Chronicle for 2010-07-18

I went to Mt Nimba Baptist church this morning. Chris Washington, one of the men who works here at ABC had invited me on Friday. Steve, Brittney, Nathan and Michael joined me as well. We arrived a bit early so we sat in on the mens group. Today was a prayer day for the men and it was interesting to hear many of the requests. Family, work, church, and spiritual life were among the topics. I asked for prayers upon the team, that we may be able to speak of our experience here in a manner that paints the realistic picture of the very real need that exists here in Liberia.
As we went into the service a few kids joined us in the pew. We never found out who they belonged to, people were not sure, they may have just come there from the community. Sitting next to me was Tito John who was about five years old. Tito did not say much and mostly just smiled. Sitting next to Michael was Cho and his little sister. Cho must have been tired as he finally stretched out on the pew and fell fast asleep. Cho's little sister came and sat by me for a while, she was tired as well so I put my arm around her and she leaned against my side for a bit. I understand it is quite common for children in the community to wander into church on Sunday even if their parents are not there. It is nice to see the churches taking these kids in as their own on Sunday to offer them the spiritual nourishment they may be lacking at home.

As we were eating lunch, a boy, about 12, came by the house. His name is Peter and he lives in the community with his aunt. Sheri had met him yesterday, he came around looking for work. We found out he needs to work in the morning to help support the family and cannot afford the $30 a year for afternoon school. When he came by, he was wearing the only clothes he had, a ratted T-shirt, boxer shorts and broken flip flops. Nathan gathered up a pair of his shorts and a T-shirt to give Peter. Sheri is going to see to it that the school get the fund so he can attend. Please pray for Peter, his situation is representative of so many here.

This afternoon we took a trip up to the old mine that was once the economic engine for this community. Even though most of the equipment has been stripped clean, and the parts sold for scrap, it was obvious the miners had left in a hurry when the war started. Much of the equipment looked as if it was just parked where it was and the people had walked away. Steven Schiff said it best "this city is a living example of how devastating war can be". Such a powerful statement because it really captures the essence of what has happened here, war has torn this place apart.

Tonight we had dinner with Nathan and Julia Mulbah, he is a professor here at the university. Julia has made homemade peanut brittle for desert. When I say homemade, I mean everything from shelling and roasting the peanuts all the way to the final product, it was some of the best I ever tasted.
Having returned home the team is taking some down time getting ready for the week. Tomorrow we will work on running conduit and power out to the new communications building.

Til tomorrow.....

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