Sunday, March 30, 2014

Dr Nick's, Open April 1st?

March 30, 2014

Well maybe Dr. Nick's won't open on April Fool's Day, but hopefully that weekend. Of course, having workmen appear is always a big question mark.

Tensions are running high between the woman who will operate the store and myself, primarily over pricing and items to sell. She has a feel for what local residents buy. Like many small shop owners she doesn't understand the math of turnover, margins, and cost of inventory. What happens to many shops is that to stock an item you have to buy a large quantity which may sit on the shelf and expire. Cash gets tied up in these purchases leaving little left over for anything else."Cash is King" is my mantra.She does understand how to keep her personal expenses separate from the store. She thinks I am crazy for charging so much and feels high prices drive customers away. We both have to learn from each other, but the process is painful.

I am scheduled to run the shop my way until I leave. She takes over after that. She is concerned I will fuck-up the whole thing before then (my language, not hers).
Inside the cage


Beer, alcohol, and cigarettes make money

Still needs paint and lettering

Project to Prevent HIV/AIDS and Family Planning

March 25, 2014
A number of Cuttington students have formed an organization aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning by conducting educational sessions and condom distribution at local schools, placing condoms at departmental offices at Cuttington University, and condom distribution to high-risk adult populations.They have developed brochures and flyers. Now they are planning to register as an N.G.O. which may help them in getting funds to expand their efforts.How can you not want to assist these young adults?
Students gather to hear the messaage
When you can't get a penis, a banana does just fine
Happy students at Suakoko High School
No one is spared. Even people on motorbikes.

Mentoring Project's Meals

March 27, 2014

Today marks the beginning of the actual mentoring project where university students mentor local grade school children. First reports are very good from both sides. More food prepared then needed, making locals very happy.

Women chopping potato greens which are then mashed, and cooked with chilies, and palm oil. Fish is then added and all served over white rice.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Mentoring Program Kick-Off

March 23, 2014
Some days good things just unexpectedly happen. Today is one of those days.

After several months of planning and frustration the Mentoring Program started, but with great disappointment. Expecting about a hundred university students who indicated a desire to be a mentor, a university auditorium awaiting. Fourteen people appear, mostly from the sponsoring university group.How to handle the expected fifty, maybe more, town primary school students to be mentored?I am in a state of internal panic.Off our small entourage treks the mile to the Sinyea town. But the Women's group whose children are to be mentored are at the house of a sick member. We wait wondering if all is in vain.

While waiting we discuss what to do. A quiet and shy girl says, "Why don't each of us take as many students as we want?" She wants seven. Everyone agrees. Our plans for one-to-one mentoring evaporate.
 shall prevail.
Cuttington University Mentors (one missing)

Registration Site, a local store

Two university students registering their group
Finally the women and children begin to appear, a good sign. One of the mentors begins the group the children by families as individual mentors claim a group. Registration takes place, meal times, and meeting places are established. Pictures are taken. Candles are lit to write down names. Sixty town children are registered. We are off and running. A second mentoring group is scheduled in two weeks.

It is hard to explain what it is like to be in a society so governed by obedience when given the chance a fountain of creativity emerges to solve the problem. For most of these university students, this is their first exposure to life in a rural village and to conduct their mentoring sessions in rural town homes. Many pitfalls lie ahead in the coming weeks, but I feel confident these university students. A second mentoring group is scheduled in two weeks. 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Project One...Done

March 17, 2014

Almost four months to the day after my robbery, the Cuttington Security Force's Employee Handbook is completed. It contains Mission Statements, Objectives, Policies and Procedures for the operation of the security force. Hopefully it gives the Chief of Security the needed authority to dismiss and fine officers who violate policies.Now it needs to be signed off by numerous university officials. Of course the main issue is whether it ever is implemented. But you can't expect too much from a place where rhetoric trumps action. 

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Running Water

March 12, 2014
Liberian plumbing system
We often forget the importance of turning on the faucet and getting safe drinking water, but for most of the world water is first hauled out of a deep well by bucket then put into another bucket, carried to a barrel where it is stored. Carrying the water is usually done by younger boys and girls. Here in Liberia it is transported on your head. I suggest you try to lift a full bucket of water over your head, let alone carrying it up a hill for some distance.

My needs are about two-three buckets of water a day which is brought by the young woman who cleans my house. On wash day it is even more. My greatest use of water is to flush the toilet, not unlike America. So I try to follow the adage from California water shortage times, "If its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown, flush it down". Even then, I let the brown stick around.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Returning to campus

 March 10, 2014

Today marks the beginning of classes at Cuttington University. This is after postponing the scheduled opening one week to allow students to return home to get more money to meet the university’s sudden announcement of a greater down payment to enroll and after the passing of another week of schedules classes which neither students nor instructors observe. All this reduces class time by two weeks while fees remain the same.  I am happy not to be a part of that mess again.

There is an excitement about being back on campus and reconnecting students again. If anything the relationships are more relaxed than if I was still an instructor. The wonderful part is their eagerness to participate in one of my programs. It kind of lights a fire under me to get them involved and get others moving.

Today I label as “Condom Day”. I was visited at my house by former Immunology class students who have started and want to expand an HIV/AIDS/Family Planning program to neighboring towns and rural areas. They need some money for travel and other minor expenses. I am trying to get a small grant for them. They left with a case of 3,000 condoms after distributing over 1,000 last semester. They may serve as a model about how to conduct similar training in America. Another case of 3,000 condoms goes to the President of the Student Union Association to support his plans. Finally some students from last year take a few hundred condoms and I see them randomly handing them out to other students as they pass by.

 I enter into a discussion with others about whether distributing condoms simply encourages random sexual behavior. To this I refer to my daughter who works for the Minnesota Aids Project as a case worker who states that many studies have been conducted showing that condom distribution and sex education actually reduces sexual activity. Whether that applies to Liberia, I can’t say, but I can say that awareness of pregnancy prevention and HIV has increased. High school and college students in this area carry condoms along with their cell phones as part of what is important to them. Who knows, maybe they do think twice be ore hormones completely take over their bodies?


The news is also spreading about the opening of “Dr. Nick’s”. It seems like the students really want a more private place off-campus where they can go , have a beer, and relax. It encourages me more as construction moves more slowly than I would like.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Dr. Nick's progress report

March 9, 2014

Any where in this world you go contractors are the same. They say they can do the job, start the project, accept half down, the disappear to another project. Liberia is no different. Despite delays Dr. Nick's continues to be built.

There are no power tools and only the basic hand tools are used. Cement is mixed with a shovel and hauled in a bucket. The carpenter has one saw, a hammer, and measuring tape.

As of today, the walls have all been plastered, ceiling installed, electrical conduit run, and shelving constructed. The cement floor is still not finished. It is beginning to look like something.
Family picking, hauling, and leveling fill dirt in preparation for floor cement. Note Brett Favre jersey.
Cement work starting. Cement applied to walls first to produce a smooth surface.
Outside cement work done. Carpenter building inside shelves.

My Faux Pas

 March 8, 2014


New President of Sinyea Youth Association, Roland Kollie (in white) and his Veep
Youth associations are important in Liberia. It seems all matters concerning youth are their responsibility. Being elected president of the town’s youth association is a big deal and induction of new officers is an all-day event with the installation ceremony lasting almost four hours, with subsequent food, and finalized by an all-night ball. There lots of planned speeches by local dignitaries and politicians, prayers, and signing. The climax of the installation ceremony is the putting of donations into a basket to raise funds to build a youth empowerment center. When you donate you announce the amount and are entitled to say a few words.  Being a “Special Patron” with a front row seat and the only white person, I have the opportunity to speak for the first time to the town folk and leaders.

For the past week, I have been increasing my Kpelle vocabulary and practicing it on unsuspecting locals. Since everywhere I go I am called “White Man”, I go by the Kpelle equivalent.  When I am addressed as “White Man”, I reply in Kpelle, “My name is White Man”. This shocks people to hear their native language come from a white person.

The morning of the induction I greet people in Kpelle with “How are you doing”, getting quite good at it, even mastering the contractions. Well, during my donation speech I want to show-off my Kpelle skills by saying how I am trying to learn Kpelle followed by rehearsed “My name is White Man”. Instead what came out was “My name is how are you doing”. Looking at puzzled faces and fearing a mispronunciation I repeat my faux pas.

Mistakes can be the source of building bonds. My attempt at speaking coupled with the fact that I am the only White Man living in the town helps me in my quest to complete the many projects I have started. 

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Liberian Village Cuisine

March 6, 2014

My meals have definitely improved living in the village and having the meal prepared for me over the chicken-fish over rice served at Cuttington cafeteria.

Almost everything is served over rice. Most commonly with what they call a soup which consists of some green leaf (potato, cassava, palaver, or water cress) mashed in a drum with a long pole, boiled down to a thick liquid. Other times a vegetable like kidney beans, bitter ball, or okra are added to the soup mix. This is then cooked with some kind of meat combined with fish. Vegetable oil or native red palm oil is added to help it slide down and maintain ones regularity. Lots of hot chilies are added to give it a real kick.  This is the main and often the only meal of the day. Breakfast and a late snack usually consist of a cracker or biscuit.Water is the drink for all meals. A spoon is the only needed utensil..

The dumo dish below is a special dish. The white dough ball in the center of a spicy soup is made by pounding cassava root in a drum into this sticky mass. Liberian culture requires you to never chew the dumo but swallow each spoonful whole. I have mastered the technique, kind of like eating raw oysters.

Bitter ball soup with ground hog and canned fish

Dumo in pepper soup

Kidney bean soup with pigs feet and chicken

Potato green soup with ground hog anh canned fish

Spaghetti with canned fish, a breakfast delight 


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Martha

March 4, 2014
Martha
Martha is my nurse, or Americans would say "housekeeper". She brings me water carried on her head from the community well, does my washing, daily cleans and straightens my house, cooks and brings me meals. She is teaching me the local language, Kpelle, while I work with her on reading English. She is 19 years old, in the sixth grade at the local school, and the mother of  Larry, the cross-eyed little boy.

Martha's story is not unusual for Liberia. She is from an even more remote village. She came to this village, Sinyea, to live with her aunt and go to school. She became pregnant by the son of the woman who heads the local women's association and earns her and her baby's keep by doing household chores, as well as, attending to me where the family can earn money. She is not married and in a way kind of an indentured servant. Just what her future may be is hard to predict.

Martha asked me some questions about why she was not having her periods. She is still nursing and I thought that may be the reason until she said she had a five year birth control chip implanted in her arm. She had no idea about the physiology of the chip or menstrual cycle. I gave her a box of 100 condoms which she readily took and told her to give some to her female friends.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Liberian Gas Station

March 1, 2014
Liberian Gas Station across the road from me

When I first came to Liberia, I saw these stands along the road with glass jars of a yellowish liquid. Using my superior intellect, I quickly deduced that Liberians have a sweet tooth and a special affection for honey. Wrong.

The yellow stuff is gasoline. Liberians constantly run on empty . When you need gas, you buy a quart or gallon. Sputtering up to one of these stands is not unusual or waiting for the motorbike or car taxi driver to walk to the nearest stand is just part of travel. Fortunately, there seems to be a stand every 100 yards.There are a few actual gas stations, but they are often unreliable sources for gasoline.