Royal Hotel Monrovia

Today we traveled about 1 1/2 hours into the interior of Liberia to visit pastor Johnny Bai who lives with his family in Harrisburg. He is currently caring for 25 children in addition to his own 6 children. People in the surrounding areas bring him children when they can no longer care for them. He rents the land and has built 4 structures by hand: his church which also serves as the school, his home with two rooms for his family of 8, and ...

... on things? Isn't the deed enough, especially when it's your job (as in the case of the UN). It's like in the Philippines where bus shelters and markethalls bear the name of the mayor who funded them as if the citizens should be grateful that s/he did what he was supposed to do. Anyway, back to Monrovia. The Chinese were still working on the roads in town so one shouldn't expect too much of those out in the country as we found out ...

Today we went to Devine Childrens Home a licensed orphanage run by a lady name Fatu. When we arrived in our car the children swarmed vehicle and sang to greet us. There were over 100 children and we gathered in a small open air building with three dozen staff. The children opened the program with more song. A group of teenage boys (most affected by the war) came up ...

... a foggy ocean where i can barely make out the distinction between sea and sky... i've learned that its the Harmattan - a dry and dusty wind blowing south off the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea (thanks, wikipedia)... i'm usually never home in the afternoon, but when i came home today, the sun was just setting and the ocean was really beautiful...

... but indeed, anyone that kills bugs for me gets a special place in my heart! ironically, i was wearing my "be kind to animals" t-shirt tonight. but whatever, cockroaches don't count, right?! they're so nasty. anyway... glad its gone! :) whew. what excitement. (in the words of my friend jeremy, who i IMed as i debated what to do, "had to know liberia would be dangerous, but couldn't have expected all this!!!"

... people in a small crowded room but we managed to weasle our way through and got our bags surprisingly quickly. we went out into the post-baggage claim / pre-exit room and wondered if our "expeditor" was going to show up... eventually he did - ironically got out faster than he did. anyway we were glad when he showed up and took us to the vehicle. we were also joined by another woman traveling from the U.S. - she was working with CDC (the center for disease ...

... presence throughout the country, completed a disarmament program for form** combatants in late 2004, but the security situation is still volatile and the process of rebuilding the social and economic structure of this war-torn country remains sluggish. a couple more links if you're int**ested: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa /country_profiles/104 3500.stm http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/6618.h tm some striking ...

... me as I walked up with the kids and I wondered if I would be welcomed. As I got near, I smiled and held out my hand. The oldest woman returned my smile, shook my hand, and told me that she was the grandmother. After a few minutes, I learned that grandmother had three or four daughters here, and at least one son. The kids that I had walked with were her grandchildren. Two boys were playing a board game ...