Blog reader in Papua New Guinea

 10-10-2013

How nice to receive an email from a blog reader in Papua New Guinea where he now is a college instructor. The gentleman was a teacher for one semester here at Cuttington University and lived in the second unit of my duplex unit. We was a missionary to Liberia and Romania. He plans to visit Cuttington in November before visiting Romania, finally going to the US for the holidays. I look forward to meting him.

Bread

10-8-2013

The staff of life and the source of corruption

I have a feeling if I leave any lasting impression in Liberia it will be because of bread. Just talking about bread here puts people into a kind of ecstasy.

I finally got all the ingredients, used my imagination as to proportions, and made two loaf’s of chewy, hard-crusted white bread in my no temperature gauge electric oven. The baking Gods must have been looking down on me that day. Since the fact that it was more than edible, is a miracle.

Pieces of those two loafs have been tasted by numerous individuals. The stage is set. Because like jam in Samoa, bread is better than money.

A Good Cause

10-6-2013

While sitting on my porch a few days ago and student came down the road. I waved and said hello. He then came up to see me and told me about a group he was forming to help the needy. Maybe I had some extra clothes to donate.

He went on to describe a project a group of his fellow students were doing to build a little bridge across a path which I am familiar with, getting wet myself try to cross the little stream. It seems these students were doing this on their own, just to help out. It sounded like volunteerism to me, something very rare in the third world. Their goal was to build an orphanage for the many homeless children in the area, a lofty goal indeed.

What got them going was seeing all the hungry and orphaned children who hang around outside the cafeteria hoping for some rice or a piece of bread. These children tend to be scared off by university guards. The students began to think about how fortunate they were and how could they help those less fortunate.

I said I might be of some help to them writing proposals and attended their ad hoc meeting this afternoon. I was greatly impressed.

They were starting off with officers, meeting minutes, and each member of the group donates a “tax” to be used to help others. I made a few suggestions which I think they appreciated. I guess I was hooked. I am now their “advisor”.

Now they are off the get some life-stories from some of the kids, maybe even some photos. They want to recruit more students, non-students, men and women, put up posters, get on campus radio. They need to become “official” by registering as an organization with the university. They have a number of good ideas and their hardest task is to stay focused on their main goal of helping orphans and needy children. Should be interesting.

Some of the young men in the group

Happy man walking across bridge

Mystery Leaves

10-3-2013

What can these leaves be?

A university messenger came to my door and asked if I lived in this unit, 14A. He then gave me a zip lock bag of dried green leaves. I asked what "kind of leaves are they?" He didn't know. "Who sent them? He didn't know. "Who gave them to you?" "Campus Security", he said. He left. 

Now I have these leaves and curiosity is beginning to overwhelm me. I chewed a few. Nada. Not even a savory taste. No tingle of the lips. No ill effects I can ascertain.  

Wonder what they can be?

Dog Eats Baby

Samoa is never far from my mind and occasionally I check the Samoan newspaper to see what is happening. This article caught my eye because it gives you an idea of Samoan life and the ever present attitude and problem with dogs.

Mr. Si'ita points to where he found baby.

 Atapana Sumeo Si’itia is still in shock. As a matter of fact, the 21-year-old resident of Vaitele-fou says the imagine will remain with him forever.

Si’ita said, “My brother saw one of our dogs come running into our gate with food in its mouth. He thought it was a normal piece of meat, but when he called us to come and take a closer look, I realized it was a baby with no arms.”

He said, “The baby boy was already dead.” He said the smell and his physical appearance indicated the baby had just been born.

Across from Mr. Si’ita’s home are two pieces of unoccupied land. He suspects the mother may have dumped his body there.

“It happened about half past six or seven o’clock on Sunday evening”, he said. “It was scary. I never seen anything like that in my whole life.”

Mr. Si’ita’s family called the police.

“They came and started their investigation immediately”

Asked if knew where the dog came from, he said; “There was no sign which way the dog came with the baby.” “As you know Vaitele-fou is a very big area. It’s hard to know everyone in this area.”

The police issued a press release about the matter saying they are investigating.

The remains of the baby boy are at Tupua Tamasese Meole hospital morgue.

Meanwhile, Mr. Si’ita said they have had to put the dog down Wednesday. 

UN in Liberia

9-30-13

 

Common UN Vehicle in Liberia

While walking on the main road towards some stores, a United Nations vehicle stops me and the driver asks me if I want a ride. He says he is going into town which I am not planning to do, but since the shopping is better there and it is five miles away, I say “sure”.  The driver is a UN career person living in Liberia for the past ten years. He is a Cambodian lawyer by training. He is from the nearby UN barracks and airstrip which has a contingent of Bangladeshi soldiers.

He tells me about how the UN tries to integrate with the community and how it often gets blamed for local issues. He also talks about the same issues facing Peace Corps which are rich foreigners amongst very poor people. His biggest problem is with aggressive Liberian women cohabiting with UN personnel who then have a family, husband, or boyfriend suddenly appear asking for retribution,.. money.

The current crisis he is involved with is a strike by the motorcycle taxi drivers who are demanding respect and services from the government. It seems they went on a rampage about a week ago in town, ending up clubbing one bystander to death and severely injuring another. UN police are in town to reinforce the locals in maintaining quiet.

The UN Peace Keeping efforts often seem to be the political whipping boy about its usefulness and effectiveness. What I have seen is Liberia would come apart without them.

Modern Communications

 10-1-2013

 

For as poor as Liberia is, it has up-to-date cell phone service and slow, but readily available internet service. What this means is that even though I am thousands of miles away, I am instantly accessible. 

It makes it nice to be on my cell phone and clearly talk to Mary about her new car, or my daughter, Kim, as she learns about the businesses I left her to manage, my grandson, Sam, whom I surprise in State College, PA, or my son, Nicholas, as he drives to a football game in Iowa City. Text messaging each other with little tidbits helps to make us feel even closer.

Sometimes I have to ask myself, “Am I really in a tropical African country or just across the street?” It doesn’t take me long to come to my senses. It is hot and humid here. This is not Minnesota.