC has story and photos of women in Ganta!

The BBC has a story with twelve photos from Ganta (my home in Liberia!). It's a story on the group of Liberian women in Nimba County that formed a group called Concerned Women and their efforts to help women and children (cassava farm, education etc...). I was SO THRILLED to recognize women shown in photos no 10 and 11 from Tonglewein--a small community that I worked in (we had several malnourished kids there). I loved Tonglewein so much that my Betta fish is named after this community!

This is not my first time hearing about Concerned Women. When I was in Liberia, Shelby introduced me via email to Beth Iden (who I still need to meet!). Beth works with the Liberia Orphan Education Project that had connected somehow to a Concerned Women group in another part of Nimba County. That Concerned Women group was helping to distribute the Kindergarten-in-a-Box packages that LOEP had sent. So it's been fun for both Beth and me to see these photos of the Concerned Women IN ACTION in Ganta! I didn't realize there was a group in Ganta...so this is fun!



Above is an aerial shot of Tonglewein which I took from my first UNMIL helicopter ride! You can't see the school building here...it would be on the opposite side of the road, about 1/10 of a mile to the left of this photo. When I first arrived in Liberia, UNICEF was rebuilding their school building which I believe had been heavily damaged by a storm...but it was fully restored (along with new bench desks) for the 2007-2008 school year. Before I left I gave the school a new Liberian flag, which they were very happy to receive.

You might be interested to know why the roofs are red or white. It's not red...it's either rusted alumnium roofing OR either reddish-colored asbestos roofing (which ends up dry-rotting). The white roofs are actually newer sheets of aluminum roofing--which just reflects the sky and appears white. Most Liberians aspire to have aluminum roofs, even though the asbestos roofing is still available for sale. Aluminum roofs are definitely more expensive, but there are various degrees of quality available.

Here are some comments my dad made after reading my info on the roofs:

One point of information: Aluminum does not rust - it does oxidize but aluminum oxide protects the under lying metal. Rust is iron oxide, a reddish color substance which does not further protect the metal.

Liberian roofs must be "zinc" plated iron sheeting often called "tin" as in tin roof or tin cans (cans are protected some way but not sure just what). Zinc does not rust either and is supposed to protect the iron sheeting from rusting. A poor quality zinc job will in time rust - probably not too good a grade of zinc plated "tin" roof sheeting is available in Liberia or is too expensive.

Yep, the Liberians call it Zinc roofing...so likely roofs are zinc plated iron. They come in sheets about 3' x 8' that overlap. Then they use special umbrella looking nails which then protect the hole from leaking (right!) Thanks Dad for the info.