I never dreamed of going to Africa, let alone seven times and being in seven countries. Every time I get home I say, " I am not going to do this again." Once Africa gets into your blood it is hard not to want to return.
The time in Uganda was special. God put together the perfect " B" team to hold the " fort" while the permanent missionaries were on furlough and Enrichment. We all got along well and bonded quickly. We all were happy that each of our abilities, talents or whatever filled a need. We are thankful that God watched over us, the children and the village. Believe me, there were daily and multiple prayers being sent heavenward. Our prayers were answered, no mishaps. That is pretty amazing when you have 105 children, plus mamas, kitchen help, guards and ground keepers. There are pesky monkeys and you have to be careful along the parameter for black mambas.
I always enjoy my time in Ethiopia. I have a special attachment because I was here before they had taken in any children. The little boy who we saw that first visit is happy and thriving. These are the most warm and love able children. They know us and every year they sing for us and present us with a drawing from there cottages. Yesterday, a couple of the little girls who presented the drawing gave big hugs and a " I love you,". One little girl said she is praying for us.
They sang " The LORD is my Shepherd" for us and then several came forward and prayed for us.
The sweet women who heads the kitchen staff did the coffee ceremony for us. They serve popcorn during the ceremony. It is a special tribute to us.
It is no wonder that after I am rested I long to return. In all of this I was touched by a young boy, in Uganda, who shyly handed me a folded up piece of paper. It was at tracing he had done.
It is the rainy season in Ethiopia. It is cooler, but nice in the daytime. We had an unusual bad storm on Monday night. Water was coming into the duplex we were staying in. There had been flash flooding and some deaths in Mojo. Tuesday night was another heavy rain. It has rained every night since we got here. It is very muddy along the highway, I saw children sitting in the mud. The market places are muddy and crowded. He people seem very lightly dressed. I must admit it was warmer outdoors than in our duplex.
I have determined that the traffic here in Ethiopia is much worse than Uganda. I seems every year it gets worse. The road we travel is a two lane highway from Dubai to Addis Ababa, truck after truck after truck. It is a 2 hour plus trip. They are building a four lane highway. When it will open I do not know. You have to admire those who drive here in Ethiopia. They have to be very watchful not only for cars pulling into traffic but the people walking along the road. That includes cattle and donkeys.
Tomorrow we head for home. I am ready for home.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Moving On
GAMES are finished. This last week was a challenge coming up with ideas to keep the children busy. They are pretty creative in in playing games without a lot of equipment. They didn 't need a swimming pool to play " sharks and minnows.
Our RAFIKI HAS TALENT show was fun. The children all arrived in their Sunday clothes and sang and danced for us. The children have beautiful voices and were very creative in their ideas. I thought it was rather cute when one of the bigger boys was playing a white missionary. He did not do anything to make himself look white.
All in all GAMES went well. We had a picnic under the trees. To Americans, not an exciting picnic lunch, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a bit of lettuce in the sandwich, potato chips, popcorn, a small banana, and a "sweet", which is candy. To them it was a special treat, they get peanut butter but the jelly was special. The cooks were happy, they did not have to cook lunch for over 120 people.
Time has passed quickly though I feel like I have been on a retreat. It is quiet here, sometimes I can't tell if the noise is from the near by recreational center or the children on the village.
The village is beautiful and well kept. The children are kept busy with cleaning and gardening chores besides keeping their cottages clean
The electricity has been in and out all day. It seems every afternoon we are without power for 3-4
hours. If we are not on the ball, our desire for soup at lunch is whisked away and it is back to tuna. I am somewhat tired of tuna even though we have found ways to change it up. It is healthy and satisfying. Something to be thankful about. I have lots to be thankful here. Being in Africa always reminds me of how simple I can live.
I am 99% packed. Tomorrow we leave for Ethiopia. We leave the village at one o'clock for Entebbe which is one and a half to two hours away. Our plane leaves at 5:30 in the afternoon. We arrive in Addis Abba about 7:30 pm. We will overnight in Addis. Someone from the village in Ethiopia is scheduled to pick us up in the morning and take us to the village. We are dreading that drive as it a slow scary trip. It is the only road to and from Dubai. It is one truck after another. We pray for safety in our travel.
I am looking forward to Ethiopia. I was at the village before they had any children. I organized a small pharmacy . Last year we went through everything and reorganized so we would not have any
unnecessary medications. I have bought some nice containers and labels and I hope it will be more user friendly.
I am ready to begin the long journey toward home.
Friday, June 21, 2013
The Fine Art of Dining
Every evening, except Sunday, we have our dinner with one of the cottages of anywhere from 5-10 children and their mama in the dining hall. Technically that is with 105 children plus their mama or their dad. We have one dad who with his wife is in charge of 17 teenage boys. We also have one mama who is in charge of 14 teenage girls. That is what I call a super sized challenge! The rest of the cottages have 5 - 10 children from the ages of 3 to 13. Most are in the 5-10 age group.
The Ugandans are very soft spoken people. It is hard to hear them. It does not help when your own hearing is fading. The young boys and girls all look alike because they all have their heads shaved. I remember this when I was here to do medical clinics. They do not have a word in their language for male or female.
We have dinner with one family for 3 evenings so can familiarize ourselves to the children.. Some have nice English names, some the challenging Ugandan names.
At dinner the children and there mama, portion out the food. The guest table is set with a tablecloth and cloth napkins to match. We wait in an area close by until one of the children comes to take you to their table. Some will have you stop at the sink to wash your hands before sitting down. Sometimes the mama says grace and sometimes one of the children will say grace in their very soft voices. The meal time is in silence or only necessary talk. Classical music is playing and the children eat very, very slowly. We have asked for smaller portions so in order that we do not finish too soon it has come to cutting the food in smaller and smaller portions, one bean at a time. How many bites can you get out of a bit size piece of pineapple.
The first night I was here I was served more than I wanted. I didn't realize the reason there was a
plate covering my food that before I started eating I could put what I did not want onto the extra plate and it would be divided up and served to the children who might want more. That first dinner I couldn't help thinking, " there is a poor child in Africa who may not get dinner, I can't waste this."
The meals have been good. The meal has its protein, carbs, vegetables and fruit. I have had plenty of avocado, papaya and mango. Oh, I must not forget, sweet, sweet pineapple. We did have liver one evening and I am sure I will get that treat again as they rotate the meals every 2 weeks.
After dinner the first week we went to our assigned cottage to read to the children . The week of games we read before lunch. Then we are done for the day. Elaine and I got all the eye checks done over 3 afternoons.
The first week of GAMES went well, but every evening we have to tweak the schedule. We have older boys we sent them for a 2 hour walk one day. The older girls are helpful, but the boys just got the smaller ones riled up.
Next week anther mini missionary is coming. Our expectations are high. He is younger and a coach so we are praying he will get us through the next week. We are to old to remember the games we played when we were young. This is a creative adventure as we do not have a whole lot to work with.
The Internet here is a challenge, some times we have it and sometimes not.
This week we are staying in the village as there was rioting a couple in Kampala. It is Saturday so it will be quiet and I can nurse my cold.
The Ugandans are very soft spoken people. It is hard to hear them. It does not help when your own hearing is fading. The young boys and girls all look alike because they all have their heads shaved. I remember this when I was here to do medical clinics. They do not have a word in their language for male or female.
We have dinner with one family for 3 evenings so can familiarize ourselves to the children.. Some have nice English names, some the challenging Ugandan names.
At dinner the children and there mama, portion out the food. The guest table is set with a tablecloth and cloth napkins to match. We wait in an area close by until one of the children comes to take you to their table. Some will have you stop at the sink to wash your hands before sitting down. Sometimes the mama says grace and sometimes one of the children will say grace in their very soft voices. The meal time is in silence or only necessary talk. Classical music is playing and the children eat very, very slowly. We have asked for smaller portions so in order that we do not finish too soon it has come to cutting the food in smaller and smaller portions, one bean at a time. How many bites can you get out of a bit size piece of pineapple.
The first night I was here I was served more than I wanted. I didn't realize the reason there was a
plate covering my food that before I started eating I could put what I did not want onto the extra plate and it would be divided up and served to the children who might want more. That first dinner I couldn't help thinking, " there is a poor child in Africa who may not get dinner, I can't waste this."
The meals have been good. The meal has its protein, carbs, vegetables and fruit. I have had plenty of avocado, papaya and mango. Oh, I must not forget, sweet, sweet pineapple. We did have liver one evening and I am sure I will get that treat again as they rotate the meals every 2 weeks.
After dinner the first week we went to our assigned cottage to read to the children . The week of games we read before lunch. Then we are done for the day. Elaine and I got all the eye checks done over 3 afternoons.
The first week of GAMES went well, but every evening we have to tweak the schedule. We have older boys we sent them for a 2 hour walk one day. The older girls are helpful, but the boys just got the smaller ones riled up.
Next week anther mini missionary is coming. Our expectations are high. He is younger and a coach so we are praying he will get us through the next week. We are to old to remember the games we played when we were young. This is a creative adventure as we do not have a whole lot to work with.
The Internet here is a challenge, some times we have it and sometimes not.
This week we are staying in the village as there was rioting a couple in Kampala. It is Saturday so it will be quiet and I can nurse my cold.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Uganda , June 2013
It seems I can never make a flight out of Denver uneventful. The plane was late getting into Denver and there was a door problem. I barely made my connecting flight. If I hadn't had a first class ticket I would have missed my flight and not got into DC till 10:30 pm. I made the flight but my luggage didn't . I must have watched the same luggage go around the conveyer belt several times before I realized mine was not there. We had to come back later to retrieve my luggage which thankfully came in on the next flight.
I spent the next day in DC with my son. We visited the areospace Smithsonian, then walked around to see the congress building and the White House. I connected with Elaine in the evening. We spent the night in a hotel near the airport. Our plane left at 1115 am out of DC. A great plane ride on Boeing 's 787, the Dreamliner. We flew to Addis Abba with a short layover then on to Entebbe. We were very exhausted. I slept most of the 2 hour drive to the village. The driver dropped us off and picked up the village director and his wife to take them to the airport. It was a hello/ goodbye greeting.
We had dinner with the mamas and children, a little conversation with the rest of the team and off to bed. I slept we'll till 3 am.
Sunday was quiet. The day was spent resting with some orientation for the next 3 weeks.
There are 5 of us, ages 65,70,71,72, and 75. A young man in his 40's will join us in 2 weeks. We all are thankful that God has given us the ability to serve. Yes, we are tired when it is over and think we can not do this again, but we all know given the opportunity we will be back.
Today, I spent the day planning for GAMES next week. In other words keeping the children busy while they are out of school. Our best idea, I think, is is going to be RAFIKI HAS TALENT. It will be fun to see what the children will come up with. There are 105 children here ranging from the age of 3 to 15. In the evening , after dinner, we go to a cottage and read to the children.
Curfew is 6:30 pm. The heavenly lights go out and out comes the mosquitoes.
Amazingly, I have Internet. If I hurry this may get posted.
Goodnight!
I spent the next day in DC with my son. We visited the areospace Smithsonian, then walked around to see the congress building and the White House. I connected with Elaine in the evening. We spent the night in a hotel near the airport. Our plane left at 1115 am out of DC. A great plane ride on Boeing 's 787, the Dreamliner. We flew to Addis Abba with a short layover then on to Entebbe. We were very exhausted. I slept most of the 2 hour drive to the village. The driver dropped us off and picked up the village director and his wife to take them to the airport. It was a hello/ goodbye greeting.
We had dinner with the mamas and children, a little conversation with the rest of the team and off to bed. I slept we'll till 3 am.
Sunday was quiet. The day was spent resting with some orientation for the next 3 weeks.
There are 5 of us, ages 65,70,71,72, and 75. A young man in his 40's will join us in 2 weeks. We all are thankful that God has given us the ability to serve. Yes, we are tired when it is over and think we can not do this again, but we all know given the opportunity we will be back.
Today, I spent the day planning for GAMES next week. In other words keeping the children busy while they are out of school. Our best idea, I think, is is going to be RAFIKI HAS TALENT. It will be fun to see what the children will come up with. There are 105 children here ranging from the age of 3 to 15. In the evening , after dinner, we go to a cottage and read to the children.
Curfew is 6:30 pm. The heavenly lights go out and out comes the mosquitoes.
Amazingly, I have Internet. If I hurry this may get posted.
Goodnight!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Ethiopia
I have been here in Ethiopia for the past week. We arrived from Liberia friday night about 10:30 pm. We left at 6:00 am from Liberia. Once again we had a challenging time at the airport. Thankfully, we were there early. They don't have computers! The airline personal tells me that she can not find me on the list, shoves me the paper to show me that I am not on the list. I find my name, then she claims my ticket number is wrong. She does decide to process me, the line behind is growing. Finally, it looks like everything is done and we realize she only checked us to Accra not Addis Abba. Fortunately, our luggage hadn't been sent on the conveyer. The baggage tickets were changed and we easily make it through Immigration. The plane ride over is in a small commuter plane.
When we arrive in Accra, we have to get our boarding passes for Addis Abba. The computers are down in Accra so it is open seating on the plane. We were fortunate to get seats close to what had originally been assigned and we both had aisle seats. The lady who was in the window seat in my row was really strange. I was relaxing in my seat when all of a sudden I realized that someone was crawling over me. Instead of asking me to get up to let her get out she just thought she should crawl over me. I had to tell her that it was okay to ask me. To top it all off, after they finish serving dinner and come through with something to drink, she decides to go to the bathroom. Here I am juggling my tray. I think the flight attendants trapped her in the back. I was able to finish my dinner. It was a 5 hour flight to Ethiopia. There is a 3 hour time change from Liberia, bringing us in to Addis at about 9 pm.
It is the New Year, 2005. Ethiopia has 12 months of 30 days and the 13th month is 5-6 days depending on leap year. The year ranges lasts from 7-7 and a half year difference from the Gregorian calender.
In Addis they do not allow you to leave the airport without X raying your luggage. We get through Immigration. A friendly Nigerian chats with us along the way. We get 3 pieces of our luggage, the 4th the heaviest and largest piece did not come with the other 3. Elaine gets someone to check and fortunately the 4th piece is located.
It is a long line to get our luggage xrayed. You can guess which bag they want us to open . Elaine and I were carrying in 100 pounds of curriculum to Ethiopia. It was 10:30 by the time we got to the hotel.
The next morning we were picked up by the Village director to go to the village outside Mojo which is about a 2 hour drive in horrible traffic. It was worse than 2 years ago. The roads are not to great.
The country side is beautiful. It is the end of the rainy season and everything was in it 's prime. Ethiopia is very beautiful outside the city.
I really love the Village here in Ethiopia. The children are thriving. They have 45 children and 5 being processed for admission. There are 5 national mamas and 5 substitute mamas. They are very blessed here to have good national employees who are becoming more indepentant in there jobs. They have an excellent dependable head cook, kitchen staff and housekeepers as well as a strong dependable National as an assistant director.
I celebrated my 70th birthday here in Ethiopia. September 27 th is a national holiday, celebrating the "true cross" or Meskel. It also is the end of the rainy season.
On Wednesday, everyone gathered outside and they burned a cross. Seriously, this is part of the celebration. It has something to do with the finding do the cross that Christ died on.
Thursday , there was the coffee ceremony. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. The ceremony consist of roasting then grinding the beans and finally boiling them. The coffee is strong, it is sweetened with sugar and served in smaller than demitasse cups. Popcorn is also part of the ceremony.
The children were all dressed in the traditional garments. They did several skits and then invited Elaine and I to come to the front. Each cottage had made a picture to present to us. A special blessing.
We had dinner with one of the ROS family, I even had a candle. I will remember this very special 70th birthday.
We are back in Addis for the night. We are in our same room. They were going to put us on the 4th floor, but we requested the same room. We laughed because we had music from the bar till 10 pm. At least it was pleasant to listen to.
The traffic in the city was really bad, 3 cars driving where it is 2 lane. They were also doing a lot of construction.
It is the 29th here and this afternoon we will be at the Missions to the World Guest house. We have no idea what we will be doing but we are ready for our next adventure.
The line to have our luggage xrayed is long. Elaine and I are carrying in 100 lbs of curriculum in to Ethiopia. You can guess which piece they wanted us to open, the heaviest. We finally get to the hotel around 10 pm. We are pretty tired to say the least.
The next morning we are picked up for the 2 hour trip to the village. Did I say that Monrovia had bad traffic?
The countryside is beautiful. It is the end of the rainy season here, everything is lush and green. It is the height of the season. We had a rainstorm come through on Sunday, but we have had beautiful weather here. This is a huge contrast from Liberia .
The children here are precious. They are healthy and thriving . They now have 45 children with 5 more being processed to come in. There are 3 cottages of boys and 2 cottages of girls. They have 5 national mamas.
This is my favorite village. It is a thriving village. They have been blessed with good workers who are requiring less and less direction.
I celebrated my 70 th birthday here. The 27th is a national holiday. It is the celebration of the "true cross" or Mesker.
Now, Elaine and I have 100 pounds of school curriculum for Ethiopia, we get all our luggage through the Xray. You can guess which one they want to have us open.
We spent the night in Addis in same room we always get when we are here. It is clean and comfortable and we are tired.
The next morning we do some shopping and about 10:30 we are picked up to take us to the village. The Village director takes us to a nice place to shop, we have lunch at our favorite restaurant before leaving Addis. It is a 2 hour drive to the village. Did I say Monrovia was bad?
Other than the traffic, it is beautiful in the countryside. It is the end of the rainy season, everything is lush and green. The contrast is stark from Liberia.
The week is spent doing physicals on the children and staff. The Ethiopian children are thriving and joyous. They have grown a lot since we saw them 2 years ago. They have 45 children. I love being at this village.
When we arrive in Accra, we have to get our boarding passes for Addis Abba. The computers are down in Accra so it is open seating on the plane. We were fortunate to get seats close to what had originally been assigned and we both had aisle seats. The lady who was in the window seat in my row was really strange. I was relaxing in my seat when all of a sudden I realized that someone was crawling over me. Instead of asking me to get up to let her get out she just thought she should crawl over me. I had to tell her that it was okay to ask me. To top it all off, after they finish serving dinner and come through with something to drink, she decides to go to the bathroom. Here I am juggling my tray. I think the flight attendants trapped her in the back. I was able to finish my dinner. It was a 5 hour flight to Ethiopia. There is a 3 hour time change from Liberia, bringing us in to Addis at about 9 pm.
It is the New Year, 2005. Ethiopia has 12 months of 30 days and the 13th month is 5-6 days depending on leap year. The year ranges lasts from 7-7 and a half year difference from the Gregorian calender.
In Addis they do not allow you to leave the airport without X raying your luggage. We get through Immigration. A friendly Nigerian chats with us along the way. We get 3 pieces of our luggage, the 4th the heaviest and largest piece did not come with the other 3. Elaine gets someone to check and fortunately the 4th piece is located.
It is a long line to get our luggage xrayed. You can guess which bag they want us to open . Elaine and I were carrying in 100 pounds of curriculum to Ethiopia. It was 10:30 by the time we got to the hotel.
The next morning we were picked up by the Village director to go to the village outside Mojo which is about a 2 hour drive in horrible traffic. It was worse than 2 years ago. The roads are not to great.
The country side is beautiful. It is the end of the rainy season and everything was in it 's prime. Ethiopia is very beautiful outside the city.
I really love the Village here in Ethiopia. The children are thriving. They have 45 children and 5 being processed for admission. There are 5 national mamas and 5 substitute mamas. They are very blessed here to have good national employees who are becoming more indepentant in there jobs. They have an excellent dependable head cook, kitchen staff and housekeepers as well as a strong dependable National as an assistant director.
I celebrated my 70th birthday here in Ethiopia. September 27 th is a national holiday, celebrating the "true cross" or Meskel. It also is the end of the rainy season.
On Wednesday, everyone gathered outside and they burned a cross. Seriously, this is part of the celebration. It has something to do with the finding do the cross that Christ died on.
Thursday , there was the coffee ceremony. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. The ceremony consist of roasting then grinding the beans and finally boiling them. The coffee is strong, it is sweetened with sugar and served in smaller than demitasse cups. Popcorn is also part of the ceremony.
The children were all dressed in the traditional garments. They did several skits and then invited Elaine and I to come to the front. Each cottage had made a picture to present to us. A special blessing.
We had dinner with one of the ROS family, I even had a candle. I will remember this very special 70th birthday.
We are back in Addis for the night. We are in our same room. They were going to put us on the 4th floor, but we requested the same room. We laughed because we had music from the bar till 10 pm. At least it was pleasant to listen to.
The traffic in the city was really bad, 3 cars driving where it is 2 lane. They were also doing a lot of construction.
It is the 29th here and this afternoon we will be at the Missions to the World Guest house. We have no idea what we will be doing but we are ready for our next adventure.
The line to have our luggage xrayed is long. Elaine and I are carrying in 100 lbs of curriculum in to Ethiopia. You can guess which piece they wanted us to open, the heaviest. We finally get to the hotel around 10 pm. We are pretty tired to say the least.
The next morning we are picked up for the 2 hour trip to the village. Did I say that Monrovia had bad traffic?
The countryside is beautiful. It is the end of the rainy season here, everything is lush and green. It is the height of the season. We had a rainstorm come through on Sunday, but we have had beautiful weather here. This is a huge contrast from Liberia .
The children here are precious. They are healthy and thriving . They now have 45 children with 5 more being processed to come in. There are 3 cottages of boys and 2 cottages of girls. They have 5 national mamas.
This is my favorite village. It is a thriving village. They have been blessed with good workers who are requiring less and less direction.
I celebrated my 70 th birthday here. The 27th is a national holiday. It is the celebration of the "true cross" or Mesker.
Now, Elaine and I have 100 pounds of school curriculum for Ethiopia, we get all our luggage through the Xray. You can guess which one they want to have us open.
We spent the night in Addis in same room we always get when we are here. It is clean and comfortable and we are tired.
The next morning we do some shopping and about 10:30 we are picked up to take us to the village. The Village director takes us to a nice place to shop, we have lunch at our favorite restaurant before leaving Addis. It is a 2 hour drive to the village. Did I say Monrovia was bad?
Other than the traffic, it is beautiful in the countryside. It is the end of the rainy season, everything is lush and green. The contrast is stark from Liberia.
The week is spent doing physicals on the children and staff. The Ethiopian children are thriving and joyous. They have grown a lot since we saw them 2 years ago. They have 45 children. I love being at this village.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Monrovia
Last night it rained and rained and it was still raining this morning. Today was a trip to Monrovia to evaluate a couple of boys for the orphanage. The rained stopped so the drive in was okay. We didn't have to navigate the large pothole.
The traffic makes the list of the second worst I have been in, Uganda was the worst. It is amazing there were not any accidents. People are just stuffed into the taxis. There was this small car that must of had 14 men it. They were 8 in the back seat. The double lines that divide the roads are used by the motorcycles both ways.
The city of Monrovia is crowded and dirty. The streets are narrow. Everything is black from the mold due to the high humidity here. Some of the buildings have been painted. I 'm told they have to do this every couple of years. There are nice areas, but this is basically a slum. I have seen bad areas but nothing like this. The city is coming back from the destruction of the war. The locals say it has improved over the last couple of years. For me it is hard to imagine it worse. There are some markets and craft areas which were non existant a few years ago. There are many United Nations people living here. We did stop at a grocery store that was full of American type groceries.
One thing I really miss is the fresh fruits and vegetables.
In all this poverty there is a bit of humor. I am convinced that if I bought a lottery ticket here I would have a good chance of winning the chicken feet or the wings. One of the prizes was a case of Heineken Beer or some rice. I tried to get a picture of the sign but only got half of it.
When we got home we got another deluge of rain and temporary waterfront property. The rainy season will be ending soon and then it becomes hot and dry. I n many ways this is better then when the temperatures are triple digit.
Emotionally, this was tough day. It is hard to imagine what the Liberians have been through with the war and rebellion, the poverty . The world they live in is what someone called "peaceful unrest.". The President here is an American educated Liberian . Her name is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. They say she is working at bringing the country back. As in so many countries, corruption is high.
Tomorrow , we leave for Ethiopia, with the still very heavy luggage. We are praying that they will not hassle us. We can carry 30 kilos, I have over 40.
We will overnight in Addis Abba before heading to Mojo.
The traffic makes the list of the second worst I have been in, Uganda was the worst. It is amazing there were not any accidents. People are just stuffed into the taxis. There was this small car that must of had 14 men it. They were 8 in the back seat. The double lines that divide the roads are used by the motorcycles both ways.
The city of Monrovia is crowded and dirty. The streets are narrow. Everything is black from the mold due to the high humidity here. Some of the buildings have been painted. I 'm told they have to do this every couple of years. There are nice areas, but this is basically a slum. I have seen bad areas but nothing like this. The city is coming back from the destruction of the war. The locals say it has improved over the last couple of years. For me it is hard to imagine it worse. There are some markets and craft areas which were non existant a few years ago. There are many United Nations people living here. We did stop at a grocery store that was full of American type groceries.
One thing I really miss is the fresh fruits and vegetables.
In all this poverty there is a bit of humor. I am convinced that if I bought a lottery ticket here I would have a good chance of winning the chicken feet or the wings. One of the prizes was a case of Heineken Beer or some rice. I tried to get a picture of the sign but only got half of it.
When we got home we got another deluge of rain and temporary waterfront property. The rainy season will be ending soon and then it becomes hot and dry. I n many ways this is better then when the temperatures are triple digit.
Emotionally, this was tough day. It is hard to imagine what the Liberians have been through with the war and rebellion, the poverty . The world they live in is what someone called "peaceful unrest.". The President here is an American educated Liberian . Her name is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. They say she is working at bringing the country back. As in so many countries, corruption is high.
Tomorrow , we leave for Ethiopia, with the still very heavy luggage. We are praying that they will not hassle us. We can carry 30 kilos, I have over 40.
We will overnight in Addis Abba before heading to Mojo.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
The Rainy Season
This really is the rainy season. Here it is like a monsoon. It rained hard all night with thunder and lightening. There was water everywhere this morning. It didn't stop us from going to church. The road that takes us to the main highway is not fun. There is one huge pothole filled with water that we had to drive through. The water is up to the door, and you pray you can make it through.
After church we went for lunch at a beach side resort called Murtle Beach. We did walk up to the beachfront. It is very beautiful, it is the Atlantic ocean and I have been told that many of our hurricanes originate in this area
We arse back at the village. The rest of the day should be quiet.
After church we went for lunch at a beach side resort called Murtle Beach. We did walk up to the beachfront. It is very beautiful, it is the Atlantic ocean and I have been told that many of our hurricanes originate in this area
We arse back at the village. The rest of the day should be quiet.
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