1/3 to 1/2 (depending on who you talk to) of the population of Liberia lives in Monrovia. I think that alone describes the cramped feeling that the city provides. Everyone we've spoken to has said we really need to get out of the city to see the beauty of Liberia. We finally got our chance these past 5 days. We headed out of the hustle and bustle last Friday and were immediately confronted with the beautiful countryside. Lush and tropical it reaffirms my initial feelings that Liberia feels very much like an island. We saw rice patties (y? ddies?) fields, rubber tree forests smelling of latex (rubber is one of Liberia's primary exports), mud houses, colorful lapas, and fewer and fewer people. Our final destination was Phebe. Phebe is a very large hospital compound located in ... read more

Today we spent the morning with the Lutheran HIV Outreach department. We only visited with one of their clients (and then toured some of their satellite sites) but it was an intense visit that I think has stuck with everyone that went. The woman we met with was out in the outskirts of Monrovia in a very, very poor area. The whole community (a group of ramshackle palm leaf hut like structures) was sinking into dirty marsh water that will only get deeper as the rainy season continues. The woman we met with set out some benches for us and then faced us. The whole upper left portion of her face (including her eye, or what was left of her eye) was one huge abscess. She spoke humbly of her troubles (her daughter had to quite ... read more

We headed out to Elwa and Zubu today for a long day of fulfilling activities. In Elwa we visited a hospital and were split up to volunteer in different departments. They put me with the midwives. I've never been in a delivery room, much less a Liberian delivery room and it was quite an experience. I sat with a woman having contractions lying uncomfortably on a small bed with only her Lapa (a long piece of patterned cloth used like a sarong) covering her waist. They allowed me to watch as they checked to see how far along she was. and later gave me a newborn to hold. Shortly after I observed as they weighed her (they had a new machine that they couldn't figure out how to calibrate) and then measured her (turning her ... read more

Ive never seen (in person) much less spoken with Joe Biden, but today we had the opportunity to meet with a high level senator with presidential aspirations as well as The Vice President of Liberia. This was all thanks to the members of Lutheran Relief Services who have connections in high places and pulled several strings to give us a sit down with two very powerful men. We started this morning early and headed to the legislative building (about 10 minutes from our guest house). The Legislative House, Executive Mansion, and Judicial Building form a triangle and are just a hop, skip and a jump away from eachother. Their system of government is similar to ours. and a tour afforded us the ability to sneak into the Senate Chambers and the House which were both in ... read more

We tried to get into a more regular schedule today beginning with Morning devotion in the guest house chapel. It was a beautifully simple way to start out the day. At Devotion, we met an older woman from Flint Michigan who was in the PeaceCorp in Liberia in 1973, fell in love with the country, and has been here ever since. Moses actually drove with her to Ghana (or it may have been from Ghana back to Monrovia) when he was a refugee. She was supervisor of the school system at one point but now works as a consultant for Lutheran Education Services. It was inspiring to hear her talk, and it was interesting to get an "American" viewpoint of Liberia pre, mid and post war. After a quick breakfast of homemade banana bread we headed ... read more

I was re-reading through some of the previous entrys and realized there were alot of mispellings and mistakes in syntax or just poorly constructed sentences. My apologies, these mistakes are due to the speed with which I write this (without re-reading them) and the internet, which is slow and occasionally fails to save my entries correctly. I hope they make enough sense! Now to Sunday. We went to Church Services at St. Matthew's in Monrovia this was Alberta's (one of the members of our group) home church. She was excited to see the kids she taught in Sunday School, and was astonished as they greeted her as grown adults. They gave us a warm welcome and blessing and we were encouraged to introduce ourselves in front of a HUGE congregation. Kim, Andrew, Tom and I also ... read more

Today we went to Helena's sister's wedding. Helena is Pastor Moses' wife. This will be the first of two weddings we will be attending during our stay here . It was absolutely incredible. Gave me some ideas for mine. Mostly ideas that Jeff won't like much. The wedding started 3 hours late due to the rain, and people were still trickling in during the service. It was vibrant, loud and extravagant in every positive sense of the word. The church was whitewashed cement with a tin roof, wooden pews, and decorated in white balloons, ribbons and maroon crepe. We sat towards the middle feeling slightly awkward. Loud pulsing music, kettle drums, regular drums, a gourd instrument with beads like a maracca (sp?) along with a singer got the crowd going (dancing in the aisles/clapping and singing). ... read more

Today we met with some various organizations of the Lutheran Church, including the Supervisor of the Lutheran School System, the Head of Christian Education, head of youth ministry the President and secretary of The Womens’ Ministry, Head of Urban Ministry, and The Lutheran Bishop. It was a day filled with alot of facts and statistics. Some uniting threads of all the conversations were: 1) The destruction and devastation that the war caused 2) The move from relief to development and in tandem the attempts to rebuild infrastructure and capacity 3) Education and 4) Female Empowerment/the role of woman/gender equality in Liberia. The education system was particulary interesting to learn about. The Lutheran School system, runs from Sept -June, (a shift from what they did before, pre-war; March to December). Kids start around age 4 to 5, ... read more

It is currently the rainy season in Liberia but the past day and a half we've had hints of blue sky which I hope is auspicious for our time here. We awoke this morning groggy and disorientated (is it Wednesday? Thursday?) and most everyone missed morning devotion and breakfast. After a late start we toured the Lutheran Compound (seeing its offices and meeting its people) and then went for a Lunch at a local restaurant "B-First". After, we headed down to the US embassy, toured more of Monrovia and got to visit the beach which was literally right outside our (compound) door; while littered with trash, the beach was beautiful and waves huge and water warm(surfing is supposed to be big here). Tomorrow we plan to learn about what we'll be doing during our stay here ... read more

Upon Landing After almost 24 hours of arduous journey we have finally arrived in Liberia! Stumbling into the clustered and chaotic Monrovian airport we received a gracious welcome from The Lutheran Church of Liberia, the organization we will be working with throughout our stay here. Their hugs and kind words truly made us feel at home. We crammed into their minivan with our piles of luggage and we made safe tip to the guest house where we were fed (Spicy Jileef Rice (sp?) and Fried Chicken), given a tentative itinerary for the month and sent to bed (On an exciting note we saw President’s motorcade on the way to the guest house!). As most of you, don’t know much about this country (and neither did I prior to coming)Throughout this blog Ill try to give you ... read more