Stepping off the plane was like stepping into a steam room and the feeling never stopped. I love it. I’m getting used to constantly sweating and everyone else being constantly sweaty.
One sleep after arriving in Monrovia, I packed a small bag and jumped in a Land Cruiser headed for Tappita, a town that was a 7 hour drive away. It would only be a 3 hour journey on any self respecting Canadian road, but this is Africa. I tried sleeping for part of it, which proved impossible, because you would be jolted awake every 10 seconds by the one pothole that the Land Cruiser didn’t miss.
By the time we arrived in Tappita it was almost 10pm and Dave had a to drive off a little further so he dropped me off at the Equip office there. I sat outside the office with about 7 Liberians, half of whom I’ve met but couldn’t remember their names, eating a dish of rice with some really foul tasting sauce poured over top with some sort of meat that I couldn’t distinguish because it was really dark. When I was ready to catch some sleep I was led through the town to some random house, then into a room which had a mattress and (praise God) a mosquito net. I blew out the kerosene lantern and flopped into bed. So there I was, one night after stepping off the plane in a remote town in the heart of the jungle of Liberia; a place with little or no electrical power, surrounded by complete strangers.
I was woken up in the morning by children’s laughter and the roosters. There are roosters everywhere in Liberia and I feel like I could strangle every single one of them. They have no sense of time. I rolled out a bed, grabbed my bag and wandered through the town and back to the Equip office.
The reason we were here in Tappita was TearFund. TearFund is a Christian NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that works very closely with Equip. They were closing down their work in Nimba County which was based in Tappita and so there was a big hand-over ceremony. I came along to take lots of photos. After a 2 and a half hour ceremony there was a big meal, African style. It consisted of rice (of course) with chicken and potato greens heaped on top. It was delicious. We stuck around for a while afterward while Dave worked out a bunch of stuff with the TearFund people. Joel, another awesome volunteer from Vancouver, found a grapefruit tree, so he knocked a couple down. They were beyond any citrus fruit I had ever eaten.
We finally got back on the road and headed to Ghanta, where Equip has a significant amount a property with a large base. On the way we stopped by a clinic in one of the towns to see if there needed to be any renovations done. There was a woman in the clinic just going into labor, so of course we stuck around. I did a photo shoot about 2 minutes after the birth. Major culture shock!
Finally made it back to Ghanta and slept. Was woken up by a rooster far to early again. Dave had to arrange a load of stuff with a bunch of people so I wondered around. The kids here are beautiful. I walked down to the hand pump to get some water and was attacked by about four kids full of hugs. Every time you say anything the laugh at how funny you sound. I killed some more time by playing a game of checkers with one kid. He clearly let me win.
Drove back down to Monrovia. Joel and I headed down to the ocean for a swim and were soon joined by Christopher (another awesome volunteer from Smithers). The waves were huge and powerful. The water is really, really salty and it stings your eyes. We headed back to the house exhausted. We watched a movie while eating a massive bowl of spaghetti with a really good sauce that Audry made.
Now I’m sitting in the Eqiup head office getting various things organized. I’m getting a cellphone and I’ll post the number as soon as I can. I’m probably heading back up to Ghanta in a day or two to collect some stories and photos from around there. There is internet in Ghanta (the painfully slow kind) so I’ll try and post some more there, but I’ll be all around the area, so it might be a little while.
Prayer Requests:
- Praise God for allowing me to experience so many amazing things already
- Pray that my time around Ghanta is productive and that the Lord would prepare meetings and conversations that would lead to really good stories.
- Pray that I could be a blessing to the work here.
- Pray for Sarah (another awesome volunteer, this time from Alaska) as she is coming down with something that could be malaria.
(Click on the photos for larger copies. Please excuse the small photo size. The internet is currently disastrously slow.)
4 comments:
that is insane! you witnessed a birth? and took pictures? WOW!
Wow man, this is wild crazy stuff. The culture shock sounds off the chain and your pictures are sweet. Keep up the good work man, we're praying for you.
i love the pictures christoph!
Your blog is so interesting. We are indeed praying for you. More pictures Christoph - I love them.
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