Blogs from Liberia, Africa - page 3

Prior to coming, Moses only told his Aunt that he was traveling to Liberia for a month. Upon arrival, the news spread almost immediately. We've already visited and had dinner with alot of friends and family, and it seems every day and every hour someone is arriving at the Guest House to say hello. We've been stopped in the street and in restaurants and in Markets when someone recognizes Alberta, Moses, or Helena from elementary school, or church, or the neighborhood or something similar. It has been simultaneously amazing and exhausting for the group. Today we headed to St. Paul's in Kakata for Church services. This is Moses home church and it was understandably emotional for him. We woke up early to make the journey out and arrived in Kakata 30 minutes before the service. He ... read more

We had another great day at the orphanage... this time with sunscreen. The children seemed alot more comfortable with us and we with them. The younger kids seemed to choose one of us and then held onto our hands for the rest of the day. Thanks for all the ideas, we tried out a variety of games and the kids seemed to enjoy the change. After the orphanage we headed to a soccer game. It hasn't been publicized much (for fear of riots) but starting today there is a tournament this weekend with the Liberian Team, Ghanian Team and the Team from Guinea (Guinean?). We saw Guinea versus Liberia and it was quite an experience. Tickets were about 3 dollars and were printed on computer paper with clip-art graphics. We walked in past security that consisted ... read more

Coming back from Phebe, oddly felt like coming home. The staff and longterm guests welcomed us back with hugs and "we missed you's" and our waiter at the restaurant next door (where we always eat) asked how the trip went. Our beds seemed familiar, we were excited to have internet again, and all was well. Unfortunately we've been out of running water, but our rain barrels have remained full enough to take sponge baths, so we'll ignore the lack of running water. Today consisted almost entirely of catching up. We made Western Union Runs, Gift runs, money runs, settled bills, bought water for the rest of our trip, did other assorted tasks and mapped out our final days here (lots of small trips post volunteering have been planned and potentially a soccer game this weekend as ... 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

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