A new family member

So we finally broke down and let the boys get a puppy. And a small puppy it is. The man selling it tried to give it to us when it was about a week old but we told him it was too little. I don't think he's much more than a month now, but the man selling him said we have to take him...so here his is. The boys haven't decided on a name yet.


At the start of the rainy season the lagoon fills up and breaks through the beach into the ocean. The boys were there along with the neighbors to ride the rapids.

Kobe's boil. Wish we had shot some video of Rusty draining it. Very impressive.

We went last week and put a small soccer clinic on at the Rafiki Orphanage.

Happy #40

Sorry we can't make the party. Hope you have a good B/D-day.

May

Hard to believe it has been over three weeks since we've posted anything. I guess things are starting to get more routine here and there aren't as many exciting things to write about. So, here's a quick run down of the last couple days.

Kobe gets the distinction of having the first Laird birthday in Liberia. We had a couple other families over yesterday afternoon and had a small birthday party for him. Here he is opening up the present some of his relatives bought for him.

and here he is playing a new game with an audience.

Saturday a team of 8 engineering students arrived from Cedarville University in Ohio. They've come the past three years to work on projects. This year they are working on the water system mostly, with a few other projects squeezed in during the 2 weeks that they'll be here. Here's a picture of a couple of them at morning devotional in the Services conference room.

Another college visitor this month, Charlie, is here to help out with central services work.

A couple Cedarville team members working on a water tank.

Our Academy project is finally getting started. They are starting to build the trusses this week and the new classroom building.

A homemade ladder the carpenters built for the job.

Of course as soon as I walk onto the Academy grounds with a camera, there is a chorus of "Whi Man, Take my picture". How could you resist.

And children are the same the world over, as soon as you start taking pictures they have to do something goofy to get your attention. These guys broke out into a wrestling match.

We've been continuing to go to Acres of Hope on the weekend to visit the kids. We try to think up an activity every week to bring with us. Last week we took sidewalk chalk, which was a pretty big hit. Only a couple of the kids ate theirs. Which made for some good pictures of yellow mouths.

Other than that, I (Rusty) got pulled over twice in the past week for mystery traffic violations, almost got hit by a tire that flew off a taxi that was driving down the road (it took out a money changers umbrella and smashed a taxi door before coming to a stop) and had to transport three people to the hospital in the back of my car after another taxi ran off the road and into a crowd.

Omega

Today we went to the Omega Tower . Left over from the US Military's OMEGA Navigation system, it is the tallest structure in Africa...and only about 5 miles away from where we live. You can drive up and park right next to the base and there is a ladder all the way from the ground to the top. We decided we wouldn't climb the whole 1,300'+ today...and just went to the first landing at 40'+/-...maybe next week. Here are a few pictures.

Kobe at the first landing.

Colton made it to the top of the guywire base.

On our way home we tried to pull to the side of the gravel road and let a motorcycle taxi pass, and ran over a piece of metal. It punctured our front tire and blew out our rear tire. We put our spare on the back (with the help of the taxi driver and his passenger) and pumped our front tire up with a 12v pump we carry and were able to limp home. I guess I'll be looking for a couple new tires tomorrow...


And finally here are a couple pictures of our re-roofing project. Here are me and the boys tearing off some of the old asbestos roofing.

And the new Aluminum roof (Aluminium here in Liberia with the last i emphasized)

I filled up a shopvac twice with all the bat guano in our attic. most of the bats left while we were doing the roofing, but there are a few of the 200+/- bats that are still hanging on...so to speak. Hopefully by the end of this week we'll have everything sealed up and they'll have to find another home.

Marshall

Before I talk about Marshall...anyone who is interested in contributing to the ELWA Academy project can contact my parents. They have volunteered to be the contact on the project. If you do not have their phone or email you can comment on this post and I'll send it to you. We are doing a little more research on the computer project but should have more information on that portion of the project soon...

We visited a small fishing village called Marshall this weekend. It is about 45 minutes away, with the last half down a dirt road. Here are a few pictures from the trip.


We spotted one of the largest termite mounts we've seen yet. It encases a small palm tree.


In Marshall they had a couple huge Cotton trees. Kobe and Colton are checking out all the bugs that were around the base of the tree.

Here's a picture of the waterfront in Marshall. It sits on a large lagoon that gives them shelter from the Atlantic. Of course, the first thing the boys saw when I was taking this picture was the sign on the tree...

You see signs like this all over the place. The boys saw one in town last week they really liked too, it said "only dogs peepee here".

Our first monkey we've seen in Africa! This one was tied to a bench outside someone's house. They were laughing at us for taking a picture of it. I suppose it was kinda like the Japanese exchange students we used to laugh at in Washington for wanting their picture taken with a cow.

This one is a little hard to see, and needs a little background explained. Driving around in Liberia can be pretty challenging. Besides the crazy driving in general, there are almost no street signs. So when we were driving down the dirt road to Marshall and came across this "Frederick Drive" sign we had to stop and take a picture. One of the only street signs...and it is only a foot trail.

ELWA Academy

Now we take a break from our usual updates to bring you a series of blogs on the ministries of ELWA. As the title says, we'll Start with the ELWA Academy.

ELWA Academy started out as a school for missionary kids in 1957. It was one of the larger MK schools in West Africa. The school enrollment quickly dwindled during the early years of the civil war and the school was closed in 1996.

The Academy reopened as a school for Liberian children in 2003. They have been adding additional grades every year and have classes through the 8th grade now with over 530 STUDENTS total. There is no free public school system in Liberia, so families have to pay to send their kids to the Academy. The Academy tries to keep their fees low, to keep the tuition affordable, but a semester is still equivalent to 1 month+ salary.

So with that in mind, I sat down with the principal, Benedict Nagbe, today to see where we could help. Here's what I found...

Recreation is a real problem. As you can see they have many many kids who use their very limited playground equipment. They have a huge need for both new playground equipment and athletic gear. Footballs (soccer to us Americans), kickballs and basketballs are needed. They are also trying to purchase jerseys for football teams they would like to form. Another need is toys or equipment to play with inside during the rainy season...

Here is the Academy's computer lab. The students are very eager to learn how to use computers. Out of the computers in this picture, only the one on the left works. 530 students and one computer...not good.

So here's what we are thinking. I would like two volunteers to coordinate collection efforts:

1. One person to coordinate the collection of athletic equipment.

2. One person to coordinate the collection of computers and accessories.

I know before we moved we had a couple of old computers in the garage. They still worked, but we had purchased newer faster machines and had no use for them. If we had a volunteer that could collect computers and ship them to Tennessee to Service to Servants, and same for the athletic supplies, we can get them to the Academy. We'd like to try to have these supplies ready for school next year (September). Please let me know if you'd be interested in helping with either of these efforts...don't make me beg.

Weekend Update

Where to start... it was a busy weekend here in Liberia.



Christopher and Kobe left Saturday morning with the neighbors and camped up in Robertsport for the night. Robertsport is about 3 hours north of here...not too far from the border with Sierra Leone. It is famous for its surfing and natural beauty. Here's a picture Christopher took from a hill by the beach.






Saturday the rest of us went out to help a team that is out from the states building a new orphanage for Addy's Hope...didn't get any pictures...so you'll just have to trust us...

After going out for lunch Sunday afternoon we came back and went to the beach. There were 4 or 5 other families who had gathered to see off one of the families who headed back to the states today for a few months. While I was out swimming a few Liberian boys were pointing at something about 50' out in the water. I thought maybe it was a fish or something...because nobody seemed too panicked about it. Then they said that it was a boy. I'm not sure how long he'd been under water, but by the time I swam out to him and brought him back in it was at least 30 seconds...maybe a lot longer. Fortunately, two of the other people on the beach were our dentist Keith Chapman and a medical student, Corinne, here from Switzerland. They started working on him and were able to resuscitate him.

Then Sunday evening we were able to visit Acres of Hope's orphanage. The orphanage we visited has the two girls that we are planning on adopting. Right now Liberia has put a hold on all adoptions pending new adoption laws. Since we don't know how long it will take, we thought it would be best if we not tell the girls that we are trying to adopt them. It all went very well, until we got up to leave and one of the nanny's told the girls to go give their new Ma a hug good bye, and asked them if they wanted us to be their new family...oh well. We hope to be able to visit the orphanage weekly until the laws are changed and we can complete the adoption. We were asked not to post any pictures publicly on the internet, but were able to take some, and some video of the children singing...priceless.

So it is almost 10:30 here now. It's been a long weekend...I'm going to bed.

One Month

Hard to believe a month has already gone by...and it has been almost two weeks since we've posted anything. Here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks.



We went up to a grocery store on the Firestone Rubber Plantation last weekend and found this...kinda makes you miss Costco even more...

Jamie's picture of the rubber trees as we drive by on the rough road. Maybe next time we're up there we'll get better pictures of the whole rubber collection process.

An office building at Firestone.

We went last Saturday and visited the site for the new Addy's Hope orphanage. A team from the US will be here for another week or so trying to get as much of the construction done as possible.

There are a couple houses here at ELWA that are beyond repair.

ELWA Academy. Like the college, they have classes outside sometimes. They currently have about 530 students at the school here at ELWA.

We went yesterday and visited Ma Wleh's orphanage. Another team from Minnesota happened to be there the same day bringing some food and other supplies. Here they are listening intently to some instructions.

Week 2

Highlights from the past week.



The boys have made fast friends with our two neighbor boys. Here Kobe and Caleb are practicing synchronized sand removal. We've had awesome waves here at ELWA the past few days, so the boys have been picking sand out of their pockets, waistband, ears, etc...

Here's a picture Jamie took from our front porch of the sun setting a couple days ago.

Farm equipment along the road on the way into town. I was told these belong to an organization headed by one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons. Libya and Liberia have ties in the past... Charles Taylor and his main military officials were trained in Libya before they started the civil war.

Just like home...almost.

One of the main markets in Monrovia, called Waterside.

A view of downtown Monrovia from the bridge driving back from Bushrod Island.

Here is one of the western style grocery stores. They have most of the items you'd find back home...you just pay more. A few price examples from our most recent trip, Large Frosted Flakes box - $9.00; Pint of olive oil - $12.00; Cheddar cheese - $10.00 for about 2 cups worth; Bush's baked beans - $3.50-4.00/can. Obviously the stores have a lot of expenses though. The cost of importing the goods, generating their own power, getting clean water to the store, housing for employees, etc... Most of the stores are run by Lebanese with Liberian employees.

Randall Street just outside the grocery store. This is one of the main streets. There are a couple grocery stores, many hardware stores, appliances, furniture, office supplies and more.

Another market that Jamie buys fruit and vegetables at.

As the highlight of our week, and probably our time here in Liberia so far, we went and visited Addy's Hope Orphanage on Friday night. Through the internet we met a couple from Colorado who are adopting through Addy's Hope. They took it upon themselves to raise the funds to construct a new orphanage (right now they are renting a building). Kami is out this week getting things prepared for a team of 9 from the states that will start arriving Sunday. They shipped over most of the supplies in a container...that is stuck in the port right now. They are praying it will be cleared by Wednesday.

They have just over 50 children at the orphanage right now. We arrived just as it was getting dark Friday night. We brought with us a favorite of ours back in the states...glowstick bracelets. As you can imagine the kids were very excited to play with them. More amazing was sitting and listening to them sing when we arrived, and again in their nightly devotional right before we left. They sing many of the songs we sing back in the states so it was really cool to hear 50+ little voices belting out the songs.

Kobe, Colton and I handing out the glowsticks.

Kami and Jamie showing some of the kids how they work.

This little guy was glued to Christopher most of the night.

Jamie's hair got lots of attention from the little girls. If we'd been there longer I'm sure she would have come back with braids.

Almost everyone had fun.

Christopher and his little friend again.

While Jamie was taking this picture the boy on the left was saying "I beg you, he choking my neck". Then Jamie showed them the picture on the camera and the boy on the right laughed and said "HA, I choking his neck"

Something old something new

One week is in the books here. I've started working occasionally with the services division of ELWA. The plan was to start late this week, early next week and have the current interim director show me how things function here. Steve has been here for a couple months and was planning on staying through the end of May (he was also here through most of the 70's 80's and 90's).

Those plans changed though when Steve's wife Carol woke up Sunday morning with eye problems. They both left for Abidjan, Ivory Coast Sunday afternoon, then onto the US to have doctors reattach her retina. Carol won't be able to travel for 3+ months so Steve's return is uncertain. I'll be working with the ELWA staff to try to get up to speed now.

I went with a couple of the Liberian services guys to the hardware store on Tuesday. We needed some electrical supplies to make a few modifications in our house. On the way back we stopped along the roadside to buy a bag of cement so I could secure a rebar cage around an outdoor AC unit. While we were waiting for a receipt I walked over to a young Liberian boy (about a year old) and said hi to him. The boy SCREAMED and leaped towards some older children while giving me a terrified look. Every time I looked at him he would grasp for one of the other children. I found out later that Liberian mothers often threaten their children with "if you don't do this/that the white man will come eat/get you".

Here's a picture of our water filter. It is a plastic bucket with a sediment filter, that then drains down through an iodine filter into the lower bucket. ELWA's water is actually pretty clean. They had it tested and it came back cleaner than the local bottled water. I'm not sure if that means our water is good or the bottled water is that bad. Some of the missionaries here drink it straight from the tap but we've been using our filter system so far.
We brought over a weather station from the states. So far the temperature has been in the upper 80's/low 90's with humidity between 60 and 99%

On the way to the downtown area of Monrovia you pass the University of Liberia. There are always lots of classes outside under the trees.

We stopped at a very modern aluminum window manufacturer to get a quote on new windows for our house.

Here is a less modern approach to construction. As they typically do in many areas around the world, they are using sticks for falsework to hold up their concrete forms for the next floor.

Some nice looking Cat equipment being sold along the road. It is surprising to see this big equipment when laborers can be hired for $90/month.

Here's another very new and modern building. It is part daycare and part apartments.

Across the road from ELWA is Rock Hill. Men, women and children work breaking large rocks into gravel.

Christopher and Kobe are getting used to the heat. They braved some time playing basketball on the court next to our neighbor's house.

Can't have a blog post without some of the local wildlife. Here's a picture Jamie took of a bug they killed in the house. Some sort of large wasp with nice sized pinchers.

all for now.