dreads

This is an old picture with my friend Samuel, a guy who has had dreads for 12 years!! I'll try to get an updated picture soon.

Life in Liberia

Life in Liberia is a life of NGO's (Non-government organizations). Ever since the war has ended, the place has been flooded by different organizations, trying to get the place back on its feet. The roads are all filled with either yellow taxi's or white, SUV's bearing the names of different NGO's. Doctors without borders, SIM, Samaritan's purse, Merlin, and the United Nations are here, just to name a few. "UNMIL" is the United Nations Mission In Liberia, and there's a guy in a little shack that prints up these t-shirts and has this sign up out front. Here in the port, we're set right next to the Bangladeshi and Nepali base camps. It is good to see some of these organizations begin to pull out of the country, because it means that progress is slowly happening, but it can also cause some desperation and fear, because the needs here are still so great, and infastructure is still so weak. When a nation is in such difficult times, they must depend on outisde assistance, but that assistance must pull out in due time to allow the people independence and a chance for development that is sustainable.
So, I stop and realize that I haven't told you that much about life in Liberia. This is a great picture capturing the state of the roads here. As you can see, the vegetation is lush and green, the land is fertile, and the roads are rough. This is a picture from a trip we took out into some of the villages outside of Monrovia. Land Rovers are, to say the least, necessary. Even getting to church requires me shifting the old, friendly beast into 4-wheel drive. Life in the villages seems to be quiet and simple. The people are living off the fruits of the land. After reading Wendell Berry (thanks, Liz), I come to see the beauty of living a life closely tied to the land. Here, you go to the local market (an outdoor, chaotic place) and peruse the merchandise, and it is virtually all locally grown. The staple food is rice, which can be grown here, but it is a lot of work to grow it, and most of the rice is imported from Asia. The other staple is Cassava (sp???), which is a starchy tuber, a bit tougher than potatoes. The other main attractions seem to be potato leaves or Cassava leaves, stewed with a heavy, dark orange oil from the palm tree, and mounds of hot peppers, perhaps with some salt fish added in for protein. This food is, to me, rich and delicious, although very fatty. They also lack the variety that we're accustomed to, as would be typical for anyone living off the local land.
Personally, things are going well. My work is still fulfilling, and I find myself constantly challenged, and stimulated by the things I'm learning. The eye is truly a miraculous body part, so complex and fine-tuned and delicate. What a gift God has given us in sight. Day in and day out I work with blind people, and I begin to see how crucial it is for our lives, for our independence, for our survival. I have decided to continue working with the eye programs into our next outreach in Sierra Leone. This decision has been heavy on my mind, but I have prayed it through carefully, considered it, and decided, with thorough peace, that it is the place for me to continue working. I'm so thankful for this assurance and peace.
Well, I love all you guys, and always love to read your comments. I know you all want to see pics of my dreads, and I'll try to get an updated one soon. They're actually coming along really well, and I even got some compliments on them today. I went to the hairdresser this past week, and she put in a few new ones for me, so I have a few new members to the family, that need some tender loving care. Loving and missing you.

End of Camp Blues

So, I realized that this place was a little bit like camp; fun and games, and lots of people and new friends, and constant stimulation, but camp is only really fun because it ends after two months. So, after two months, I guess I got (what I'm affectionately terming) the end of camp blues, when it feels like it's probably time to go home, but you realize there's no going home. This sounds a little dramatic, but, since, admittedly, I'm a camp addict, this seemed the best analogy for the difficult time I began having here aboard the ship. It's really a great place in many ways, but there is constant stimulation and constant change, and just when you get to know people, they head home again. I think I've come through this phase though, and now am trying to settle into more regular life, enjoying people, and maybe getting into more regular, sustainable patterns of life.
I've had many adventures the last couple months. Perhaps one of the greatest blessings has been the church that we have been attending every week. The church is about a half-an-hour from the ship, out in the country. We go there with Land Rovers every week, and recently have been using 4-wheel drive just to get through the muddy roads. Well, this past week, we had a Land Rover signed out to use, but we went out and the battery was completely dead, so, a few of us decided to head out via taxi toward church. We got dropped off at a crazy, loud intersection by another Mercy Ships vehicle, and then jumped onto taxi motorbikes out to the area of our church. We then got off, after we paid (initially the price was 50 LD - Liberian dollars- but by the time we had gotten there, it inflation had driven the price up to 150), and walked the little dirt road to our church. We were quite late, but not really too late for African Time, and I think it quite surprised the church members, for them to see us arriving the same way that they come every week! Our church is great, though. It's small, and very rural, and ministers to a refugee camp with about 1,000 people from Sierra Leone. Our pastor is truly a visionary, with dreams of starting up a school and a clinic in the area to serve the people. It has been a rich experience to worship regularly with one group of people and begin to form real relationships with them. All the kids love the camera, and the picture above, is one they took when I let them play photographer for a while. Kind of blurry, but kind of fun... There's also a picture of our pastor (on the left) and one of the elders, and a couple of Mercy Shippers.
Well, lots of other stuff going on, but it's my bedtime. Miss you lovely people at home so much, and always love hearing from you in your comments. Please pray for Liberia and its development, life here is very hard for most people. Love you guys.