Over the River and Through the (Jungle)

+18:00 Zwedru~
It's hard to visit new places and new people when you are not in the best health. It's even harder when you know this is your only chance.

Today, I have a slight cold. Nothing too severe and it hasn't really bothered me that much. My left eye, however, is completely shot. I have kept my contacts in all week without taking them out. I don't have a mirror and I know my hands are not as clean as I normally would have them. Last night, however, my eye started aching to the point that I couldn't sleep and just had to take the contacts out.

This morning, however, the eye is very red and irritated. Sunlight is my enemy, which makes it hard to function with both eyes when you are outside all day. Hopefully it will go away soon. I don't want the rest of my trip to be hampered by this setback.

I did not let my eye deter our plans to visit Pyne Town today, however. It was my only opportunity to visit Sinoe County, which is a more rural and poorer county than Grand Gedeh, where I have been staying this week. I was able to see most of the trip to Pyne Town, fortunately. The road was in worse shape than the one we took last week, with deep ditches from the wet season that just ended. At times it appeared we were not going to make it through to Pyne Town because of these obstacles. There was one spot where the road was virtually washed away, with a small ditch to pass through. You could tell a number of cars and motorbikes tried to pass through with varying degrees of success.

The driver, whose car was in much better shape than the one we took to Zleh Town, decided to slow down and carefully maneuver through the small passageway. This was mildly successful as we were able to make it halfway through the trial before he wedged the little Nissan between two mud walls. At this point Pastor Dweh and Joe got out, telling me to stay in the car, and tried to push the car through. When this proved unsuccessful, I decided it was pointless for the "guest" to stay in the car and proceeded to help push the car, as well. Either my additional muscle or the less weight in the car, probably a combination of both, proved to be the trick as we were able to make it through and ride on.

The rest of the road to Pyne Town was a denser jungle than what I've been through previously. The road narrowed as we were surrounded by the jungle, with its high-rising trees and exotic wildlife, including birds of all sorts.

When we arrived in Pyne Town, I understood why Joe had mentioned it was one of the harder places for the schools to succeed. This was a small village, with few buildings apart from the homes. Where most of the people in Zwedru and Monrovia had cell phones for communication, the villagers here used word of mouth to spread word. To make matters worse for the school, the Lutheran Church of Liberia had promised the necessary materials to build the church but failed to deliver on the promise. Joe said it came from a lack of funding and a need to spend the money in other villages. Word spread fairly quickly of our arrival. By the time we had settled down in the main room of the pastor's home, the school children crowded the entrance as well as the open window. They kept creating distractions, fighting to catch a glimpse of the "white man," while we met with the teachers of a school without a school building. They had hoped to use the new church building as a school, but without the materials from the Church there is little hope for that plan to succeed. Instead, they use whatever building they can to teach the students.

It is unfortunate that money has become so scarce throughout the country that even non-profit organizations like the Lutheran Church has to resort to robbing Peter to pay Paul. You cannot fault the Church for shifting money from one area to pay off other areas when the men and women running the organization are doing nothing different than any other, including the United Nations. Instead, the churches left without resources search for other means to fund themselves. While this proves successful in cities like Zwedru, villages like Pyne Town cannot possibly function without external aid. This is why groups like the Liberian Children's Ministry proves to be a great asset. Without Joe, there would be no education for the kids in this small village, and without the help from Americans gifting to the LCM, there would be no school building in the future for Pyne Town. Of course, I'm not sure how grateful the villagers were on hearing of the gift since most of the conversation was in Krahn, leaving me to listen to Joe interpret what was said.

The rest of the trip was much like my visit to the other schools; the children all wanted to touch me or shake my hand and everyone wanted their picture taken (this time I used the small viewfinder as the sunlight filtered through it aided my eye). There was one major difference from my trip to Zleh Town, though. Instead of preparing a meal for us to eat, because they were unsure of when we would arrive, they gave me a gift. I am now the proud(?) owner of a chicken. I can say it was the first time I have received livestock as a gift - or for any other reason.

The trip back was as eventful as the trip to Pyne Town, with the car wedged in the same mud at the same point in the road-turned-ditch. As night fell and the week ended, my eye was improving and the rain moved into town. It was no sprinkle-turned-shower, nor was it a steady rainfall. It was a torrential downpour with strong winds blowing the rain vertically. I just stood in the doorway to the house, watching the rain as the metal roof transformed into nature's drum. Now I understand why Liberians prefer metal roofs to thatch. The rainstorm lifts the thatch roofs and the water just soaks through, leaving a less-than-ideal situation.

After the rain passed through, about an hour later, Pastor Dweh turned on the generator and prepared the only television set I've seen outside Monrovia. On weekends, the pastor will move the tv to the front porch and invite the neighborhood over to watch a film. Because of the rain, tonight's movie was indoors for the family. We were treated to The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, a 1958 film, with Arabic subtitles. How fitting, considering the film's topic.

My time is almost finished in Zwedru and we plan to drive back to Monrovia on Sunday after church. It is amazing to think the week is already completed, but I know I will never forget its events. This has definitely been one of the most amazing weeks I've ever had, with so many memories and experiences that I cannot possibly share them all when I return. Maybe I will run out stories from Liberia one day, but I can only imagine it will be months down the road.

Downtime

+14:00 Zwedru~

It has become obvious that life in Liberia is vastly different than the high-speed, must-do-it-yesterday life Americans have grown to love (or loathe). This fact becomes more apparent with each passing moment out here. Today was another example of this divergence from American life.

We couldn't send word to Pyne Town, which is in Sinoe County, of our impending visit. This, in turn, prevents us from travelling out there since we wouldn't reach the school in time to visit the children before they are dismissed. Sending word allows the teachers to delay releasing the children for the extra half-hour. As such, we opted to return to Nixon School today.

Students were continuing their 2nd Period testing today. Testing here is not like America. You don't sit in a classroom and have the teacher hand out the exams and then continue on with the day after the exam is finished. Instead, each subject teacher uses a specific classroom to administer the test. The teacher will then write the exam on the blackboard. The students, during their appointed hour, will arrive to the classroom, receive a blank piece of paper (with the school's seal stamped in the corner), and begin their examination. No student is allowed to enter or leave during the exam, either.

Because of this, the classes are staggered for their exam schedule. The lower grades, 2nd through 5th grade for example, will arrive on one day for their exams followed by the upper grades the next day. This will go on for a week, beginning on Wednesday and finishing on Tuesday the following week.

Because there was not much to do today, I thought I'd take the time to talk more in depth about the food. If you want to eat in Liberia know one simple fact; you will eat rice ever day you are there. If you do not like rice one bit, there is little chance you will enjoy anything in this country. Fortunately for me, I enjoy rice quite a bit.

The concept of three square meals, or six small meals as many nutritionists will tell you is healthier, is lost in this nation. Instead, you have one large meal prepared for the day. It is typically served in the early afternoon. There will be a large dish of rice accompanied with a smaller dish of some type of "sauce." The sauce is the excitement for each meal. Everything I have had so far has been amazing. We've enjoyed a peanut sauce with beef, "greens" with duiker, potatoes with fish, and cassava with chicken. Everything is spicy and filled with exotic flavor. Especially the cassava. I think this is my favorite so far. It is funny because I don't like tapioca, which is made from the root of the cassava plant.

Cassava is an interesting plant. As I said, the dish was filled with flavor and spicy. There was a thickness to the texture of the dish, with the sauce saturating each grain of rice to ensure a dish filled with flavor. I wish I could compare it to a familiar dish, but unfortunately I cannot. I can say it is interesting to note if the cassava leaf is not cooked properly it can make you violently ill and consumption of the raw leaf can kill you. The leaf contains a chemical that leads to the creation of cyanide.

As I mentioned earlier, the meal is prepared in the early afternoon. Everyone will eat as soon as the dish is ready, but no one puts away the food afterwards. Since there is no central source of electricity, there is no concept of refrigeration or food storage. Instead, you leave the meal covered for the day and eat whenever you are hungry. Typically, Liberians eat twice daily.

Further, meals are not a family affair. The men will eat separate from the women and children. Men will sit in front of the home, talking about the topics of the day while the women and children eat in the back, near the preparation area. I'm not sure what they talk about, if anything, since I was never back there during a meal.

When we were in Zleh Town, the pastor of Trinity Lutheran invited us to visit his home. This, it turns out, means he wanted to serve us a meal. We sat in the main room, where the pastor's mother dished us the food, first with the rice in the bowl and then the sauce on top. This was the "greens" I had mentioned earlier. Now, this dish sounds bland, but it was by far the spiciest meal I had all week. If it weren't for 1.5L bottles of water, I don't think I could've lasted throughout the meal. Greens, in Liberian, mean the leaves of the potato finely chopped and served with oil, typically palm oil, and meat. As you can guess, I had never had the leaf of a potato before. Tastes pretty good if you ask me.

As soon as the woman served our dishes, she disappeared. We were left to eat alone and only saw her again after we had finished so she could collect the dishes and disappear again. The roles of men and women in this society are very defined and rarely blurred. Even when guests arrive, the men and women do not eat together. It was not uncommon for a woman to greet me, talk for a moment and then disappear to the back to eat while the men stayed up front.

I asked Joe about this later, and he said this was how the culture exists. It is a regimented division between the men and the women. He had mentioned it can lead to problems, especially in dating. I wasn't able to ask much more, but he touched on it briefly, stating that the couple will often be separated from each other during the date because of the requirements.

Somehow, I don't see how many young Americans, myself included among them, would find this aspect of Liberia culture enjoyable.