finding joy in Liberia

Ma Ellen: 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient!

2011-10-07T13:23:00.000-04:00

What an exciting day for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the people of Liberia! She is one of three recipients of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize! She really has done significant work for Liberia and and it warms my heart that she has been recognized in such a high profile way!

Here is an NY Times article that has a number of quotes from her and links to several videos of Ma Ellen talking about Liberia (videos are several years old, but do provide a nice history and summary of the challenges to Liberia and her presidency).

She is running for reelection and while it's not a given that she'll be reelected, I'm hoping this award might persuade Liberian voters who are undecided. Elections are October 11th with run-off election on November 8th if required.

Gilliam Family

2011-03-29T20:34:00.000-04:00

Due to the recent tragic death of Thomas Gilliam, IV, I have noticed increased traffic on my blog from searches related to little Jude McKay Gilliam who died in 2007 from an accidental drowning. Tommy and Jude were cousins.

If you are looking for information regarding Tom Gilliam's life and death, his obituary is posted here. There will be a memorial service held at Trinity Presbyterian Church on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 3pm.

The local TV news outlets have stories here and here. The Daily Progress story is here.

I know the family personally and I know they would appreciate your prayers as they again find themselves grieving another tragic loss. Lord, have mercy.

I hope this helps those of you searching for more information.

I honestly hope you all have given up on this blog.

2010-03-06T22:52:00.005-05:00

...because there is just not much happening here! Perhaps you are getting this blog post in your inbox because you are still subscribed to receive updates. Feel free to unsubscribe--b/c unless I change directions with this blog and start writing again about Liberia (or some other country of interest)...there probably won't be much activity to speak of.

I have started another blog, albeit very infrequent and not very interesting (yet). Definitely a weak attempt to chronicle my journey to (and perhaps through) nursing school. Yes. Nursing School. I won't go into details here, but if you are interested, you can catch up at http://joyinscrubs.blogspot.com/. It's always possible that if I get into school...that the nursing program might ask me to refrain from blogging about my experiences. I have no idea. I haven't heard any rumors like that--plus I found a blog a while back of someone who was in the final semester of the program that I'm seeking intro into. So maybe they won't care...or maybe they'll never know.

I will say that the intensive medical course I took at Equip International (Marion, NC) before I left for Liberia (check archives for May or June 2006) was probably THE seed that planted my interest in pursuing something in the healthcare field. Add to that my love of analyzing my own symptoms on webMD, donating blood and watching them insert the needles...AND of course....my adventures in Liberia (where preventative health and hygiene education would do a person better than the sub-standard care in the rare few hospitals in Liberia).

My mom is a retired nurse (RN), but honestly, I don't ever recall ever being thoughtful about a nursing career until the past couple years.

Okay, okay...so I'll give you a glimpse...I'm currently taking pre-nursing courses (prerequisites). I have applied for entry for this fall to the local community college --that has an excellent program. (So excellent that there were 400 applicants this year for 100 spots!)

I will find out mid-April if I've been accepted. For now, I'm focusing on surviving Microbiology! It's very interesting--but the memorization and taking tests is the down side. All my prerequisites (taken since summer 2009) have been online courses (or hybrid). Those details are on my Scrub That blog.

Well, that's it for now my friends (on this blog). I hope you are well. Please feel free to drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you. I'm on Facebook (but don't try to friend me unless you know me personally).

I will say that I've been gone from Liberia for so long (almost 2 years), that I'm out of touch enough to not have any current information about moving or living there...least of all starting a business there (and I'd never be able to answer that).

Go in peace my friends and maybe one day--I'll be your nurse. ;)

Joy

My 26 on You-o!

2009-07-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today is Liberia's "Independance Day"--July 26.

Happy 26th to all my Liberian friends and all those who love Liberia!

This past week, a friend of mine from church brought me the article about Liberia from Sunday's Washington Post. It was written by William Powers, the author of The Blue Clay People. TBCP is about Powers' experiences in Liberia with CRS. Powers returned to Liberia recently and thus the article.

The friend who gave the article to me actually spent some of his twenty-something years in Liberia working with Texaco. My world is richer for the relationships that have come about b/c of a mutual interest/love for Liberia.

Below is a pick of Baby Joy #3. She is with her daddy Emmanuel. He was the student I sponsored for school while I was in Liberia. Like many in Liberia, he needs a job so that he can provide for his family. I'd love to go back for a visit--I do miss my friends there.

Happy 26th!

2009-04-02T22:28:00.005-04:00

I have over a hundred RSS feeds (mostly blogs) that I follow. One is Afrigadget. I was tickled to see they found an innovation in Liberia and posted it. Below is just to tease you... Check it out HERE! And I totally recommend you start following Afrigadget too!

The funny thing about this, is that I didn't read the article on Afrigadget until I saw the last line of the blog post...and saw it said Liberia. All I knew was that the photo was totally reminiscent of "ovens" that I saw in Liberia. How fun.

Banking in Ganta

2008-12-01T10:44:00.004-05:00

Here's an article about banking in Ganta. LBDI (Liberia Bank for Development and Investment) was the bank I would go to get my Western Union money transfers...I recognize a lot of the people in the pictures! I never held a bank account, but I can attest that there was definitely money going in/out of that bank!

BBC has story and photos of women in Ganta!

2008-09-30T00:37:00.006-04:00

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.

OT: Black Baby Dolls on Clearance at Kmart

2008-09-08T18:06:00.004-04:00

I found these baby dolls on clearance at Kmart today for $4.80 each! If you look closely the clearance stickers say $6 and $10, but don't be fooled--use the in-store scanners and double check!

I bought five of them (think I left one behind) figuring I'd give them away to some Liberian sisters that I just met and to Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries "Christmas Store". The Christmas Store is the culmination of the fall semester of tutoring. Kids spend "Blue Bucks" earned from good behavior on presents for family, friends, and themselves. Members of our church (and others I think) donate new items (scarves, balls, skateboards, CD players, dolls...) so that CALM can then turn and bless the children and their families with gift options. The kids work hard during the fall semester in the tutoring program so that they can in turn be generous gift givers at Christmas! Awesome. Kids want to give and sometimes need to be taught to give...they just don't aways have the resources to do so. I love CALM's program.

ANYWAYS... I know a lot of readers of my blog have adopted Liberian children....so I thought I'd just pass along this tip as I know black baby dolls are not always available or for a price like this.

So I was glad to pay the $25 or so for 5 dolls that I can share later. And I have a few lappas leftover from my year in Liberia...that I'll probably share with the Liberian sisters to carry their babies around in.

Not sure if available in your Kmart...but worth looking if you've got little girls in your family or neighborhood or church that would love a black baby doll.

Flag Day in Liberia!

2008-08-24T07:30:00.007-04:00

Happy Flag Day, Liberia!

I hope you enjoy this little video I made in Gbuyee (pronounced Boo-eeee :)I took the video using my digital camera, so the resolution is not the best, but it was all I had with me.

Here are the lyrics to the Liberian National Anthem:

All Hail, Liberia Hail
All Hail, Liberia Hail
This glorious land of liberty shall long be ours
Though new her name green be her fame
And mighty be her power
In joy and gladness with our hearts united
We'll shout the freedom of a race benighted
A home of glorious liberty by God's command

All Hail, Liberia Hail
All Hail, Liberia Hail
In union strong, success is sure
We cannot fail
With God above our rights to prove
We will over all prevail
With hearts and hands, our country's cause defending
We'll meet the foe with valor unpretending

And Liberia's Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of Liberia and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I gave the Gbuyee school a new flag and soccer balls that day --as my thank you gift as I departed. I worked with malnourished kids and their mums in this community. I was also good friends with many of the teachers at this school because Equip had a school health club.

Also my club-foot patient that had surgery on Mercy Ships was from this same community!

Liberia Olympic Update: Jangy Addy, post #3

2008-08-23T23:00:00.005-04:00

After two full days of competitions, the Men's Decathlon is over. All ten events have been completed. There were 40 men who started the competition..but 14 competitors did not complete all 10 events. I'm very proud that Jangy Addy hung in there and finished every last event and did not give up (or injured!). He ranked 20th in the final results.

Over at Addy's Olympic page it's fun to read all the comments from family, friends, Liberians and strangers cheering him on.

I'm proud of ALL the Liberian Olympians. Even though they did not get any medals, they competed, did their best and represented Liberia well. What an amazing experience and privilege to compete in this HUGE international competition. I hope we will see Kia Davis, Siraj Williams and Jangy Addy in four years...along with even more Liberian athletes competing!

Tomorrow is FLAG DAY in Liberia...I'll be posting a video!

Liberia Olympic Update: Jangy Addy, post #2

2008-08-21T22:55:00.008-04:00

Finally photos of Jangy Addy competing! Here he is on the left (#2349) in the hurdle event alongside USA's Bryan Clay (#1 in Decatholon standings)

And below running in the 400m (on far left) with Bryan Clay on the right.

Okay, so it appears that they've just added a few more events to Addy's roster...so I guess it's true, they compete in all ten events and are ranked using a sophisticated scoring system. Currently Addy is placed 11th out of 30 (some participants seem to have dropped out) with three more events to go.

I guess the best location to get results is here at the Men's Decathalon intermediate results page.

You can continue to check Addy's events/times/results at his personal page. It only shows eight events right now...but I'm guessing the Javelin Throw and the 1500 meter events will be added soon, just so long as he doesn't get injured or drop out for some reason.

Go JANGY ADDY! Your people are excited for you!

Liberia Olympic Update: Jangy Addy

2008-08-21T09:30:00.001-04:00

Jangy Addy (#2349) is currently 6th out of 37 (I think) in the Decathlon standings...By definition, the decathlon is 10 unique events.

According to Addy's page on the official 2008 Beijing Olympic site, he's listed for five decathlon events including the decathlon 400 meter event--which is a change from when I last posted and they only listed four events: 100 m, long jump, shot put, and high jump. Maybe it's changing from day to day?? Maybe they are competing in EVERY decathlon event? It's very confusing because they don't list them all out on Addy's page. I've never been much into the track and field and following results/competitions...let alone caring about specific athletes.

Good news, in the Long Jump , Addy ranked #1 among the other competitors in Group A for the long jump and he got a PB (personal best!) That's got to be a good feeling...but the number one rank for the Long Jump OVERALL is USA's Bryan Clay.

I'm sure I could add a few more things here, but honestly the whole scoring thing for the Decathlon is a bit confusing and my head is about to explode.

Good news I suppose is that there's a possibilty that tonight's NBC coverage might contain a few glimpses of Jangy Addy. So look out for his number #2349.

So to follow the progress/results of each event in the Decathlon series, follow this link and click on the 'results' link for the event you are interested in. For the overall standings, I think you can find ongoing overall results at the Immediate Results page of the Men's Decathlon Final.

I keep looking for on-line photos of Jangy competing to no avail. sorry.

Interesting Links to Finding Joy

2008-08-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

LOL. (I really am!) I just found my site linked from this site and the Liberian Community of Greater Cincinnati also included my first detailed post about the Liberian athletes in Beijing on their home page. Certainly pays to have StatCounter (free) to find out where your web visitors are coming from…that’s how I found out about the above referrals. Too funny.

My writings TEND to be experience-based musings, rather than journalistic reporting…so I think it’s interesting that that folks chose to link my site.

Liberia Olympic Update: Siraj Williams

2008-08-19T17:46:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks. Siraj Williams did not advance yesterday after round 1 of the men's 400 meters. And sadly I haven't found any photos of him competing either. Too bad, as the ones of Kia Davis were great photos (see last Olympic post).

Next up is Jangy Addy who will compete in the Thursday's Men's Decathlon. Here are his events as listed on the official 2008 Olympic website:

Men's Decathlon 100m - Heat 3
Men's Decathlon Long Jump - Group A
Men's Decathlon Shot Put - Group A
Men's Decathlon High Jump - Group A

I did not see Kia Davis or Siraj Williams compete...I have no idea if they are even showing the preliminary rounds on NBC. Sadly, I've had to leave off the TV and Olympics because I was staying up way too late...

NBC's Olympic website indicates that the Decathlon events will be aired on Thursday and Friday nights between 8pm-12am (likely in the 8-10pm slot). Perhaps I'll stay up and watch...but I guess there's no promises who or what they will show--probably just the top competitors and the Americans.

Liberia Olympic Update: Kia Davis

2008-08-17T08:54:00.012-04:00

Unfortunately, the Liberian Olympian, Kia Davis ( #2348), did not survive the first qualifiying round in the Women's 400m. But here are some pics from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

There is some confusion on the spelling of her name in the press...Davies or Davis. I've seen it both ways. But I think DAVIS is correct (sorry for the error in my last Olympic-oriented post).

Next up is Siraj Williams competing in the Men's 400m tomorrow (Monday, 18th). He'll be competing in Heat 5, Lane 4, wearing Bib #2350. (Don't you just LOVE the internet!)

GO SIRAJ!!! RUN FAST!

Free Passport Photos

2008-08-17T00:08:00.010-04:00

I need to renew my passport. It expires April of '09. I need to renew now if I wish to travel to Liberia this dry season...or to Kenya to visit my friends who have just moved to Nairobi to work at the Embassy. It's always wise to make sure your passport will be good at least 6 months AFTER you plan to return home from your travels (or that's what the experts suggest).

So this weekend I worked on the passport renewal paperwork and wrote the $75 check. Today my sister took my passport photos with my digital camera...and I'm very pleased with the way they turned out...but it can be complicated to get them to the right proportions according to the Dept State requirements... so I did a quick search online and found http://www.epassportphoto.com/. You upload your passport-worthy photo and then it helps you crop it appropriately and then will create a 4x6 image that contains 6 of your passport photo! You are allowed to save it to your computer to later upload to your favorite photo printer. I chose Wal-mart and Target. But epassportphoto also wants your business, so they are offering to print them for you for $5.99 (I think that most of this is shipping/handling).

I decided to just save the jpeg image that was created which is basically 6 - 2" x 2" photos in a 4x6 format. I then uploaded it to both Wal-Mart and Target photo websites and ordered two 4x6 prints each. Wal-Mart only offers "matte" finishes for one-hour printing and Target only offers "glossy" for one-hour printing... So in the end I will get 12 matte passport photos from Wal-Mart and 12 glossy from Target....combined I will only pay 70 cents for 24 passport photos!

HOLY COW PEOPLE! I've always paid like $7-10 at AAA and only got TWO photos. Yeesh. So I'm very hopeful and optimistic that things will turn out as I hope. This is a very convenient option for me who is comfortable with my digital camera, my computer and online services. ...and because my sister could take a dozen photos---I could chose the one I wanted, rather being stuck with the awful photos that AAA or CVS takes.

I will pick my photos up from Wal-Mart and Target on my way home from church tomorrow and will pack everything in the proper envelope and will be able to mail it off to Philadelphia for processing... it will be nice to cross this off my list (it's been on my to-do list since BEFORE I left Liberia!)

I will only need 2 passport photos for my passport...but chances are within the next 6 months I will use a handful of passport photos for either travel (Kenya and Liberia?) or for job applications (if they require it).

I will update here to let you know which I preferred: Wal-Mart's version or Target's version. So tune back in.

So I hope this website will prove to be helpful to some of you....or any strangers who somehow get linked here.

Mobs Kill 9 Suspected Armed Robbers in Redlight area of Monrovia

2008-08-13T19:03:00.002-04:00

The story below came through my Google News Alert for Liberia. But so that you'd have some idea of the location mentioend...I've included the photos above that I took when I traveled from Ganta into Monrovia via the UNMIL helicopter (way fun!). The arrow is pointing to the Redlight area (mentioned in story). The name was given to that junction once upon a time when it used to be the lone traffic light in the Monrovia area.

To orient you, if you look at the Redlight junction as a "Y" intersection, the road leading to left heads out Somalia drive to the port. The road leading up and out to the right is the road into the interior in the direction of Margibi, Bong and Nimba Counties. This was the road I took to go to Ganta. And the road heading downward (towards the camera) leads towards ELWA junction, Sinkor and Monrovia via Tubman Blvd.

I'll have a few comments after the article...

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Mobs Kill 9 Suspected Armed Robbers in Liberia
August 13, 2008

At least nine suspected hard-core criminals are now known to have died during Monday evening’s clash between suspected criminals and vigilante groups at the northern Monrovia suburb of Red Light. The remains of the suspected criminals, who are accused of being involved in armed robberies and petty theft including telephone snatching at Paynesville Red Light commercial district, were set ablaze before a crowd of onlookers.

The bodies of the seven male and two female suspected criminals were burnt in the full view of the state police, United Nations Mission of Liberia (UNMIL) forces and traders, while the crowd clapped in apparent approval of the action by the vigilante groups.

Eyewitnesses said the situation at Red Light on Monday started at about 4:30pm when a gang of suspected criminals went on the rampage, attacking innocent traders in revenge for the killing of one of their leaders in a gun battle with the police.

The police had reportedly gone to quell an armed robbery that was reportedly taking place at an unnamed business center operated in Red Light near a notorious criminal hideout known as ‘Baghdad’, when they came under fire by suspected criminals. In the ensuing gun battle, one of the gang members, identified as Daniel Davies, alias ‘Scatter’ was shot dead.

Following the killing of their colleague, the gang members regrouped in the afternoon and randomly attacked traders and business centers using home-made petrol bombs.

This caused a stampede among traders and other residents who ran helter- skelter in all directions. Business activities ground to a halt in the Red Light area for hours, and the police, backed by forces of the UN Mission in Liberia had to move in to bring the situation under control.

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Sounds a bit scary huh? Redlight is not a place you want to hang out at for long. Definitely not after dark. But because of it's location in proximity to the port and the interior...it's a GREAT place to find bargins. So that means it's a huge market area. Clothing, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, hardware...you name it. The farmers from the interior haul in their goods via large trucks and then they sell them in redlight---and those buyers then resell the produce all over Monrovia.

It's a crazy, crowed place where pedestrians are in the thousands and cars are trying to sneak through the non-functioning traffic light intersection at a painfully slow pace. People in taxis (and cars/trucks) yell out their windows for the venders to bring them bread, newspapers, scratch cards. And of course this slows down traffic too. My missionary friends' houselady goes every Thursday to Redlight to go shopping. It's the place to get the best deal for fresh foods and other items. Also, Redlight is home to at least 3 different car parks (their term), each for what directions you are headed. I have no idea where they all go. But it's crazy! I even braved taking taxis back and forth to Ganta. And I had to go to Redlight to find a taxi. There aren't many white faces there...so they LOVE to try to sell you stuff, give your driver a hard time etc... The folks at the Ganta parking area knew my name and what seat I wanted. I even got the same taxi driver a few times. Redlight is not for the faint of heart. It's NUTS.

When I first arrived to Liberia and was traveling through there with friends, they were always quick to say "put away your purse, put away your cell phone...they'll grab it through the window". So I quickly grew to fear Redlight. But towards the end of my time there, I was begging the driver to just drop me off--my level of fear had dropped because I had been there enough and kinda new my way around a bit and I realized that if I stayed aware of myself and my belongings...then I'd probably be okay. And I was.

It's just a crazy, busy, dirty, hot place...with lots of petty crime. So the story above doesn't surprise me, yet the suspects bodies being burned is so dramatic. But mob justice is one sure-fire way for communities to stop criminals cold. The police and court and prison systems will let them go...but mob justice doesn't. Communities and businesses don't want to be victimized again and again. Obviously Liberia has a long way to go in improving and sustaining their whole justice system. Human rights. Victim rights. The whole thing. But I thought I'd share this for those of you curious about Liberia.

OT: RedBox-free DVD rental TRY IT!

2008-08-13T00:56:00.006-04:00

My dear readers...here in the USA. Do you know about Red Box? $1 movie rentals...it's literally a red box in some grocery stores, walgreens, and other high-traffic areas. You can go to their website and locate a box near you. Hopefully there is one. I learned about Red Box when I returned from Liberia. It's a movie vending machine. Genius. They primarily focus on new release movies. You can't get your favorite TV series or old movies--but to only pay $1 for new releases. I love it.

I get a free rental EVERY MONDAY--b/c I gave them my cell phone number and they text me every Monday morning with a free rental code.

Interested? Well, you are in luck. Redbox encourages users to spread the joy and SHARE our free rental codes. really!

I just got this in my email today:

So there you have it folks...the code is "DVDONME". The link was broken (and unnecessary) so I just removed it. Feel free to pass this code on to your friends...and let them try it too. This code works once per credit card.

So all you people who have never tried Redbox...go and do it... JUST be sure to get your movie back before 9pm the day after you rent it...otherwise you will be charged a $1/day late fee. Which isn't bad...but why bother?

Okay, so go to their website (click on redbox above) and punch in your zip code....go to that store whenever you have a free evening to watch a movie...take a credit card...

One thing I'll add...is that AFTER you've selected your movie, there's a button at bottom of screen that says "PROMO CODE" you push that and punch in the code...THEN you can finish and slide your credit card. The system knows you through your credit card. I recommend that you punch in your email address to get a receipt confirmation emailed to you.

Also note, that Redbox will put a $1.00 "pending" charge on your credit card, which will be removed when you bring the movie back on time. I've NEVER been charged for Redbox when I've had a free rental and returned before 9 pm the next day.

All the details are clear on their website. It's awesome--just don't forget to return the movie--oh, and I bet I didn't tell you...feel free to return movie to ANY redbox...it doesn't have to be the one you rented from. Great for those families traveling on vacation and they want to rent a video on their way out of town for the kids to put in their traveling DVD players...and when you get to your next location...look up where you can return your DVD (of course plan ahead and look for redbox locations near your vacation spot).

Cheers!

Evil One at Work in Liberia to Stop Christian College---please pray

2008-08-09T13:25:00.000-04:00

Below is an email that I received today from my former co-worker in Ganta, Liberia. She has given permission for me to post this on my blog, despite the content. It is basically self-explanatory. I posted a blog entry about this school back in late June after I got home—the link is below. There is definitely a power struggle in the spiritual realm for this school. We know Who is greater…pray folks!

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Friends,

September 1 is supposed to be the first day for Ganta International Christian College to begin. This school has been in the planning stage for about 6 years and we know that God has ordained it for His work.

But Satan is using every scheme and tactic to keep this from happening.

Difficulties in finding qualified instructors is one area he has been active in. Two of the key personnel have been hospitalized with serious illnesses. Because of the intense corruption in this society, what was believed to be a "done" deal with the 22 acres of land purchase is now in jeopardy. The previous owners are demanding much more money for property that was purchased legally in 2002. But, the latest unscrupulous tactic is with the Minister of Education and his cronies.

They want under-the-table payments of large sums of money. Since we are a Christian organization, we won't meet their demands. So, they have reversed their approval for the school to open and even requiring us to refund any and all monies paid by students to date. This corruption is at all levels of government and only God can intervene and change the hearts and plans of men.

Here, the staff has been in prayer for wisdom and direction for us and God's intervention with the government officials and families involved in the land dispute.

I am appealing to each of you to commit the school, staff, students, and government officials to prayer. I will keep you posted on the progress we make toward meeting God's timetable (not ours) for the college opening. We know that He is able to do all things.

Thank you,

Judy

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My thoughts are from 1 John 4:4 – You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

And 2 Peter 1: 3-9 – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

This last Scripture passage is in a sense what this college wants to teach the students…to pursue faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, so that they can escape the corruption in the world! And Liberia is so plagued by corruption. No wonder the evil one is fighting hard!

Pray dear brothers and sisters, for God’s plans to succeed and the evil one’s plans to be disrupted and uncovered by the LIGHT! And if you know anyone who can put some pressure on the Minister of Education in Liberia, Joseph Korto. We WANT him to do the right thing. If he’s not directly involved, then he needs to be made aware of what is going on and to make right what is going on.

From Judy’s email above we know that it’s more than just the MOE involved… we may feel helpless, but we’re not. God hears the cries of His people. And it’s through our prayers that God moves those mountains.

Thanks,

Joy

Three Olympians Represent the Lonestar in Beijing

2008-08-09T11:25:00.001-04:00

BEIJING - AUGUST 08: Jangy Addy of Liberia carries his country's flag during the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on August 8, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

From what I can gather, there are three Olympians that are representing Liberia. What do they all have in common? Well, they all live in the United States! But there is much inconsistency on what events they are competing in.

Kia Davies will compete in the women’s 400-meter and 200-meter. She is in the "A" category of sprinters and she is a college Gold Medalist.
400m preliminaries Saturday, August 16
400m semi-finals Sunday, August 17
400m finals Tuesday, August 19

200m preliminaries Tuesday, August 19
200m semi-finals Wednesday, August 20
200m finals Thursday, August 21

Siraj Williams will compete in the Men’s 400-meter.

400m preliminaries on Monday, August 18
400m semi-finals on Tuesday, August 19
400m finals on Thursday, August 21

Jangy Addy will compete in the Men's Decathlon on August 21 & 22. See this article for more bio on him.

Here’s the Liberian coach, Garfield Ellenwood.

There was some mention here of all three competing in hurdle events? But NOWHERE else is anyone talking about hurdles for these three Liberian Olympians. Never trust a single source.

Memoir: The House at Sugar Beach

2008-08-08T14:32:00.001-04:00

Helene Cooper's The House at Sugar Beach, a memoir about growing up in Liberia during that country's civil war, will be released on September 2. Also will be featured at Starbucks. I haven’t read it, of course, so I can’t recommend it yet…but thought I’d pass it along in anticipation of its release next month.

Cheers.

OT: Two Great Stories

2008-07-29T21:58:00.005-04:00

First Good Story:
The other day I was feeling convicted that I needed to go to the dentist. But without a job and no dental insurance, I figured I'd just have to wait. But last week while I was thinning out my file cabinet, I found the records for previous dental visits and noticed that the prices they listed were not that high. $45-60 for adult cleanings...I'm like hey, these are MY teeth, they are worth it. I tried calling last week but their office was closed. Turns out, having to wait until Monday, wasn't such a bad thing.

So I called YESTERDAY and just asked how much it would cost to have my teeth cleaned without insurance. They said with cleaning, exam and updated x-rays it would be $148. Okay, more than I wanted to pay, but okay, still worth it. I want my teeth to stick around a long time. When I asked about an appointment, expecting 2-3 month wait, she said, if you can make it I have an slot available TOMORROW! Um. Yes! Wow. Okay, it gets better. I go in, get my teeth cleaned, they say they look good, no problems. (Whew, it's been 18 months since my last visit). I leave the chair and go to pay my $148. And get this.... she says I have a $95 CREDIT on my account! And then she starts apologizing that they had not issued a refund earlier. Um, no apology necessary. But where did it come from? I totally do not remember EVER paying the dentist's office a cent of out-of-pocket money. The insurance always covered everything. It's still a mystery to me. So I ended up only having to shell out $53... LESS than what I had anticipated from the get-go. Cool huh? A next-day appointment AND a credit of $95. God is GOOD!

Second Good Story...this one's funny and a bit embarrasing.
This week I've been dog-sitting for some friends. Last week, their dog was wounded and needed stitches and drains. So today was the day that the drains needed to be removed and the wound looked at. The vet was in the next county, about 30 minutes away according to Google Maps. So with dog in tow, I left early since I didn't know exactly where I was going. Good thing I left early. On our way down Park Street (Charlottesville) I heard a small explosion in the rear part of my Honda station wagon. I had heard something curious earlier, but didn't think about it long. So when I heard the 2nd explosion, I had this sudden flash of realization. I had a 12 pack of Diet Coke back there I had forgotten about. Oops. So I pulled off onto a side street, left the pup in the back seat with the windows down and went to check the damage.

Well it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Thankfully the cans were in an unopened box. But the cardboard was soaking wet (and the floor of the wagon too) and when I tore open the box, I could hear a hissing and saw that ALL the cans had swollen tops. Instead of flat tops, they looked like there were tennis balls inside the cans. The flip tabs (I don't know my soda-can anatomy) were so strained that I knew they might pop anytime. So I pulled the soggy box out of the car and set it on the street away from my car. 'I'm going to be late' I thought. 'But I surely don't want these cans to continue exploding in my car and making a bigger mess.' So I realized I needed to release the pressure in the cans. All of the cans. Somehow.

Obviously some cans had already released their pressure and it was just a matter of fully opening them to drain out the sticky coke. But with the inverted tops it wasn't easy to pull back the tabs. But I tried. Well that wasn't the best idea as the cans acted like they had been shaken up! I think I tried this on three cans and every time they would sprayed sticky coke all over my arms, face, legs. Yuck. Looking at the my watch and down at my clothes and the blood coming from my thumb, I figured I needed another plan. And quick. I was tempted to just leave them in the street, but my conscience didn't let me think on that too long. And I couldn't just stick them in someone's trash can on that street because they would still explode. Plus I was pretty suspicious that an older man and his wife (she with a walker) were out walking and had stopped to watch me. They seemed to be hiding behind a van across the street. All this time I was trying to ignore what was going on around me and seeing how time was wasting, I decided that THROWING the cans onto the sidewalk was probably the quickest, safest, driest way to explode the cans.

Possibly the fastest method...but I still got sprayed, but now by higher velocity coke. No blood, but a few cans when they hit the sidewalk, exploded and parts of the can flew 15 feet! I had to jump back for a couple of them. One can just remained where it landed but let out a slow guyser about 10-12 feet in the air for about 7 seconds. A couple cans were duds that required me to throw them 2-3 times. But I was on a mission to get the coke out of the cans so that I could stick them back in my car and get to the vet on time. While waiting for cans to fully drain, I started jumping on the cans to squash them. That was about the time that the older couple decided they'd return back towards their house. I looked up. He said "I'm kinda afraid to ask what you are doing." I unapologetically explained (and laughed) about forgetting the case of soft drinks in my car and the heat causing them to explode. He and his wife laughed and continued on walking. I cleaned up, found a plastic grocery bag to put the cans in...there was still coke dripping out of them, so I put the bag in a plastic shoe box that was just hanging out in my car. I got in my car, turned around and drove off for the vet. I still had 30 minutes to go...but somehow managed to arrive on time for the appointment!

I'm a bit embarrassed at my stupidity for leaving the cans in my car--my BLACK car. I knew better. I'm just glad that most of the liquid was contained in the cardboard packaging and didn't spray all over the inside of my car. Now that would've been far worse. And perhaps more funny had you been driving behind my car and watching a geyser of coke spraying in the back end of my car all over the windows and ceiling. Ugh. I hope I've learned my lesson. And I hope that couple off Park Street has told the story to a few people. I'm sure it was quite amusing to watch. Good grief, how often do you see a lone woman throwing unopened soda cans at the sidewalk over and over--watching them explode?

Man that was crazy.

P.S. Jenny, I'm so glad this didn't happen to you while you were toting your 13 kids in your van/bus. You guys have enough adventures! The looks of confusion on your kid's faces would have been enough to make me think twice about my method. Looking back, throwing cans seems a bit over the top. LOL. But since you are the queen of driving incidents...well I naturally thought of you! :)

2008-07-28T11:25:00.002-04:00

This news story on my Google News alert for Liberia caught my attention: Liberia's 26 Orator Wants Monrovia Renamed. (Monrovia was named for American president James Monroe. Who they claimed hated black people.)

I kinda doubt this will go anywhere.

Happy 26!

2008-07-26T01:26:00.003-04:00

"Happy 26th" to my Liberian friends!! Today, July 26th, is Liberia's celebration of independance.

It's a day when everything closes down and people generally stick around their communities. There will be football games (soccer) all throughout Liberia--either competitions set up by NGOs or by organized community leagues or simply kids in the neighborhood.

And it's most common that people will cook a bit more rice. Last year it seemed that the pigs were in danger the week of July 26th. Everyone was going out to buy one. So really the whole eat good food is kinda like what we do for celebrations.

It's a holiday where kids expect and want new clothes to show off and are sad when their parents can't afford them. I remember when I visited in 2005, there were little girls getting hair extensions for the holiday. It was kinda weird to see such poverty, but little girls were all dressed up with frilly dresses, tights and black patton leather shoes! (LOL, my spelling was corrected, I wrote "pat and leather" in my original post.)

Last year there was a fireworks show a day or so after July 26th, but I think that was a one time event provided by the Chinese.

Most of this year's events will be held in Margibi County. Last year all the official events were held in Grand Bassa County.

Happy Anniversary Liberia!

Need Logistical Help: VA to TN

2008-07-22T11:50:00.003-04:00

Anyone heading from Virginia to Nashville TN or that area?

I have some boxes of medical supplies (including a microscope) coming to me that I would like to have shipped to Liberia through the shipping ministry of Service to Servants in Murfreesboro, TN. I haven’t checked to see if STS has room in their August 15 container, but if not they are planning to send another container in November. Tomorrow I will pick up the boxes in Charlottesville and will see exactly how much we are talking about.

If you’d be willing to help with transport or know someone traveling from Virginia through Nashville…leave me a comment or use the email address on the sidebar. (I'm going to try for the John Tesh gas card give away which if I win will go towards the transportation of these boxes. You can go sign up too—but if you win…you know who to share with! Ha!

The microscope is going to a Liberian man named George Kona who has started his own Laboratory Aide training program in Ganta. Mr. Kona spent 30 some years working as a lab technician at the Ganta Hospital. Mr. Kona retired a few years ago and now works at a local clinic, but he is committed to passing on what he knows to the next generation. So he, with some other professional lab technicians in Ganta started this training program in 2005. Those who successfully pass his program will have solid theory training and practical experience. They'll be qualified to be aides at a hospital or clinic laboratory. If there is financial means and aptitude, students may seek to continue their education to become fully trained lab techs or nurses in hopes of getting better paying jobs and opportunities.

If you've been a long-time reader of my blog or traveled to Liberia (or other developing country), you'll know that drugs in Liberia do not require a prescription. You can pick up antibiotics at the local drugstore. The drug seller (I dare not say pharmacist) often will give recommendations based on symptoms and the big book he has on his counter. Obviously blood, stool and urine labs are the best way to determine what is going on inside the human body--but in Liberia and other developing countries...having access to a hospital or clinic laboratory is a luxury. Liberia needs more trained medical personnel. Mr. Kona is doing his part to help raise them up.

Mr. Kona is pictured below (on far right in both pictures). The microscope seen below is one owned by the clinic where he works (they don't have electricity). Right now since Mr. Kona's training program does not have a microscope of their own, the student's only access to a microscope is through connections with clinics that have an operating microscope.

Above, Mr. Kona (right) with students and fellow instructor.

Before I left Liberia, Mr. Kona asked me to try and locate a microscope for his training program. Since getting back home, I hadn't really done much about looking for one (busy with my own stuff). But I casually, off-handedly (sp?) mentioned it to my friend Sarah's parents (when I was out visiting on the Eastern Shore of Virginia). And to my surprise, her dad was closing his medical practice and joining another one, so he actually had a microscope and supplies! Wow! Another friend helped to transport it this past week from Eastern Shore to Charlottesville and now it's my job to get the stuff transported from Charlottesville to Tennessee! Whew.

I'm praying for a cheap option of transportation to come through. I'll report back.

Flooding in Monrovia

2008-07-20T20:28:00.002-04:00

My friend Olly Peet, who is aboard the Mercy Ship in Liberia, posted some pics from the flooding in Monrovia (specifically the Paynesville area). The photos are here, but check out his other entries…he frequently posts good pics from around Monrovia.

Just imagine how difficult this must be for the Liberians living around this area. Displaced and with no flood insurance or FEMA or any local, state or federal help. I will say that Liberians are generally smart enough to haul away their stuff when they are displaced…because chances are… rogues or neighbors will have stolen it before anyone goes back to check on things.

UPDATE: This news story indicates that flooding in Monrovia is the worst in the city's history. I'm not sure I agree with their reasoning...but it's interesting nonetheless.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

2008-07-11T20:43:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Angel for pointing me to the trailer for the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

From Tribeca's website: Charles Taylor was elected president of Liberia in 1996 and soon proved to be a corrupt dictator. Opposing warlords emerged from the North and raped, murdered, and terrorized the citizens of Liberia while Charles Taylor purportedly supported them in secret. The war killed 250,000 people and displaced one million citizens. With skillful eloquence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell tells the often overlooked story of how thousands of women in Liberia peacefully ended the country's second bloody civil war. Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian woman who witnessed both civil wars,had a dream: "To get the women of the church together to pray for peace." She invited ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and daughters from neighboring churches to start the Christian Women's Peace Initiative. Asatu Bah Kenneth was one of Leymah's first supporters. She happened to be Muslim. Determined to make peace, they asked, "Does the bullet know Christian from Muslim?" They dressed in pure white and sat by the thousands to protest the war. When peace talks in Ghana came to a standstill, the women literally formed a physical barricade around the building and didn't allow the men to exit until a deal was bartered. The women of Liberia are proof that nonviolent and peaceful protest isn't just a fantasy-it can be a triumphant reality. Their work culminated in the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female head of state. "Pray the Devil Back to Hell eloquently captures the power each of us innately has within our souls to make this world a far better,safer, more peaceful place," wrote Desmond Tutu. Indeed, director Gini Reticker has made a commanding, inspiring, and emotionally stirring documentary about the futility of war and the splendor of peace.

The film seems to have won awards at Silverdocs, Jackson Hole, and I think at Tribeca (it seemed like it).

The trailer is for mature audiences, as it does include war scenes.
(I removed the visual here as it included theme song that would not stop...or mute. sorry.)

Use the "Demand" option to request it to screen in one of the metro areas. (There was a screening in Liberia already!) I chose DC because of it's close proximity. Angel wants it in Charlotte...pick a city folks and go see it if it ends up in your area.

AfriGadget--go check it out!

2008-07-05T22:56:00.004-04:00

Those of you who visit my full-color blog regularly (not my RSS feed) will probably note the changes I made to the blog-listings I offer. Blogger has a new feature that includes update info and most recent post for all sites that have an RSS feed. I've added a few more sites, so go check out my side bar.

Also, I've added a link to Afrigadget on my side bar. I've been a RSS feed reader of theirs for a couple years now I guess. So for others who are interested in African ingenuity and/or economical/green solutions for people in developing countries or the poor in developed countries (even those outside of Africa)...do check out Afrigadget. They will often point to other groups and what they're doing to help solve local problems. They are totally open to submissions too. Below is a video included in their most recent post--so you'll have at one example of the types of things that include.

Fun huh?

I'm Moving--but not far

2008-07-05T11:37:00.001-04:00

An empty-nest couple in my church is “moving” to Colorado for a year (maybe longer) but they are not going to sell their house in the northern Charlottesville area. Their daughter is heading off to Vancouver for grad school, so there won’t be family members living in the house. So as of late August I am going to be moving into their fully furnished home! Living there and keeping an eye on the place and only paying for the utilities. This is a great option for me as I’m not working at the moment and don’t have the money to rent a place and it gets me back in the Charlottesville area.

Now that I know where I’ll be living, it gives me some direction as to where to look for a job. Charlottesville is where my church is, where more jobs will be, but where housing is more expensive (the demand). But Waynesboro (30 minutes from Charlottesville) is where my parents and sister have homes, where a lot of commercial growth is happening, where housing still remains more affordable than C’ville, but where fewer jobs are—comparatively-speaking. Commuting to C’ville from Waynesboro is an option, lots of people do it, but with the gas prices—it’s less attractive than it once was.

Earlysville (where I’m going to be living now) will put me in the Charlottesville job market and perhaps I might even find a job in northern Charlottesville. We’ll see. But only paying average $150 in utilities, along with cell phone and insurance… it’s going to be less stress financially than even finding an apartment in Waynesboro. And I’ll have some independence again which I’m looking forward to. This housing thing will last at least a year…perhaps longer I suppose if this family stays on in Colorado. But they are flexible and if I decide to head back to Liberia or go back to school, it’s not a problem. So this is a great option for me right now…and it’s flexible if things change too. I’m very excited.

I have a few odd jobs lined up in July and August that will help cover food and expenses these next few months. So I guess it looks like I’ll be in job search mode in August and September. Now to figure out what it is that I want to do (I may never figure that out)! My hope is that I could get a job that will allow me to drive a motorbike/scooter to work…and save more money on gas.

Oh, and a man connected to the Bible College (LLIC mentioned in past posts) has contacted me about possibly partnering with them. So the door has cracked open for a possible return to Liberia…but I don’t foresee leaving again—at least for another 6-9 months—at least not for this school year (but who am I to say?)

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. My pre-fourth kayaking trip was GREAT. It was great to see my friend Sarah again and to spend time with her. I did get sunburned on my knees and quite a few itchy bites…but overall I’m thrilled to have gone. The Eastern Shore is such a nice place to retreat to.

Cheers.

OT: "Fireproof" in theatres September 26th

2008-07-03T22:47:00.003-04:00

On my travels home from the Eastern Shore of Virginia (visiting my friend Sarah Snyder and kayaking), I heard on the radio that the makers of the movie Facing the Giants are preparing to release another film Fireproof in September!

I saw Facing the Giants for the first time in Liberia when my parents were visiting and we were staying with another missionary couple in Monrovia. It was a great entertaining film that you really connected with the characters (yes, I cried). It has a Christian message and doesn't have the junk that hollywood movies are made of. It looks like it's just full of football, but it's not...its chock full of a lot more good stuff. It was the 2nd film made by Sherwood Pictures and was picked up by Provident Films (Sony company) and was released nationwide in theatres.

Fireproof is expected to be another GREAT film. Sherwood Pictures is the media ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia.

Below I have embedded the trailers to both movies.

For the Facing the Giants movie you might need to look around the video stores (call ahead), but most online rental services (Netflicks, Blockbuster online...) probably carry it.

Facing the Giants (released on DVD)

Fireproof (in theatres in September 08)

Yep, that's Kirk Cameron!

Food Crisis in Liberia

2008-07-03T21:28:00.004-04:00

My Google News alert pointed me to a World Bank video about the food crisis in Liberia. You can find it here. Because it would not embed into my blog, I went looking for it on Youtube...I didn't find it, but found the below video from Gallup. While it was uploaded in April of this year...the data/research indicates poll was done 2006-2007. The one by World Bank has great video images of the women's markets in Liberia...and Liberian-English! I love to listen to it.

One thing that was said by the Minister of Agriculture on the World Bank video is important to note. He talks about "consolidating peace"...I paraphrase...If people are hungry...peace is fragile...if people are fed, it helps keep the peace. Hungry people do things that they would not normally do (steal, kill, join up with rebel groups etc...) in hopes of getting food or money in return.

United Liberia Inland Church Associates and Friends (ULICAF)

2008-06-28T15:57:00.010-04:00

The church that became my home church in Ganta is a part of the United Liberia Inland Church--a network/conference of churches that began as a church-planting effort of WEC back in 1938. I saw a report somewhere on-line that indicated that in 1995 there were 70-some ULIC churches representing 20,000 congregants! (This report was analyzing a LOT of different denominations and what the numbers were in 1995--likely during a more peaceful time of the 14 year civil war. Many churches lost buildings and members throughout the war and potentially never rebuilt. I'm not sure if any group has done a follow-up type of church census since 2003.)

Liberians living in the US who want to stay connected and supportive of the ULIC in Liberia formed United Liberia Inland Church Associates and Friends or ULICAF.

One of the projects that ULICAF is working towards is a Bible college just outside of Ganta called the Liberia International Christian College. I had the priviledge of going to visit the campus prior to my departure. They are VERY close to finishing the first phase of the education building. They've already given an entrance exam for students wishing to start classes this fall. There's a video on their website where you can learn about the plans for the college.

Below is a picture of the main college building (phase 1)--likely taken about the time of the dedication earlier this month.

Here's a link to ULICAF's May/June 2008 newsletter/update.

Right now through the end of next week, there's a team of engineers with Engineering Ministry International of of Colorado (EMI), who are there working on developing "a long-term master plan for the Ganta college site. EMI’s volunteers (9 members) will donate their time, expertise and travel costs to give ULICAF the best designs possible. During their time in Liberia, the team will survey the Ganta property, investigate locally-available materials, and test both the soil and water supply to assure the highest water quality. Before they leave Liberia, EMI will present a preliminary master plan and building design to the ULICAF board, LICC staff, and the local community to confirm the design and to generate momentum for the project. (taken from ULICAF's newsletter).

If you are curious about this much needed endeavor, I do suggest you check out the video link above.

Below are some photos I took when I visited the campus with my co-worker Judy, who may end up teaching at the college during the inaugural 2008-2009 school year!

The dirt road leading to LICC. Large white building is the same building shown above (just without the finishing touches!)

BELOW PHOTO: View as you walk in front door. Staircase goes up to the not-yet 2nd floor (another phase), classroom and office cooridors are a 90 degree turn right and left of the staircase. Painters were busy the day we visited. Beautiful butter colored walls with white trim. Very nice and cheery. No awful greens, blues or pinks. Very elegant and professional looking.

BELOW PHOTO: And yes, indoor toilets and sinks! Everything is supposed to be in and finished prior to the school opening in September. It's possible that most everything was done when they had the dedication of the building in mid-June.

BELOW PHOTO: This is one of the classrooms (perhaps one that will house the temporary library?) At this point there was still quite a bit of painting and patching going on.

It really is going to be a NICE campus! The ULCAF has really spent time, effort and money to see this done right!

Please pray for them as they work hard this summer to get ready for the opening of school--organizing admin, working through Ministry of Education's red tape, finishing facilities, hiring faculty, setting up curriculum, admitting students etc... Pray for integrity and honesty among the administration and teachers as they work to establish a institution that has a reputation for excellent instruction and academic challenge. In Liberian society, there is real problem with teachers accepting bribes and students offering them. So please pray for the admin as they seek after and hire faculty and staff that strive to live their life according to Bible. This is a Bible college and of course the evil one would like to distrupt, confuse and prevent the Gospel's transforming message from reaching Nimba County.

In another part of Nimba County, Samaritan's Purse is also helping to re-open the African Bible College that was destroyed during the course of Liberia's civil war. Samaritan's Purse has a blog about their involvement.

To have these two Bible colleges up and running will be a GREAT thing for Nimba County residents and all of Liberia! Praise God.

6.5 Weeks Home

2008-06-24T23:54:00.008-04:00

Some of you maybe wondering...”what happened to her? she just fell of the face of the earth”. Well, I am still here. Still thinking about this blog. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I had the emotional energy to sit down and post something.

I'm definitely going through my own version of re-entry. I've been home now um, a little over 30 days. And while shopping at Target or Super Wal-Mart has not really sent me into a melt-down, I know that just below the surface things are going on. There have been so many times when I've been on the verge of tears and just wouldn't let myself go there--either b/c the tears seemed to come at a bad time (like right after putting make up on--or when there's stacks of people around). There's really no good private place to go to for a good belly-wailing cry where people won't stare or feel obligated to see if I'm okay. Maybe I can go find some deserted park or rec area--but just my luck, I'll get there and the tears won't come. ha.

People regularly ask how I'm doing and if I'm dealing with culture shock. And my basic answer is that I don't think I was gone long enough to really see a difference in American culture or to be surprised by it. I've come and gone from Liberia several times over the past few years and so I think that has somewhat tempered things a bit. However I definitely have "blah" days which I contribute to the grieving process of leaving Liberia. It's just weird that in 24 hours you go from ALL-Liberia to little or NO-Liberia. And just talking about it isn't enough and sometimes you just don't want to talk about it at all--mostly b/c there are no words.

I can tell my patience wears thinner sooner. I've noticed my introverted side needs a lot more honoring these days. I've noticed that sometimes I have to force myself to get out of the house because I'm over-honoring my introverted side. I've noticed fatigue--probably combination of physical/emotional/mental. I know I'm struggling with some feelings of insecurity. Where do I fit in? Have I changed so much that I won't be able to connect with my old friends in the same way as before? Will I always feel out of place and like a stranger? Will I ever be able to articulate my experiences in Liberia without feeling like I'm baring my soul to everyone? Who do I share what with? I know that time is HUGE in the whole transition process.

One anticipation or expectation that I had coming back was that I could finally return to some anonymity. In Liberia, my white skin gave children and adults the invitation to point at me and yell "WHITE WOMAN!" in English or in dialect. I'm not sure what I expected people to do when they saw me the first time here at home, but I do get "JOY! YOU'RE BACK!" I'm glad they notice, but I guess you could say that I'm finding it hard to deal with the attention here...especially when I was hoping for less attention. It's love. People are showing love and I get that. It's just that my expectations were "off" and I'm having to work through that. And thankfully in a few months time, my being home will be old news.

Also the questions I get from others are hard too. #1 question is "How was your time in Liberia?" I have to make a decision at that point. How much time do I have before we get interrupted? How much do I want to say? Do they really care or are they being polite/gracious? The question is simply too big and too vague for a satisfying answer. And in most cases, I would rather learn about the other person's year rather than try to put mine into a nutshell.

The next question is "Are you going back? or are you home for good?" This is tough to answer. I simply don't know. I don't know what the Lord has in store. I would love to return, but for now I need some time to reflect, get spiritual nourishment, and dream again.

"Are you going back to your job at Trinity?" Right now, I'm enjoying being home and trying to figure out 'what next'. Even before I resigned from Trinity to head to Liberia, I had felt that I was ready to do something different and it was time to move on. Oh, believe me-- I wouldn't trade those 8 years on staff for anything! I grew so much, learned so much and LOVED being a part of the staff family. So now I have the joy of simply being a member & worshipper and participant in ministry without the ID of being staff and "in charge". The tough part will be deciding where to jump into ministry--trying to figure out where I feel God is calling me and waiting on Him to lead me, rather than just jumping back into safety of what I knew from before. The temptation might be to expedite the transition by just reverting back to what I did before…but I’m not sure that’s the best thing, nor the right thing."

What will you do for a job?" I don't have a job right now. I made the decision before I left Liberia to not make any big decisions at least through June, including job stuff. I’m trying to avoid putting any pressure on myself to figure it all out in the first few months of being home--knowing that I need to take time with this re-entry stuff. So for now I'm totally FINE taking my time and seeing what strikes me and inspires me. Part of the work thing is knowing where I want to live. Wonderfully, there's an opportunity for me to house-sit for a year in northern Charlottesville (I'm living with my parents in Waynesboro, 30 minutes away). So if I decide to do that...then I should obviously not look for work in Waynesboro. I have considered getting a part-time job at a chain (blockbuster, target etc...) and then hoping I can transfer to location in Charlottesville. But I'm not there yet. Not ready to decide that. If this house-sitting thing materializes--it will be August at the earliest before I would make the move. So perhaps I'll go back to occasional pet-sitting or working random jobs to make a little bit of money. But I haven't decided that either. Thankfully I planned ahead and put money in my Liberia budget for my return home which has taken some of the pressure off.

So what have I been doing if I'm not working? I've taken a few trips. One to Ohio to see my oldest sister and her family. Two overnight trips to DC (in one week) where I got to stay with my younger sister Rachel and her family--all the while helping people from church get to the airport in DC to travel for international mission trips. I've also been going in on Fridays to the church to do some A/V prep for the worship services while Andrea (who took over my job last year) was preparing for her wedding and now on her honeymoon! I've started back running and will slowly be building up to 4 miles in prep for our local women's four mile race. I've also enjoyed catching up with friends over lunch or dinner. And even yesterday I took a last minute day trip to Roanoke where I finally got to meet the Groothuis family (actually a portion thereof) who live in Iowa and were visiting Roanoke to adopt 3 Liberian children (which now makes a total of 13 Groothuis kids! Score is now 7-6 Liberian!)

Right now, I love the freedom to just up and go somewhere...and am trying to figure out if I can get away this weekend to go to the Eastern shore to hang out with my friend Sarah (who also spent time in Liberia) and get reacquainted with a kayak! You could say I'm "playing"...and perhaps that's what I need. There weren't many "playing" opportunities in Liberia. I have a long list of other things that NEED to be done...like taxes, final reports for Equip, upload Liberia photos to my Flickr account, refinish some pieces of furniture, update resume, update blog, blah, blah... I'm crossing them off my list slowly, but not very fast. :)

I'm also going through my clothes in storage and discovering that I dropped at least one clothing size while I was in Liberia and I think another since I've come home. So that's fun, feels good, and gives me an excuse to buy some updated clothes. But I am still in shock that the clothing designers all worked overtime this year to make non-pregnant women look pregnant! What's with that?

I hope to keep posting, but sometimes I'm not sure what to write about. I'm not very good when it comes to writing about myself or what's going on emotionally and spiritually. I'm better at writing about what's going on around me and with other people--more objective things. Plus everything personal still feels, well, personal, a bit raw and vulnerable. And I still have every intention of posting some things that I didn’t have time or internet connection to do before.

Until later.

Liberia to get Peace Corps Volunteers in September 08!

2008-06-06T14:10:00.002-04:00

Press Release from Peace Corps website:

Peace Corps Reopens Program in Liberia
Peace Corps Response Volunteers Will Serve in Education Sector
Washington, D.C., June 4, 2008 – Peace Corps is pleased to officially announce its return to Liberia and is preparing for the arrival of the first group of Volunteers in September 2008.

After an absence of nearly two decades, experienced Volunteers will be serving in the country through a program called Peace Corps Response. President Bush discussed the possibility of Peace Corps’ return to Liberia in October 18, 2007 during an Oval Office meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. President Bush said, “The Peace Corps has been in touch with our State Department and the Liberia folks and it looks like we're going to start moving some teams pretty quickly back into Liberia.”

Over 4,400 Peace Corps Volunteers served in Liberia from 1962 to 1990, until the program was suspended due to the Liberian civil war. With the country enjoying a new period of peace, and at the request of President Johnson-Sirleaf, the Peace Corps will re-establish a program in Liberia that will focus on education.

In a 2006 letter to U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Donald E. Booth, President Johnson-Sirleaf wrote: “The Government of Liberia requests the re-establishment of the Peace Corps program in Liberia. We understand that the Peace Corps has a program [Peace Corps Response] which allows experienced Volunteers to serve for short periods to perform high-impact work. Such short-term projects aimed at raising the capacities and capabilities of Liberian teachers would have a profound impact upon civil society as a whole.”
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter said, “We’re pleased to see so many positive developments in Liberia, as well as the country’s renewed focus on education. The Peace Corps is proud to continue the agency’s legacy of providing education Volunteers to Liberia, and to be able to contribute to the country’s development efforts.”

Peace Corps Response is a unique Peace Corps program that mobilizes Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for short-term humanitarian service assignments worldwide. Volunteers in Liberia are expected to work in several fields within the education sector, including teacher training, curriculum development, classroom teaching, education administration, and education policy assistance.

Peace Corps Response is actively recruiting for the first group of Volunteers to arrive in September 2008. More information about Peace Corps Response as well as an application can be found on our website: www.peacecorps.gov/response.

From 1962-1990, Peace Corps Volunteers in Liberia were involved in every facet of the country’s development efforts, from education and health to agriculture and rural development. Peace Corps’ involvement in the education sector was substantial, with most Volunteers working as primary and secondary education teachers, teacher trainers, vocational/technical instructors, and in curriculum development.

The Peace Corps is celebrating a 47-year legacy of service at home and abroad. Currently there are more than 8,000 Volunteers abroad, a 37-year high for Volunteers in the field. Since 1961, more than 190,000 Volunteers have helped promote a better understanding between Americans and the people of the 139 countries where Volunteers have served, including Liberia. Peace Corps Volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a 27-month commitment.

------------------------------

Joy’s note: I think this is SO GREAT! Liberia’s education system needs a real boost and I really hope that the majority of the volunteers will be placed in the interior and NOT in Monrovia. But that’s just my humble opinion.

The PC website says to get applications in early as they expect it to be competitive.

12 Days Home

2008-05-29T20:30:00.002-04:00

I've been home for about a week and a half now. So far no meltdowns or head-banging incidents. No tears. Perhaps still in shock.

In some ways it really feels like my time in Liberia was a dream. Or else being on this side is a dream. It's so very strange. Ganta and central Virginia LOOK very different. SOUND very different. FEEL very different. TASTE very different. SMELL very different. Everything is different and to fathom that both of these realities exist simultaneously is so hard...

I can't even conjure up what 87 degrees with 87 percent humidity feels like!

When I was in Liberia, I felt very distanced (but not disconnected) from life in the States and it was easy to just go about life in Ganta and not think about what was going on back home. The bit I was connected (email, Fox News RSS feeds, Facebook) was sufficient enough that I wasn't anxious for more(until closer to the end). My life in Ganta was full and so was my time, so I wasn't really feeling home sick or terribly deprived. I was content and I made due with what I owned or was provided. Sure there were times when I longed for the comforts of home...hey, I'm human! But if I had lived in a state of discontent all those months, I would've driven myself crazy or would've tried to "buy happiness", and probably wouldn't have made it through the year, or I would've been so focused on what I didn't have and how unhappy I was about it.

But now that I'm home, I'm re-exploring the "luxuries" I've missed. Or rather, I'm just enjoying re-exploring many of the things that I once took for granted. I know the new-ness of everything will wear off eventually and these things will again become part of the norm. Things like the cooler, drier temps/weather...smooth, paved roads and working traffic lights...driving/riding in a car with working air conditioning...electric stoves, toasters, and microwaves...green grass and flowers (!) even if the side affect is sneezing...sidewalks...showers hot enough to steam up a bathroom...big mirrors...highspeed-wireless internet...beautifully and carefully decorated homes with patios, lawns and gardens...organized tee-ball and baseball games for kids....books/libraries...being anonymous when running errands/shopping...ease of finding quiet place to hide my introverted half...

One thing I looked forward to all year was the joy of shopping at the brand new Target and Kohls department store that was constructed about a mile away from my parent's home. But already the excitement has dimmed...

What I'm still trying to figure out is how do I keep connected with my Liberian friends? With those I really care about. Especially when my nature is to be focused on the here and now (like it was when I was in Liberia). I'm not a big phone person and for most of my Liberian friends that's really the only way to communicate as most don't have email addresses or know much about the internet. I decided to pay extra for text messaging for a few months to see if I would use it, since that it a popular, cheaper way to communicate even in Liberia. The cost of staying in touch will rest primarily on me, which means I will likely fail a good number of people.

Close Liberian friends I wish to stay connected with:

--Stephen (friend from 2006 who I helped get a job at Equip) and his pregnant wife Rebecca (learned just before I left that if they have a daughter, she will take my name as her middle name!)-he has email
--Emmanuel (one of my best friends in Ganta who I sponsored for 12th grade...who I am currently sponsoring in computer school and hope to sponsor for nursing school)-hopefully he will get email soon!
--Emmanuel's parents (I'm helping provide $ to purchase drugs to help control his mom's diabetes and bulgar wheat to assist with diet)
--Felecia (sweet girlfriend who I hope to sponsor for nursing school)
--Pastor John (my pastor in Ganta)-he has email
--Joseph (elder at church and Equip workers)-he has email
--Amos's mother (2 year old boy from Gbuyee/Ganta area who I helped get corrective surgery via Mercy Ships for his bi-lateral club feet and who are receiving financial assistance from me for their 4 months required living in Monrovia. Stephen is helping me keep track of them)
--Midwife Kou (salt of the earth kind of woman who I think so highly of--sadly the cellphone network in her community is not very good, so Emmanuel might have to carry messages to her)
--Harrison and Gus (leaders from my church in Ganta)

There are a handful of friends who I've not yet decided how to proceed. They ARE friends, but at the same time I know that as soon as I open up lines of communication, there's a pretty good chance that I'll start getting requests for financial help from these individuals and they won't understand that they aren't included on my financial help priority list. It takes wisdom and patience and love.

In general, I'm taking things one day at a time...and just putting a few things on the calendar...not a lot. I'm thinking that I will avoid rushing to find work right now...maybe to start looking in July? At least take time now to start some good habits before I'm expected to run off to work every day. And oh, there's that list of things I'd like to do while I have some free time. And it's been a LONG time since I've had a "summer vacation"...time to play.

Well this has gone on longer than I'd planned. Sorry. More to come another day.

OT: Statcounter Issues--can you help?

2008-05-23T17:42:00.002-04:00

If you are reading this… can you please go to http://www.statcounter.com/ and see if you can open it? For some reason I cannot load any page related to Statcounter, it just tries to load and connect to no avail…no error message, nothing.

Just want to know if others are having same problem or if my computer is prohibiting me from going there for some odd reason. Leave comment below.

UPDATE: Turns out my Spy-Bot program to ward off malware decided that StatCounter was the offender. I'm kinda frustrated that it didn't ASK me first! Spy-bot is a relatively new addition to my computer, guess I hadn't gone to StatCounter since I loaded the program. My dad also said that Spy-bot has been giving his laptop trouble...too invasive. I was able to wrangle Spy-bot free from it's automatic blocking of StatCounter...now it's gives me a choice as to what I want to do--when I go to those sites it deems offensive.

Thanks to those who left comments!

I'm home.

2008-05-19T00:16:00.000-04:00

I AM home! I got home after dark last night and it’s taken until now to get online. I had to get settings updated to be allowed on my dad’s wireless network.

I flew from Monrovia to Brussels via SN Brussels, then flew United Airlines to Washington-Dulles and then took a tiny plane to our small local airport. Our flight arrived early.

I walked through to the public area, headed for my baggage and was surprised to see my friend Patty (she was surprised by my early arrival…Then came friends Steve and Yolanda…then my sister Donna…then Hilary and Katie carrying a “Welcome Back, Joy” sign, then Shannon and Clark. Then got my luggage. My parents (my ride) arrived shortly thereafter, but by that time we had already headed out to the curb to meet them. Everyone dispersed and then my parents and my sister and I went for Chinese (YEAH!) Yummy! Then went back to my parents house (where I will call home for a while) and got the tour of my mom’s newly redone kitchen (not yet fully completed). And then was surprised at how “fat” my parent’s cat Thomas seems (at least compared to the thin Liberian versions). Later started getting a stuffy nose…which I’m pretty sure is do to cat allergies (basically a non-issue when I was in Liberia!)

I skipped going to church this morning…giving myself time to just “be” without a whole lot of people-interaction. After doing some unpacking this morning (still a lot to do) and laundry, my sister Donna and I hung out this afternoon and evening, going to grocery store for ingredients for chickpea and corn burgers (thanks Christina!), then to her house to cook, then we decided to go for tea/coffee at Starbucks, then to Goodwill where I bought a pair of jeans for $4. After dinner we went for a 2 ½ mile walk here in Waynesboro. It’s surprisingly cold here and it looks like it will continue for the next week (yeah!). It’s so strange to feel cold! It feels like October/November, which is going to leave me confused as to what season/time of year it is. I’m LOVING the green grass, the clean streets and the cold weather.

Strange moments so far. Woke in the middle of the night and thought I was in Liberia...Stood in front of my mom’s electric stove this morning to make eggs and wondered where the matches were kept…

Savored Moments: Hot shower, using Washer/Dryer, driving MY car, Sunday newspaper ads,

Tomorrow I’ll make some phone calls to Liberia and then focus on getting cell phone service setup so that I can start feeling a bit more connected/available. I’m hoping that my old number might still be available. We’ll see. Tuesday I have a hair appointment (last hair cut was 6 months ago courtesy of Mercy Ships hair salon). And sometime this week I will stop by my church to see the staff (where I worked prior to Liberia). And then my parents and I are scheduled to go to Ohio to visit my sister and her family the week of Memorial Day. I’m looking forward to just enjoying being back…and rediscovering life here in the US. And MAYBE I’ll drive out to the motorcycle dealership to see what’s available and the price. Won’t do anything until I know where I’ll be working/living and even then it’s just an idea to save some gas. There are a lot of things to consider before making the decision to buy or not buy. Funny, but a year ago motorbikes were not even on my radar screen.

I will continuing blogging here and expect to add a number of stories that I haven’t had the time to post (or was waiting on photos). And I’m hoping to post some things that will prove useful for those planning to go and live in Liberia for longer than 6 months. And perhaps suggestions for short-term folks as well.

My computer thinks it’s 4:15 am, and probably my blog does too, but it’s really only just after midnight…but I AM going to stay up and watch the first episode of LOST season 4 using the online episodes on ABC.com. I’ve waited long enough.

New Thing with SN Brussels.

2008-05-16T03:04:00.004-04:00

I am headed to the SN Brussels office this morning. My flight leaves at 8:30 tonight, but due to renovations in the Departure areas of the airport, they have highly recommended that we do early check-in at the downtown Monrovia office so as to avoid long lines this evening. So rather than arrive 3 hours early, we can arrive 1.5-2 hours early. We understand that if we take advantage of the early check-in this morning all we will need to do is personal security (and carry-on) and Immigration. They will give us our boarding pass this morning and apparently do customs as well. There are multiple benefits to doing this, but I admit I was hesitant at first. Mostly concerned about the security of our bags while they are in SN Brussels custody all day. But others have reported no problems and the benefits seem to outweigh the risks. I’ll be sure to communicate back to all you Monrovia SN Brussels-flyers my experience…this mornings AND this evenings AND after I get home. This may be an option that SN Brussels has provided for awhile. I don’t know. So while I think it might be temporary during renovations at the airport—perhaps it will continue or has been going on for awhile. We’ll see.

Morning Follow-up Report: We arrived just after 8 AM, hoping to be first in line. There was NO line...even at 9:00 there was only one other person waiting. They have a full service check-in center at the Monrovia office (Ashmun and Randall Streets) ALL THE TIME...So everyday they have city-check-in available--except Sunday. For Sunday flights, you can check in on Saturdays...but they did say they are considering Sunday check-in, but it's not going on presently.

They weighed our bags and tagged them and gave us our boarding pass with seat assignment. I am SO HAPPY that I proactively checked the luggage tags. They had the wrong destination location. They saw Charlottesville and interpretted Charlotte. Very different codes. So as they were about to put the tags on the bags, I asked to see them...and quickly corrected their mistake. Whew. Who knows if I would've even noticed tonight at the end of a long day. Praise God for giving me sense to double-check! So word to the wise...always follow behind and make sure the airline personnel do their work correctly. At least he was polite and did NOT try to defend himself (actually his white bossman was the one to make the error as they consulted together)...I just didn't realize what codes they were talking at the time!) This is the 2nd time in my travel experience with SN Brussels Monrovia to Brussels that they've messed up my luggage tags (first time they failed to push my bags through to the USA---but since I had included my itinerary on my luggage tags, they automatically re-routed the bags properly and they still arrived with me in the USA.)

Stay Tuned for further report and further recommendations (after I get home and get internet connection!)

Post-trip Follow-up: Nothing stolen, nothing lost. No regrets in doing city-check-in the morning of my flight. I recommend it. Instead of arriving 3 hours early, we only had to arrive 1.5 hours early. Nice.

When I got to the airport, the security people notified me that batteries were prohibited in carry-on luggage. I had about 20 AA rechargeable batteries in my carry-on (don't ask me why!), so I was a bit nervous they were going to make me throw them away. They were so easy about it and told me that I could put them in my checked luggage. When they learned I had already checked my bags that morning, they volunteered to take me to the checked-luggage where I could put the batteries in my bags! I was soo thankful that they were so amiable about it.

Unexpected: Instead of using the departure section of the main terminal at Robertsfield International Airport (RIA), they directed us to the UN's terminal for check-in, security and waiting. But once they called us to "board" we walked out of the UN terminal and walked about 75 feet and then they put us on buses and drove us the short-distance across the tarmac to the airplane where we all boarded. (At RIA, the boarding gates do not connect to the planes like in major US airports, so you walk up the steep steps to the plane yourself. Not a big deal, just different.) Not sure how long renovations in the departure area will continue. But those of you leaving Liberia soon, just be forewarned. As far as I know, arrivals are continuing at the main terminal (they have already finished renovations to that area).

Very positive experience with early check-in. I highly recommend it.

Photos of Damaged Church Building

2008-05-15T19:57:00.004-04:00

As promised, here are some of the photos of the damage that was done by the storm a few weeks back. There was no roof on it yet, as it's been under construction for quite a while now.

As you can see it was the top triangular portion of the wall that fell. It fell in the space behind that wall, which contained offices, storage and bathroom areas (all still under construction).

This photo below is taken from the steps leading down into the office, storage and bathroom areas from the sanctuary area (you can see the doorway in the photo above). As you can see the hallway is littered with the cinderblocks that fell (from the top right of the photos). The upper wall literally fell over onto concrete office walls (left) and broke apart. Kinda looks like an earthquake hit...but no it was just a very strong storm that blew through.

An additional $3,500 was given this past Sunday to the Ganta Branch for the construction of the new building. The larger congregation does not know yet, but the leadership got the money and the news after church last Sunday (my last). I didn't want it to be made public until after I had left--otherwise the service probably would've ended up in joyful chaos. But I'm still getting thank you phone calls from the leadership. They still have a significant chunk of money to raise...but this will be a gigantic push towards the goal. God is good.

SNAKE!

2008-05-15T19:43:00.005-04:00

I've had SO MUCH FUN with this inflatable fake snake. I bought it at the yard sale that was in conjunction with the Pampered Chef party...and it has provided a lot of entertainment. My friend Cecelia wanted to pose with the snake...does it look at all real? She kinda looks like one who would naturally be at peace and home with a snake on her lap. But it took her a while to warm-up to it at first.

The first day I blew it up and put it on the porch, just to see if anyone would react...yes they did. Sometimes I was not even around and would hear about it later. The cook, my laundry lady and many other guests were startled by it. And the reality is that we have had our fair share of snakes on our porch...so it was really quite believeable. Then I put it away in my room for a week or so and had it hanging by it's tail on the laundry lines in my room...the plumber came in to fix my toilet and it startled him. Then the day before I left Ganta, I pulled it out again Mrs. Cooper (Emmanuel's mother) was there and she was even scared of it KNOWING it wasn't real. Her husband John said he wanted it. I said, whatever you do...please don't give your wife a heart-attack! I wish I could be there to see who he will tease with it.

My Favorite Tree in Liberia

2008-05-15T19:37:00.007-04:00

The Liberians call these Cotton Trees. But I don't think this is their proper scientific name. However, I LOVE these trees. They stand TALL in Liberia and have these massive trunks. Fun huh? I just HAD to have my photo taken next to the one in my back yard in Ganta.

Sweet Tooth Has Its Price

2008-05-15T19:30:00.005-04:00

The amazing thing is that we can find Häagen-Dazs ice cream here (how do they get it here?), but more amazing is the price tag for a pint. Yes folks, that's USD! And the MOST amazing thing about it is that apparently people BUY it!

I'm sure there are lots of other extravagent buys here in Liberia...but this one has us shaking our heads.

Birthday Party!

2008-05-15T18:34:00.004-04:00

Here are some photos from my birthday party on May 8th.

Luckyboy and the birthday girl (me) cooking.

We burned hotdogs, ate pineapple, Pringles, plantain chips, bottled soft drinks and spice cake. This photo was taken right after my friend Emmanuel (left) dropped his hotdogs just outside the fire...oops.

Emmanuel (top-holding his daughter) and his parents and five of siblings came, along with some of their children. Mrs. Cooper (in black) is diabetic and I helped them a while back when she was hosptialized with a foot infection. Now I will come into help to see that she has bulgar wheat to eat (better than rice for diabetics) and the drugs she needs to help control her sugar. I love this family.

Here's a shot of everyone just hanging out in the side-yard, eating and talking etc... when the food was finished, people started telling riddles and funny stories. It was quite fun to see these people, some of whom had never met prior, relaxed and enjoying themselves. Very satisfying for the birthday girl.

It was a great birthday for me. My co-worker gave me a hammock...one I've wanted and talked about for the past 6 months or so. So it will be fun to carry home and use it!

Packing Woes

2008-05-15T14:39:00.001-04:00

I think I have too much stuff to carry home. Must be all the wood carvings and gifts that people have given... So the question is do I pay now (in overages) or pay later (I have a friend willing to carry some back to the US for me a week from now…but then I either have to pay for UPS or for gas to drive 4 hours to get it (lower PA 1.5 hours from my sister’s house in Northern VA.

Meteorologists...I'm back.

2008-05-14T18:56:00.000-04:00

I’m so looking forward to being back in a place with weather forecasts. It’s unbelievable to me that it’s been a year since I’ve checked Weather.com or watched the Weather Channel. Insane. In Liberia it’s either rainy or not but always hot and humid. Very little change in the temps…except at night…but no meteorologists here to announce it ahead of time.

Saturday night when I get home… the temp will be in the mid-60s. YUM! And Sunday will be upper 60’ with maybe a few showers… I don’t need sunshine to feel welcomed home—the smiles of my friends will be sunshine enough.

I've been protected

2008-05-12T15:48:00.002-04:00

Earthquake in China, cyclone in Myanmar, wildfires in Florida, tornadoes all over in the USA, civil war in Beirut, etc…and people wondered if it was safe for me to come live here in Liberia. I’ve felt very safe and never felt my personal health or safety threatened. I praise God for his protection over me this past year. No malaria, no serious motorbike injury, no hospitalizations, no muggings, no car accidents. I have had a very positive living experience while here. Probably mostly due to the fact that I lived in the interior away from the problems of the big city of Monrovia.

My dad emailed to remind me that my safety and health here is also God-given as there have been many people praying for that. (Thanks for the reminder, Dad. You are so right.)

Final Days

2008-05-11T19:08:00.000-04:00

The past few days have been full of visitors and trips to my favorite communities to say goodbyes and of course efforts at squeezing in some packing. Tonight the Catholic Sisters who run the compound are giving us an extra hour of power/lights so that we have time to finish up packing. I can take a bath by candlelight, but I cannot pack suitcases. But um, I’m on the computer and not packing. Shame on me.

Today visitors started as soon as we got home from church. Let’s see, Emmanuel (25) and Josephus (25) came by. Josephus plaited a mat for me, thankfully I knew it was coming and had saved room in my bags for it. Emmanuel left saying he would be coming back later with his parents. Then Felecia (31) came and brought me a large beautiful piece of fabric—not a lappa and some gifts for my family. She started crying and we just sat together and then prayed. Then she left. Then Darlington, the 8^th grade student I’ve been sponsoring at Hope Academy came by. He walked an hour and a half from his mother’s house (where he spends the weekends) to my house! Then Felecia came back and brought her daughters to have photos taken. Then it gets crowded. Sylvester (27) came at the same time that Emmanuel and his parents came and shortly thereafter Quanseh (early 20’s) arrived. Emmanuel and his parents presented me with 3 lappas (all the same pattern) and Emmanuel gave me two letters). And then Cecelia, a teenage girl that lives with Felecia came by. Then Joseph and Elizabeth Kilikpo (they are leaders in my church AND work for Equip Liberia) came by, but they didn’t stay long. All the while my co-worker was also receiving visitors and gifts on the other end of the porch. It was quite an afternoon! Then between 6-6:30 pm people started to leave and then it was just Sylvester until it was time for us to go to the Sister’s house for a going-away dinner. But before we could even pray for the meal, I got a phone call that some one else was at the porch waiting for me. So we blessed the food and then returned to the house and found Maryann waiting to give me Moringa Seeds to take to my mother.

Many of the same faces will return again tomorrow morning to say goodbye. When I see the faces of my dear friends disappear as we drive away, my heart will break. I am in tears now just thinking of it. They all ask, “when will you return?” I don’t know—is my reply. The desire to return is strong, but I need to go home and figure things out, to be with my people and seek the Lord’s face for His direction. I tell my friends that I hope I will return next dry season (December/January) for a visit, but that we just need to trust the Lord in His timing. Who knows what He will do?

This morning I was so grateful for the opportunity to speak to the congregation and say goodbye and thank you and all that (thankfully no tears). And then I presented them with some table coverings that I had a tailor sew for the tables in the sanctuary area…and also for the podium. After church, the leadership requested that my co-worker and I have a photo made with them. I had brought my camera and took my own photo of the leadership and then they had a 35mm photographer come and take. Man, I will miss those people!

Well the lights just cut out and I still have packing to do. Truck is scheduled to leave at 8 am and so I will be up probably 5:30/6:00 am to make sure all is ready. I still have to wipe out the refrigerator so that we can carry it with us to Monrovia (I’m selling mine to a missionary couple).

I will be in Monrovia for a few days and then will fly out on Friday the 16^th. I hope to upload some photos while in Monrovia where the internet is more reliable….photos will be of the past few days, my birthday party, from the church etc…Stay tuned.

Adjustment, Transition, Re-entry

2008-05-07T18:43:00.004-04:00

Over the past weeks and in some cases months, I've created a "to-do" list for when I return. Basic things like updating my resume and looking for a job and a place to live are near the top. As are other chores like: unpack, relocate stuff boxed away a year ago, hair cut, re-title my car, re-instate car insurance, get cell phone connected, get computer serviced, write final report for Equip International, send newsletter, start running (exercise), shop for clothes, upload photos to Flickr account, get photos printed to send back to Ganta friends, assemble preaching and music tapes to send back...and fun things like: dinner out with friends, go to the library (!), refinish some a dresser from my grandmother's estate... There's so many things to do, just to resettle and "finish" what I started...but I still need to remember to take time out for "re-entry" or whatever you want to call it: adjustment, transition, reverse culture-shock... I need to be senstive and tuned into what's going on inside me and to not rush the transition. It's a 24 hour jump from one place to another, but it will take a longer time to emotionally and psychologically re-adjust.

I googled 're-entry cross culture' and found the following info from an Intervarsity webpage:

Re-entry culture adjustment is simply the transition back into one’s home culture after living for a time in another. It can be major, including confrontation with one’s own personal identity and the impact upon that identity of both one’s home and foreign cultures.

What causes this re-entry time to be difficult for some? Generally it’s because the person has changed or is changing in attitudes and values, and is coming back to an environment that has not changed in the same way. (For long-termers, the home culture may have changed drastically since the time they originally left. For short-termers, it’s the person who has changed most over such a short period, while the home culture has changed less dramatically.) The deeper these attitude and value changes are in the individual, the more likely it is that the transition period will be unsettling. Points of dissonance that a returnee may experience include:

Unexpected tiredness, confusion and sometimes discouragement.
An awareness of habits or behaviors that were second nature before leaving but seem meaningless or disturbing once home.
Adjustment to role changes, either defined or undefined, that lead to an unsettled feeling.
A change in responsibilities, a change of pace.
An unexpected adjustment period leading to frustration or anxiety.
A sense of loneliness and a need for a close friend to listen.
An inability to express or share the experience and resulting changes.
A reaction to North American affluence.
A reaction to values presented in the media.
Disillusionment with the abundance in the North American church and seeming lack of concern for the world.
How do people handle this re-entry time? There are three basic reactions or ways of handling this transition time. One may experience a little of each in the process... Click here for more

I have no idea how I will react to coming home. And of course the first step is knowing what to expect in this re-entry phase and dealing with it when it comes...and how to handle it or talk about it. I'm so thankful that my parents and one of my sisters traveled here and have seen a bit of my world here. This gives them insight into some of what I've experienced this past year.

As I re-enter family life, church life, friendships, the work-world...each area will have bumps to deal with as I try and figure things out. What can you do? Praying for my transition is a good place to start. And of course patience! Also remember that I'm not the only one who has had many experiences this past year...you have too and I've missed out on them. Realize that I'm not the only one with stories...you've got them too and I want to hear them! Don't think that your stories are any less important!

I think the hardest question anyone can ask me is "How was your year? Tell me all about it!" Please realize that is overwelming and impossible to answer--as it's pretty vague. I believe that what's more helpful are specific questions that interest you...and of course let's not try and have this discussion in the hallway of the church between services! Perhaps we can go for coffee, or dinner, or go for a walk. When you first see me--just a simple hug and a "I'm glad your back" or "We missed you" is all that's needed. We'll have plenty of time to catch up later...as I don't have a job lined up yet! And please, if I appear to forget your name. (!)...please don't dismiss me...it's just that I'm so overwelmed and I haven't seen your sweet faces in over a year!

And I KNOW that when I come back, your faces will be all twisted up when you hear me talk, and you may not be able to understand me at time. I have picked up a bit of Liberian English, which sounds like a version of broken English. Plus I've grown accustomed to the Liberian's vocabulary-- Some I'd like to continue using---simply because they are fun and very Liberian...but some are just BAD English (and if I want a decent job, I will need to quit using them!)

Tomorrow I celebrate my birthday here. I've decided to throw a party and invite the Liberian friends that I feel closer to and a few who live nearby. Today my friend Emmanuel brought over the firewood and cooking sticks. We are going to have a small fire and cook hotdogs. With the hotdogs/buns, there will be sourcream and onion Pringles (!), bottled soft drinks and my new favorite cake: Spice Cake from a box (Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines?). Hopefully we'll get some nice pictures and I can share them with you soon.

I leave Ganta on Monday. I anticipate it will be emotional. Already this has been a tough week and I think the grieving has already begun in many ways. Next week I will be in Monrovia until I fly out on Friday, giving me a few days to say goodbye to friends there.

(This was written 5.7, but wasn't able to post until 5.15).

...and the Walls Came Tumbling Down

2008-05-05T16:09:00.009-04:00

Okay, so not all the walls came tumbling down.

The Christian life is not free from suffering. Just because you follow Jesus does not mean everything will be easy for you or for the Church. (Just look at Christ’s life. People hated Him, conspired against Him and killed Him and He IS the Christ whom Christians follow! So no one can honestly say that your life will be easy if you love and follow Jesus.)

Sunday morning I got a call from one of the elders in the church I attend. I asked him how he was and he said “not too good”…and went on to explain that the HUGE storm we had the night before had caused damage to part of the new church building that is under construction! The back wall of the church building fell partially down during the storm due to the winds… I wasn’t sure what to expect as there are pastoral offices, storage and toilets behind that wall. On Monday we went by to see the damage and to take some photos. It was the top portion of the back wall of the sanctuary that the wind caught and forced it over. So all the concrete bricks now litter the back rooms and hallway. I will post photos when I go to Monrovia next week. The internet here is just giving me a hard-time when it comes to uploading photos...

We are grateful that no one was hurt! The pastor asked the building committee to make quick assessment of the cost to rebuild what was damaged and they estimate it will will cost $1,800 USD. Which is equal to about 11% of what they’ve already spent on this construction project! And right now prices are rising for EVERYTHING (food, construction, etc…) When they bought cement for the project before, bags of cement were $8/bag. Now they are over $13/bag. Yikes!

It is rather discouraging to the entire church to get this news. We are still in the midst of a fundraising campaign to compete the roof for this new building and now this news is hard to take. We are all sick about it. We wonder what God is up to. We prayed in church yesterday morning for God’s help and comfort.

There are reports from all over the larger Ganta area about roofs being pulled off, trees falling on houses and roads… and of course the rain damage to what’s left of the house or in the house. Some initial estimates indicated about 73 houses were severely affected (perhaps that was 93?). Ganta is a big city, and different quarters and communities were affected. Some houses here are concrete, some are mud-brick houses that have concrete-plastered exteriors/interiors, some are just mud-brick…some are stick and mud houses. Some houses have thatched roofs, some have zinc covered aluminum roofing. The strongest are the concrete structures that use steel rod for support and use zinc roofing. A good roof here is critical and sadly it is what costs the most! Roughly, one bundle of zinc roofing covers one room in a standard Liberian house. One bundle has 22 sheets. One bundle costs anywhere between $85 USD and $140 USD depending on the quality you can afford. When people just need one piece, the people can charge about $5 USD.

Just so you have some perspective…an unofficial security guard (not with a security firm) makes about $50 USD/month. A bag of rice costs around $40 USD. And food prices are rising (so much –that now there’s talk in the media about food aid!). How do people recover from these set backs? How do they go and rebuild their houses? Most people cannot rebuild the house until they have the roofing materials, otherwise they risk all their work to be destroyed again in a beating rain storm (hard rain on mud-bricks= damaged bricks).

One bit of interesting information that I’ve obtained here. Bullets can pass through concrete block homes…but bullets cannot pass through mud-brick houses! Or so they say.

Text Proposal and Church Uniform

2008-05-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

Last night I got another marriage proposal. This time via text message…which means it was SHORT! Here it is with all spelling errors and in ALL CAPS just like I got it.

WHAT I WANTED TO BE DISCUSED IS, BEING A CHRISTAIN IS GOOD TO TAKE CHRISTAION AS YOUR PARTNER. PLEASE MY HEART IS ON YOU TO MARRY YOU AS MY WIFE. JOY I REALLY LIKE YOU SPIRITUALLY AND PHYSICALLY. PLEASE DO NOT LET ME DOWN. LET COME TOGETHER TO PUSH THE WORK OF GOD FORWARD. YOUR HUSBAND TO BE, (name deleted)

This is not the first time I’ve heard from this young man. He wrote me a letter in November proposing marriage. I pretty much ignored it. Of all the “proposals” I’ve gotten, he’s the one I know the best. He attends my church, sings in the choir and used to work with the organization I’ve been with. He’s good looking, well-mannered guy and he’s serious about his faith and is “waiting on God’s time” for marriage and family. I respect that and admire his courage to go against the culture here…BUT still he’s like 7-9 years younger, just graduated from high school last year and has no job or income. We just don’t have a whole lot of commonality to build on. He said he prayed about it and felt the Lord showed me to him, so he wanted to move forward to ask me (again). I told him that while that might be true for him…the Lord has not shown him to me… and that if two people were to come together…God would have to show them both to each other. We talked for about an hour (mostly my rational explanations why I was not able to say yes to his proposal) and even when he left, he said he was going to continue to pray that God would help me. I guess I should not have told him about the American gal I just met who met a Liberian man in Kenya and it took 7 years or so for this Liberian man to convince this woman to marry him!—that might’ve given false hope! Sigh.

Tomorrow my co-worker and I will go to church in our new “uniforms”. Last Sunday the women’s department surprised us with a gift. Our very own ULIC women’s department uniform. It’s a bright blue skirt with a white top…the skirt has a white painted seal/stamp of sorts on the fabric. The women secretly carried it to our tailor and had it made. We just needed minor alterations. So at our church, the first Sunday is the day when all the women can wear their uniforms. I think this is denomination-wide. I could be wrong. But chances are that the women in Monrovia and all other places will wear their same uniform. It was a wonderful feeling to be recognized by the church and given this gift. I will wear it PROUDLY tomorrow morning. I even purchased the bright red STIFF nylon fabric that when you tie as a head tie, it stands straight up and is HUGE. The one logistic that is still in questions is how do I tie my head tie, but still wear my motorcycle helmet on the way to church? Oh my! Perhaps I will just walk to church—but then I’m just BEGGING for comments like---Look at the African white lady! Hello African Lady! All the while they are giggling and holding their teeth in their mouths. But you know I love it. It’s so fun to be here and enter into lifestyle and traditions here. Hopefully we’ll get photos taken at church tomorrow!

Death, a cross-cultural experience

2008-05-01T17:40:00.000-04:00

I’ve been in staff meeting now for three days and we’ll go for a 4^th day tomorrow. There are at least 40 or more people that attend staff meeting. Supervisors give reports, share success stories and constraints… and then there’s time for questions from those attending the meeting. Usually we can cover everything in two days…but yesterday, sometime after lunch, we got news that our injectionist and wound-dressing person, Joanna, at the nearby clinic had not been feeling well after the clinic closed for the day and had gone home to rest but had started to vomit blood. One of her kids ran back to the clinic and told the OIC (officer in charge---an RN) about it and they notified us at the staff meeting that they wanted to carry her to the hospital. Apparently she had a liver problem and had almost died a year ago. Equip provided a car for her to go to the Ganta Hospital just a few minutes away. We stopped as a staff to pray for her and then continued our meeting. We got a call about an hour later that she they needed O type blood (they didn’t specify). They said the hospital blood bank was charging $1,300 LD (just over $21 USD) per pint. Since we couldn’t find anyone on staff with appropriate blood type, we sent someone on bike to carry the money to the hospital. We figured she might need more than one pint…but just didn’t know. A few minutes later we got a call that she had died—the money had not even reached for her to get blood. And it wouldn’t have helped anyways.

We were all in shock and the grief was so palatable in the room. Very quiet…with the occasional ‘tsk, tsk, oh man, O God’. Several of us had been to the clinic that morning and had greeted her. I was there to check on a patient that I had referred the day before. Two of our staff had just had their foot wounds bandaged by her that morning. She worked right to the end. Once the initial shock wore off we prayed again for her family and friends and for ourselves seeking comfort and hope from the Only Hope we have in life and in death. We are surely comforted that Joanna knew Jesus!

The staff meeting ended shortly thereafter as we were all just so distracted. And most of the staff went directly from the office to her home (just a short 3 minutes walk from the office) to pay respects to the family. When I arrived there were about 40 people already gathered outside the house, basically standing around watching the friends and family grieve… for some that means sitting quietly staring into space. Others would start to get hysterical and start yelling out (as we are all watching on) and a family member or friends would restrain them—all the while the person is just grieving and crying and repeating something in dialect over and over. It was really quite hard to watch. But here, people just gather around and watch. I’m not sure how this is considered “paying respects”…when it just seems to be standing around watching the drama and grieving. Word got out the Equip staff that we were gathering back in the Equip yard to discuss how we could help/support the family.

So since yesterday evening, a two of our staff have been talking to the family to find out how Equip could come along side. It was determined that they would use the Equip truck to transport the body and casket to Gbahn.

So today we started our meeting and got through a few more reports and then we got word that the family had the body and were ready to carry the body to Gbahn to be buried. So we all just dropped everything—it was quite a humorous sight, but also touching. The women staff were jumping into the equip bus (van) and the men-staff (plus me) were jumping on motorbikes. Out of the Equip yard they raced, taking the back roads to the main road where we met up with the Equip pickup truck (with the casket) and probably about 6 non-Equip bikes. There may’ve been twenty motorbikes or more when you added them all together.

I was on the back of my friend Jerry’s bike with my camera. We took the lead early and then would stop to take a photo or video of the procession. Here in the interior, it’s popular for all the motorbikes carrying friends and family to BLARE their horns as they are traveling alongside the body. It’s quite a sight and very noisy. Before leaving the office, I instructed them to turn their head lights on (not sure if that’s what they do here or not). After we had taken enough processional photos, Jerry took off and we reached Gbahn about 5 minutes before the rest of the vehicles arrived so that we could take video of their entrance to town. It’s a 15-20 minute ride normally---but because they were riding slower…it took a bit longer. The Gbahn townspeople were all waiting alongside the road with the women singing and beating on a metal oil can. Once the truck arrived with the body they backed the vehicle in to near the place of the burial (on back edge of town, hole was within 8 to 10 feet of someone’s house). Some men carried the wooden casket (looked like an oblong crate) from the truck and put it down next to the hole that had been dug. A reverend from the Ganta Methodist church where Joanna was a member had shared some Scripture and gave some remarks and then let the family say a few things. I was rather disappointed in the content/quality of the reverend’s remarks. They seems trite and shallow. The family’s remarks were mostly in dialect, so it was kinda lost on me…but the husband (I think he had abandoned her some time ago) was there and spoke English…basically he talked to the casket for a few minutes asking why she had to go…and what was he supposed to do now, but promising to take care of the children and then left the scene sobbing. At times, it seemed like the emotion was not genuine…was it for show? as if that was the way to honor someone? It was all so different from anything I’ve experienced in my own life, but none of it was surprising as I’ve witnessed bits and pieces of grief here in Liberia at the local hospitals and on occasion in the towns. But to be attending because I KNEW this person…well, it then became more real.

Sometimes I’m confused by how death here can sometimes be “no big deal” and other times it can be quite an ordeal. Someone suggested that because of the war and the low mortality rates that death is really a part of life here and people are used to it and while they grieve loudly initially, they deal with it and move on quick. In the States, I have friends who never attended funerals until they were out of college. But here burials are often done in the communities and therefore children grow up having witnessed many wakes, funerals, and burials—some their own brothers and sisters, likely the older men and women in town, perhaps an auntie, or even their own parent. Everything is out in the open and death and grieving is not a quiet thing…it seems to be very public and very quick in my opinion. I wonder if some continue to struggle and suffer in quiet—embarrassed by their continued grief. Grief is right and can last a long time. But in a society where death seems to dealt with so quickly (out of necessity), I wonder how many suffer in silence. I know for a fact, that some turn to alcohol in their grief—so it seems that there might be a lack of ongoing support in many cases. Here people drink palm wine or cane juice for alcohol…and it’s soooo cheap! And often a source of entertainment and socially acceptable. The whole village can be drinking and drunk at 11 AM in the morning. There’s no AA here in Liberia. There’s no mental healthcare here. There are no therapists or counselors that are well-trained. Another thing I’ve noticed here is that many people are limited in their physical and emotional vocabulary. I often here the word “bad” when they are describing how they are feeling emotionally and physically. “I just felt bad”. Do they feel queasy? Do they have a headache? Do they feel sad? Do they feel guilty? Do they feel sorry? Are they feeling empathy? Are they embarrassed? I realize that even in the States people are not tuned into their emotions always…but we know we’ll get questioning stares if we just say we “feel bad”.

Another cross-cultural moment…always interesting. And again, this is my experience…just a window into death here. I can’t possibly speak as an expert on death here or as a sociologist. So these are my own thoughts.

I hope to upload some photos when I have a better internet connection…right now I’m just hoping this email-post will somehow eek out onto my blog.

My Days Are Numbered

2008-04-28T11:54:00.000-04:00

As of today (Monday 4/28), I only have 14 days left in Ganta. And about 19 total in Liberia. It’s kinda surreal. In many ways I feel the same as when I was leaving to come here…excited to go…but also sad to leave….and SO MUCH TO DO! (at least when I was coming here…I could leave some things for my family to finish up…but here, there’s no one staying behind to handle any loose ends…(my coworker is traveling back to the US the same day…and then she’ll return in July for another year).

Internet is so slow here in Ganta these days. More often than not, our Libercell network is down and we just can’t get anything out. On a rare occurrence we can connect, but sometimes for only a few minutes, or it’s sooo slow that we can barely get a message out. I’m hoping this one will go!)

Please pray for me as I finish my time here… last staff meeting (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of this week), celebrate my birthday with hot dog cookout with my Liberian friends, pack stuff and give away stuff, say goodbyes to the communities and families of the kids I’ve worked with and saying goodbye to my church family here.

Tough parts will be when people I hardly know come and ask for help for building house, school fees, etc… Once they learn you are leaving, acquaintances decide they have nothing to lose by coming to ask for help. It can be really maddening at times. But the reality is that I have already determined who I will give my stuff (buckets, towels, clothes, etc…) to when I leave and I’ve already pre-determined what money gifts I can give… church, small gifts to my cook, the security guard, my close friends… but it’s hard to stay cheerful and kind when people just stand there and say “, Sista, I beg you” and you have a pretty good idea that what they are telling you is not true. They just hope that you will give in and give them money. Sigh. Sometimes we’ve had some stubborn people come and they just won’t leave…they figure they have nothing to lose if they just stay there and try to wear you down…and we’ve threatened to call security or to let the dogs out, all sorts of things and finally they realize that they aren’t going to get anything from us. We feel awful doing it…but at some point you do start to feel a bit vulnerable and less secure. It doesn’t happen often…but it does happen. And when it happens, I really wish I had a fence/wall around the house to keep this from happening…but most days I’m grateful that I don’t have a wall around my house. A wall keeps the bad things out…but it also keeps the good things out too –like relationships and trust. In Monrovia, however…you DO need a security wall. Because the rogues are not interested in relationships…just in whatever they can haul away from your house in the middle of the night (or day).

At the Money Changers

2008-04-23T07:38:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, my sister Donna came to visit me in Liberia. I asked if she might want to do a "guest blog piece" of sorts...and she agreed. I think she might have one or more additional entries coming... so stay tuned.

__________

In Ganta, when we went to have our US dollars changed to Liberian dollars, we went to one of several places on the main road through town. The one Joy always goes to is nice because it’s a little shack-type structure. It provides a little privacy away from the sidewalk and shade in which to wait for your money to be brought and in which to count it.

We were greeted by a large Liberian woman wearing a head-scarf and the typical Liberian lappa skirt and matching top. She was happy to see Joy---hugging and kissing her on both sides of her face. She greeted me with the Liberian handshake, which begins with your basic American handshake, moves on to possibly several handshake variations familiar to most Americans, and ending with hooking middle fingers against each other and then letting them snap into the palm of the hand.

Apparently the man who was usually in charge was out of town that day. Joy kidded with the woman, “Ah, you the boss lady today.” This made the lady and the other three employees laugh.
Joy has definitely gotten down the Liberian humor. They thoroughly enjoy her here---she makes them laugh wherever she goes. What makes me laugh is the way Joy has adopted the Liberian English. She speaks to them---and often to me---in the typical Liberian accent, rhythm, and grammar. She says this makes it easier for Liberians to understand her. I think that’s true and have found myself doing the same thing whenever I am able to hear in my head how they would say what I want to say. It takes some practice.

Anyway, the people here seem to spend a lot of time counting money. The Liberian dollar will hardly buy anything---right now it’s worth about 1½ cents US$). The smallest denomination is a L$5 bill. So when someone pays for something with small bills, or gives change for large bills, or converts your US$20 into Liberian dollars, you find yourself with quite a wad of cash.

When we converted cash, the exchange rate was such that US$20 converted to L$1240. One of the employees brought out a great big stack of money---partly to tease Joy, I think, because they know she doesn’t like small bills. They let me take a picture of the stack of money, which they said was L$25,000 or the equivalent of about US$400.

Joy always carefully counts all the money she gets, and most everyone else here seems to do the same. It’s understandable. A lot of the money is very old and weathered---in the States it would have been pulled out of circulation and replaced long ago, but here they just keep on using it. So it’s dirty, slippery, and the edges are folded, worn, or ragged---definitely easy to miscount.

And since a person could (and does) spend a lot of time counting all those bills, people tend to parcel their stacks of money into bundles of L$100 and use one of the bills to fold over the other bills in the bundle. Then they rubber band the bundles together with the folded bills at the top, so you have easily countable and easily distinguishable bundles of pre-counted money.

I imagine they do this all over the world, anywhere that the bills they have are worth little, but I’ve never had reason to see it before.

________

Note from Joy... Liberia uses both US and Liberian Dollars (LD) as legal currency. For small purchases, you use LD...for larger purchases you use USD. Aside from the hardware stores where items are priced in US, most everything is priced in LD. So if you get paid in USD, you'll need to convert your USD to LD in order to buy food in the market. In Monrovia, some grocery stores (where most expats go to buy meat, cheese, cereal etc) are priced in LD, and only one in USD. So it's a mix-mash in this country. Most other countries stick to their own currencies and therefore you don't need to get your money changed...employers, banks and Western Union would give it to you in the local currency--but not here. I think in Ganta, we have over a dozen or so small money changing operations...but really almost anyone is willing to change your money (provided they have the amount you need). Presently the exchange rate is $62LD to $1USD. But that's for $5 bills or larger. You'll get a much lower exchange rate for George Washingtons ($1 bill).

un-Pampered Chefs PARTY in Liberia

2008-04-21T15:24:00.021-04:00

Whaaa? A Pampered Chef party here in Liberia? You've got to be kidding? Nope... it's for real. I've attended a handful of PC parties back home, but never expected to get an invitation for one here.

My good friend Christina, a former PC consultant, thought it would be fun to have a catalog party here... here's some excerpts from the invite:

You are invited to a Pampered Chef Party done Liberian Style...Many of the products have changed in their style and design, but I still have many of them with me. I have explained to a current consultant in the states our need for entertainment here in Liberia....We are planning on the orders being sent here via STS...If you don't think you are interested in purchasing anything from Pampered Chef, don't let that stop you from coming. The MAIN reason that I'm having this party is to get us ladies together and do something "not Liberian"! Come and fellowship.

The party was held this past Saturday on the spacious, green compound of SIM missionaries (Serving in Missions). One of the missionaries who is headed home to the States soon had a little yard sale going on the side. It was great! A PC party and a Yard Sale all in one day! Wow.

Christina, I swear, had about 60% of the PC products on hand (including the infamous denium PC apron!)---so yes, there were actual products for people to see. Some were definitely well-used...others less practical here in Liberia. She whipped up one of the recipes out of the catalog--but Liberian style as many ingredients needed to be modified--as orange marmalade and ruby grapefruits just aren't available here. She humorously demonstrated the products as any good demonstrator should and brought up volunteers from the gathering to try out the tools. And yes, we did have catalogs and order forms...those would be basics.

This was technically a catalog party (based out of TN) as there's something about no shows outside the US. Shhhh! (but PC has no reason to complain after sales totaled almost $1,000!) Yep...there must've been some un-pampered chefs attending...although it's not hard to live here and feel un-pampered.

We had fun and the point was to get folks together to relax and enjoy themselves. I met two women, who I really wish I could spend more time getting to know--but kinda hard because they are in Monrovia and I'm in Ganta...and I only have like 3 weeks left here. Sigh. One connection I made was with Stacy, a woman younger a couple years younger than me who has NINE bio kids and one Liberian son). I actually saw their entire family riding in a nissan taxi station wagon in Monrovia last weekend...with piles of blonde small kids in the back. I found their blog a few days later and then viola--I met her at the party...fun! Their blog is here: http://loveforliberia.blogspot.com/. They have some stories to tell! Wow.

The tree we are sitting under is a "plum" tree...or perhaps better known to you as a Mango tree. This variety is your basic "country plum". Right now we are in mango season and mangos are everywhere on the ground. Country plums are fairly week trees and with a storm or some wind, a fruit-ladden limb will likely give-way and rip half the tree down when it falls. We were given a warning early on about the randomly falling mangos. Thankfully no one was injured, but my friend Melinda did have a couple close calls. The worst is a rotten falling mango...they mess and splatter everywhere...so we were all grateful to avoid them hitting us in the head.

OT: Age Character Calculation

2008-04-21T14:13:00.004-04:00

A friend sent me this Excel document called Age Character Calculation…You enter in your date of birth and presto…it spit out the following for me:

Age in years 33.96 (yep, a birthday is coming)
Age in months 407
Age in days 12394
Age in hours 297462
Age in minutes 17847712
Age in seconds 1070862711
Age in Milli seconds 107086271110
Age in weeks 86760
You born on Wednesday

* Stubborn and hard-hearted
* Strong-willed and highly motivated
* Sharp thoughts
* Easily angered
* Attracts others and loves attention
* Deep feelings
* Beautiful physically and mentally
* Firm standpoint
* Easily influenced
* Needs no motivation
* Easily consoled
* Systematic (left brain)
* Loves to dream
* Strong clairvoyance
* Understanding
* Sickness usually in the ear and neck
* Good imagination
* Good debating skills
* Good physical
* Weak breathing
* Loves literature and the arts
* Loves traveling
* High spirited
* Spendthrift

I analyzed the "program" more closely and tried my theory…the character-oriented statements are the same for any May-born people…I tried other years and days in May…and it all came out the same.

As is to be expected, some are mostly true and some are waaaay-off base. My friends and family probably can figure out which is which. Fun nonetheless.

Liberian Visa Fee Increased

2008-04-21T12:56:00.001-04:00

All you travelers to Liberia…take note! Single Entry Visa fees for US citizens has increased from $100 USD to $131 USD.

Go to http://embassyofliberia.org for more information.

My sister got caught in the middle of this switchover. NOTHING was on their website when she sent in her visa application and then she got a phone call saying that she owed $31 more dollars! When she informed them that their website still had $100 listed… they told her they were working on getting the info posted online…but she still got her visa in plenty of time.

Special Thanks

2008-04-19T15:48:00.001-04:00

Special thanks goes out to one of my blog readers who generously gave almost $1,000 USD towards the construction of the roof for the United Liberia Inland Church-Ganta Branch (the church I attend—see recent entry). I was not expecting this, nor was the church. My recent blog entry about the church building project was informational only and never considered that a gift for the church might come about. The church was stunned when the pastor mentioned the gift during the worship service last week. It was fun to see their faces so joyful. Thank you (again!) Another similar gift is soon to be passed along to the church (they don’t know about this yet)…which makes finishing their roof much more of a reality. God is so good.

This generous blog reader was involved in the ULIC – Bahn mission many years ago. His wife passed away last year and a friend gave him a memorial gift to spend on something his wife would’ve supported. May God get the glory for His provision and the joy of surprises!

charity:water to air commercial on FOX tonight!

2008-04-09T17:09:00.008-04:00

Check out this video...it is scheduled to air tonight at 7 pm during the American Idol Gives Back show.

Below is the write up that I got from Scott Harrison and charity about it.
____________________

It was a simple idea we had about a year ago.

We wanted to bring the harsh reality we saw in Africa home to our friends. The reality that millions of women and children walk miles each day to collect murky green water from swamps. Water that kills kids. We wanted to help put an end to it.

Two days before one of my trips to Africa, I met Hotel Rwanda director Terry George at an NYC restaurant and we talked about the idea. I imagined a Public Service Announcement where hundreds of New Yorkers walked miles to Central Park Pond, then waited in line to collect murky water. He loved the idea, and had seen the great need for water in Rwanda while shooting his film. He agreed to help.

Months later, we had an all-star team. Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) generously donated her time to star in the piece; award-winning cinemetographer Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) shot it.

Last June, we produced the 60-second spot with a team of more than 75 people that all donated their time and talent. Michael Rothman of Mudbutter put his amazing editing skills to work, Rumor Mill composed the music and Gary Breece produced the PSA.

We'd love for you to see it first.

Please rate it on YouTube, link to it, email your friends about it. And please reach out if you have contacts that can help us get it played on television, in churches and schools.

Tonight, American Idol Gives Back will air it for the first time. Creator Nigel Lythgoe generously donated more than $1 million of airtime. Today, youtube.com also generously offered us a spot on the homepage. We're up. Check it out.

Watch it.

Please help us spread the word and keep building wells.

* * *

charity: water is a non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in impoverished communities. in less than two years, we have funded more than 624 water projects in 11 nations that will serve 250,000 people.

charitywater.org

__________________

Equip Liberia has had the priveledge to be building wells/handpumps here in Nimba County for charity: water. I've been working alongside our WATSAN (water and sanitation) supervisor to make the reports that go to charity:water on our progress of the 10 wells (we are starting our next 10 charity wells this month

...so I feel linked to charity's work...and I contributed to charity prior to coming to Liberia in honor of all my blog readers.

Census Workers in Ganta Protest

2008-04-08T13:14:00.005-04:00

Below is story that I found on my Google News alert for Ganta.

Census Workers in Ganta Protest

The Inquirer (Monrovia)
Posted to the web: 4 April 2008
By Solomon T Gaye, Nimba County

Tension is reportedly mounting at the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geoservices (LISGIS) offices in Ganta, Nimba County over the payment of supervisors and census enumerators who participated in the recent census in the county.

At about 9: 30, Thursday morning, the enumerators stormed the LISGIS offices in demand of their pay for services rendered.

The aggrieved workers alleged that some higher ups at the LISGIS offices were trying to relocate boxes, that contained relevant information on the census conducted in the area to take to Monrovia, when they have not receive their money.

The spokesman for the disgruntled workers, Emmanuel Y. Neenah, told this paper that during the census week, they never received any money as incentives as was promised by LISGIS authority.

He further alleged that officials of LISGIS have refused to inform them when they would ever receive their pay.

Efforts to meet with authorities of LISGIS in the county was unsuccessful as the Liberian National Police (LNP) backed by the UNMIL Bangladesh soldiers stationed in the county barricaded the offices so as to prevent the boxes containing the census data from being destroyed or tampered with.

The tension has forced LISGIS to relocate its offices to the UNMIL Bangladesh compound in Ganta, where some staff of LISGIS is editing the enumeration forms.

________
I hadn't heard this locally. Sad but plausible.

New Lonestar for Ganta Immigration

2008-04-08T12:49:00.004-04:00

I had the pleasure the other day to give a new Liberian flag (aka Lonestar) to the immigration checkpoint just outside of Ganta (Monrovia direction). They just opened the new checkpoint a few months ago(down about 1/2 mile from the previous one) . Their flag was in shreds! Pretty sad. Since my parents had brought me a dozen Liberian flags in February, I had one to give them. Most of the others have been given to schools that I'm connected with here.

Paul, the Commander at the the Immigration checkpoint was quite happy to receive this. Paul is the one with the BIG smile (on my left).

I think the old and new flags were the same size...just that the old one was half missing!

When Donna and I travel back this Saturday to Monrovia (via taxi) I will stop and take another picture...but I love this photo of the old and new together. We arrived on Friday at 5:45 pm and they made us wait the 15 minutes before they could take the flag down for a photo opp with the old and new Lonestars.

Baby Joy #1

2008-04-08T12:38:00.002-04:00

Baby Joy at 7 months. Her mom brought her by my house last week. Baby Joy is doing well. Nice and fat. She's starting to eat soft foods (at my encouragement).

Ganta Roads

2008-04-08T12:28:00.004-04:00

Ganta is expecting to be included on the road renovations/paving that are coming. Last week we observed some Chinese men surveying the roads...so that's a good sign. But the roads will still be a ways off in coming. Perhaps by my next visit to Liberia?

Glimpse of Donna's Visit to Ganta

2008-04-08T12:03:00.006-04:00

Our internet has been so unreliable and it's hard to upload photos from here in Ganta. My sister Donna, who is here visiting, was feeling desperate for internet --so I'm here at the internet cafe...and photos are easier here. And I know a few people back home that would like to see photos.

Here's photo of Donna and I on the border of Liberia and Guinea. We are on the old iron bridge that crosses the St. John River that is the border here next to Ganta. My short hair cut is now long and shaggy and lacking any style. Saturday night I used the pink sponge curlers and had decent wave and shape to my hair for two days...but having been here in Liberia for almost 11 months, that's just too much work to do every day. So when my sister goes home...she'll be making an appointment for me for a haircut! thank you Donna!

Below is Donna pumping water at the handpump on our compound. The water in our pipes is not safe for drinking, so we have to hand pump our drinking water every so often. I have three 1-2 gallon size containers that store bulk water and then i fill up a dozen or so mineral water bottles so i can put water in my small refrigerator ready for drinking. The blue bucket in the photos is actually not supposed to be collecting water. I usually put the bucket upside down and then put my plastic containers on top--closer to where the pump water comes out...less of a mess that way.

I've invited my sister to do a guest blog soon, so you can look forward to that. It'll be nice to have someone else's take on things here...what they find meaningful or interesting about life and the people here...

Tricked the Fooler

2008-04-01T16:42:00.000-04:00

I got a text message today from my friend Emmanuel who thought I was still in Monrovia (I was in Ganta at my house).

“Good Morning the news, I saw your motor bick with one James.”

This to be interpreted as he believed he saw someone riding my motorbike today. So I called and greeted him and asked what he meant by the message. I kept telling him that my bike was on my porch and would continue with “but the bike had your license plate…he was heading to the Guinea border.” I would ask then how is my bike on my porch? What Emmanuel thought was that the guy stole my motorbike. I kept telling him that my bike was on my porch. Finally I said, “Emmanuel, I’m in Ganta, I’m standing here looking at my bike—I can see it, it has MY license plate. It’s my bike. I’m looking right at it.”

April Fools!

He was trying so hard to fool me. And here I TRICKED him by returning to Ganta a day early. But I was pleased with his effort to try and fool me.

My sister is here and we enjoyed our first day in Ganta. We arrived in Ganta after midnight on Monday. We were expecting to travel to Ganta on Tuesday but at the last minute a trip was scheduled to go to Sinoe (another county) and they’d have to drive through Ganta first to pick up our director. Sooooo, after getting the call at 4pm yesterday, we made the quick decision to go ahead and travel (thus not having to pay $20 each for taxi) and we left town about 6:30pm. It was a long ride…and we even had a tire blow out… all fixed in 10 minutes and we continued on the rest of way. We were beat when we got home…so unpacking and sorting was left for this morning. And then I drove Donna around on my motorbike for a tour of Ganta, a quick walk through the market and a quick stop to the Equip office. It’s great to have her here…enjoying stories from home and just catching up. She’ll be here for about 2 weeks total. I’ll try to get photos up soon. Internet slow or non-existent much of the time. No fool’n!

Dry Season Drying Up

2008-03-23T10:09:00.000-04:00

It is POURING rain right now. And here I was told that March was the height of dry season. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining…I LOVE rain, wind, thunderstorms and lightening and all that. We got a good storm last night too. So it seems raining season may be upon us. The educated Liberians here hinting at what call “global change”. Meaning what was the pattern before…may not be the pattern anymore.

I commented to my co-worker that the rains remind me of spring…which I will miss completely in central Virginia. Sigh.

Getting Restless

2008-03-18T12:18:00.001-04:00

Brother Sandro and I just finished Season 3 of the TV show LOST. It was new to him, but a review for me. Now that I just watched the season finale…I’m now SO curious! Good thing I only have about 60 days left to wait. Yes, I will be home in less than 8 weeks!

I have a friend who is recording Season 4 and some friends sent me a iTunes gift card so I can download episodes—so I should be set for catching up on past episodes! Thankfully since accessing the internet has proved difficult these days, I can somewhat avoid the temptation of reading the spoilers that are available online. I must be getting restless!

United Liberia Inland Church

2008-03-18T10:33:00.005-04:00

I’ve been meaning to post some photos of my church here in Ganta. The church I’ve been attending here is the “United Liberia Inland Church" -Ganta Branch. The ULIC is a denomination of sorts that was started by missionaries from a VARIETY of denominational affiliations: Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran etc… there are branches all over Nimba County and all over the interior in Liberia with a number of branches in Monrovia too. The ULIC just celebrated their 70th anniversary! Pretty cool.

The Ganta church is in the midst of a building project. They’ve been “building” for 2 years now. They are finally at the point they need to roof the building—and I think I heard correctly that it’s going to take over $4,000 USD to roof it with quality “zinc” roofing. They have $2,000 right now.

Above are photos of the inside of the current building...you can see we are full. The one photo is the day the church received the donated hymnals.

On most Sundays we have two services. The first is the dialect service (in Mano) and the second service, which I attend is in English. We do joint services the on the first Sunday of the month for communion and then any other special Sunday. There are those (not me) who attend the dialect AND the English services—so it’s hard to know the exact attendance count. The pastor once told me he thought there was at least 400 attending on Sunday mornings—not including children.

It’s so crowded inside that they only have a center aisle (no side aisles) and people are forced to sit outside on school benches (the photo above just shows a fraction of those sitting outside). But it’s great to see people eager to hear the Word of God despite the lack of comfort.
Services can be long—over 2 hours. I know, I know—there are those of you who have attended 5 hour services…. but how many times did you do that? To be honest, sometimes it can be tough to go to church with a glad heart—because inside I can be grumbling about all the time wasted with announcements and extraneous comments made by the worship leader (essentially an emcee). But you know what? I love these people and I love this church. And I really believe that Pastor John is TRYING to affect good change in the life of the Church. They really have done well to make us feel welcome and to include us. They are regularly asking me to pray during Sunday morning service—actually they don’t really let me know ahead of time…they just ask you at the moment when they want you to pray. Good thing I’m not shy.

Here is the current state of the construction of the new church building. Walls are up. But no roof, no floor...after these things are finished then they will have the walls plastered--which is basically putting smooth concrete on the walls, then they will have a ceiling of sorts put in (to reduce noise and heat). Last will be to paint and furnish it. It will take a while--since fundraising is slow. But I'm proud of this group who are working hard to get this building finished.

This will be a much larger worship area... and it will include badly needed offices for the pastor and badly need storage rooms and even an indoor toilet (but I don’t think the toilet is priority).

I’m so excited for this congregation to be in NEED of a building project—it’s awesome. And I hope that I will be able to travel back to Liberia when the building is complete to celebrate with them.

Passion Week

2008-03-18T10:22:00.004-04:00

This week I’m thinking a lot of my church back home celebrating passion week with an Ash Wednesday service, a Maundy Thursday communion service, a Good Friday service and then of course the services on Resurrection Sunday. Oh how I’m sad to be missing it all.

From what we can gather, our church (United Liberia Inland Church—Ganta branch) does not have a Good Friday service, but rather people from churches in our region will be going to an Easter conference for a week in some other neighboring area. I’d rather that everyone stay put and that the churches would simply celebrate with their own people this week. Most of the people from my church can’t go anyways—primarily because they can’t afford transportation to go AND they can’t take time off from “work” to go---they still have to feed their families. And the women just got back from their conference in Monrovia this past Sunday…so I know they won’t be eager to run off to another conference—nor have the money to do so. I’m thinking this is an “Inland” thing and they’ve been doing it this way for a while.

As with every major holiday, it is interesting to see how the church celebrates. So this Easter will be another interesting and likely cross-cultural experience.

May you find great comfort this week that the King of kings died for you, but was raised from the dead that you too might live forever.

P.S. The cross on our front door is made from these large dry seed pods from the tree in our yard with palm leaves to tie them together.

Coming to Census

2008-03-18T10:01:00.003-04:00

In a few days, Liberia’s national census will start. There’s been a lot of talk on the radio apparently. A lot of discussion about where people “should” be for the census. Should you go to the place you were born? Should you go to where your father was born? Or do you stay put—and be counted where your house is and where your children go to school.

I don’t have time or interest to listen to the radio…but sometimes I’m in the vicinity of a radio (in the car or in town where it’s being played). And there are a variety of views on the census. What we have heard to be true is that the census is going to not only count the people, but they will be gathering information to be used to determine the priorities for future development work. And in addition, the number of representatives in government for a given district or county may be adjusted according to the population figures. Now I’m sure there are a number of other things being looked at with this census…and I don’t pretend to fully understand or KNOW everything about this census.

But this aspect of determining priorities for development work and political representation has people conspiring. I’ve heard from some of our staff that they intend to go and be “counted” in the interior where their parents and relatives live—so as to hopefully increase aide and representation to those areas. (sigh)

I’m not one to study political science or development work—but it seems to me that trying to manipulate the census for your people in the interior could essentially backfire. Anytime people try to manipulate things for their own purposes—to LIE about reality—there’s going to be consequences. Enough said.

Anyways, we are curious if we (expatriates/missionaries) will be counted and how. Our houses were pre-labeled for the census…months ago. So we’re assuming someone will come back and count us.

What a big job this is. They’ve even closed school for three weeks. Apparently they need the teachers to be census workers (literate)...so no school for the week of the census, but also those teachers need to be trained…so they are in workshops/training and being relocated to cover the interior areas. Fun huh? I think it would be really interesting to be a part of the census team.

Best of luck to all involved.

Gas Prices

2008-03-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

Out of curiosity, I just checked the website for local news back home (NBC29) to get the local gas prices. Presently gas in C’ville area is $3.11 - $3.17. The last gas price I saw here in Liberia is 260 LD or $4.33. We go through waves of supply shortage and the prices JUMP to ridiculous amounts until the normal supply returns. When President Bush was here there was a supply shortage and I think I saw prices near $8 USD/gallon. Thankfully I didn’t need any gas at the time.

GET TOP-NOTCH TRAINING

2008-03-13T09:01:00.000-04:00

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Catch Missionary Medicine Intensive March 30 - April 10, May 18 - 29, July 13 -24 (in Canada), September 7 - 18. (You can search my blog for MMI—this was a GREAT course! I’ve used this information over and over here in Liberia!
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Pick up Well Drilling - April 20 - 25, October 5 -10.
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Construction Tech - April 27 - May 2, October 26 - 31.

For more information, see..http://www.equipinternational.com

My Name is JOY

2008-03-06T07:17:00.000-05:00

My name is J-O-Y. Here “Joy” is regularly slaughtered and it’s a perpetual frustration for me…even among those who I have worked with for 9 months. Folks, it’s only one syllable. You know how to say “Joyce”…just drop the “s” sound.

Here are the top names people mistakenly call me.

Joyce
Judy (that’s my co-worker’s name)
Jorge (like George)
White Woman (they can’t remember my name at all)
Joelle—but written Joel

Because people always want to know my name “to make friends”, I just tell them my name is “Yei” which sounds like the last part of Hurr-ay or “Yeah”. Yei means third-born daughter in the Mano language. And I AM the 3^rd born daughter to my parents.

People always are surprised when I give that name… as they were expecting my American name. But actually it makes life much easier here because it means when I go to the hospital or to the market and someone in a community calls me “Yei”—it means there’s a good chance that I don’t know them that well and I don’t need to feel bad if I don’t recognize them or know their name. The Equip staff and the people I work with know my real name. So if someone calls me “Joy” then I can pretty much expect that I should know them or at least moderately trust this person. It’s hard when there’s a 400 plus faces in Ganta who know your name, but you don’t know theirs or where you met them before. Sigh.

God's Mercy

2008-03-06T04:16:00.000-05:00

Written Wednesday, March 5

Julius, the 13 year old boy that my mom and I were helping here in Ganta, died today. The boy’s father came by the house around 3 pm to tell me. They were going back home (a LONG walk) to find a hammock to be able to carry the body from the hospital to their home. By the time they reach home it will be late and I don’t know if they will try to return to the hospital tonight or in the morning. It will be a several hour walk both ways.

As soon as the father left, I went to the hospital to pay the balance on the hospital bill so that they would release the body. The total was over $12,000 LD. Which is about $200 USD. There’s NO WAY this family would be able to pay this. I’ve paid about $60 so far and have promised the hospital I will pay the balance by the end of the week.

I went to the neighboring community to notify my friend Emmanuel about Julius’ death. When I was in Monrovia for a week with my parents (for their departure), Emmanuel would go visit Julius (and his caretaker Betty) in the hospital and keep me informed by phone about the boy. Emmanuel would like to go to nursing school and so this is a good way for him to observe the hospital situation, but at the same time help me out.

So I’m sad today. I knew that Julius was pretty sick. He was so emaciated and his body was tired and so little fight left in him. But I held out hope. I had hoped that he would pull through this, have his colostomy reversed and get strong enough to be ready to go to school this fall. But it was not to be, but I know this to be God’s mercy for Julius and his family. Thank you to those who were praying for Julius. God heard your prayers.

Peace.

2008-02-20T19:26:00.003-05:00

The Temple of Justice building here in Monrovia got a makeover in the past few months. The first photo was taken in 2005 when I was here in Liberia for 3 short weeks...the second was taken a few weeks ago. Along with the nice paint, take notice of the new wording on the building. In 2005, it read "Let Justice Be Done to All Men" I'm sure you can thank Africa's first elected female president for the changes found this year.

Bush to Jam City

2008-02-20T18:16:00.006-05:00

President Bush comes to Liberia tomorrow (Thursday). His visit is going to jam up the city in a major way.

Rumor (!) has it that he will fly into the main airport (1 hour from Monrovia city) and then take a helicopter into the city. Main roads in the city (including road to airport) will be blocked from 6 AM until after he's gone (he'll be here for six hours I think-maybe arriving 9 AM??)

The entire city of Monrovia seems to be getting ready for his visit. For the past few days, my parents and I have seen street cleaners, curb & sign painters, and Liberian and American flags popping up every where! Pictured below are Liberian and American flags alternately placed on this arch/gateway that is on Tubman Boulevard in Sinkor. Traffic as crazy as ever--even with the improved roads.

Tomorrow the cell phone network is supposed to be taken down for the Monrovia region...but I'm sure it will affect the interior areas as well. We are wondering if internet will also be down (it was down for about 24 hours, but just came back up this afternoon). Fellow blogger, Bob Reed suggested it might be to "thwart possible attack by cell phone operated bombs". I think once upon a time I had heard there were terrorists cells hiding out in Liberia. I'm sure they've got 'intelligence' to figure out all the security stuff. Glad these logistics are not mine to solve. The headline from the New Democrat newspaper this morning reads "Security Cordon Dropped"

So basically tomorrow is an unofficial holiday as people won't be able to get into the cities by taxi or personal vehicle...phones are down...internet down? Should be an non-interesting day. I'm staying too far out to get a glimpse of Bush...but his helicopter may very well fly over the house (they've been flying directly overhead quite a bit the last few days).

I had planned to return to Ganta on Friday, but my ride fell through. No way to leave tomorrow with Bush jamming up the roads...So I'll probably be taking a taxi back-that is if there's enough gas in the city--we've been dealing with odd shortages.

Liberian Blogs--found some new(er) ones

2008-02-20T18:15:00.001-05:00

While in Monrovia with free and faster internet…I have time to look for newer Liberian blogs….here are a few that caught my eye and I enjoyed reading…I cannot vouch for past or future content…just that I enjoyed recent blog entries.

http://alieninliberia.wordpress.com/

http://emmanuelliu.wordpress.com/

I will probably add these to my sidebar list. I typically find bloggers in Liberia through my via a Google Blog Search for Liberia (which I have an RSS feed for).

And this guy has some good photos of Monrovia that he posted on his blog during his short visit). Read from bottom up (if you care about chronological order).

Time Flies--My Parents Have Gone

2008-02-20T17:13:00.012-05:00

My parents flew out tonight from humid and hot Monrovia. They will be going back to temps below 40 degrees (during the day). On the way to the airport I called my sister for the weather forecast and she said that DC may get snow the night after they arrive. What a shift! They are prepared and in Brussels they will change into more appropriate attire! I know my dad was ready to leave the heat...but is he ready for the cold? I DO know he's ready for HOME and all the luxuries that affords (controllable temps, his computer, TV news, his own bed, normal food (they are vegetarian) and not having so many people eager to shake hands with).

I thought I'd share a few more pics from their time here in Liberia.

Dad and I on my motorbike...

Mom at Equip's clinic in Ganta. She's talking with Margaret in the dispensary (pharmacy). My mom's a nurse--so this was right up her alley.

One of the great things about having family visit is that there's FINALLYsomeone else around with a camera --which means there are actually some photos of me in Liberia--something which is rare.

This is photo of me with two formerly malnourished sisters on our program. Maron and Life are special to me as they were the first children for me to identify as malnourished. They were put on our program in July and they came off this past fall. I enjoy going to visit them and their community as often as I can. The family seems to be doing well as the father found a job working as security for a local private school. But the mother is blind and the family still faces ridicule from the community at times. The dresses the girls are wearing are ones I bought them for Christmas...the stuffed animals were gifts from my niece and nephew (that my parents brought with them).

Seeing as my parents just left tonight for home, I thought I'd share another person's take on their experience entering Liberia for the first time: I found it mildly entertaining--mostly because I know what it's like to fly in to that airport. It also reminded me how GRATEFUL I am that I've always had someone at this airport waiting for me!

Oil of Africa

2008-02-16T15:35:00.003-05:00

Isn't this so cool? Some missionary friends of mine here in Liberia have this oil spot on the floor of their carport. I saw it one day when their car was gone...amazing huh?

Mom and Dad in Ganta

2008-02-14T18:24:00.006-05:00

Mom and Dad are here. It's hard to believe they've already been here for a week and a half and will be going home next Wednesday. We sweated it out in Monrovia for a few days and left for Ganta where we found the weather had changed slightly and was not as cool as I had promised...but soon the evenings and nights and mornings returned to cooler temps which provides some relief from the heat. But once again, we look forward to cold showers to cool us off for sleep.

We’ve been busy—or as busy as we can be as the heat wears us out quickly. My parents at least can look forward to returning to the cold temps of VA next week! (I hear March is hot…we’ll see.)

My dad immediately got plugged into some fix it projects that have kept him busy. Troubleshooting battery chargers, battery-powered rechargeable lights, fans, irons, you name it. He's also been working with some Liberian guys at the TB/Leprosy Rehab Center to help them figure out some of the wiring issues in the hospital laboratory areas and some settings on one of the large generators. He's also doing some teaching to one of the “electricians” to give him some more "theory" on electrical stuff and how to troubleshoot problems.

My mom was the first to be brave to travel with me by motorbike and therefore got to see some of my communities, Equip's office and clinic. The full first day we were in Ganta, mom went with me to the Ganta Hospital to see about the son of one of Equip's community health workers (we call them CHAs). The boy was extremely emaciated and in pain due to possible ulcerative colitis or infection somewhere in the rectum. Thankfully with my mom's medical experience (retired RN) and my understanding of the hospital system, we were able to advocate for the boy to have and old dry IV removed and to have his painful catheter removed (that had been put in for surgery which he did end up having). We also discovered that the three drugs he was supposed to be getting were not available from the hospital pharmacy (they had run out), so we went to town and bought the necessary drugs. This boy had been in hospital for 2 weeks and it was at least a week that he had not had the drugs he needed. Yes, quite sad. The family did not have the money to buy the drugs AND keep him in the hospital, so they had to make a choice. I was able to talk with one of the Liberian doctors at the hospital, Dr. W. and told him we were concerned with the boy--which gave him some motivation for following through with this patient. So in the last few days the boy got a blood donation (he was severely anemic) and had rectal exam (under anesthesia) where they removed the infected tissues. Dr. W. said he'd probably end up doing a temporary colostomy (a month?) so that healing could take place. Folks, this is so sad for a 13 year old boy to have to endure this. It's only God's grace to this little boy that we were here to help. This will be ongoing for some time and we hope the boy survives. I asked my mom at one point "When do we have to worry about sepsis?" My mom replied "anytime". But hopefully we have minimized that by advocating for him and helping with financial expenses related to his care and treatment. Without our help, he would likely die. Please pray that God would help strengthen Julius' body and give the doctor's wisdom as they treat him.

This photo is of my mom is one of my favorite communities. Kou, seated with mom, is a mid-wife. Mom is holding Kou's grandbaby who was born January 1st in Guinea, but the mother died shortly thereafter, so Kou, as the baby's grandmother has taken the baby in. I am helping to provide formula for the baby. Kou is also taking care of one of the malnourished children that is in the program I'm overseeing.

Breaking News: my sister Donna is making plans to come for a visit here in Liberia in late March.

Liberia's Airport

2008-02-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

My computer is not working now--it's the power adapter that has a messed up connection inside the cable...my parents are bringing me a new one...I can't wait. But for now I'm borrowing my friend Christina's computer. Here's one of the buildings at airport where my parents will be flying into on Sunday evening as it was pictured in 1998. When I flew in eight months ago...it still looked like this.

Below is a night time photo of the main entrance... you can see the people walking on the "tarmac" from the plane to the airport building. The words say "Season's Greetings from RIA" (Robertsfield Int'l Airport). Photos borrowed from online...click on photos for web source.

I have my own photos of the baggage area...but with my computer out of commission... I can't add them here. Sorry. Maybe later.

For airport arrival-survival instructions...you can go to www.livinginliberia.com

You are welcome in Liberia, Mom and Dad!

Baby Joy #2

2008-01-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo of me and Baby Joy #2. This Joy is the daughter of one of the Rehab security guys. She was born via c-section several months ago now (before my hair cut).

I'm so behind in posting photos...but I will blame it on the internet connection that is lousy here. Hope to get some photos/entries posted when I'm in Monrovia...leaving Wednesday as my parents fly in on Sunday. :)

President Bush to visit Liberia

2008-01-28T10:01:00.001-05:00

President Bush is heading to Liberia! He’s visiting Liberia along with four other countries during the week of February 15 and 21. I’m sure things will be INSANE when he’s in Liberia! Equip Liberia was/is invited to a program where the President will be…but I have no idea when it is…or if I’ll be able to attend. It’d be tickled/curious to participate, but I’m not banking on the fact that EquipLiberia will let me attend. But perhaps I will pack one of my nicer Liberian outfits just in case.

The US Ambassador to Liberia visited Equip’s Ganta Clinic this past week (Thursday), but I was leaving town and was in my work clothes…and really didn’t want to get in the midst of all that. My co-worker on the other hand was disappointed that no one told her that the Ambassador was coming… she felt that as an American working with Equip—that she should at least be told he was coming (I don’t think we knew who was coming until he arrived). I wasn’t disappointed to miss it. I’m not really someone who gets excited about important people or famous faces….but the President is kinda a big deal right?

So my parents will be in Liberia when Bush comes…actually we’ll probably be heading back to Monrovia (for parents to return home) probably when Bush is in Monrovia. So it could that either we’ll be in Monrovia when he comes…or it could be that we’ll be traveling to Monrovia when he’s in Monrovia. Hmm? Well see how it goes—hopefully the traffic won’t be a complete nightmare…of course it will be!

4 Rogues and a Big Green Snake

2008-01-27T14:48:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, we had two guys break-in to our kitchen/storage area in our house---thankfully not to our private rooms. Turns out, one of the thieves was a boy that I was sponsoring for school. Well, no longer. To make a long story short, we found evidence that pretty much proved Jacob was involved. He confessed at the police station and also named the other three boys in involved. Jacob and another boy named Lawrence (whose mother is the cook for the Catholic sisters) did the breaking/entering and stealing….while two other guys I don’t know were the ones designated to sell the items for profit. Jacob was the oldest at 17/18 years and the others are all 16 years. Once all the boys were arrested, the police (and one of our Equip workers) drove around and recovered most all of the stolen items. But the day before the boys were to be brought before the court (and probably let go because they are juveniles), Jacob got sick and was apparently bleeding from the nose and vomiting/spitting up blood. So Equip paid for him to go to a hospital/clinic where he was admitted for malaria. He was given an IV. Well… as I predicted… in the middle of the night he escaped—but not before ripping out the IV from his arm and stealing the slippers (flip-flops) from the patient in the bed next to him. I’m not sure if there was a police guard or not (why not?)…but he escaped. Rumor has it that he’s spending time at the river (border between Liberia/Guinea)…and sleeping in Wuo’s Town at friend’s houses. He’s afraid and I’m sure he feels like a fugitive. I’m guessing he will probably just wait and return once he thinks people have forgotten. But we are all pretty confident that he won’t be setting foot back on our compound…or least he better not. Seems that Jacob has a history of rogue behavior. I caught him lying to me a couple months ago and really have been suspicious of him since…but I never figured he’d try something like this. Why abuse the very person who is helping you (go to school)? It’s sad and disappointing.

The other excitement came in the form of a SEVEN foot green snake (Mamba?) with the diameter about the size of a child’s fist. A friend’s father came to speak to me…I wasn’t at the house, but my co-workers was at the house and talked to him. As he was leaving, he saw the snake moving towards him…he screamed and yelled for a cutlass. Someone came running and killed it. We think it was either hunting the chicks (we have a bunch new baby chicks in the yard) or the puppies. Needless to say we are very relieved that the snake was found before it reached the inside of our porch. The Catholic sisters have worked to provide an additional snake barrier on our gate doors. We’ll see. So that makes 3 snakes this dry season. I was only around for the first snake and only got to see it after it was dead. I’m kinda disappointed that I didn’t get to see this recent snake. Perhaps another one will happen by in the next 4 months. Ha.

Okay, gotta go…generator is off and it’s time for bed. I’m leaving early in the morning!

Cheers!

They're Coming!

2008-01-12T04:19:00.000-05:00

I got confirmation this morning by email that my parents have bought tickets to visit me here in Liberia! Yeah! They’ll be arriving Sunday, February 3^rd and will leaving two and a half weeks later! They sent in their travel visa requests last night, so we’ll be looking for those to arrive NO LATER than January 24^th, but I’m pretty optimistic that they’ll see them by the end of next week. The Liberian consulate in DC has ALWAYS returned our visas before their seven business day deadline (without expediting). But I’m not going to be too cocky… I am praying for all the details to come together.

So my parents will be arriving early February… they will be coming to see me (of course) but also to see what I’ve been up to these past 8 months working with Equip Liberia and their Community Health Ambassadors (CHAs) program which includes the nutrition component that I primarily work with in helping malnourished kids get proper nourishment, but also the education component with the mothers of these dear children---so that we can hopefully prevent reoccurrence in their households and their communities. Anyways, it will be great to have my parents here to have a different set of eyes and ears.

My mom’s a retired nurse, so she’ll probably enjoy almost every aspect. My dad’s a retired elec. engineer, so we’ll also be finding him some small projects to work on (like fixing outlets that don’t work and possibly re-keying locks (although we are not entirely sure if they can be re-keyed) and I’m sure there are some other things that we can find for him to tear apart and reassemble.

The nine puppies that are living on our porch will likely be entertaining for us all. Their eyes are open now and they are gaining in their leg strength and mobility…but by the time my parents leave, these puppies will be ready for their new homes (I’m already sad to contemplate the puppies will be leaving us—sigh.) I promise pictures…but my internet often times out when I try to upload photos, so I may have to wait until I go to Monrovia.

I’m so excited that the Africa Mercy (Mercy Ships) will be returning to Monrovia’s port and my parents will be able to visit the ship. The ship will arrive around Feb 5^th, so we’ll likely have to head up to Ganta with plans to return to Monrovia a few days before their departure so that they can visit the ship. My friend Nancy (from my home church) will be back aboard the ship in early February, so she’ll be a great hostess for us.

The day my parents leave, I will be hitting the 9^th month mark here in Liberia (Feb 20^th) and will only have a little over 12 weeks left before I’m scheduled to return home. I’m hoping that their visit will boost me for the remaining months—rather than to make me want to go home sooner. Maybe a little of both.

Please pray for my parents as they spend the next 21 days preparing for this trip. I’m praying it will be a great experience for them. My dad is in his early 70’s and my mom in her late 60’s…so their health and stamina will be important. Please pray that their bodies will be strong and healthy when they arrive…and equally so when they leave! J Pray for me as I prepare for their visit, try to figure out a rough schedule (not rough as in tough) and work out the logistics. Equip Liberia will be in the midst of a two and a half week assessment/evaluation from some people in the US, and I just don’t know yet what role I will have to play in it (if any).

Now that I have final details about my parents travel plans…today I’ll be spending some time working on a few things related to that and further investigating/documenting possible projects for my dad.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Thinking Ahead

2008-01-07T17:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know there’s at least one misspelling on my scrolling marquee…but I haven’t had the internet strength to go back and fix it. Ugh.

___________________

There are things that occasionally come to mind when I wonder what it will be like to be home…people, places and things I want to see or do (in no particular order). Like for instance…

1. I’ve been reading the blog of my former pastor’s daughter…and she has digital images from her childhood that she uses every so often on her blog like on birthdays and holidays. So I have dreams of taking my moms collection of photos of my childhood and other moments and scanning them into a digital library. This even now, seems like sheer madness.

2. Don’t tell my church, but I’ve had crazy thoughts about pushing for a pictorial directory and helping to organize it when I return (Shhh!---no one knows I’m thinking about this). We haven’t had a pictorial directory since 2000 or 2001 when Olan Mills came. Everyone made a stink about how OM put such pressure on families to buy additional portraits beyond the free one they offer you…so the church admin said they’d never use OM or other sales-oriented schemes. So nothing has been done for so many years… (but perhaps something MIGHT be in the works already??…but seeing as I’m in Liberia, I no longer have the inside scoop). It’s kinda funny that I’d be thinking about this…when I’m so far away and in a place where photos of your family are a luxury.

3. When I was sick in bed during the holidays, I actually got hungry for Guadalajara Restaurant (Mexican). Perhaps it is because THEIR warm tortilla chips and salsa are a comfort food for me and I have so many wonderful memories at Guads with my friends…so perhaps Guads is like a “comfort” restaurant. Ha. (Sorry Joyce, I know this is not very exciting news for you…but hey, I have many other favorite restaurants that I will have missed out on for 12 months...) I also began craving Chinese food (American style) when I was sick. Which will NEVER been satisfied here in Liberia. The one Chinese food place in Monrovia that I went to was very disappointing—and I determined I would not attempt Chinese food until I was back home.

4. I can’t wait to attend worship at my home church. I will arrive home on a Saturday evening…I’m not sure I will be able to muster the energy to go to church the next day...and well, it might be a bit overwhelming. And at my church it’s hard to hide—even with attendance on Sunday mornings over 1200.

5. I want to go shopping. I especially want to go to the new Target and Kohls stores that opened up a mile from my parent’s home a few months ago. I was just dirt-pushing when I left and now most of the stores are open in the new shopping center. And…I’ll really need some new clothes when I get back—but I really do not enjoy shopping for clothes.

6. And it will be so fun to go see a flick at the movie theater with a big box of popcorn—I think I should go with my sister.

7. I’m totally used to using ONLY cash here…but occasionally I have a real desire to use my debit card to buy gasoline! But perhaps once I see gas prices posted in US dollars, I will think differently.

8. And of course it will be totally wonderful to SEE my family. At least there’s internet and email and phones…so I’m not totally isolated, but I’m imagining a sit-down meal with my parents, my sisters and their families. However, I’ll probably have to wait a month or so until the kids are all out of school.

Okay, that’s just a random list—of things that have popped into my head in the last few weeks. It’s insanely hard to believe that I have like 19 weeks left! The time has flown by.

I'm alive...so are others.

2007-12-27T06:44:00.000-05:00

Having spent Sunday & Monday at home in bed with the intestinal thing and then in bed all day with an added “fresh cold” on Christmas Day (and most of the 26^th)---I am now feeling at about 85%.

I ended up contacting a doctor friend from my home church (on the 24^th) to discuss my situation and he changed my meds and so I got the new med yesterday, and I’m feeling so much better.

Yesterday evening one of my Liberian friends suggested that I go for some “exercise”. After having been cooped up on my room for four days…it seemed like the fresh air would do me good. Indeed it did. I guess it was a 45 minute slow walk. Probably will go for another one this afternoon as it was such a good idea yesterday.

I’ve explained to my friends that when I’m sick I don’t want to see anyone…so they’ve been quite understanding and given me space—which was especially nice on Christmas Day when I felt so poorly with the new head cold (on top of the intestinal thing that wasn’t quite finished). Hopefully I’ll be feeling 100% for the New Year celebrations—whatever they are.

I can’t tell you how many Suduko puzzles I’ve completed since Sunday. Crazy number—I’m pretty sick and tired of it…but it’s the only entertainment I have that doesn’t require electricity—and well normally, I love the puzzles. I’ve read all the books I have and won’t get new ones until I travel to Monrovia to borrow from my friend Christina’s home library.

I just got great news this morning that one of our severe malnourished children is able to be released today from the MSF hospital (Doctors without Borders) an hour away. The sad thing is that this little girl was admitted at the same time as her younger sister, but the sister died from severe Kwashiorkor after 10 days at the hospital. These next few weeks back in her community will be critical for this little girl. I will probably be making daily or almost daily visits to make sure that she continues gaining weight and getting good nutritious food. The grandparents she was living with basic neglected her and the mid-wife in the community is the one who has been caring for her (foster care?) since we intervened in mid November. This mid-wife has spent 30 days at the hospital as a caretaker for this little girl—who has no blood relationship to her. I have been so blessed by this woman’s willingness and self-sacrifice. The blood relatives of this little girl have repeatedly failed this little girl in the past, so I see this mid-wife as the only hope for this little girl right now. I only hope that the grandparents will permit the mid-wife to continue care. But for now I’m celebrating this little girl’s homecoming and praying for her full-recovery.

And other fun news… one of the “security” dogs gave birth to NINE puppies yesterday. First there were three, then before bed there were six…then by this morning there were NINE… It will be fun to have itty-bitty puppies around to play and cuddle with. Pictures likely to follow!

2007-12-26T04:33:00.001-05:00

You know your having a cross-cultural moment at church…

…when there’s an interpreter for the sermon (from English into the local dialect).

…when you discover that over half the people attending the first service (in dialect), stay for the second service (in English). Kinda messes with attendance numbers eh?

…when there’s a serious health talk about Lassa Fever given prior to the sermon (in both English and dialect)

…when the communion juice you are served is red Kool-Aid in a cough syrup measuring cup.

…when you arrive to church one hour late and you literally haven’t missed anything. (I love it)

…when fruits, vegetables, ducks and chickens are brought to the front of the church by dancing men and women (offering for Thanksgiving weekend—to be given to the poor).

…when people don’t complain about how crowded the worship area is—but rather they happily sit outdoors and listen through the open windows (with no amplification either!)

…when they extend the service to include a fundraiser for the building project and for the next hour or so they hold a competition between the women, men and youth (these would be the young non-marrieds) in order to increase giving.

…when special guests (often called “Strangers”) are offered seats on or near the platform (facing the congregation). If this is your first visit and your skin is white---then you are most definitely considered a Stranger!)

These are just a few of the experiences I have had over the past months as I attend my beloved church and other churches in the area. While these experiences are very different from what my experiences are at home…they are just that---different.

(I was in bed all of Christmas Day with continued stomach issues and a fresh cold…I was BORED crazy, so this is what you get!)

Just to defend myself...

2007-12-24T13:19:00.000-05:00

I should mention that I’ve not had any stomach issues since I’ve been here…this is the first in seven months. Pretty remarkable I think—although I am fairly cautious and avoid drinking water from unknown sources. We have a hand pump here in Rehab that provides us with good water…you just have to be cautious when you leave the safety of your usual water source. The funny thing is that the survey we were doing in the bush, asked people “what causes diarrhea/running stomach?” and “Name 3 ways to prevent it”…Sigh—jokes on me!

All I got for Christmas!

2007-12-24T12:19:00.000-05:00

The last few days I’ve been laying low. I picked up “Beaver Fever” (aka) Giardiasis, a protozoal infection of the intestines, while in my travels to the bush. Likely something I got from the drinking water at one of our overnight stops. I was pretty careful to drink from handpumps—but at least one location just had a deep well. Sigh.

I would’ve carried bottled water but we were very limited in space and the locations we went did not necessarily sell bottled water…and for the most part I thought I was drinking safe water.

At least I made it home and through 2 days of staff meeting before my stomach starting running and cramping on Saturday. Sunday morning when I woke with sore throat, 100.4 temperature, stomach pains, diarrhea, awful headache and eye pain… I was concerned it might be Malaria (fever, headache), nope I didn’t get THAT for Christmas—but I did get this intestinal thing. The fever and headache is likely the UTI that they found as well. Lovely eh? Thankfully no vomiting—otherwise I’d probably be in the hospital for dehydration. Can I tell you how much I HATE ORS (oral rehydration solution)…yech! Too salty.

We’re supposed to go to church tomorrow afternoon for a Christmas Day celebration program and a rice/soup dinner provided by the church, but at this point I don’t know if I will be up for it. And I was looking forward to it.

I’ve also had internet problems which is why I’ve been rather quiet since returning back from my trip…not sure why it worked today at this hour, when it didn’t work yesterday. oh well.

May the peace of the Lord be with you this Christmas as we celebrate the COMING of Jesus. He is by far the greatest GIFT ever!

Hugs,

Joy

Back from the Bush

2007-12-18T17:12:00.000-05:00

I just got back to Ganta about noontime today.

It would’ve made a good movie. Perhaps called “The Survey: Four Liberians and a Kweeplulu” (with spell-check necessary).

The movie would have you laughing and crying. The saddest part of the movie would include the white woman receiving a chicken as a gift-- only to discover it died the next day after sustaining injury after the motorbike it was traveling on fell over over a rudimentary bridge. The chicken was buried with peanut butter, peppers, macaroni, onions and was deemed tasty by all those attending.

I’m exhausted and the work of the survey is not yet done as we still have to summarize our findings and turn in our report. There’s no really no time for rest as our 2-3 day staff meeting starts on Wednesday (tomorrow) and reports on our normal work are also due. Hmm?

I need to go to bed, but I promise more later.

ROAD TRIP!!!

2007-12-13T07:45:00.001-05:00

At the end of November I learned that THIS month much of the Equip staff would be headed out to all our regions to do Community Surveys to see how we are doing in our CHA communities. Everything is supposed to be random—even choosing the communities that we survey. It’s turned out to be a logistically tough to do this in a 5 day period of time—especially the transportation and having enough motorbikes and confident drivers to carry us in all directions. We are sending all our regional supervisors into other regions so that we can reduce any potential bias. Which means that all the “experts” on the regions are going to other regions…which makes trying to figure accommodations and other things interesting. I’m going in faith!

My area has changed twice and now is back to the original general area of Buutuo. It’s not on any maps you’ll find online. It’s still in Nimba County but near the border with Ivory Coast. If you can find Ganta/Ghanpa on a Liberia map (where I live) and you draw an imaginary 45 degree line SE of Ganta… that’s the general area that I will be in…I think it’s the Zoegeh District (of Nimba County).

This is my first real extended trip into the interior (Ganta is considered interior…but it’s a city) and it will be an adventure. I don’t know the people very well that I’m going with. I do…but they aren’t really my closest friends.

We leave today for our destinations!

Today is the First Day of Christmas (I think). So I enjoyed opening my first gift from the ladies at my church who sent 12 small gifts. I think this one came from Patty. It was a cute spiral notebook with a Dalmatian puppy on the front. THANK YOU! Since I will be headed to the bush for 6 days, I will just have to wait to open gifts later. It will be a nice thing to come home to next week. I’ll be exhausted and ready for a ‘pick me up’.

So today I’m supposed to leave for Buutuo for the survey…so I will get emails when I get back next week (on Tuesday or Wednesday???). Please pray for safety, especially since we are traveling the 4-5 hours on motorbike. Also pray for good health. I’m taking mosquito net and bug spray…but good drinking water is an issue too.

Okay, gotta run! Will probably take lots of photos…

Joy

Friends in Uganda Suffer Loss from Ebola

2007-12-05T15:04:00.000-05:00

In the previous blog I mentioned the Myhre’s in Uganda dealing with the Ebola virus. I learned today that they lost their friend Dr. Jonah to the Ebola virus yesterday… do put this family and country in your prayers as they are reeling from the impact of this deadly virus… and while you are add it put their blog on your favorites list… this Ebola virus is likely to leave a horrific footprint…and they will need our ongoing prayers for protection, wisdom, strength and hope…and opportunities to share that hope!

Ebola Outbreak in Uganda

2007-12-04T10:22:00.000-05:00

Here’s a blog of a pair of missionary doctors who are in the midst of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda... http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/ Posting on Ebola starts on Nov. 29.

These are missionaries supported by my home church. Dr. Jonah, one of the Ugandan doctors they work with (one they helped get into medical school I think), is one of two doctors they know who have gotten sick from the virus. Please pray for the folks in Uganda!

Return Date: May 17 2008

2007-12-03T16:56:00.001-05:00

Sigh. It seems so disloyal to my time and work here, but I am forced to already be making plans to return home. My return ticket needs to be modified for my return home in May (they put random date in for my return ticket knowing I’d need to change it once I got here). However, I didn’t realize that my ticket required return travel within a one year period of my departure date, so it seems that I will NEED to depart on May 16^th for an arrival into Charlottesville on May 17^th. Ready or not! (I had hoped to hang around through early June at the earliest.

Thinking of going home is both sweet and sour. Sweet because I’m going HOME…but sour because I’ll be leaving Liberia, the place I have made home for the past 6 months (and ultimately for 12 months). I will miss friends here, I will miss the antics of some of our staff, I will miss seeing my sponsored student graduate from high school, I will miss following the progress of the children/families who I’ve grown to deeply care about through our nutrition work. And there are two friends here I would LOVE to help to go on to nursing school in the next year or so, but I’m still trying to figure out how to do that long-distance with some accountability built in.

I do not know the plans God has for me at this point regarding my future in Liberia or Africa for that matter. I’m still praying and seeking the Lord’s direction. Although there are some who would like me to marry a Mano man—just so that I’ll be forever linked to Ganta/Nimba County!

Funny thing is that I still have two “outstanding” offers---meaning that I have not yet answered two marriage proposals. I would’ve answered them right away if they had asked me face to face…but here a written proposal seems to be equally popular, at least if you are proposing to a white woman—maybe your poor grammar but flowery vocabulary will impress her? One of the letters I’m not even sure who the guy is. The name is familiar, but I’m not sure which of the many friendly faces this name belongs to. The other I know very well and think highly of…but he’s only 21. Very cute but waaaaay too young. And I did get a face-to-face proposal a few months ago from high school teacher who asked me within 30 hours of me learning his name. Sigh.

Sorry J, no worthy offers yet.

Thanksgiving Meal--YUM!

2007-11-26T17:31:00.001-05:00

I did work on America's Thanksgiving Day running here and there to help some malnourished sisters who we recently identified (a full story in itself). Kinda weird to be chasing after their needs, while all the while dreaming of the chicken, stuffing and potatoes that I would greedily consume hours later.

I guess it was after 6 pm and I returned to the glorious smell of chicken roasting and green been casserole bubbling in the ovens. Wow.

My job was to do the last minute instant mashed baby red potatoes and Stove Top stuffing that were sent to me from my friends back home (see previous Thanksgiving post). My co-worker loved the jellied cranberry! We didn't even have time to make the apple pie dessert (perhaps Christmas?)

We finally sat down to eat at 7:45 pm after a long day, but so very thankful for a hot, delicious home style meal that hardly took any effort at all! All my favorites: bird, stuffing and potatoes! Wow that stuffing was sooooo good. And I still have one package of the instant mashed red potatoes left for another time! yeah! We were very satisfied and perfect amount of food that we didn't over do it. Even a few left-overs! fun.

Here's a photo of our kitchen prior to clean-up.

Thank you dear friends who cared to send "Thanksgiving in a Box"--it was so wonderful... it made being far from home on a holiday, much more bearable. We felt the love as it hit our noses, mouths and stomachs! Thank you!

Christian Life Book Store of Liberia

2007-11-26T16:44:00.000-05:00

I found a Christian Bookstore in Monrovia a few months ago. Thought I'd post it's whereabouts and a photo for those of you in the area or coming to the area.

Christian Life Book Store of Liberia
Camp Johnson Road, Monrovia

Liberia Cell: 06.554.684 or 07.701.3442
Email: christianlifebook(at)yahoo(dot)com

As you are coming from the UN Drive intersection with Camp Johnson Road, you will go up CJR and the store will be on your left. I jotted down "Clay Street" in my notes, but don't know if that means it's before or after Clay Street intersection. Coming from the UN Drive intersection, it comes just before a green pharmacy sign (same side of street).

There are Bibles (NIV, NLT, KJV...) available, and lots of christian fiction/novels. Children books, devotional Bibles, concordances too. Titles such as "Case for Christ" and "His Utmost for His Highest" can be found.

Oh, somewhere around 12th-16th Streets Sinkor the Liberia Bible Society is located. Bibles in various Liberian dialects are available for purchase.

It's a Zoo Here!

2007-11-26T15:53:00.001-05:00

I've been exposed to lots of new things here in Liberia. One is the way of a rooster with a hen (call me sheltered). Seriously. We've got about 4 roosters in our yard here--all loud and obnoxious. And plenty of hens for the roosters fight over and bother. They all belong to the Catholic Sisters. Notice the baby chick who is hanging out on her momma's back. Cute eh?

We also see cows every now and then roaming about--or evidence of cows. They have full time herdsmen that basically follow them around and protect the people from the cows and vice versa. Look at them horns...and bumps.

Seeing animals here is great. Back during the war, most of the animals were killed and eaten as people struggled to survive.

I regularly laugh at the goats who find the strangest places to hide from the rain. And the piggies who love to roll in the rain-filled potholes.

There are LOTS of dogs and puppies--especially in our neighboring town of Wuo's Town. Good for guarding houses. Hopefully not for eating.

We see cats and kittens here and there--the kittens being so cute!

No live monkeys yet (only dried ones in the market).

We occasionally see small rodent-esque creatures that kids find and drag home from the bush. Either to sell or to eat themselves. We also regularly see people with slingshots--looking for birds or other small game to kill to eat.

Do You See It?

2007-11-26T15:34:00.001-05:00

I was waiting outside of the UN Supermarket in my car and noticed an inconsistency with the guy pictured below. If you figure it out--email me.

The Smell of Grass

2007-11-26T14:59:00.000-05:00

Here's our neighbor, the Father/Priest, mowing the grass with his new gas mower.

The photo below is the traditional way of cutting the grass--with a "whipper". A very physical way of cutting the grass.

The body position of whipping reminds me somewhat of one-handed golf. No flying balls, just grass flying. It's like your swinging your club from wind-up to follow through over and over quickly without stopping. The back muscles get a good work out.

I tried whipping behind our house where we had tall-ish thick grass...but ended up with blisters on my hands. When my right hand got blistered, I switched to the left and got two more. All in 45 minutes time. Hey, I just wanted to see if I could do it. I can...it's just that my hands are just not used to it...so I don't plan to do it again any time soon--unless I'm paid.

Both varieties of cutting the grass still go on today in our yard. The Consolatta Sisters still pay this guy to whip, but the Father simply enjoys using his mower...Thankfully, the yard is big enough for both of them.

And strangely there's not that fresh-cut grass smell here. Grass here in the yard is just not thick and juicy like at home. Better for my allergies--so no complaints.

Roadkill

2007-11-26T14:33:00.000-05:00

I'd never seen a scorpion until I came to Liberia this summer. Honestly. I don't think I'd even seen one in a book. But when I saw this creature...I knew right away what it was. It's so ugly.

I also have no idea how big is BIG when it comes to these creatures...but I imagine this could be classified as big. Thankfully it was dead when I found it on our driveway last month. It appeared to have found it's demise by a truck tire.

They say that we'll see more snakes now that it's dry season. Let's hope I will not need my camera.