Mamba Point Hotel Monrovia

We are both sick with upper respiratory issues and very ready to head home although traveling for 48 hours while sick will be even less fun that getting here was. Today we will finish our meetings and delivery more rice to another needy orphanage. We hope that all the planes are on time and that by some miracle we can make the connection in Chicago. We miss everyone and look forward to getting home. It has been a great successful trip.

... us sqeezed in to a five seat vehicle to go buy school supplies (notebooks, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, and rulers) 2 huge bundles of clothes, jump ropes, gift for the teachers and caretakers, and Thanks to Ree - a helmet for Johnny. Then more meetings and sorting of all the supplies. Tomorrow we got to church, unload the boxes that were shipped from the US, and visit Ruth (she is a friend of Rosie's.)

... like most of the country. They grow food on the land and cook with coal on the ground. People live in war damaged, unstable homes that would be condemned in the U.S. Johnny Bar, the director of the community, walks for miles to get to the main road for supplies. They rarely eat rice because it is too expensive and difficult for them to get. Today we (Hope International) brought them 3 ...

... but especially the last 2 years. Only a few years ago, she felt unsafe driving this road. Now they were so thankful for the new road the Chinese are building. Many people walked along the main road- carrying baskets on their heads, children running barefoot playing with sticks. Everyone seemed to be outside their houses. We drove by 3 groups of older boys playing soccer on a dirt field. I wished I ...

... on his head (vs using the shoulder straps).  saw the old ministry of defense building that was barely a full structure.  saw interesting and graphic anti-rape signs... saw the "daily talk" newstand - where during the week, they write news on a blackboard and people come by to read the headlines (unfortunately it wasn't open today but i got ...

... 2 was the army guy who lives below me that i randomly met on the embassy compound. seemed nice. option #3 was security downstairs though killing cockroaches probably fell outside the realm of their protective responsibilities. i went for options 1 and 2 and when my knocks on both doors went unanswered, i went downstairs. luckily, my buddy the friendly security guard (actually most of them are really ...

... away w/ it. on the way back from dinner drove through town and passed a stretch of road illuminated by streetlights - put up w/ USAID assistance, and i actually saw children studying on the steps in front of stores, under the streetlights. pretty cool. anyway, my list of things to do for tonight is pretty long and i prob shouldn't stay up too late or else i'll be dozing through meetings tomorrow. but i'll write again soon. hope you're doing well!

... ellen johnson-sirleaf, who seemed to be dedicated to ridding the gov**nment of corruption and reesetablishing the country. "lib**ia: a fragile peace" - the name of one documentary i saw - indeed. since i'm awful at history, i figure i'll just copy/paste from the web: a good ov**view from the CIA factbook: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fa ctbook/geos/li.html Settlement of freed slaves from the US in what is today Lib**ia ...

... to a family. We've partnered with Hume Lake Christian Camps near Fresno to run a youth camp for orphans this week at a location 45 minutes outside of Monrovia. The local kids that live near the camp have made themselves part of the activities from the beginning. They hang around the perimeter of our meeting place, blend into the crowd when we're playing games, and are never more than a few feet ...