Movie Night

Nothing like the gathering of friends to watch a movie, eat popcorn, 

and enjoy a cold beers at Dr. Nick’s. 

The movie, “October Sky”

Cafeteria Meals

9-25-13

Remember those college dorm days when the hot topic was how terrible the meals are?

Well, you might want to sample the cafeteria food here at Cuttington University.

For breakfast, you get a biscuit or slice of bread, sans spread.

For lunch/dinner, the main meal, you always get rice sometimes with a side bowl of what is called pepper soup, or you get what seems to be pepper soup you put on rice without the bowl. In the pepper "soup" you get beans, or fish, or, chicken bits, or a combination of two or three, or a meatless hot dog solitary or in combination with any of the other items is a hot pepper sauce over rice. Never meat or veggies.

For the late evening meal, served from 7-8 pm, you may get a bowl of oatmeal, or roll, or bread. For special meals, you get oatmeal and a roll.

Water is the only thing to drink.

I spoke with the manager of the cafeteria who happens to know a lot about cooking and is from Sierra Leone which he claims has a wide and varied diet. Our conversation did nothing to quell the hot sauce biting my lips.

Below you might enjoy savoring the flavor of Liberian university food and be thankful for the dorm food you once maligned. 

Really hot sauce with chicken bits over rice

 Rice with finely chopped potato tops next to pepper soup with piece of fish and noodles.

Same pepper soup over rice

My home-cooked meal of beans over rice with potato greens on the side.

No Excuses

 9-25-13

 

When you tell your class that there are “No Excuses” and one of the sacrosanct rules is all cell phones need to be “off”, what do you do when your cell phone rings during class?

Such happened to me today. Now I am without a phone until class tomorrow.

Many students said I could be forgiven and didn’t have to give up my phone. But rules are rules. I don’t accept excuses.

Classroom Explosion

9-25-13

Suddenly all my classes double in size. This is during the third class of the subject. I would like to think it is because my fame has spread, but alas it is just the way schools operate here.  The late registrants are just going to have to catch up through the good graces of earlier students.

Scorpions

Cuttington University's mascot is the scorpion.
A large statue of one is at the center of the school.

If you want to see a real scorpion, you don't have to go far.
Here is a squashed on my classroom step.

African Storm

Thunder storms are violent and frequent this time of year.
Here is one coming as viewed from my porch.

Guinea Mask Man

September 20, 2013

The word is out; people with money are back on campus. Those references are about me and my ilk.

Sitting on my porch in the evening seems to be an open invitation to all passersby to stop, chat, and finally get around to telling me their sad lack-of-money tale.

Yesterday evening a man stopped by who told a great story about how the people who lived in my house before (Peace Corps like me) bought a lot of genuine and antique masks from him. He was sad to learn I was not that person. He then went on the tell me all about the masks he had from as far away as Mali. He was from Guinea.

This morning I heard sounds on my porch. Soon his face appeared in my window telling me he had brought his masks. Sure enough there they were spread out for me to examine. After haggling over price, I bought one. Probably paid too much, but at least I know no bad spirits will come into my home.

Guinea Mask Salesman with his wares

Yes Mary, another thing for our wall to scare the grandchildren

Tropical Washday

September 20,2013

When you sweat all the time, you are forced do wash your clothes once in a while. Today is wash day for me.

Washing your clothes in a plastic bucket isn’t the fondest of my chores, but seeing all the dark grey water does give you a sense of accomplishment. The problem with washing in the rainy season is you have no idea when it will rain next. It always looks like it can rain any minute. Today, I am lucky. Half my clothes dried before the cloud burst.

Well, it stopped raining. Time to hang my clothes up on the line again.

Peace Corps Volunteer using latest Liberian washing technology, a washboard.
She has no running water.

My wash on line.
Woman hanging wash on other line is housekeeper for a Liberian graduate student.

Liberia Going Down

DG9-17-13

Liberia is on the decline. Of the African countries and indeed on the world scale Liberia’s economic indicators are going down. It is extremely marked even when you graph Liberia against other Third World countries.

A 1965 Liberian Peace Corps Volunteer recently came back to visit his former high school and spoke with a current Peace Corps Volunteer. He asked how things are going. When the current volunteer explained his housing without water or electricity, the former volunteer was amazed. He talked about running water, flush toilets, electricity, and even a washing machine in his village house, things today the current volunteers never have hopes of seeing.

The same can be said for schools in general and Cuttington University in particular. The Good Old Days before 15 years of civil war ripped this place apart were “The Good Old Days”, certainly for the few who could trace their lineage back to America.

One of the questions I hope to answer is what is the future for my students. After all they are the ones who suffered the most as young children during the war years.

Second Day of Classes

9-17-13

 My Second Day of Classes

My second day of classes is the first day for Genetics at 7:00 am and Immunology at 9:00 am. Three students show up for each class, one of whom attends both courses. Since my classes are for Juniors and Senior, I am still not worried because they are used to skipping the first week of classes.

 I repeat the same litany as the day before, but the students are shown our family photo. This greatly increases their interest in me and worries me how I am going to teach genetic family trees. I ask the student in the earlier Genetics class to give my opening lecture on Rules and grading to the later Immunology class from her notes. I sit down and she does a perfect job with neat handwriting on the blackboard. I think she is a winner.

Everything is going smoothly until new students for an Anatomy class start to wonder into my Genetics classroom, soon followed by their instructor. Seems like our schedules overlap. They search for empty classroom. First possession is important, even in Liberia, and we are Biology Department brothers.

I take possession of my Immunology classroom early eager to meet the two dozen students assembling outside the room. When in walks a very nattily dressed man in a business suit who claims his Financial Management class is also scheduled for the same room. He says he will get it resolved. I stay on to teach. I meet him again on the way to lunch and he found another room for my class. Presto, problem solved.

As to my office and office hours, the Dean of Natural Science is somewhat in a pickle. No office is available and he really doesn’t want to pair me up with another Biology instructor. No problem I arrange to have a seat in the office with the other two Peace Corps who teach math, somewhat to the chagrin to original occupant who has created a little nest for himself.

These minor inconveniences really are not serious issues, but they do tend for you to give you some feel when people say “TIA”, this is Africa. 

My First Class

9-16-13

 My First Class

Finally, my first class… Histology. Five students show up, three early, two late, all Juniors and Seniors with plans to become doctors. This is out of an expected 20 who pre-enrolled. I am told that this is not unusual since most students don’t consider the first week of classes to be school yet. What a surprise the other students receive when they learn what I happens in the first day of my class is not going to be repeated.

 Their rules are:

Put cell phones on “Vibrate”. .. I added cell phones “Off”.

No eating in class...I added unless you bring food for everyone.

Be on time…I said I didn’t care, except late students would miss the daily quiz given at the beginning of every class.

My rules:

“No excuses”…They said “WHAT? But this is Africa”

I repeated, “No excuses”

I accept “no bribes”…Some just snickered

Tests given from class notes

I don’t repeat lessons

Notes and talking allowed on daily quizzes

Cheating on Midterm and Final Exam results in a zero

We shall see just how my initial ideals holdup.

I feel I didn’t do too badly. I actually can write on the blackboard.

The classroom is not bad, except chalk dust covers everything.

A student told me to watch my stuff when students leave classroom.

Histology Classrom M-22

More Views of My Cuttington House

Here are a few more pictures of where I live

Looking up the road to the main campus.
The house across the road contains two other Peace Corps teachers

For road drainage, deep troughs line the road.
Mine is just a little deeper and wider than others.

The view from my front porch.
Get to see the nice field and off in the distance, the road to Gbarnga

The steel front door protects me from marauding Liberian women.



My comfortable double bed.



Kitchen with electric stove, water filer, and garbage bucket.





No house is complete without bathroom water barrel,
just in case...

Main Foyer with Original Wall Hangings







Two Weeks

9-15-13

 After a little more than two weeks in Liberia, here is where I stand.

First the bad things- Can’t really say there have been any really bad things, except having to endure five days of Peace Corps Rules and Regulations. There have been the expected discomforts, like heat, constant sweating, being wet, red mud, and electricity being shut off from 8 -12 hours a day, as well as , finding substitutes for all the items and foods to which you have become accustomed.

If there has been anything difficult, it trying to understand “Liberian English”. It is a form of mumbled Pidgin or Creole English which is indistinguishable to me from the native Pele language the unschooled speak. Fortunately for me, almost everyone understands when I speak in Standard English. My main problem arises when I try to speak the way they do.

Cuttington University where I now teach is considered to be the best University in Liberia. It is a private school backed by the Episcopal Church in America and founded in the 1860’s. Like many private schools the students come from wealthy families who can afford the hefty tuition and dormitory fees. There are some scholarships available which high school Peace Corps teachers try hard to get for their brightest rural students.

Resources at Cuttington are few or non-existent. For my classes of Genetics, Immunology, and Histology, I have been given a box of chalk, a blackboard eraser, a classroom schedule and room number. That’s it! These classes usually have expensive labs, associated with them. Somehow I just have to find a way to do without. Indeed, what on the surface may appear to be first rate, in reality is bogus at best. I must say that I give the university credit for trying to live up to its ideals.

Classes start this Monday. I can then get a better assessment of the students and them of me. In the meantime, I am creating my own curriculum from old text books I have been able to scavenge from the library, other faculty, and my own imagination.

The good news is being with other Peace Corps. Most are trying to put aside their ideals and cope with the illiteracy and poverty of rural high schools. Few have electricity or running water. They cook on charcoal and carry water from community pumps. They inspire me as being part of what Americans can be.

Le Cause du Jour

September 3, 2013

Sexual Assault & Harassment

Social issues seem to characterize various periods in time and mold those involved in them. Mine was civil rights and the vicarious choice of a war in Southeast Asia. If what institutions tend to emphasize is any indication of the current state of social affairs, then sexual assault and harassment rank near the top. Our Peace Corps training in Monrovia spent almost an entire morning on these subjects overrunning the original two hours at the expense of shortening other subjects such as language, Emergency Actions Plans, and practical living tips on what we might expect in Liberia.

Sexual assault, what it is and how to avoid and protect yourself, was clear. However, what constituted sexual harassment included such a wide definition that almost any action interrupted to be harassment either directly or indirectly, was considered a reportable offense and the offended party always never at fault. The issue that men could also be sexually harassed and purposely teased was not a topic for discussion. In fact, I was called out of a meeting by the new Country Director and politely advised on being “politically correct”. As to who was offended or in what way the suggestion of male sexual harassment could possibly be offensive was confidentially withheld.

At Cuttington University, where I am now assigned, a sexual harassment lecture was also given but to the predominately male faculty by a female administrator. The session also included university policies prohibiting sex-for-grades. The university had conducted a survey in which 33% of female students reported being harassed by faculty. The men were furious and indeed offended by these broad accusations. They then proceeded to recite numerous texts, sitting with legs spread in the classroom, seductive clothing, and direct sexual solicitations by students. Just how the university defined “harassment” was not stated.

Maybe my daughter was right about my need for sensitivity training, but she may be wrong in over simplifying complex issues. Fortunately a 70+ female Peace Corps Volunteer joked during the Sexual Harassment Orientation that she was looking forward to being harassed. Amen.

My House at Cuttington University

My Cuttington University house



I live in a duplex at the farthest end of the circular road which houses faculty members. Of all the places other Peace Corps Response Volunteers, the general consensus I have the best. Not only does it have running water, electric stove, refrigerator, fan, but air-conditioning in the bedroom! The rooms are all spacious, consisting of a living room with dining area, and pantry. There is lots of closet and storage space. The furniture is sparse for such a big place, but certainly enough for me. Across the road two other Peace Corps are housed which makes it nice to have familiar looking faces nearby.

Security is always foremost with Peace Corps and every room has a keyed lock. The front outer door is solid steel. The louvered windows are well screened and with steel mess. It is quiet with an occasional motorcycle taxi. I look out over vast fields, front and back with the sound of birds and insects to keep me company.

For meals, I usually have oatmeal or cassava porridge for breakfast, the main noon dinner I can get at the cafeteria. The food is Liberian and consists of a scoop or two of rice covered with some kind of spicy glop, containing a small piece of fish, chicken, beans, or goat. The diet here is definitely organic and range free.  The cafeteria also has a late super. This is a very “light” meal, usually of some kind of deep fried dough.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are hard to find, even in the larger markets. When I run across a vendor with a basket on her head selling anything green, I buy it.

There are still lots to discover as I negotiate the marketplaces. This is a very poor place and being in a rural area makes “shopping” a true adventure.



Entrance to Cuttington, you just have to get used to mud.



Kitchen

Bathroom, note flexible shower head







Liberians Love Minnesota

Edina, Liberia

 

Car with Minnesota Plates

Liberian’s love Minnesota. With 22,000 Liberian’s in the state, almost everyone has a relative living there. Minnesota license plates and t-shirts are prized possessions. Many professionals have gone to school there. But, a Liberian town called, Edina?

Edina, Minnesota is a Minneapolis suburb where Mary and I raised our children. The town is known to produce middle and upper-middle income level professionals along with state champions in hockey and women’s tennis. It is also known to crossword puzzle junkies because of its five letters, three vowels, and two common consonants. What is not known is that there is an Edina in Liberia. Just how it came to be how and how it is pronounced is on my to-do list. Maybe even a visit.

First Impressions of Liberia

Liquid Liberian Sunshine

Our Group of Peace Corps Response Volunteers

 Peace Corps Office, Monrovia

September 1, 2013

Roberts International Airport is Liberia’s gateway to the world. You quickly realize that you are not in Minnesota anymore. It is about 20 miles from the main city and was built by the US Army in WWII and has seen its better days. Certainly the most primitive airport I have been.

The drive into town is not unlike other third world countries. The vehicles are either Toyota Land Cruisers of the UN and NGO organizations, or small taxi cabs and motorcycle taxis which buzz about you like flies. Signs along the way announce the NGOs who are here to promote their particular cause, the exception are the signs talking about using “Ballots Instead of Bullets”.

It is the rainy season which means it rains more than anyone in the US can imagine, except in a hurricane. Monrovia gets almost 20 feet of rain a year. The good thing is it is cloudy asnd old Sol stays hidden awaiting the hot and dry season.

Liberians themselves are a friendly lot and the first thing you do when meeting any Liberian, male or female, young or old, is do the Liberian handshake which consists of various grasps, always ending with snapping the index finger and thumb off of the other persons index finger and thumb. Once done, smiles erupt and you speak lively and directly to each other.

The feeling here is that you are in different place, but not different. There are few who wear the colorful dresses and tunics. There is no music blaring, cars infrequently honk, there is only a scattering of panhandlers no electricity in the air. I guess for a country that has been through fifteen years of bloody civil wars, the people and country are just worn out.

I have tried to get a sense of what people says about their first African female President and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Ellen-Johnson Sirlef. The Peace Corps showed us several movies which made President Sirlif and Liberian women look like miracle workers. However a couple of people said that if Charles Taylor, the former civil war rebel, was released from prison in The Hague after being convicted of war crimes, he would easily win an election.

Liberia has no tourist business as such. Monrovia, its capital, does have restaurants and one hotel frequented by Westerners and Middle Easterners. The Chinese who are doing lots of development here in return for rights to extract iron ore seem to stay in their own Chinatown. The beaches are cluttered with trash with signs to urging you not to “Poo-Poo” here. The undertows make swimming very dangerous.

The U.S. dollar is the preferred currency. Most prices are stated in it so currency conversion is not an issue. If you need to convert U.S. dollars to local Liberties there are numerous street kiosks where you can make your transaction. Liberians don’t like small US denominations, so small purchases are done in Liberties or you get change of dollars and Liberties.

Like Peace offices in other parts of Africa, security is tight. The building in surrounded by a high wall with a gated guardhouse and 24 hour guards who inspect the undercarriage and motor of every vehicle One quickly gets the feeling that the Peace Corps is a welcomed and respected organization by officialdom and street people. The Peace Corps ID Card gets you through any checkpoint without delay.  Other than that, the building really doesn’t have much and resembles other Peace Corps offices.