Wednesday, January 30, 2008

hindsight bias

I would have eaten a couple bananas yesterday instead of an entire can of garbanzo beans if I’d know that the plumber would come today and move my toilet to the backyard for a couple hours! Also, if I was clairvoyant I would have been able to anticipate that when prior to removing the commode he said ‘I want to take this outside’ that was the equivalent of saying ‘I will be walking swiftly through your entire house carrying your toilet while leaving a splattered trail of poop-water behind me’. Don’t worry, he ‘cleaned it up’ before he left! Not so much, more like smeared it around. I had to wait on the front porch because I couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

Once everything was back in its rightful place and I’d paid the man an outrageous sum of $20US (remember, I eat on less than $40 per week) which mind you I talked him down to because he started by demanding $35, that’s when the real joy began: me armed with a dirty towel and a bucket of dirty bleach water. I feel better cause the floor doesn’t look gross anymore and I used a bunch of bleach but still, I don’t think I’ll be picking up and eating things I drop on the floor anymore!

So my commode is no longer spoiled and the magical plumber man (who showed up wearing a hard hat which I interpreted as a sign of the severity of my toilet situation) says I can even put tissue down it! This, I’m leery about. I think I might just give a week or so before I get too crazy and start dropping tissue in. I have trust issues. But I am trying to be optimistic about it because this was a big decision to splurge on toilet repairs and I’ve been putting it off for over a month so now that I’ve invested the money I’m hopeful that I will reap some fabulous benefits! Such as not spending a cumulative 15 hours (my best estimate) a week watching and waiting for my toilet bowl to empty so that I can dump another bucket of water in! So here’s to tomorrow: may I not waste my time staring at poop!

Monday, January 28, 2008

domestic life is hard.

I think I might have to fire my waterboy. I’ve been thinking this for several weeks now and have said it aloud a few times during work. I can’t figure out what his deal is, I mean besides the ‘not talking’ part of his personality which I’ve grown accustomed to. He is repeatedly struggling to complete his job adequately. I don’t ask for a lot, we only have 2 barrels in the house that he has to fill and I even bought 2 jugs for him to haul the water with so that he wouldn’t have to use my neighbor’s. I even started making his job easier a couple weeks ago and I put the barrels on the back porch each night before he comes so that when he arrives early he can just get started without having to wait for me to open up the house. This also means he technically has to carry the water a shorter distance because he doesn’t have to traipse through the house to the kitchen and bathroom. And I pay him $5US a week, which is a very good amount for the fact that he doesn’t even have to come every day but only 4 days a week. Lately his major flaw is that he doesn’t fill the jugs up after filling the barrels. This is a very basic task and just requires an additional trip to the well, but the kid keeps ducking away without completing it. Because we sometimes use extra water it’s helpful to have the 2 jugs full and on stand-by, plus sometimes the well is dirty in the morning and his refilling the barrels gets delayed so with the extra water on hand there’s a smaller chance that I won’t be able to flush my toilet or wash my breakfast dishes (although I still find myself out of water a couple days a week). I’m just losing my patience with this kid because I’ve told him repeatedly he must fill the jugs and then on Wednesday this week he tried to sneak off leaving them empty and I had to quickly shout after him – when confronted he lied to my face and said he was just closing the gate (not leaving) but that’s funny because he was on the OUTSIDE OF THE GATE so that sure looks like leaving to me! And today he managed to run off without filling them again. He’s not being truthful and I’m vexed.

There’s also been much drama inside my house with Nelly and she’s currently looking into getting a room somewhere else to live. It’s been a lot of things building up and the decision of asking her to move out was a hard one to make but it’s really the only option because I’ve given her ample chances to change and improve in clearly defined ways and she is blatantly resistant to making any changes. The main problems lie in communication, or more specifically her lack of. It’s not a cultural thing either, which is what I had it pinned as for many many weeks and was therefore trying desperately to 'bridge the gap', but rather a combination of immaturity and rudeness.

I was starting to think that I’m crazy and to blame for these problems revolving around my home but when I’ve discussed both situations at great length with my co-workers they agreed that something’s off and it’s not my fault. So if it’s not me, then it’s some sort of bad juju that’s enveloping my life in Liberia! Maybe starting fresh with no more Nelly in my house and hiring a new waterboy will turn things around. We shall see!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

stateside updates

It’s been ‘a week’. What more can I say, with changes coming organizationally and me hating everyone, it’s just been ‘a week’! I also got word on Monday that a buddy from college died unexpectedly. He was a great guy who I worked with in a couple different volunteer programs and I was terribly saddened by the news. So I’ve had a lot on my mind.

To not be total ‘Debbie Downer’ I also want to take the chance to share some info about an incredible adventure that my friends Bessie and Kyle are embarking on in less than a week. My peeps have quit their jobs (hoo-rah!) and packed up their lives to spend the next year or so living nomadically as they backpack their way through Central and South America and from there may perhaps take on the world! The crazy couple will be exploring and doing some volunteer work en-route and is very excited. I’m thrilled about their upcoming adventures as Bessie and I spent much time discussing what our ‘lives abroad’ would be like when we worked together in Chicago. Since they’re funny people (most of my friends are) they have also created a blog site (much fancier than mine so don’t judge!) where they’ll be documenting their journey in ‘he said; she said’ style. I encourage you all to check it out..this way if you get bored of African tales you can mix it up a bit and perhaps even learn some Spanish along the way (all while avoiding doing whatever desk job you’re currently neglecting to read this post). www.bessieandkyle.com It’s also linked on the right side of my page for future reference!

the peace that passed

We officially had to cancel our upcoming Peace and Cultural Festival earlier this week. Unfortunately, despite our fundraising assault on the ground here and the tireless efforts of the UK team we were not able to gain the sponsorships necessary to make it happen. To be quite honest, we obtained zero dollars in sponsorship here in Liberia which is something that perplexes me considering the amount of time we spent pursuing potentials coupled with our relentless follow-up. The cancellation stirs mixed emotions for me personally. On one hand, this is the event that I’ve been devoting my energies to since my arrival, so it was hard to swallow at first when I thought about all the time and effort that was for nought. The cancellation also made me sad because it proved me right. When I first learned about the plans and immense scale of the Festival I was baffled by the notion that our little AYDAP was going to be able to pull it off. We’re all very capable humans but the Festival was quite dreamy in its mass and I feared it was beyond our capacity organizationally. I have been working diligently toward the production of the Festival utilizing quite a bit of ‘blind faith’ and hoping that what couldn’t be done in the US (given the time constraints, staffing and required budget) could indeed be accomplished in West Africa.

At the same point, it’s a bit exciting to just start new at this point after all I’ve learned during my initial time here, as if the Festival development was just a dress-rehearsal! We’re currently attempting some ‘organizational restructuring’ to improve the effectiveness of AYDAP and increase our capacity and functionality. Once that’s complete I’ll be happy to share more details regarding our next projects. It’s an interesting situation that I’m in here, our team is very capable, driven, passionate and offers great creativity when it comes to new project ideas and ways to impact our community; we just don’t have the funds available to actually implement any of the projects we are ready to develop! Hopefully that will turn around soon as we’re currently pursuing some partnerships that would enable us to implement projects that will make a big difference.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

kinda hating everyone

You all know the feeling, like when you’ve received several phone calls and know you need to call people back and you want to talk to the people but you just really don’t feel like it at the moment and you’d rather sit on the couch. It’s kinda like that, only multiplied by 1,000 because here in West Africa you can’t ‘screen your calls’ when people are continually showing up on your doorstep. And it’s sent me into a place where I just kinda hate everyone! No one person has done anything, I’m just tired of there always being people around. I never had this problem in the States, usually it was quite the opposite – I kept very busy making sure that I was busy and had plenty of people to hang out with and knew that if I was at my home I could just be there relatively undisturbed. But here, my house is a disturbance! The compound has been getting noisier as more random kids have moved in with the families that live here. My understanding is that it goes something like this: in Liberia if you’re doing well economically you are expected to take responsibility for the children of your family members. So the kids keep coming and they aren’t getting any quieter as they multiply and they run and chase and shriek at all hours of the day (my favourite is Saturday at 7:30am when they scream and run all around my house). I’m starting to feel like a grouchy old lady!

The ‘youth hostel’ is just beginning to settle down but now a few of my neighbors have started just coming over. (not to mention my house is now a bit of a 'day care' center because Nelly keeps randomly bringing over the babies of our neighbors and feeding 3-4 at a time on the front porch - don't judge me for hating this, their families are upperclass and the children eat plenty so it's not that i've become heartless!) The Poppy came over for 4 evenings in a row and just sat on my couch. It would be fine if he made conversation but he never does and I feel obligated to be polite and not simply ignore him so it gets awkward real quick as I try to have small talk. And I’ve realized that I still don’t enjoy the company of a certain repeat-visitor. I’ve determined that approximately 75-80% of the time he’s here ‘lecturing’ with me I strongly dislike him! And the remaining 20-25% of the time isn’t that great, my feelings are of mere tolerance. I find myself speaking quite harshly to him (a bad habit I’ve picked up from the Liberian culture) a majority of the time and still he keeps coming back. It’s exhausting! And things have not been coming on well with Nelly and I so there’s much frustration in that arena as well. I’ve found that on the weekends if she’s out I’m compelled to just lock the front door and hang out inside or on the back porch, hoping that the neighbors will think I’m not home! I honestly think that if I could get some quality alone time when I didn’t feel like I was hiding out and racing the clock to gather ‘alone power’ before someone walked into my house THEN I would be ready to socialize again!

It’s very amusing to me that when I first arrived I was freaked out by all the alone time that I felt forced into, but now all I want is to be left alone. I think this is a prime example of how the power of choice can drastically change how a situation is perceived as enjoyable or not! While expressing my need for alone time to James and Terrence the other day they agreed that all the kids running around this place is no good (especially when they randomly play on my front porch, did I mention how loud they are!?). Then Terrence added that this is Liberia and how things are done (meaning all the people always being around – an African thing that I anticipated) and he asked me when I was going to adapt to the local ways! I laughed out loud at that question because all I’ve done since I arrived is ‘adapt to local ways’ and it’s become clear that my ‘American ways’ still are underlying and express themselves in certain needs (i.e. alone time and food that doesn’t give me diarhea!). I just don’t think that people always bothering me is going to turn into something I enjoy, nor do I plan to start having multiple boyfriends secretly and simultaneously to buy me stuff (as is the mentality of the young, upperclass women here). Some things are worth adapting to (bucket baths, killing giant spiders, excessive rice consumption, occasional use of ‘country English’ to make a point, being perpetually covered in clay dust), others just equate to compromising my true self!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Prince has left the building.

Prince – how I’ll miss your crazy antics, how you would leap through my front door and dance about, your obsession with American hip hop and your idea that you could come to America and be a rapper and have me as your producer, the way you would borrow my stuff and then never bring it back, the times we play argued and shouted like crazy people because you wouldn’t bring back my dishes, and the way your face seemed peculiarly small for the rest of you! Don’t worry folks – my neighbor Prince didn’t die, he just moved to Morocco! But it’s still kind of a secret so don’t say anything! Haha Prince left a few days ago under the guise of travelling to neighboring Sierra Leone to get more clothing to sell here, but unbeknownst to his family he’s actually heading by car to North Africa where he has a friend living that invited him to come live and work for a couple years. He explained to me that his big brother (who he lived with across from me) would be vexed if he knew what he was really doing, so it’s best if he just goes and then calls in a couple weeks and explains his plan. Prince’s girlfriend just had a baby within the last month and because doing anything necessary for money is the cultural norm in Liberia he’s off to another country to try and earn some good money for a few years. Also, as part of another culturally acceptable lifestyle, Prince didn’t just have the one baby-mama girlfriend. In fact, I believe he has 2-3 others locally, who knows what will happen now that he’s moved away.

This leads me to sharing the fact that many men and women continue to have ‘simultaneous relationships’ even while married. The cultural trend is that it’s okay as long as you keep it a secret from your spouse or ‘main flame’ – so you can’t cheat openly, but regardless of if s/he suspects it’s still alright. Obviously not everyone in society chooses this path for their love life, but I’m surprised by how generally acceptable it is given the intense brand of Christianity here. Cultures can be interesting like that!

''Atlantic delay''

I have to let you in on a little secret...sometimes my posts involve things that didn’t happen the day I post them! Don’t be scared – I haven’t been making up events or exaggerating stories at all. I just occasionally have to delay the posting of stories – usually to protect the innocent! Haha Don’t get me wrong, certain events (i.e. tripping and falling on the road last week) do get posted as soon as they happen because they’re too good to hold on to! But sometimes posts are delayed because I’m waiting to see what happens next, sometimes it’s because I have 14 brilliant ideas for posts all in one night and recognize that no one wants to read 14 posts, no matter how brilliant, all at once. Therefore, I spread out the love so that my updates come on a semi-regular basis so y’all don’t get bored! I’ve decided to consider this the ‘Atlantic delay’, as in the delay that is created by the fact that my adventures have to travel all the way across the wide open ocean to get to most of you! It also allows me a little time to process and not scare anyone with an emo-filled outburst (that’s what I send private emails for!). Let this post act as foreshadowing for some tales that will soon be coming your way...stay tuned in an-ti-ci-paaaa-tion (Rocky Horror Picture Show – anyone!?).

Monday, January 21, 2008

welcome to the circus!

I’ve come to realize that life in Liberia is much like living in a circus. We’ve got clown cars aka cabs (I rode in a mini-bus cab with 24 other people one time), wild animals (out in the interior), and an assortment of carnival food. Between the fried plantains (we can consider that a local interpretation of an elephant ear), the bags of fresh popcorn, the peanut toffee and meat on a stick – it’s just like being at the Huron County Fair! There are people accomplishing astonishing feats like balancing chairs on their heads, fitting three people on a bicycle while pedalling in flip-flops, and juggling babies and baked goods while walking down the road. There are also magicians – men performing card tricks along the road providing gambling opportunities to passerbyers. Not to mention the monkeys! It’s always a surprise when monkeys appear, riding on trucks or sitting in front of houses and shops. Life is certainly never dull at the circus!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Surprising but true: Observations in Liberia

  • There are pigeons here – and not just in the city center, here, by my house.
  • Liberians seem to really enjoy country-western music.
  • It’s cultural to drink hot tea in the morning and evening – even while you’re sweating.
  • Nothing costs less than $5LD – coins are out of circulation since the wars destroyed the economy.
  • Not everyone has a clothesline so many people lay their wash on the ground to dry.
  • Jelly sandals (circa 1992) can be found here on the feet of young guys who drive taxis.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Losing my damn mind!

So it all started with an unidentifiable, ear-piercing sound that was radiating at the front of my house a couple evenings ago. Nelly was sitting on the porch and didn’t seem to notice it, and brother Elijah came by and was carrying on as if the noise didn’t exist. It was all I could hear so I asked if they knew what the sound was – only to end up talking in circles with Elijah as he said he didn’t hear anything and then pointed out other sounds (like the neighbor’s car that had just pulled up). I couldn’t get anywhere with him and honestly considered that I was losing it! I suggested maybe it was a bullfrog or insect of some sort and still he said he didn’t hear anything and continued to point out the normal, obvious noises near my house. I had to walk away eventually and the next evening investigated alone only to determine that it is something in the grass near my front porch steps and that the sound is echoing off the tin-underside of the roof which hangs over that area. The amplified sound is near maddening – or maybe that was the effect of the conversation with brother Elijah!

Then yesterday I saw a UFO. Way up in the sky, which was especially clear and blue late yesterday afternoon. It was a black shape, not quite a dot. It resembled a helicopter but was way too high for that. It was hovering in one spot for a long while and then I looked up and it was gone, only to reappear seconds later a little farther west. I studied it for almost an hour and chose not to ask a passing neighbor about it for fear that I was losing my mind. It got to the point where I even took out my digital camera and tried to zoom in take a picture and then zoom all the way in when viewing the picture to get a closer look at the thing. This plan was futile and at first I couldn’t even find the UFO when looking through my viewfinder, and then even the zoomed in zoom in of the photo showed nothing more than a vast blue with a fuzzy section. Alas, it was gone after another hour and I haven’t seen it since. Guess I can add that to my list of firsts!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

trippin'

I estimate that on an average day I manage to stumble or trip a little at least twice while walking down the road. I’ve concluded that this reoccurring event is due in part (30%) to my natural tendency toward somewhat clumsy behaviour. The poor condition of the roads and surfaces here are to blame for the remaining 70%. There are so many chunks of missing pavement, sandy sections, areas of loose gravel and raised portions here, there, and everywhere that my feet find it terribly hard to predict what surface will greet them next – resulting in my inevitable tripping. But what’s worse than a minor trip or stumble? The situation that I found myself in today – unexpectedly sitting on the pavement at the edge of the road. I managed to step right on an oil spill, slip and land hard on the ground. I was walking alone back toward home from the Junction and of course I was carrying 3-4 small bags of groceries and wearing a skirt! Luckily I only bruised the bananas and somehow tore my loaf of bread in half, but went down gracefully enough (with sounds of women gasping in the background) that I didn’t tear my skirt or give anyone a free show. I remained sitting in amazement for a few seconds, taking in the greatness that was my fall, while several men rushed to help me up and I heard about 15 people say ‘sorry’. I gotta hand it to the Liberians – even when you do something stupid like slip and fall they apologize as if on behalf of the oil spill or as compensation for my own issues! I walked the rest of the way home and couldn’t help but grin like a fool because it was the kind of situation that you just wish someone you know had witnessed so you can joke about it for a minimum of three days! It should be interesting to see if when I pass that spot tomorrow (as I walk past there at least twice daily) anyone comments on my incident.

In other news, I have a ‘fresh cold’. I’m not sure what this means exactly, it’s a phrase that is common here and I’m assuming it translates into having a regular cold because I feel like I have a cold and when I described my symptoms to Nelly she confirmed it was a fresh cold. It just started raining a bit too, I figure that will either cure me or make the sinus pressure behind the right side of my face even worse! We’ll see what the morning brings!

Monday, January 14, 2008

peace lacks novelty

I decided that an update for y’all on the work front here in Liberia is long overdue. As you might recall, I didn’t move to Liberia to simply be traumatized by giant insects, contract unknown intestinal disorders and develop an obsession with Aunt Jemima! In fact, I came here to work (volunteer full-time in an unpaid capacity technically) and the task at hand is something that I am very committed to. The scheduled dates for our upcoming Liberian Peace & Cultural Festival are approaching quite rapidly (we’re 6 weeks out) and there are many things still left to be done. The Festival will take place the last week of February and consists of workshops for youth and three nights of musical performances, each featuring different genres. The funny thing is that in the last month alone we’ve seen two other organizations present ‘peace festivals’ at the same venue that we’re planning to hold ours. So the challenge has become to do it better than everybody else! We were fortunate to attend portions of each of the recent festivals and have learned a lot from the mistakes of others. Right now our biggest delay has come from the slowness that we’re experiencing in securing sponsors. Most companies that we approached loved the description of what we’re planning but despite our fundraising assault, which started in the last week of November, we are still waiting. We’re still very optimistic – all though the lack of funding has been freaking out my American brain for months (since I was in Scotland!), I’ve settled into the fact that there’s no need for a breakdown just yet, afterall we’re on West African time!

Today we had a very productive staff meeting and talked through a strategic plan of sorts for 2008. Taking into consideration a list (created several months ago) of a lot of very optimistic dream projects, we were eventually able to narrow it down into something realistic and accomplishable given where AYDAP stands at this moment as a grassroots NGO. After this meeting I’m actually very eager for the Festival to come and go so that we can really hit the ground running with our other planned projects!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

self-medicating

The beauty of Africa’s medical system doesn’t lie in the lack of infrastructure and disgusting bathroom at JFK hospital, but rather the beauty is in the pharmacies. Firstly, they are plentiful. I know of at least three within walking distance of my house and I’m sure there are more that I just haven’t noticed. Secondly, you don’t need a prescription. Yes, I know this is really hard for Westerner’s to comprehend because we’re used to all the rules that go along with non-OTC drug distribution. I’m not sure that the locals even pay any mind to this fact, but I think it’s quite wonderful. As someone who’s been sick a lot in my years and always interested in knowing what was being prescribed this is my ideal arrangement. In American if I was sick I still had to jump through all the hoops of going to the doctor and explaining which meds would work best for me and then waiting in line at CVS. Not here though – I’m kinda hoping I come down with a little something self-diagnosable just so I can head straight to the pharmacy and request my drug of choice! Haha I don’t really want to get sick so maybe I shouldn’t even play with fire by suggesting that!

My recent pondering of the pharmacy system here was prompted by the dwindling number of anti-malarial pills in my three-month supply that I obtained back in the States when I still had health insurance. This leads to the third point of beauty in this system – no health insurance battles. In my quest to find more preventative malaria meds I visited several pharmacies and a clinic (also a dealer of drugs) and noticed that the prices vary. This is a fabulous, wonderful thing! My preventative drug of choice is Malarone, but you can’t find it in Liberia (this is sad because I love it as it has no side effects); regardless, from what I learned speaking with various ‘pharmacists’ I don’t think I’d be able to afford it even if I could find it here (one woman said that when they do carry it the cost is approx. $45US for only 6 tablets – it has to be taken daily). So this leads me to my second-choice drug: Doxycycline. This one is known for some terrific side effect possibilities over extended use, including but not limited to increased sun-sensitivity (not too convenient since I’m white and living in the tropics), mild hair loss and yeast infections (it’s an antibiotic so taking it daily for many months leads to fun times for ladies!). But from what I’ve learned it’s a pretty common antibiotic and this makes it exceptionally cheap. The first pharmacies I checked sell it for $2-3US for 10 pills, but the fancy looking pharmacy right up the road from my house (conveniently located next to the super market that I frequent) sells it 10 pills for 50LD which is less than $1US (our exchange rate is at 63 these days). So I’m just tickled pink that I can be protected against Malaria for less than $3US a month! Plus, doxy is also used to treat acne and by taking an antibiotic daily I’m hoping that my intestinal distress will be less frequent and I’ll have a little more freedom with my diet!

Oh, and I already asked the pharmacy – they carry the necessary drug for the inevitable yeast infections! Haha

Friday, January 11, 2008

larger than life

I was sleeping peacefully the other night and woke up to pee at 2am – don’t you just hate that! So anyways, I returned to bed and curled up but sleep did not return to me. At around 2:30 I decided maybe I was a little bit hungry so with candle in hand I headed to the kitchen to grab a handful of cereal to tame the growling beast within. Boy was I surprised by what I found! With my candle on the counter I looked up at the wall to see the single largest cockroach that I have EVER seen in person (even when I lived in Florida I never saw one of this magnitude). At first I thought it was an optical allusion of some sort – like the candle must be casting a shadow from its uplighting angle. But I kept staring and even moved the candle and it was true: he was about 2.5 inches long and quite a fatty at over 1 inch wide at his middle. He stayed there and I snacked on cereal just giggling to myself. As I headed back toward bed I found another surprise on the wall on the living room: a spider with legs spanning wider around than my palm! Again I was simply amazed and aside from realizing that maybe I should never get up in the middle of the night again, I could only stare in wonder and awe. I considered that maybe I was in a sci-fi movie. These creatures were large enough to classify as rodents! I have seen full-grown mice smaller than that cockroach! If they want to share my residence I’m okay with that, as long as they know that night time is their only time to come out and play. Hopefully they’ll follow the rules and stay in the front of the house, too! Oh yeah, and I laid awake until around 6:30am when sleep finally returned to me for another couple hours.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

making friends

After a long dry spell of sorts I think it’s safe to say that I’m finally feeling like I have some friends here – not necessarily the ‘friends for life’ type but some temporary ‘buddies’ if nothing else! I’ve wanted to write this blog for a couple weeks now but have been hesitant because I was afraid I would jinx things! When I moved into the compound where I live it appeared that all my neighbors had established their routines and become social with each other but didn’t give a rat’s tail that some new American lady had moved in. Turns out I had it all wrong! The compound had just been completed during October so most of my neighbors had just moved in during the week or so preceding my arrival. So what I mistook for ‘settled in routines’ was actually the process of each household trying to figure out their lives in their new homes. So now that we’re all feeling more adjusted we’re beginning to socialize more!! Part of this has yielded an increased fascination that the ‘American lady’ enjoys eating African food – and sending me over a dish of whatever soup they’re eating has become an event in itself. I’ve also gotten to chat more with a couple of my neighbors – in the evenings Prince comes over to ‘lecture’ (Liberian English for ‘have a conversation’) with Nelly and I, and brother Elijah continues to arrive after dark each night even though I don’t need him to start the generator any more. I’ve also been getting to know Florence, she is Angel’s mother and the two of them plus her Mom stay kitty-corner to me. Florence is around my age and finishing University. She loves African shows and rents a couple almost every day so Nelly and I have started hanging out at her house some evenings to watch shows. There has been increased conversating all around the compound, I’ve noticed a couple of the middle-aged women have started sitting together each evening, and we’ve also acquired two night-time security guards so on the evenings when we sit outside the compound gate (where the best breeze is) our entertainment has been increased by having more people around. I added some new pictures from a recent evening of madness at my house so check ‘em out! I’m still no where near ‘social butterfly’ status though slowly but surely there’s more chatter and laughter in my sphere!

How you comin' on?

There was a bit of concern expressed (namely by my Mom!) after I posted my ‘Ode’ on Monday. So just in case anyone else is wondering – no, i’m not going crazy and the heat hasn’t gotten to me! Haha Quite the contrary in fact...we are currently in our official dry season here in Liberia and despite a slight delay (global warming) we are enjoying cooler evenings and nights which lead to cool mornings. But just as the weather in Ohio is full of surprises –Liberia’s operating under the same tricky Mother Nature and by mid-day the sun’s heat is quite intense. My point being, the heat hasn’t caused me to lose my mind, but when the word web came into existence I was actually wearing a long sleeve button-up while sitting on my porch enjoying the cool nip in the air – so perhaps the cold triggered some sort of altered mental state (though I think I’m just naturally quirky like that and prone to creative outbursts). And the phrase ‘how you comin’ on?’ is a popular one here. There’s even a segment on the radio entitled just that – on Christmas day I heard them checking on patients at the hospital but they go other places too.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Ode to Aunt J.

I was feeling a little random this evening and what started as an amusing word web became this amazing tribute. I hope it brings cheer to your day – just as Aunt J. does for me!

You transform each Sunday
making me feel at home.
You bring back memories of family
and Ladies Lunches at cafes.
You bring joy to my heart
and your carbs feed my malnourished soul.
You replace rice for a day
or renovate it with your sweetness.
You’re versatile and creative.
You’re not afraid to try new things.
You make my collarbones less visible
and my face less gaunt.
You bring me syrup.
You bring me pancake.
You sweeten this sometimes sour life.
For all this and more
I thank you Aunt Jemima.
I thank you.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Me and JFK

Act I: Thursday

After a third bout with ‘the sickness’ I decided it was time to give in to the idea that my body is harboring a refugee! I’ve been admittedly stubborn to give in to this with the mind-set that as long as I’m living in Africa I will probably have some sort of something hanging out somewhere internally causing little troubles (mostly of the intestinal variety) every so often. But since this bugger seems persistent I decided to make an attempt at improving my quality of life by seeking the assistance of trained medical personnel. I decided to go big and visit JFK Hospital – from the road it looks well-established and I’ve heard they have white people working there so the odds of me receiving Western medicine are good. Too bad the place looks like a dump once you get up close! After a painful process of trying to find the right person to register with (from my experiences Liberians have no training in customer service or even basic manners when dealing with others). I asked to use the toilet while waiting for the doctor and they gave me the key but as soon as I entered I wished I hadn’t! Luckily I had carried my camera with me to the hospital just in case something unbelievable needed to be documented, so I took a picture of myself in this rotting bathroom because I couldn’t believe it was in a medical facility!

Eventually my name was called and in the ‘waiting room’ I proceeded to describe my symptoms to a man that I presume has a degree in medicine. He said he would send me to the lab to be tested for malaria and tyhoid fever. I explained that I take my anti-malarials daily and have been vaccinated against typhoid and really think perhaps it’s a parasite causing me this intestinal distress. He elaborated that I might still have a mild strain of malaria or typhoid (it was like a flashback to college – every girl ever who went to the on-campus health center, for sore throat or twisted ankle, was immediately asked about symptoms of pregnancy to the point where you start to believe it yourself that maybe your throat/ankle is sore because you’re with child). So to the lab I went (pondering my new prognosis as a patient with malaria and/or typhoid) – this is where the traumatizing part took place. The man who was playing ‘nurse’ was busy about the lab wearing latex gloves as he worked, then he proceeded to take blood from two people before telling me to sit down. I observed the lack of glove changing that was taking place and asked him politely to change them before pricking my finger. He said, ‘there’s no blood on them, if there was i would change them’ so I persisted in my request and was met with gruffness in his tone and what I believe was unnecessary force when stabbing my fingertip! Our relationship only deteriorated as he told me the cost for the labs and demanded payment right then, although he had no receipt to give and I hadn’t seen the two patients before me pay him. Already a little flustered I inquired about all this and finally he raised his voice and said ‘I only speak Liberian English, I don’t understand you’. Feeling the edge of reason leaving my body I worked hard to keep the tremor from my voice. I told him that he still shouldn’t be rude to me and as he’s the one treating me he has the responsibility of explaining things to me. Finally after he shouted some more and pointed in my face as he spoke to me so I just gave him the money and went outside to wait 30 minutes for my results. $175 Liberian Dollars later, they were both negative, of course, because my symptoms are that of a parasite – even my Aunt who lives in Texas spotted this coming via email dialogue! The doctor proceeded to tell me he thinks I’m fine, everything is well with me. I told him no. There is obviously something not fine with me considering how I feel! So I told him I wanted checked for parasites and foolishly asked if they have a container to bring my stool sample in. He recommended using an empty matchbox.

Act II: Friday
Oh life, when you want something you can’t find it! Such goes the story of my poop on this blessed day.

Act III: Saturday
So this morning me and my sample, packaged tidily in a baggie in a matchbox within another baggie placed inside a small grocery bag, walked to the junction to get a car. Not gonna lie – I grabbed a donut along the way and then couldn’t help but laugh as I strolled down the road munching on a donut with one hand while swinging said sample from the other! On this particular morning I also benefitted from a little thing I like to call ‘white lady magic’ and while waiting for a cab that wasn’t jam-packed, a car with two well-dressed older men stopped and offered to take me to JFK, along with two other random passengers that were fortunate to be passing by as I got in the car. This test only costs $25LD so that made me happy, and it didn’t involve dealing with the angry ‘nurse’ man who I hope to never encounter on the other end of a sharp object again! The woman appeared a tad cranky when I presented the doctor’s order and my sample. But after waiting 10 minutes she returned with the slip of paper and told me to go back to the doctor. Clearly, I unfolded the paper immediately and was gravely disappointed to read that the results were negative. I ran into my doctor from Thursday on my way out and showed him the results. He said ‘’you’re healthy!’’ and shook my hand...I’m still not convinced though! Haha If there is indeed a refugee within me I’m going to have to find a different set of medical practitioners to locate it. But for now I guess I’ll just have to keep on keeping on.

Friday, January 4, 2008

condiments changed my life

Who knew!? The magical power that certain common items hold to turn my day around is quite incredible! Namely, i have a new found appreciation and admiration for a few classics: margarine, Aunt Jemima’s syrup, French’s brown mustard and ground cinnamon. I have been experimenting and discovered many ways to apply these simple additions to my every day meals and with a lot of successful i’ve added immense joy to my diet! The mustard is very tasty with sweet potato fries, can magically transform a standard fried hotdog and has many applications with eggs: hard boiled and fried. The margarine surprised me the most. I wasn’t drawn to it at the super market, having many reservations because of the lack of refrigeration in my house, but it has delighted me on many occasions. The syrup is ideal for French toast (perhaps my favourite treat to cook here) and has additional applications when added to my raw oats and milk at breakfast (toss in some raisins and my day is off to a great start!) or used as a substitution for brown sugar when snacking on warm white rice in milk. My most recent splurge was the cinnamon. It costs the equivalent of $2 US, which is a lot of my budget to spend on a spice when I’m living on approximately $45 US a week. My initial idea was that it would improve my French toast efforts but then I had a revelation in the form of a strong craving for cinnamon toast! My Liberian-version consists of bread (untoasted) with margarine spread on it and topped with a cinnamon sugar combo. But just yesterday I decided to explore another possibility and added some cinnamon and powdered vanilla-flavored milk to my hot tea – it’s just like a chai latte from Starbucks!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Removing the black

I had the pleasure of attending a traditional celebration on New Year’s Day, in honor of a woman ending her year-long period of mourning the death of her mother. Traditionally Liberian women have participated in an extensive mourning period when loved ones pass (that’s right, the men don’t mourn). If a woman is mourning the loss of a female relative she would have historically mourned for 3 years, and 4 years for a man’s passing. In current times if women enter a mourning period they do it for an abbreviated amount of time, sometimes just 3 or 4 months accordingly. During the first half of the mourning she will wear only black and for the second half she will wear black and white every day. Some mourners even give up eating rice for most of the mourning period because rice is seen to bring joy and fulfilment (there are billboards here that read: Rice is Life!) so by abstaining from eating it the woman is further expressing her sadness. At the conclusion of the mourning period a large gathering is held in celebration and the woman wears all white (similar to a wedding dress) and is escorted by a large group of her close female friends who wear matching outfits (I counted 24 ‘bridesmaids’ at the celebration). Friends and family gather and a list of names is read, at which time each person comes to the head table and donates money to the woman of mourning. This is done three times over, after the list is read each time the ‘bridesmaids’ change outfits, are re-seated and the same list is read again. This fundraising is done to help offset the expenses of the burial and celebration. Food is served to the masses (approximately 150 people were there) and I enjoyed the pepper soup, some rib tips and potato salad – I decided to chance it with the mayonnaise and surprisingly didn’t get sick! Everyone also enjoyed beer and softdrinks (I stuck with the Coke, didn’t want to play with fire too much by adding Liberian beer to my system). After the list-reading and outfit changing was finished a live band performed and the women shouted and danced. James explained that sometimes a woman will raise $100,000 US at the concluding celebration. The woman who’s party it was (she’s James’ neighbor) was in her 40s and unmarried – I don’t doubt that she was tremendously sad about her mother’s death, but I’m curious if the idea of a large party and wearing a white dress encouraged her to take on an entire year of mourning! The tradition is still upheld in many tribes living in the interior but is less common in the coastal regions, especially near the capital city.

New Year's

With a boisterous Christian majority in Liberia, the typical New Year’s Eve celebration takes place at the church, known locally as Watch Night. The congregation, young and old, gather in the evening to ‘sleep’ in the church. At first when hearing this, I thought that people went and prayed and then slept in the pews but there’s actually no sleeping involved! The pastor preaches and the choir sings and the people shout, pray and dance the New Year in – praising God for still being alive and requesting prosperity in the coming year. At most churches the service continues until 6 am when people finally disperse and head home to rest. On New Year’s Day many people take to the beach and that night is when the drinking and club scene celebrating takes place. People also feel it is very important to attend church on the first Sunday of January, in a way of demonstrating their faith. Apparently on Easter Sunday and First Sunday the churches are packed – similarly to Easter and Christmas in the US.