This past week No Lemon received the new heavy duty springs for GATECH-1. Before the rear springs were pretty much shot, causing the car to bottom out all the time. The new springs have lifted the back by a good 4″. Just check out these before and after picturess. The car also drives a lot nicer over the rough roads of Monrovia. I’m very much looking forward to taking her out up country. In theory the car can now carry 600lbs over the standard load in the back. I had 5 people in the back plus the MOSES power pack. We drove from downtown to Congo Town with out bottoming out once. Amazing.

Once again I’ve managed to go a month with out any updates. When I started out I thought this would be easier than it is. The hard part is getting the photos up here, and we all know photos make the blog. Like this photo here. See if you can spot the white man standing at Water Side Market.

Water Side is where i took my friends David McCann and Stephanie Kruse when they arrived here to get a taste of Liberia. David and I studied computer science at Georgia Tech together for both our undergrad and grad degrees. He now works for Busy Labs in Accra. Steph and I went to the same church in Atlanta. She teaches special ed in the Gwenette County school system. Steph arrived at the beginning of July and has been helping the TRC with some copy editing.  The following is a brief summary of the high points of our adventures this past month.

I’ve noticed for some time that GATECH-1, my company car in Monrovia, has been riding a little low in the back. Especially when there’s equipment in the back and a back seat full of people. The tire would be an inch from the wheel well when the car is fully loaded. I found myself driving very slowly to avoid bottoming out on every pot hole, and there are a lot of pot holes here.

I took the car to No Lemon garage to see what could be done. Given the nature of the driving the 4Runner would be doing, they recommended heavy duty shocks and springs, which I fully agree with. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the parts in for several weeks. They had to import the parts from their supplier in Australia. So I decided to work on a quick fix in the mean time.

I went down to the rubber market, and found four 4″x1.5″ blocks of rubber. I had the guys at the market cut these up into eight 2″x1.5″ blocks. This set me back a paltry 700LD. I then went home, jacked up the 4Runner, and shoved 4 blocks in between the each coil of the rear springs as shown above. Amazingly, this added about an inch and a half of lift to the rear of the car and fixed the bottoming out. The ride was even pretty good, no squirly backend or anything. This reminded me of the kinds of things friends in my neighborhood would do to raise their pick-ups when we were in high school. Though after a while a few of the blocks of rubber fell out, so a real solution to the problem is needed. I’ll keep you posted.

We also took the MOSES (MObile Story Exchange System, formerly known as the Kiosk) out to Vonzula, Grand Cape Mount county. We were invited to go there by David Kizolu, the TRC county coordinator for Grand Cape Mount. Vonzula is a market town about 20 (I’m making up this number) miles from Sierra Leone. We went on market day so the place was packed. There were some good interactions with MOSES and the locals, lots of good videos were recorded, and as always people seemed excited. I think Steph and David liked it because it was a break from Monrovia and more of a sampling of rural Liberia. Like a lot of places the capital city is not what the rest of the country is like. David and I met a lot of people from the surrounding area, and Stephanie was befriended by every child in the market. Some parents just asked her to the take the kids back with her, she declined.

What trip to Liberia would be complete with out going to Robertsport? So of course Steph, David, Carter Center Sean, and I rented a tent at Nana’s Lodge for a night to soak up the sun and the waves. The surfing was OK on Saturday, but Sunday was rainy and windy. However, we did have a good time walking down the beach. In this picture I’m riding down the sandy cliff of a stream created by rain water running from the hills through the beach and into the ocean.

On July 17th Monrovia saw its first ever trivia night. Founded by Sean Mcleay, trivia night was composed of a round of Liberian trivia, general trivia (music, movies, people, places), and  wild card trivia, with a final question. Between the first three rounds was a special picture question. Our team comprised of David, Steph, new roommate Sabrina, and me. Trivial was held at Taaj Indian Restaurant, with first place receiving a $50USD gift certificate and second place a $20USD gift certificate to Taaj. We dominated the Liberian trivia round but then hit some rough waters with the other two rounds. Thankfully, we had a strong showing in the first picture question and the final question, which was a science question. So we came in second. Not bad for our first try and David’s first full day in town.

In our quest to find touristy things to do in Monrovia, which isn’t easy, we ended up at the Monrovia Breweries, home of Liberia’s own Club Beer. When we first arrived we were told we had to submit a written request for a tour and then management would get back to us. These guys wouldn’t have any sweet talking, they were all business. But they did tell us that maybe we should come back at 2:00 when the boss man was back from lunch. So I left my business card and we went on our way. After lunch and a way fun ride on a random dusty road we came back to the Brewery.

We talked for a while, and again were told we needed to submit a request in writing. Then, right as we had started up our motorcycles to leave, they flag us down and said, “Why didn’t you tell us you were the people that left the business card? Come on in.” Apparently my business card constituted a request in writing, or something like that. So the assistant brew master, a very nice man named Sampon, took us on a full tour.

It was amazing. One of the best things I’ve done in Liberia. The picture on the top left is me in the brew house control room with one of the guys that runs the system. The picture on the right is of cans of hop extract. They don’t use fresh hops because it takes too long to ship them over from Germany.

There were several outstanding things about the tour, but for me the most amazing was that we saw no other white people working there. The whole place was run by Liberians, and these were some serious, on the ball, and very professional Liberians. Though the plant is Swiss owned it was so nice to see it Liberian run. Often I find myself struggling here with the lack of capacity in human capital, so it was very refreshing to see such an operation so well run by Liberians.

Another thing I enjoyed about the tour was the lack of OSHA/FDA restrictions. We went everywhere and saw everything. It was great. No, “don’t walk there it’s slippery or.”, “We can’t go past this point with out washing our hands.” It was all access. I mean we’re all adults, we don’t need the government telling us to walk slowly on a wet floor, I can see it’s wet. Though I must say that the plant was very clean, neat, and sanitary. They showed us all the things they do to clean out the system between brews. They also answered every question we asked. No, “That’s a trade secret.”

Some facts I found intersting about the plant.

• Contrary to popular belief the plant did shut down during the war.
• They brew Club Beer, and are licensed to brew Guiness Stout and Guiness Malta, very impressive.
• They brew a little less than 5 million gallons a year.
• They don’t export because they can’t meet the local demand as is!!
• Obviously clean water is important to them, so I was very surprised to learn that they mainly get water from the city of Monrovia. They said it’s usually pretty pure and if they do anything at all to the water they only add a little chlorine. They said the real problem is when they have to get water from other sources, then it’s not clean.
• A crate of 12 large club beers wholesales for 860LD. On average they retial for 100LD per bottle. So a profit of 28LD per bottle. That’s almost $0.50USD.

At the end of the tour we saw their bottling operation, also impressive, and had a absolutely delicious club beer. It was so hoppy and fresh. I asked when it was made, “yesterday”, was the reply. Amazing!

On that same day we also visited Hotel Africa. Built for a continent wide conference in the 70’s, Hotel Africa was at one time the largest hotel in Liberia, and I’m told it had the largest swimming pool in West Africa, and maybe all of Africa. As you can tell from the picture the building was very impressive. The pool is in the shape of Africa. In addition to the hotel there were casinos, restaurants and boutiques.

I was super impressed to see dry wall in the rubble. I haven’t seen dry wall since I’ve been here. They also had duct work lying around from the hotel’s HVAC system. Again, something I haven’t seen working here since I arrived.

I’ll end with a little bit about my life in Liberia. To the right is a picture of my favorite meal to cook here. I call it “John’s Skillet Surprise.” Because of the uncertainty of refrigeration and the price of most food items I’ve adapted by pan frying some potatoes and onions, and then adding adding eggs. Some times cheese or avocado can be added, a little garlic is nice as well. Often I’ll serve skillet surprise with ketchup. It’s around $2.00USD to make a plate of skillet surprise and refrigeration isn’t required for the meals components. Though I do prefer to keep the eggs refrigerated most of the day.

Is skillet surprise tasty? Just look at Sean’s face.

John

<><

Shirley’s Restaurant serves local food but with more refinement than you’ll find at most local dining establishments. Located on 10th Street, beach side in Sinkor, Shirley serves cabbage salad, potato salad, and my favorite, fried rice, in addition to local rice dishes. I like the food for the following reasons: the pepper is put on the side; the meat is served as one big piece, thus there are no little bones to pick-out; the presentation is quite nice, and it tastes good. A plate of food will run you $150 Liberian dollars. Meals include a small cabbage salad with a “zesty” mayonnaise and spices dressing. Not a bad for two and a half bucks.

In addition to cooking at her restaurant, Shirley also bakes. She’s made many a wedding cake, and

she’ll be more than happy to pull out her rather impressive scrapbook of cakes she’s made to showcase her abilities.
The service at Shirley’s is also prompt and courteous. Compared to other local places I’ve been, Shirley is downright speedy. She also has meals well into the day for those of us who can’t pull away from work at the stroke of noon.

On the whole, Shirley’s is a great place with good food and friendly people, and it is relatively inexpensive. What more could you want from a lunch spot?

This is a little out of date, but I finally acquired the mp3 of my appearance with Parker on UNMIL radio talking about the TRC. This was originally broadcast on June 6th, 2008. The mp3 can be downloaded here.

I feel like I sound kinda silly at times. I even let a little Liberian English slip from time to time. I imagine I just sound ridiculous to the average Liberian.

John

<><

I’m two weeks behind on my blogging and still pretty busy so I’ll be brief, or at least write a lot hastily. Two weeks ago I was able to go again to Robertsport, and once again it was a lot of fun. I traveled with a group that included the wife of one of the President’s senior advisors. So we had our own secret service guard traveling with us. He had a gun and everything, Glock-17 if you’re curious. I even had my car washed alongside the President’s motorcade of secret service vehicles. They were using a pressure washer and after a lot of talking they finally let me use it. I don’t think they understood why I wanted to do their job. I was just excited to be using a pressure washer in a country that doesn’t have running water.

The surfing was pretty good. Not as great as the week before, but still pretty good. Michael and I from right to play had a lot of good waves. For once we brought other people with us who had cameras. So we have some pictures of us surfing. Nothing to spectacular, but it’s still better than nothing. We also did some dusk surfing and had some awesome pictures of us against the sun set. Thanks to Amy Kirkwood and Gwen for the pictures.

We stayed at Nana’s lodge. After hanging out a bunch in their bar, I finally got to sleep in their tents. It wasn’t half bad for a tent. The power cut out at night, so the fan also cut out, and it got a little hot. The sheets were a little stiff, probably still brand new, but other than that I was happy.

In other news this week Jonathan Saah, who I had posted about a few months ago, received the check for his microloan. He was pretty excited about it. He told me he had already begun talking with the landlord of the place he wants to move his café too. He also assured me that he’d be very timely in his repaying of the loan. I’ll keep you posted on this business venture.

Two Fridays ago myself and a crew from the TRC made it out to Groovies night club. The local band was pretty good and the drinks were reasonable. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with those guys. In this picture Fully and I are hanging out at the table. Other pictures is just really cool looking and of Fully. It has not other purpose for being here than that.

I also had the opportunity to take Mr. Smith, a blind double amputee I’ve come to know, to one of the MercyShips clinics to see if they could help with his eyes. Smith lost his forearms and eye sight in the war. I was told to arrive early at these clinics so Smith and I arrived a little after 7 in the morning and there was already 40 people in line. The folks there seemed a little thrown off that I was in line. I hate pulling the white card, so I told them we’d wait in line like everyone else, but after a while they made us move forward.

Smith is one of my favorite amputee friends because of his constant gratitude and pleasantness. He’s never given me a hard time about not giving him enough and is always happy to know I’m about. Plus, no arms and no eyes in Liberia just can’t be easy.

Sadly the people at the clinic said they wouldn’t be able to help Smith’s eyes. The blindness was caused by scaring to the eyes due to an explosion he encountered in the war, and not because of cataracts or other treatable causes. I was afraid of how Smith might take this, but he was very OK with it. He said he was just thankful to be alive and that God would help him.

After the clinic we both hung out at his place of dwelling for a while. It was modest, but not bad for a guy in his position. I met his wife and youngest son. He told me he had two other children that stay at a mission across town. His friend who leads him around told me that they can make around 200 Liberian dollars a day begging. That’s about $3.50 a day. At the end of the day they split it 50/50 he told me. While that is by no means enough money for anyone, it is enough for them to not starve. Smith asked me if I’d give his wife some money so that she could open up a small shop at the back of their home and sell stuff so he wouldn’t have to beg. I had him write down all the things he’d want to seed the business with and that we’d go shopping next week. I’ll keep you posted on that as well.

This past week was also super busy. I was asked by a diplomatic officer at the US Embassy to give a presentation on our work with the TRC to a congressional delegation that was touring Liberia. USAID had given the TRC half a million dollars and they wanted to know what the TRC was doing. So on Monday I got to present. It was pretty neat. They all seemed impressed by it. I really felt like my Georgia Tech education had prepared me for such an event. Since every project based computer class I took ended with a PowerPoint presentation. I just thought of it as another end of semester presentation and went with it, didn’t even get nervous. On a side note, the fridge in the conference room the delegation had taken over was pretty well stocked with beer and other beverages. They even had Sam Adams. I couldn’t believe it. They would have to flown that over here themselves since you can’t get it here. I was really bummed that I had to present and couldn’t just drink a Sam Adams and listen to the other presentations.

The US Ambassador to Liberia was also at the presentation. I was told that he was so impressed with the presentation that he had my name added to the embassy’s super exclusive July 4th party guest list. So on Friday I went there. That was super cool. It was held at the American School which I had never been to. It was as nice as my high school in the states. A lot of top government officials and foreign representatives where there. The Vice President was there and gave a speech. I think Ellen was out of town, otherwise I’m sure she would have been there. This is a picture of Kristen, who works with me at the TRC for another NGO and me at the party. Kristen’s presentation at the same congressional meeting also got her in the party. Sadly there were no fireworks, but we did get a presentation of the colors and the national anthem. That was very cool.

I’ve also been taking GT’s kiosk video project out and about. We went to Robertsport and Tubmanburg. I have some video of the unit being used here. It’s kind of crude, but get’s the point across. While at Tubmanburg we visited blue lake. Also, some of you may notice that Stephanie Kruse is now here with me. She’s hanging out and enjoying all that Liberia has to offer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get her hooked up with a little bit of something to do while she’s here other than watching me work.

Finally this weekend two of my roommates left, Amanda Leese and Gwen. We had a going away party for them and Gwen, who is a PhD candidate study Pentecostal Christianity, was “flowered” by one of the churches she attends for her going away. We both got all dressed up in more traditional dress for the occasion. I was told we were fortunate that the service only last 2 hours instead of 4.

John
<><

So first things first, now that I finally have a camera again I’ve decided to put some pictures up of the place I moved into May 1st. This is the view from our front porch. As you can see we’re overlooking Mamba Point to the right and off in the distance is Capital Hill. It’s a great view, and note the hammocks. I don’t think it gets any better than lying out in a hammock swaying in the breeze. Next time I’ll try to remember to take some shots of the inside of the place. I suppose some people might find that interesting. Click on the picture to see the rest of my pictures from the balcony.

Anyway, so this past weekend I went to, you guessed it, Robertsport. Kent, from Universal Outreach Foundation, and I spent Saturday and Sunday surfing it up. Saturday was pretty windy. The waves were choppy and the wind kept pushing us around. It was another one of those days where you spend all your time paddling to be in the right spot, and then are never really being in the right spot when a wave comes. Needless to say I didn’t have much luck. But it was good to get out after being sidelined by bosses in town and malaria.

Sunday though was perfect. The wind died down, the sun came out and a lot of good surfing was had. I caught quite a few waves and had some nice long rides. I even caught a couple rides were I surfed all the way across the beach and had to stop before hitting the rocks on the other side. That was a super cool feeling. I think I’m starting to finally get the hang of things. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do it again before I forget.

Kent and I stayed at the UNMIL guest house. I had no idea they had a guest house, but Kent had stayed there before, so we tried it again. We walked up to the little UNMIL compound in Robertsport and asked to stay there. They let us. It was really nice and easy. We had our own rooms with power and AC all night, that’s better than my apartment in Monrovia. And best of all we didn’t have to pay. It seemed a little too nice, but I was cool with it for sure.

They also had this palava hut at the compound with mats nailed to the ceiling. I thought it looked pretty cool so I took a picture. Kent and I hung out at the palava hut for a bit Saturday after surfing, but before returning to the beach and hanging out at Nana’s Lodge. This is the place I wrote about last time I was in RP. I met the new manager, a guy named Dan from Canada. He was really nice, we played darts together on a team, we came out 1-1. Nana’s was about the same as last time. Though now they have a satellite TV dish, but no TV.

They’ve also started serving dinner at Nana’s. Kent and I stuck around for the Liberian chicken and rice which was the meal of the day. It was really good. The chicken was well cooked and the rice was nicely seasoned, but without burning my mouth out. Best of all they had a bottle of Tabasco sauce on the table. The meal was $15 USD, which is a bit much for a local dish, but considering the context of a “beach resort” bar on a nearly deserted beach, I decided to let it slide. The next day I started a tab at Nana’s when I came back from surfing and bought a Coke. I had no money on me so I started the tab. If all goes according to plan I’ll be staying at Nana’s next week so I’ll settle my accounts then. Be expecting a full write-up of staying in their “luxury tents” next week, or the week after if I’m busy.

I end this post with a pic of some friends. From left to right we have Amy (does public health, Mike’s girlfriend, learning to surf), Mike(works for Right To Play, surfs with me, dates Amy), Me, and Gwen(PhD student studying Pentecostal Christianity in Liberia, and my apartment mate). They are all very cool people. And I’m quite happy to know them.

John
<><

My immediate boss, Dr. Michael Best, arrived in town last week with his boss, Dr. Bill Long, chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at GT. They came here to assess the situation on the ground, and bring me a new camera among other goodies. So this blog post has photos that I took. Just like the last time Dr. Best was in town we kicked off a whirl wind tour of ministries, commissions and institutions of higher learning. Our coolest meeting was with the Vice President, the Honorable Joseph Nyumah Boakai. I was really excited to have landed us this audience. He was a pretty nice guy. He listened to what we had to say and had some good feedback. He got us a follow up meeting with the minister of internal affairs, who really liked the kiosk, and even talked to me. I figured with a world famous leader in technology for development and the chair of a top tier research university’s international affairs school he’d want to talk to them. But he talked to me. I was busy taking notes when I heard him ask if I worked at the TRC. I looked up from my note taking to realize everyone was looking at me. So I told him I sat there, but also worked on other projects. It was nice to get to be a part of the conversation. Also, amongst our maelstroms of meetings was the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, the Minister of Information, the chairman of the Liberian Telecommunications Authority, the president of Cuttington University, Liberia’s premier private university, various members of the TRC, the Inter-Religious Council, the Liberia Media Center, and two separate meetings at the US Embassy. The pictures here were taking while we were at Cuttington University in Bong County, three hours out of Monrovia.

While at Cuttington Dr. Best and I watched the artsy-about-Africa-foreign-film Bamako on the kiosk. Clearly a good use of its 19” wide screen and built in speakers. The viewing experience was great, the movie was terribly boring. We both decided we’re not artsy enough for such films. I also got sick and threw up a few times. Despite my sickness I drove Dr. Best and Dr. Long to the airport in time to catch their flights home. We took the scenic route and passed through the Firestone plantation. It was really pretty on a rainy Liberian Saturday. The road was also in great quality. I guess that’s what you can do when you’re an exploitive multi-national.

So when I got home that night I was feeling a bit achy, so on the advice of a few friends and 50 Liberian dollars I got tested. Sure enough, I had malaria. It was 8pm so no doctors were available. So there was much debate on what course of action I should take next. Finally I decided upon the ACT treatment. It set me back 120 Liberian dollars. Who needs insurance with such prices? I was a little worried because everyone said the treatment would wear me out and I had a big day ahead of me tomorrow.

Thankfully I woke up Sunday feeling just slightly under the weather. So I decided to go for it and attend the Liberia vs. Senegal football match. Worrisome from the match two weeks ago, I arrived early and drove my motorcycle in case I needed to make a quick getaway. The first thing I noticed was that there was no traffic. This was in stark contrast to the crazy line of cars that formed in front of the stadium last time. A local branch of the Ministry of Youth and Sports even let me park my bike inside their compound. They were very nice. This picture to the left is of me and my apartment mate Gwen Heaner. We were all decked out for the game in our red white and blue.

The first thing that you noticed about this game was that your ticket not only had a gate number, but a row and a seat number. Kind of like a real sporting event. There were no crazy lines to get in the gate. I walked up, showed my ticket and was immediately let in. Everything was calm. There was no craziness at all. We walked in and found freshly painted seat numbers on every seat in the stadium. Lonestar Cell, Liberia’s largest GSM operator, sponsored the game and was handing out free water and cool aid, Liberian’s call it “juice.” This was to prevent the overheating and dehydration that caused deaths two weeks earlier. This was very much appreciated because Sunday was a very hot day.

Inside the stadium things were festive, but under control. Fans were drunk and singing 3 hours before the game but it never got out of hand. The stadium was almost empty. The cheapest seats were $5 USD which isn’t too expensive. The game was also broadcast on local television, so perhaps after the last debacle people thought it best just to watch on TV. Either way, it was all for the best because FIFA had observers at the match to ensure that Liberia could handle a FIFA sanctioned game. It would have been a terrible blow to Liberia for them to lose that privilege.

The Lone Stars, Liberia’s team, even played much better than last time. They were much better about passing the ball and held Senegal to a 2-2 draw. All the goals were scored in the last half of play.

This was unfortunate because I left after the 1st half to meet up with two friends on the Mercy Ship. Kim Robinson and Peter Fullerton were both leaving the ship, though Kim is coming back in August. They’ve both been really good friends to me and I’ve enjoyed their company immensely. Kim calls herself my African mom, which I’m fine with. We could use more moms in the world. She’s an amazing woman of Christ. I should be so lucky. We attend the evening service together then had Star Bucks coffee in the ships commons area.

On Monday the Malaria meds caught up with me. I felt absolutely worthless. My stomach hurt and I had no energy. I even had trouble concentrating and was completely unproductive, which might have been the worst of it for me. I hate feeling like I’m not doing stuff. What made it worse was that I was stuck at home with no electricity so there really wasn’t much I could do if I had felt up to it. Looking back on things I realized that I had felt really tired most of the week. I thought that I was just worn out from our busy schedule of meetings and things. So I was kind of glad that it wasn’t keeping up with two of my seniors that had worn me out, just malaria.

I was still pretty out of it on Tuesday. I also think that the medicine messed with my head. My thoughts would race a lot and I’d lie in bed thinking of the things I needed to be doing stressing out that I wasn’t getting stuff done and really worrying a lot. More than I would normally. I really wanted to go home. It was the most homesick I’ve been. I even kept telling myself that it was just the medicine, but it wasn’t much fun.

By Wednesday I felt a lot better. I had finished my ACT treatments and now had my head and my strength, but alas, the generator was out at the TRC. So I visited the supermarket and ran into my amputee soccer team friends. Rueben, the guy I talk with the most from the soccer team, wanted me to buy some tarpaulin for their “house”. It’s the rainy season and their house doesn’t have a roof. He said they need a roof so they didn’t get cold. I still don’t understand how they call it cold, I call comfortable, but that’s beside the point. So I let Rueben show me the house. It was a two room stick framed house with no roof. He said they had woven mats for the walls, but didn’t want to put them up without a roof to keep things from getting ruined.

So since I had a free day and the “I’m getting over malaria” excuse to not work, Rueben and I drove to the Red Light market to buy some tarpaulin. I hate Red Light market, it’s one perpetual traffic jam caused by bad planning, poorly enforced rules, and unregulated capitalism. As far as I know it’s the biggest market in all of Liberia. It’s just a mess. The ride there wasn’t as much fun as I had hoped it to be. It was awkward. Reuben’s a good guy, a bit pushy with the begging, but a good guy, we just have a hard time talking. His Liberian English and my American English don’t mix very well. But we did get to talk about his wife and two kids, and whether or not the Lone Stars would make it to South Africa in 2010, still a lot of awkward silence. So after waiting in traffic for an hour we pulled up to the spot where the tarpaulin guys were. There’s no way I was going to leave the car alone in this placed so I stayed in the car while Reuben got the goods. 15 minutes later he returned with the tarpaulin.

On the whole I felt pretty good. For $35 USD I had literally put a roof over someone’s head. In this case it was half of the soccer team’s heads. Reuben didn’t say much, but I could tell from the smile on his face he was excited. He had me drop him off were the guys lived who would help him put the roof on. I guess being an amputee you need some help with these kinds of things. I plan to go back and get some after shots of the house. I really hope this works out for them.

John
<><

I’m really behind in my blogging so I’m trying to catch up. A couple weeks ago my good friend Parker McGee came into town for a week. Parker, who is a computer science undergrad at Georgia Tech, has been working alongside me on our TRC related projects. Parker did all the implementation of the graphic design of the TRC webpage, and a good deal of the other coding. He now handles things State side while I’m in Liberia.

Parker flew in on the week before my boss, Michael Best, and my boss’s boss, Bill Long, were scheduled to arrive and the week before the TRC would be in the US to hold hearings in Minnesota, which I was supposed to setup a live webcast of for viewing in Monrovia. This was going to be a busy week.

Thankfully, this week was also when 2 of my roommates were out of the country. So Parker got his own room in what is called the “real world apartment” in the A-Z building of Mamba Point. Speaking of the A-Z building, I received my first piece of corporate mail in Liberia. A few weeks ago I was trying to find out what my dividend was from REI and I decided to go ahead and update my address, “why not”, I thought. Then, I got a call from someone saying they had a letter for me. I met the mailman at my place and he had my REI dividend letter in hand. I was pretty impressed with REI.

Anyway… So the most notable thing parker and I did was visit what’s left of the Ducor Hotel. In its prime the Ducor was a luxurious 5 star hotel overlooking Monrovia. Then during the civil war Charles Taylor’s Anti-Terrorist Unit (The ATU) took over the place and destroyed it. When we walked around it you could tell that it used to be really nice. Hanging from the ceiling was what’s left of a central HVAC system. I haven’t seen such a system in 6 months. Our driver knew a few of the guards at the hotel so we were able to get in without any trouble. I’m told that the former Libyan owners are planning on opening the place back up. As such, they have hired some security and kicked all the squatters out. When we got there we were lucky enough to have our own armed UNMIL escort. Parker said it threw him off to have a guy walking around with an AK-47 next to us. I thought it was cool.

The view from the roof is amazing. By far the tallest point in all of Monrovia you are able to see the entire city in every direction. It was really cool. We had a good view of the waves breaking around Mamba Point, which I had a chance to surf the next day. I really liked the break. The waves were decently sized and broke nice and slow and easy. Not the most thrilling ride, but just right for me. It was a little tricky getting out past the rocks. There’s no beach at Mamba Point, just rocks and water. But with some fancy footwork and careful timing we made it out all right. That day was probably my best day of surfing yet. I caught several good waves that took me for nice long rides. I even got some practice carving it up.

I liked it so much that I came back to do it again the next day. This time I brought Parker. Parker said when he lived in California he had gone surfing so I felt pretty good about bringing him out. Though this day the waves were really small and there just wasn’t much to ride. The waves that did break, broke a little too close to the rocks for me. I got up once when I rode the long board Parker was using. Coming out of the water Parker had his board under his arm between him and the wave. A wave came and knocked him over the rocks. Somehow he managed to escape without a cut, though the board lost a fin in the incident.

Parker and I also had the opportunity to appear on UNMIL radio to talk about Georgia Tech’s work with the TRC, plug the webcast on the TRC’s website, and talk about our work with the kiosk. I don’t have the copy of that recording yet, but as soon as I do I’ll post it.

Special thanks to Parker for all the photos.

John
<><

In preparation for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, The Liberian Lonestars played The Gambia as part of the qualification process. The game was sponsored by Comium, Liberia’s 3rd largest GSM provider. To make sure I had the full experience I purchased a 200LD, A-Field, ticket. These are the cheapest seats. I was warned that there would be pandemonium in such sections, but I threw caution to the wind.  I had survived the Akon concert in the cheap seats, how could this be any worse? The game started at 3. I heard people say that we should get their by 10. Due to some logistical complications we didn’t leave till 11.

In my company this fine day were Sean and Brenna from the Carter Center and Jeremy and Kaleb from Harvard. Both Jeremy and Kaleb had been in country less than 24 hours. I was wearing my Lonestar 2010 t-shirt that I had bought the day before for 175LD.

At 11:30am Traffic was already at a standstill a mile from the stadium.  Small sedans were filled with 2 people in the front (following the new law that only one person can sit in the passenger seat) 7 in the rear seat and 4 in the trunk. Larger trucks easily carried 30 people each. We got out of the car, sent the driver off for the next batch of football fans, and began to walk. Not a moment later it began to rain. We bought plastic bags to put our cell phones in and continued down the road. By the time we arrived at the stadium we were soaked, though the rain did stop by then.

As we approached the stadium we found ourselves walking past a lined that probably stretched on for half a mile. This is where I noticed the first problem with this game, the lack of proper signage. There was nothing to indicate where you should go. We found another line for another gate that was far shorter and stood there.

The line was super tight. To keep skippers out of line each person was pressed up against the person in front of them. Soaking wet, we all got a little closer to each other. The line would lurch forward at times.  Each time you’d have to waddle in order not to trip because you couldn’t move your legs as you were sandwiched between two people.  Up ahead in line we could see security guards and UNMIL peace keepers beating people with night sticks and tree limbs as they tried to scale the gate and push their way through.  Minus the beatings, it kind of reminded me of concerts at the Warp Tour when I was in high school and college.

It was at this point that Sean looks at me and says, “It’s too dangerous, I’m outa here.” That was the last I saw of Sean that day. I had my ticket, had waited in line, and was determined to get in. Brenna, Jeremy, Kaleb, and I pressed on. As we got to the front of the line things became very, very chaotic. The line turned into a more of a mob it would surge forward, people would slip through the gate, peace keepers would beat them, and then push the gate shut again. I was still feeling rather optimistic at this point that some order would be restored. I mean somehow, they must have a way of checking tickets and letting people in right? They can’t expect to let the whole stadium fill up in such a way?

Then another surge came, the gate opened as bodies poured between the steel doors. I looked through the opening and saw UN blue helmets and falling sticks. I wrapped my left arm around Brenna’s waist, planted my right foot and right arm against the gate, and leaned back as far as I could. I felt like I was leaned really far back, but I wasn’t falling. The peace keepers slammed the gate and the surge fell back. We had escaped a beating. At this point Brenna decided it was time to leave. She made a b-line for the side of the crowd but then discovered there was a concrete wall in her way. The crowd was such that we weren’t moving in any direction unless we moved along with the crowd. Unfortunately, they were moving toward the gate and peace keepers with clubs. I told her we just needed to get through the gate somehow and we’d be fine. Looking back I’m not sure where all this confidence in the security at the Samuel Kyan Doe Sports Complex was coming from.

Another surge came. All I remember was ducking, putting my hands over my head, and then standing on the other side of the gate as people ran passed me. I just remember thinking, “I hadn’t been beat!” I was knocked around as people ran past me, fleeing the security. I looked for Brenna. She was to my left, picking herself off the ground. A security guard ran up and grabbed her. He was like a loan rock amidst a river of rapids as people flooded by. I ran over to her but was constantly knocked back by the torrent of people coming through the gate.

Finally the guards regained control of the gate and I made it to Brenna. Her right leg was badly scraped up and bloody, both her feat had scrapes and she had lost her sandals. Immediately more security personnel and police officer showed up, apologizing and trying to assist. The police officer asked what her sandals looked like. Neither one of us could put together more of a description than to say they were black. To my amazement the officer came back 30 seconds later with her shoes. At this point Kaleb and Jeremy found us. They had a bottle of water that we used to clean the dirt and grime off of Brenna’s legs.

I was fairly certain that at this point Brenna would have had enough and want nothing more than to go home. But she was a trooper and wanted to press on. After this it was pretty easy. Jeremy and I had Brenna put her arms over our shoulders to help her walk. People were very helpful and apologetic when you’re carrying a white girl with a bloody leg. It was kinda weird how people would say, “I’m sorry”, as we walked by. It was as if they were personally apologizing for the incident, and not just conveying their empathy.

Once we got to our seats I went to find some first aid. Unfortunately, there just didn’t seem to be any. I asked some Nigerian peace keepers where the doctors were and they said they didn’t know. So we made do with what we had. I cut the bottom few inches off of my “Liberia dream team 2010” shirt and used that as a bandage. About that time someone came by selling gin in ketchup packet like satchels. So I bought one and used it to disinfect. Not the best option, but it got the job done.

After we had the leg taken care of, things went pretty well for our little group. Thou there were still a few small problems. For instance they managed to get a fire truck stuck in the infield. They were driving it around spraying down the crowd. I was later told that this was to help with the overheating problem that a lot of people were experiencing. It was a hot day, and a little water would feel good, but not full blast from a fire hose when the spray is focused in one little point. That’s what you use for crowd control in riot situations, not to fight heat stroke. They could have used it outside of the stadium, not inside, but anyway… They were driving the truck around and drove through some grass that was soaked from all the rain. The truck got stuck. So they pulled an ambulance in front of it to pull it out. Of course the ambulance got stuck too. Finally they figured that they had to have a vehicle on solid ground to pull the fire truck out. After an hour they had a Toyota Land Cruiser pull out the fire truck with a little tow cable that snapped 4 times. It was kinda funny to watch this little bitty SUV pull out a huge fire truck.

The game itself was alright. Liberia played pretty well for a post-conflict team. They need to learn to pass the ball a little bit more, and to run the ball up the sides and not down the middle of the field. Gambia played well too; both teams were pretty equally matched. In the end the score was 1-1. All told this was probably the best thing that could happen from a crowd control standpoint. They didn’t lose, and they didn’t win.

The next day I found out in the papers that 8 people had died from heat stroke and being crushed by the mob of people who tried to rush the gates. I couldn’t believe that I was at an event that 8 people died at for no good reason. I was also surprised by the lack of complete outrage over this. Had 8 people died at the Super bowl there would be investigations, law suites, and criminal cases. Here there were a few articles in the news papers, a moment of silence was observed, and that was about it.

After the Akon concert debacle I would have thought that Liberia would have learned what to expect and would have planned accordingly. Now they’re under investigation by FIFA and might lose the right to hold world cup qualifier games here. It’s a big blow to this little country when they can’t even host their favorite sporting event without people dying. I really hope they get all this straightened out before the next game.

John
<><

This past Friday I went to Cuttington University with Jerry Mwagbe, a Liberian who works for Kennesaw State University and is on loan to Cuttington for the year. Cuttington is Liberia’s top private college. Kind of like the Harvard of Liberia. Located in Gbarnga, Bong County, Cuttington is a solid 3 hours outside of Monrovia. Though the road is paved all the way and only 120 miles long, there are still enough pot-holes to keep your average speed down to 40 MPH.

So we arrived in Cuttington just before dark. I had hoped to arrive earlier, but Jerry had been delayed by the Ministry of Finance. The campus was beautiful at sun down and became even more beautiful at night. I walked out of the dining hall talking to a student, looked up, and nearly fell over. I couldn’t believe how many stars there were. I seriously hadn’t seen a night sky like that since I was 12. I could even see the Milky Way. I just kept looking up with my head thrown all the way back. The Liberian I was with couldn’t quite understand what I found so amazing about the sky he saw every night. I tried to explain it but I don’t think he fully got it.

The university was really nice. I could only tour the campus at night, but I was impressed. The science building had a proper lecture auditorium that had clearly been very nice before the war. On the floor of the auditorium was a big table with that standard indestructible black counter top and a sink with a rubber hose adapter for performing all manner of scientific experimentation. Their library was also pretty nice. It even had a computer lab.

They even had a very nice dinning hall. It was even air conditioned. The dinning halls at the university I did my study abroad at in Thailand weren’t even air conditioned.

Jerry is returning to the states for the summer so I was able to attend his going away party. At the party they had a time for people to come up and tell jokes. Some I didn’t understand at all, some I understood and just didn’t find funny, but one was really good, at least to me and my western since of humor:

John
<><