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 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.