Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Liberian Artisans

Through our adoption journey we've met a number of incredible people. There are a couple different online groups that we've been members of the last few years that have put us in contact with dozens of other families who either have adopted or are still waiting to bring children home. We were able to meet one of these families, the Glanvilles, a couple times before we left for Liberia. They have since started a non-profit to help Liberian artists sell their wares in the US. You can visit their website at www.fourcornersmarket.com. With Christmas just around the corner, I'm sure everyone can find something on their website and help to support Liberia.

I recently visited some of the people that Peter and Amber purchase from. here's a picture of the wood carvers busy making different projects.


The finished products.
Some of Yassa's baskets.
Some paintings from vendors near the US Embassy.

I almost walked past these without taking notice. One of the vendors is making these cars...out of old slippers (what Liberians call flip flops). They are really pretty neat.
A helicopter made from slippers. Complete with a working rotor tied to the wheels.

A few other non-artist pictures from my travels this day. There are no ready-mix concrete companies in Liberia so all concrete is mixed by hand with 50kg cement bags. The bags are delivered by vendors who load and unload hundreds of bags from trucks like this, typically into roadside shipping containers that serve as retail stores for local vendors. The guys that provide the muscle typically pack the bags on their head. It is a little hard to see, but the guy on the right looks like the typical laborer...covered in cement dust by the end of a hard days work.
An interesting ministry name.
and an even more interesting business name.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

squirt guns and bubbles













Monday, November 16, 2009

November Update

Greetings from Paynesville (who's motto I just found out is "Sanity and Greatness" ...hmmm). We're starting to have more days of sunshine as we transition from rainy season to dry season. By most accounts we're having a wetter November than usual, but most of the rain comes in the evening or overnight. Even with the rain, my plumber last weekend told me "the ocean was looking dry". Take a little while and see if you can figure out what that means...


We don't have a lot of pictures from the last few weeks. The latest STS container arrived with all kinds of things that we had shipped over for ourselves and for our orphanage visits. We brought bubbles to Acres of Hope a couple weeks ago and a fresh supply of glow bracelets to Addy's Hope. Unfortunately while we were at Addy's I also locked out keys in the car. The orphanage is about a 20 minute drive from our house so it added a little time to our stay while everyone waited for me to catch a ride home and return with the spare.




The boys have been busy working on their video skills taping Blessing. They brought me the camera today and it had 70 clips they wanted me to upload. Most were too dark or shaky to see much, but I've uploaded a couple that turned out pretty good. The camera also had a few clips from the past couple months so I've added a couple clips from the Tae Kwon Do ceremony and a bonus clip from a few months back...