HRUSA Blogs from Liberia, Day 5: Market Madness, Electricity, and School Children

I had to hit pause on a very productive day when, with a whir and a sigh,

the generator at the Carter Center took its afternoon break. One would think

I might know the generator schedule after several days of being here, but it

seems I’ve been out and about with clients and not in need of electricity

during those times. So making copies of finalized applications for Monday

morning will have to wait for a 30-minute window early tomorrow morning

before we head out of Monrovia.

In the meantime, I’ll update you, our dear readers, with some news from

Monrovia. Speaking of - I’m attaching a picture of “The Daily Talk” - a

large blackboard that is covered with handwritten headlines of the

every-other-day-or-so. Unfortunately, today it was not yet open when we went

by, but the picture gives you a sense of the news stand in place near JFK

Hospital. We drove past on our way outside of town to meet several clients

in the market and ohmigoodness, I don’t know that I can adequately describe

the energy there. Vendors were packed in areas side-by-side or about on foot

toting their wares - from fresh water, to sunglasses, to potato greens, to

towels, to lapas, to anything under the sun - and buyers mixed in along with

cars crawling along as tightly packed as the people but moving more slowly.

(See picture of large truck trying to navigate the market.) Driving here is

a riot. (See picture of some of the roads outside of Monrovia.) Horns are

used to say “watch out, I’m passing on your left,” and “watch out, I’m

backing up,” and “Nope, I’m going first you need to wait” and often just

“Hello, person I know.” Emergency flashers are used to avoid an emergency -

put those on when the person in front of you is waiting to turn left across

solid traffic to let the person behind you know to take your brake lights

seriously. There are tons of taxis - both because no reliable bus system is

in place for those needing to travel significant distances into downtown and

because many people injured by the war cannot do more strenuous work. The

taxis often have messages painted on the back ranging from the religious

(“God is good”) to the practical (“Keep me Clean”), but my all time favorite

was clever or mistakenly ironic but either way hilarious: “NO MSTAKE.”

(sic.)

I’m happy to report that the “snap!” at the end of my Liberian handshake has

shown great improvement and my fist bump, well, that’s so basic it doesn‘t

need practice. Which is a good thing as it seems no small child here can

leave a fist bump unrequited. Put a hand up with the flats of your fingers

and knuckles out steady and even the shiest child is sure to reach a tiny

fist up in response. The bump and my digital camera have won me some small

friends here. While kids are initially skeptical of a foreigner hopping out

of a large 4x4, bring out a camera and show them how to zooooom and voila!

they are enchanted - and enchanting. (See picture some school children took

of others after a quick “press this button” lesson.) My understanding is

that most children do go to school - and you see plenty of uniforms

(Adventist school shirts are bright pink) to attest to that. But school is

very expensive for some parents so some may not be able to attend

consistently. Those in school learn more than English lessons in the

classroom - NGOs like “Right to Play” teach kids valuable cooperation skills

through outdoor playtime. Driving through the outskirts of Monrovia today,

it was fun to see large groups of school kids enjoying playtime. Seeing

them, I wondered how many were old enough to remember when no one would go

out of doors for fear of being hit by a stray bullet and what Liberia will

become as this new generation grows up.

~Piper

Check back in regularly for updates from Piper as she's in the field. Also - be sure to mark your calendars for November 30th at 4pm, when Piper will host a conference call to talk about her trip to Liberia and the upcoming trial against Chuckie Taylor. Be sure to post any questions you have for Piper in advance!