Great Days

 I had an amazing Sunday!  I think it started well because I slept well the night before and did not worry about waking when the power came on at 5:30.  Since every window in the house is open, it was nice to wake to the sounds of birds and children paying in the distance.  It was about 7 am and I was laying there half awake trying to muster the energy to get up, then I remembered it was not children I heard but rather the soccer game that happens every Sunday morning.  I decided to go for a walk, check out the game and start the day with some much needed exercise.  As I walked down the road toward the field I was amazed to see how aggressive the teams were playing, especially considering there was very little grass and mostly dirt on the field.  I sat and watched for a bit, took some short video and headed on my way.  I was on my usual walking path that circles the campus in about a 3.5 mile loop.  I was some good time to reflect on the past week and really ask God what He has in store for me with this program.

As I was walking down the road I was coming upon a group of men sitting alongside the road.   The road I was on sits outside the campus and community and is a common road for getting to Guinea only a couple miles away.  I could see the men from afar but could not make out who they were.  I asked God to please keep me safe as it was strange they would be there since there is generally no one working on Sunday and they appeared to have been working.  As I came upon them and greeted them I realized….they were ABCU students and 2 of the 5 were my students.  I also found out they were debating about who was this guy walking toward them.  Funny I was worried about them and they were worried about me….so often we forget how things look to other and only concentrate on how they appear to us.  As I walked away I realized, God has it all in control, He knows and He will guide I just need to keep trusting and taking steps in faith.

I promised young Pete Saye that I would attend church with him.  He attends Bethel church in the community and it is led by one of the ABCU professors.  The church is in a run down building that many I know would probably be afraid to enter, no less worship there.  I showed up and sat in the pew leaving room for Peter who I had not seen yet.  I was a bit early and people were still coming in but there was some singing and praying going on.  Suddenly to might right, in the aisle stood Peter with a big smile on his face, I could tell he was happy I had come.  He scooted in and sat next to me, as we were reading the bible, I shared with him.  Later he told me he did not own a bible and I promised I would bring him one on my next visit.  I struggle with how to handle Peter, I am constantly troubled by the sheer poverty this child lives in yet I do not want to spoil him or have him create a dependency that cannot be sustained.  I hope the skills we are teaching at ABCU will help children like Peter.

The afternoon brought the bachelorette service for the graduating students.  Such an amazing day and the opportunity to see the excitement on these students faces as they are reaching the end of one chapter and starting the next.  They were the pioneers who took the leap of faith as the first class as the University restarted.  I was amazed to think that in just 2 years, I will have students standing up there, graduating from the program God has empowered me to lead. There is a lot to do and learn between now and then and I am confident we will promote students with the skills and the ethics to build foundation business in Liberia.  People and friends attended the service from all over the community and a special choir from the Inland Church in Karnplay (about 3 hours away) came and sang some traditional music in Gio a native tongue.  It was awesome to see them sing and their cloths were a brilliant yellow.  One thing about Liberian women is they know how to dress well and some of the traditional outfits are very brightly colored.

Truly a spectacular day and I can hardly wait to see the actual graduation event as I am sure it will be like no other I have seen.

Step by Step

The duplex on the left is where I am staying

Prof Kloosterhouse sent me an interesting report on Liberia this evening published by an organization called Country Watch.  I have not read through all 268 pages yet, but I did note some interesting facts.  The one that stood out was the political stability index.  If you rate the high being a 9 in the US and the low being a 1 in N. Korea, Liberia is a 5.  Not bad considering its neighbors are lower (I guess its also not really a good thing that the 3 neighbors are all lower).  The good news is GDP is growing at 2x the rate of the US and for the first time in the last 5 years there is a projected government surplus.  These are all signs that things are moving in the right direction here, step by step.

I think I am a bit stir crazy today, the duplex I am staying in is very nice, bigger than the first apartment that Maritta and I had but I am alone and missing Maritta and the kids.  I sit here and think about how much the stark white walls would drive Maritta crazy.  Maybe she needs to come in the fall and help decorate these places a bit J.

I started today with 3+ mile walk to Guinea border and back.  It was a refreshing way to start the day.  The morning was nice and cool and offered some reprieve from the last few days of heat.  When I returned, Emmanuel Jonah and I had planned a trip to the orphanage.  If you have read any of my blogs, you know that going there is a highlight for me on each trip.  Being Saturday, it was time for chores and everyone pitched in from the youngest to the oldest (yes Pastor Jonah was even ironing clothes).

Emmanuel gave me the latest tour of the place, we looked at where some roofing had blown off in a storm, the latest additions to the clinic, the generator house they built and the repairs need on the piggery (my nephew Bret really needs to come along sometime and lend a hand with a few of these piggerys).  One of the services the clinic provides is midwifery.  Take a look at the delivery bed, a bit different that what most have probably seen.  Always amazing to see how little is really needed when you do not have anything.  I read in the report mentioned earlier that 143/1000 children die at birth and life expectancy is a mere 41 years.  As we walked around the orphanage and school, Emmanuel told me one of their teachers had died within the last month from typhoid and she was only 29 years old.  Later as we walked around the camp 4 community, Emmanuel waiver to someone and walked over to their house, he introduced me the gentleman and we talked for a minute.  As we walked away, he told me it was the father of the girl who had died.

Each time I am here I venture out more and more.  I enjoy talking to the people and getting to know their community.  This afternoon I was frustrated with my students after our special study class was cut short because they were all concerned about a final they had this evening.  I came back to the duplex and changed in to walking clothes and decided to go for another walk.  This time I walked into the community of Yekepa.  I had driven the roads I walked many time, but it is amazing how much more you see walking.  People were working around their homes, doing laundry and cooking, children were playing soccer and music was coming from every church as choirs were getting ready for Sunday worship.  It was around 4pm and most people having worked a 6 day week were starting to unwind a prepare for a day of rest.  I was in awe as I walked to see how much everyone was making out of nothing, to hear the laughter in the air, and the hope that things will continue to improve.

Shortly after I reached home, Peter showed up with a couple of pineapples for me.  I had given him 50 LD yesterday (about 80 cents), and I was amazed when he brought me 20 LD change.  I gave him the 20 LD and told him it was his tip for getting me the pineapple.  He hung out for a while, did not say much but just drew pictures on a tablet of paper I let him use.  I figure he just needs the man time as he has no father.  He has been here almost every night.  Last night I fed him spaghetti, I am not sure what he really thought about it, but I gave him a container of leftovers to take home to his family.  I am sure it was better than most of what they had and he was glad to get to share with his family.  He is a smart kid and step by step he will make his way and succeed.

Tomorrow is another day.

On the road again

I went for a walk this afternoon, needed to get out a bit after being inside most of the day working on the ABCU network and my American Express work that I continue to keep up while I am here.  I decided to walk up the road about a mile to a security checkpoint and then past toward the Guinea border.  On the way I would also pass by my friend Bill's farm.  As I was nearing the farm, a lady walked across the road about 20 yards in front of me carrying about a 4 foot square panel on her head.  What was odd is she walked from my right to left, on the right was an embankment that leads to the river and on the right is jungle, as I passed by where she had walked, she had vanished.  I am still unsure if I really saw her or if I imagined it. 

As I walked on, I came upon Bills farm.  Amazing to see what he has done since I visited him last year.  He has cleared a tremendous amount more of his land and planted 5-6 acres of corn.  He was not there, but I talked to one of his worked and he showed me how he has measured out every plant to ensure they were spaced evenly as they planted by hand.  He told me they had to put special chemical on the seeds to ensure the bug-a-bugs did not get them.  The picture of the dog in the field fascinated me as I thought it could have really been taken anywhere in the world.  The fascinated ended when the dog started to come after me.  I was a bit concerned about getting bitten as I am fairly certain there is no rabies shots for the dog or me!

Along my path I came upon two men, Victor and Sema, working in the share of the nursery they had constructed.  Victor was potting small saplings while Sema was cutting bamboo to continue building the structure.  I stopped and talked to them for a while.  Victor explained that they were raising the plants for the mine to replace the vegetation destroyed by the mining.  I thought it was admirable to see the effort to rebuild the forest, especially having seen the wasteland of the prior mine that was destroyed in the war.

Things were pretty desolate around the Guinea border.  If it were not for the line of rocks crossing the road, it would be hard to tell where one country ended and another began.  Two security guard were watching over the immigration building that had been erected some time ago.  The men told me they expected this crossing to be operational by the end of the year.  Things do not move to fast in Liberia, but they are moving.  Such the contrast to the fast paced lives we live and very sobering to think how much we are missing as we rush through life.

On the walk back I was thinking about the stories that must exist in the bushes here.  Often when I am out walking, I hear people talking, but cannot see where they are.  The brush is so thick, that it is hard to see farther than a few feet into the dense growth.  As I continued to walk I hear lots of voices and activity but I could not figure out what was going on.  As I came up to the paved road, I saw dozens of sheep and their shepherds tending them.  One of the shephers told me they had come from Guinea and they were headed to Monrovia to sell the sheep at market.  In Guinea they have business figured out, I pray with the education we are providing, we will root Liberians with the principles need to build strong businesses as well.

I'm Back!

It is great to be back in Liberia spending time with the faculty and students of ABC University.  I departed Phoenix the morning of April 19th, arrived in Monrovia the afternoon of the 20th and made the trek to Yekepa on Saturday 21st.  I flew my normal Delta route through Accra, Ghana and once again the plane had issues there.  Must be something about that airport, this time a blown tire and fallen ceiling panels inside the airplane from a rough landing....yes it was about the roughest I have experienced.

I met up with Vicki Kloosterhouse in Atlanta, Vicki is a professor and the Dean of the Education program at ABCU.  Sounds like we will have all of the "Deans" in town for the big event (Chuck - Biblical Studies and Nancy - Communications are on their way as well) and the four of us should all be together by next weekend in preparation for the monumental graduation on May5th.

The drive to Yekepa was interesting as ever, there is lumber and construction materials being sold on every corner, logging trucks running up and down the road, ore cars coming down the tracks from the mine, bridges being build and miles of light poles in preparation for a new road.  So encouraging to see the communities around here begining to proper.  It convinces me that the time is perfect for our Entrepreneurial program at ABCU, we have the perfect opportunity to teach sound business and business principles in the midst of this developing society. 

I saw first hand the corruption this trip, and am now convinced in the truth of many stories I have been told.  On the road from Monrovia to Yekepa there are numerous check points, verifying everything from driver credentials to vehicle safety.  I am not sure I have ever had to stop at one of these points and because we are in ABCU vehicles we are generally waived through.  Not such the case at one of our last check points, they decided to give Emmanuel a hard time.  Now when Liberian argue there are a lot of loud voices, waiving hands and no one listening.  Imagine this going on in front of you with a unformed policeman...needless to say I was a bit nervous.  Turns out, he would make his infraction go away with a cash payment of $10 usd.  Emmanuel, being a man of God and extremely ethical would not pay the bribe, so in return they gave him a $40 usd fine and took his license from him until he paid the fine.  While we were waiting for them to issue Emmanuel his ticket, about 5 more vehicle were stopped and I saw cash exchanged on every one, although the amounts were lower because there were no foreigners in the car.  For the next hour, we ran around this small city of Sanequille looking for the revenue officer to pay the fine and release his license.  I suppose the good news is since there is no concept of insurance, there are no points to go against him, but on the other side there is no insurance!

It has been Africa hot here (appropriate I guess).  Temps in the 80/90 with about the same humidity, and not much repreive at night.  Last night I woke sometime in the middle of the night and it was pitch black and dead silent, as I lay there thinking I realized how much noise and light we deal with at night.

I woke early this morning and went for a long walk around the outer perimeter of the campus.  I noticed in some of the surrounding perimeter, houses buried in the bush that I had not noticed before, there are others that were once buried and now occupied with restored roofs and doors.  Progress is even making its way to Yekepa.  God willing, the community will continue to rebuild.
More to come....