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.