So I get a call today from an unknown number. I answer it, and this guy says, “you john, I have mail for you.” I had a hard time understanding him, so after hanging up I asked my Liberian companions where the post office is? We were in town for the TRC public hearings, more on that later, and so I figured I’d walk over there and get it. Fully (works at the TRC), told me just to have them bring it to me. He asked if the man who called was a Liberian, then calls him on my phone and is like, “John at Centennial Pavilion, he want his mail here.” 15 minutes, and a 40LD ($0.60) tip later, I had my mail.

I had always heard that it was crazy expensive to send stuff to Liberia. I was told that DHL is the only company that shipped here. I checked their website and sure enough, $109 to ship a letter. But then some expat friends told me that the USPS would ship here. So I was talking to my friend Bill Allen a week ago, and I told him wanted some software on a CD. So he agreed to send it to me. For $2.70 the USPS got it here, and pretty quickly.

I’ve also since seen adds for both Fedex and UPS here. So if anyone wants to send me something that’d be great. I’ve been told that USPS is not the way to go if you want to send valuable things, and if you send two of everything the chance of one of them getting here goes up a lot. You have to put my phone number on the address since street addresses are a work in progress here:

So at the TRC hearings today the commissioners wanted to hear the testimonies of two children who had lost their parents in the war. Apparently people had already come after the children to silence them, so their testimonies were recorded in a secret location on a DVD to be viewed at the hearings. Us at the IT department were called to set this up. I was asked to assist. I think I get asked to do everything that has some small level of importance because I’m white. Discrimintation… Anyway. We set it up, and find out that the DVD hasn’t been editied. So the children give their full name and their current address on the DVD. They also reveal the names of family members and other involved in the war. Obviously, this could identify them. So we were told to censor this.

So we play the DVD, and Fully and I sit on the ground in front of the projector, taking turns with our finger on the mute button. Not that I could really understand the Liberian English of the children on the DVD, but I was there just in case. This is technology at work in Africa.

 It was really cool to be apart of the hearings and here the amazing stories people have from the war. If nothing else I feel the TRC is offering a valuable service to the people who come to testify. It Gives them a much needed forum and voice to address the wrongs committed against them.

So last time I was here I lent $160 to my friend Anthony. He changes US dollars in the Liberian dollars and sells phone recharge cards. We got to talking one day and I asked what he would do if he had more money. He told me he’d buy a chain saw, go into the country, cut down trees, come back, and sell them. This is what Anthony did before the war. I asked how much that would be and he said he’d need about $300. This was a little high for the young Etherton Micro Bank, so I asked what he’d do with $100. He said he’d buy a generator and use it to charge phone batteries.

I liked this idea. Since there is no power plant in Liberia (Except the one Firestone owns) and no power lines, most people here don’t have power. Power, or “current” as the locals call it, only comes from generators. With cell phones being sold as cheap as $25 a large group of people can afford a phone but not a power source. Lots of people have already made a business out of this, so I was pleased to make the loan given such a proven business model.

We did a little investigating, and realized he would need a generator, power regulator (to keep the cheap generator from frying the phone charges), phone charges, extension cord, and two-stroke gas and oil. This came to about $160. So we wrote up a nice little contract and signed it.

This time around Anthony showed me what he had done with the money he’s earned so far. For starters Anthony has a savings account at the local Ecobank branch. And he’s bought a house. It’s still under construction, but he’s a land owner. I was pretty excited for him, he was pretty excited too. He told me when it was built I would have to come over to, “Share in the fruits”, of the loan. I told him I wanted $160 fruit.

Whether he pays the loan back in June or not, I think the money has been put to good use.

P.S. check out this CNN article on General Butt Naked who I met last week.

Saturday I caught a ride with the fine folk at the Clinton Foundation to Sajj beach. This was my second time there. I didn’t like it much the first time since the break is about 300m from the shore and there are rocks in the water, which at some points stick out of the water. The last time I was here I couldn’t get out past the break. I was way out of shape. This time I went out north of the break and then came in behind it. I was still exhausted from the long haul out there and didn’t get up on any waves. The waves break suddenly and all at once across the span of the wave. Ideally, the wave would break from one end to the other in a smooth fashion.

But, on Sunday I chartered a taxi to Thinker’s Beach. While the waves still broke all at once, the break was only 100m, or so from shore, and no rocks. I had a great time. It was easy to get out past the break, and I was able to get up on 3 waves. I met a German fellow named Martin who also brought a board to Liberia. He has a nice 7’-6” fun shaped board. But when he ordered his board it didn’t come with a leash, so he was using a rope which was beating him up. At the end of the day Martin even gave me a lift back into town, which was way sweet. Saved me the $7 for a taxi ride back into town.

There were also a few boogie borders out there. I think with some more practice I’ll get better at catching a wave and then turning into it. A few waves did break from end to end, but being at such a low skill level, I wasn’t able to take advantage of this, nor did I have the patience to wait for such perfect waves. The only down side I saw with my experience was the cost of a bottle of water at Thinker’s Beach, $3. A little steep.

John

<><

So the other day I was in a small local restaurant across the street from the TRC. I had just paid for a can of Coca-Cola. It was 50 Liberian Dollars (LD).About $0.92. I thought this was a little pricey. I was with Fully, the IT officer at the TRC, and I told him this was way expensive. And he asked how much it was in The States. I told him about the same. A bottle of Coke is only 20LD ($0.30) and is the same amount of coke. So I told him I’d only buy bottles.

Fully looks towards the rest of the restaurant and says, “this man says a can of coke cost the same here as it does in America.” And so I said something about how a can is so much more than a bottle. And I think we all know coke out of the bottle is the way to go. So this other guy chimes in and is like, “well the bottles are made here in Liberia and they’re lesser quality and the flavor is different. But the cans come from America.” Now having lived in Atlanta, GA, the world headquarters of Coca-Cola, and knowing how companies like that value quality and a consistent product, I know that they would never allow their product to be distributed unless it met their quality standards. Nor would they allow the flavor to be changed, unless their market research deemed it necessary to change the taste of coke. But for the sake of avoiding an argument, I just said I thought they tasted the same and the bottle was good enough for me. I did notice that this gentleman seemed well to do, had a couple of people with him, and when he answered the phone he switched to a much more western accent. But this is common for a well to do Liberian. Fully continued to talk with the man about coke for a minute or two and then we left.

As Fully and I are walking back to the TRC he says, “John you know who that was?”
“No.”
“That’s General Butt Naked”

General Butt Naked (AKA Joshua Milton Blahyi) is one of the most notorious perpatrators of violent acts in the Liberian civil war. I assume you can imagine how he got his name. Uniforms were optional. He was also a local spiritual leader, and was called apon by the various war lords to carry out human sacrifices to ensure their success in battle. At a recent TRC hearing Mr. Blahyi said that he killed 20,000 people during the war. This may be slightly exaggerated, but no doubt the man was responsible for a considerable number of deaths.

I couldn’t believe I was just talking about Coke with such an infamous person. Mr. Blahyi did seem quite nice to talk to. Since the war’s end Mr. Blahyi has found Jesus and is now an evangelists, speaking at local churches.

Today was my first day working at the TRC. Thankfully the little girls who sold bananas for about 20 cents and the shop that sells banana bread were still there. They make for a great breakfast, that costs around $0.50. The girls even remembered my name. I was impressed. They seemed happy to see me. And the banana bread was so good.

I met up with Fully, the IT officer of the TRC. He went over what had gone on in the TRC since I’d been gone. We then spent the next few hours updating the site. We removed some old content and added new. It was painfully slow. But it was cool to see the system I helped build work, for the most part, and to get to teach Fully how to use it. We hit a few technical snags but we ironed them out by the end of the day.

At mid day we went to the TRC’s public hearings. Here people, both victims and combatants, recount what happened to them during the civil war and the TRC commissioners ask them about it. The victim that was there today went over a lot of horrible things that he had seen.

After that we had lunch at a Liberian place. On our way back I bought a Chinese rip-off of a Billabong messenger bag. It was $6 so we’ll so how long it lasts, it’s the least laptop looking bag I could find that met my sense of taste. We then made our way back to the TRC where we stayed till 8:30 working to get the rest of the site working.

I ended the day with a $1 bottle of water and a $2 meat pie at plaza pizza. Thank God for that place being so close.

So I got to do a little surfing this weekend. I met Layal, a Canadian who works for the NGO Right to Play. They use games as a means to teach children life and health skills. She has a car and likes to go to the beach, so Sunday we went down to a beach club a few miles south of town. The beach club was nice, but the waves were bad. The break was like 200 meters from shore with some rocks in between. So I got a great workout, and learned that I’m really out of shape (no surprise there). I almost got up once or twice, but mainly just worked on strengthening the arms.

I’m hoping to find some more surfing buddies so we can go together after work and stuff. It looks like GT will be getting a car here which will be awesome for surfing. I’ll keep you guys posted on that.

John

<><