The forgotten blog

We've been back a little over two months now and I've sat down to post an update many times... Life is just a little more...boring here. No line of people needing money for school fees, no cockroaches and ants everywhere, not quite as many crazy drivers.

To finish the story from my last post, it was a crazy last week in Liberia. We were scrambling to get all the paperwork finished for Blessing before we left. The week was filled with trips to the embassy, doctors office, and various other government offices. Everything came together and we were able to get the last two signatures we needed on Tuesday, the day before our flight left. Our flight left Wednesday evening so we were planning on spending Wednesday finishing giving away some of our last things and saying goodbye to friends. We ran into town around noon to drop our luggage off at the SN Brussels office. That's when everything fell apart.

The SN Brussels luggage checker told us she could check all of our luggage...but Blessing couldn't fly with us. After all the meetings and signatures and waiting and appointments, now a airline employee was telling us they couldn't let Blessing go. The problem was she was traveling on a Liberian passport and she couldn't leave the international wing of the Brussels airport and go to the EU wing. After numerous phone calls and even a quick visit to the Spanish Consular to see what he could do, we changed Jamie and Blessing's ticket to fly directly from Brussels to Chicago. It was an expensive last minute change, but fortunately there was ONE seat left on that plane. So the boys and I said goodbye to Jamie and Blessing in the Brussels airport and they beat us back home flying straight to Chicago and onto Seattle.

First, a couple pictures from just before we left.

Jamie having her hair platted. She managed to avoid this until the end. It was an unplanned event that she just couldn't say no to. The whole process took about 4 hrs. for them to do all Jamie's hair in tiny little braids!

Some of the precious kids we had the pleasure of knowing and helping while we were there.
Kobe and Christopher doing some last minute shopping in Red Light while Jamie had her hair done.

Now a few pictures from our first 2 months back. Here are Jamie and Blessing working on hair. Not Blessing's favorite thing, but her hair is starting to get long enough to create more options.

(Jamie's hair post tiny braids.)

Here she is with more of an American look (or maybe Canadian?)

Blessing playing with her brother and cousins and Gma and Gpa's house
Christopher with 4 of the Perry cousins....Now
And the same five 15 years earlier.

All three of the boys are playing football. Here's Kobe yesterday against Blaine.
Colton a couple weeks ago.
And Christopher against Friday Harbor.
Blessing and Gma and Gpa cheering on the football game. (with a little more current view of Blessing's hairstyle)

Back Home

A quick post to let everyone know we made it home safely. It was a crazy last two weeks in Liberia. Amazingly we were able to get Blessing's Liberian and US paperwork finished a whole day early...just to find out on the day we were leaving that our return trip was a route that Blessing couldn't fly due to her Liberian passport. We were able to change Jamie and Blessing's tickets 30 minutes before leaving for the airport and they came back a different route.

We'll try to post a little more and some pictures from the last week later this week.

Rusty

Birthday, painting and football

So we have lots of activity as we are less than 3 weeks from leaving Liberia. We are in the process of completing Blessing's paperwork and, Lord willing, will all be departing August 11th. Everyday is a new adventure when you are trying to comply with Liberian and American bureaucracy, but it looks like we at least have a good chance of making it by the 11th. To just give a brief update, today we are sending someone to Nimba County (a long drive on not so good roads) to have a judge sign a document because he is the only one who can sign the document and is in Nimba for 3 weeks for a conference...

This month Blessing celebrated her 1st birthday. We celebrated it on the 14th, although we found out today that may or may not be her actual birthday. The whole idea of birthdays and ages don't have a great deal of importance to many people in Liberia. It seems odd to us, but it's just another cultural difference. I was in the hospital this evening to visit a friend who had a baby via c-section on Wednesday and asked her the typical American question of "what did your baby weigh?". She responded that she didn't really know, but she'd check with the doctor tomorrow.

Back to Blessing's birthday. Jamie made a cake for her on the 14th and she was a little unsure.

Kobe decided he better step in and help her eat it...

More pictures of Blessing from the last couple weeks, most taken by Christopher.

Fatu's house continues to progress. I took the day off and the family went to help paint today. We were joined by the Nolta family who are visiting for a couple weeks. Here Christopher and Prince are painting Fatu's room. Lots of bright colors...
One of the neighbor ladies has been cooking lunch for our contractor so we had her cook a little extra rice for our group. Here we are eating the rice and Tobogee Liberian style, with a big bowl and a bunch of spoons.

After painting we went to watch a soccer game at SKD Stadium. Jeff Nolta called earlier in the day to say he was in town and could pick up tickets for us if we wanted to go with his family. They are having a small tournament with Liberia, Guinea and Ghana. We arrived around 5:00 for a game that was rumored to start at 4:00. We were told the game hadn't started yet, but should start soon. There was a large crowd waiting outside the stadium behind a rope monitored by police and stadium staff. Liberia, like many other countries has a history of trouble at soccer events. We waited for about an hour, crowd watching and eating questionable street fare. Finally I told Christopher to cross the road and ask a police officer when the game would start. The officer told us to go ahead and go through to the gate. We thought it was preferential treatment...until we got into the stadium and found out the game was already in the 2nd half. Apparently all the people waiting outside where those without tickets who were hoping to get in somehow. I think a lot of the confusion came from the fact you couldn't buy tickets at the game, you had to buy them from one bank that was selling them in Monrovia.

So our 30+/- minutes of the game were pretty uneventful. Liberia was up 1-0 when we arrived in the stadium and that was the final outcome. The crowd was very small compared to what we thought we'd see.

I didn't want to risk bringing my camera to the game so the pictures are with my phone. One of the more interesting scenes came after the game, when 4 police in riot gear had to escort the referee out of the stadium. Some of the Guinean players were trying to discuss some of his calls when he was whisked away.
That's all for today. A happy 26th to all our Liberian friends.

Progress

Time to update the blog on the events of June...

The adoption committee has approved Blessing's adoption to move forward as a special needs case. That means the case can continue onto the courts so a decree can be issued...but we've run into a bit of a bump. While the Liberian side is ready to proceed, they are waiting on the American Embassy to give them the go-ahead. The Embassy is waiting on updated fingerprints that we gave in February to be processed. We went ahead and re-fingerprinted ourselves two weeks ago to try to speed things up. The new fingerprints are supposed to be expedited...we'll see.

Fatu's house has been moving along, despite the rain. The roof is on now and we expect to finish the house before the end of July. We again want to thank everyone who has donated for this project. We are absolutely amazed at the outpouring of support for Fatu and generous gifts. Here are a few pictures from the last month.

Nailing a board in place to prepare to cast a lintel.

One of the masons standing on the wall...I don't think his footwear would be OSHA approved.
After all the lintels were cast.

A few extra people came by to check on the progress.

Roof framing finished, starting to install the "zinc" on the roof.

The roof, almost finished. Fatu is in the foreground in pink. She's there just about everyday to see how things are going. Her and her son have also been planting some fruit trees on the property.

After the roof was finished they started filling in the gable end with block.
They also finished installing the "rogue" bars in the windows. Since it is the 4th of July, we'll finish with this picture of one of the workers saluting everyone with his American flag shirt.

Underway

We've been busy the last couple weeks getting started on Fatu's house. Here in Liberia the rainy season is also underway and will continue for the next 4 months. We don't have a lot of choice but to build in between the downpours (up to 200 inches between now and October).

We met on the site two weeks ago and helped to layout where the foundation will go. The ground is a fine white sand that is common around Monrovia. During the dry season it is difficult to drive on because it's like driving in quicksand. Rainy season helps to pack it down though so getting to the lot isn't too bad, other than driving through a couple muddy areas on the way.

Here's a picture of the foundation after they had finished digging, and after the rain had knocked a bunch of the sand back into the trenches.

I think I've mentioned before that most rock in Liberia is crushed by hand. There are a couple patches of rock within about a mile of the site where the property owners and energetic children spend the day breaking rock into piles of different sizes. A small pickup truck load of rock costs about $50 with the expense to load it. This is two small truckloads.

Some of the workers hiding from the rain last week in a house that Fatu's neighbor is building.

Alice, Mercy and Rachel have been asking for a couple months to come "spend time" with Aunt Jamie and Uncle Rusty. Jamie picked them up last Friday and they came over to spend the night. Saturday we went out to lunch with them and into town to buy a few things. We were a little surprised when we drove into Monrovia and the girls told us they'd never been to town before (they only live about 10 miles away). It was a weekend of many firsts for them.

Here are a few more pictures of some light urban flooding while we were in town. The Chinese company CICO is repairing the city streets and improving drainage this year. Many have already been repaved (which makes for traffic nightmares while streets are shut down). They haven't fixed UN Drive yet and even after it is repaired I doubt the drainage will handle the deluges they get in the rainy season. Below is one common site though, a child taking advantage of the rainstorm to take a bath. Unfortunately, I believe most of the system is a combined storm water and sanitary sewer system so backup aren't just storm water.

The girls getting ready for bed Friday night.

This picture is from today. The foundation is complete and they are up to window height with the block walls.

The blocks are available to buy about every 100 yards along the side of the road by more enterprising young men. They buy cement and sand and spend the day making blocks with steel forms that can be purchased from the small welding shops that are about as prolific as the "block factories". A typical factory has 3 or 4 guys that can put out somewhere around 300 blocks a day. For their effort they will probably take home around $4 or $5 a day, assuming they can sell their blocks. The 6" blocks sell for between $0.32 and $0.50 each depending on the location and quality.

Last but not least. A huge thank you to all who have donated so far. We are amazed by the outpouring of support for Fatu and her family. So far my parents have received contributions totaling $7,790!! That leaves only approximately $1,200 to finish the house! If we receive over $9,000 we would like to add some basic electrical wiring to the house so she would be able to hook a small generator up to the house for lights at night. We'd also like to be able to get a few basic furnishings like beds and a few chairs. Thank you to all who have donated so far!

Our Adoption Saga Part 1

As many of you know we became involved with Liberia because in the summer of 2007 Rusty and I decided we were suppose to adopt. In the summer of 2008 we were matched with two little girls, Alice and Mercy.
Alice: Mercy:

By this time we knew we were going to be living in Liberia so we decided it best to wait on moving forward with the adoption until we were here in country. The month before we arrived the president of Liberia put into effect a moritorium on adoption. We were still hopeful that this moritorium would be short as the government was working on new laws. During this time we started visiting the orphange and met the girls. They are charming and we have loved going on the weekends and playing with the children. After a few months I really felt God was telling me they were not the right ones for us. We decided to meet with their biological mother and hear her story, hoping this would help us decide what direction we should go. Our meeting with Fatu went well and her story is sad. Like many women she is uneducated, had no job, has no home of her own, has four of five children remaining at home and the father abandoned her.
Fatu:
Martin:

Rachel:
We took Fatu "home" that day to see where she was living. Her home, which belongs to her pastor, is a 10' x 20' shack with grass mat walls and when the rains come water and raw sewage flow through on the floor where she sleeps along with two other adults and about 10 children. No matter how I prayed and tried to convince myself we should take two of her children, I could find no peace. Until the day I finally let go and acknowledge God was saying no I was very troubled. I could see that Fatu very much loves her girls and thought she was doing what was best for them by giving them a chance at a better life in America. We have been here for 15 months and there is still a moritorium on adoption. All children in the orphanage without adoption decrees or a special medical need are to be sent back to family. It is so interesting how God works. We would not have been allowed to adopt Alice and Mercy anyway.

Fatu took the girls from the orphanage several months ago after finding out we were not going to adopt them. Mercy is living with Fatu but Alice has be staying with another woman and we haven't had a chance to see her since Fatu took them out of the orphanage, until today. It is very common here to send you child/children to live with other family or friends if you do not have the means to care for them.

After visiting with Fatu and getting to know her we felt we should do what we could to help her get on her own feet. We decided to set her up with a market close to where she is living. While she doesn't make a big profit it is better than nothing. We also started discussing other living options with her. We really want to leave her with something of her own, where she doesn't have to worry about how to pay rent and/or feed her children. Like I said the market doesn't provide much of an income but it should be enough to feed her family. So we have been hunting all over Paynesville in search of a lot to build her a small home on. The "land business" is very difficult here. There is no title company or land registry in Liberia so it is quite common for people to sell land to multiple people or sell land that doesn't belong to them. We have looked at about half a dozen lots and none of them have been legitimate until last weekend. I think we have finally found a lot that is dry and actually belongs to the guy wanting to sell it to Fatu. We took Fatu and her children to see the lot today and get some pictures. Rusty should close the deal tomorrow!

Fatu and her children (plus the small girl who belongs to her pastor and his wife)

Walking to talk to the neighbor to be sure the property is legitimate. Fatu wanted to bring her pastor's wife and the women Alice has been staying with to see the property.

We can not single handedly save everyone in Liberia but we can change the lives of this single mom and her children by giving them a dry home of their own. Rusty estimates we can buy the lot and build her a home for $9000 USD. On one hand this is quite a bit of money, but on the other it is a small amount to give a family a home of their own. If you would like to help us make this a reality for Fatu, Martin, Rachel, Alice and Mercy, you can send a donation to us at:

Jack & D'Linda Laird

1468 E. Smith Rd.

Bellingham, Wa 98226.

This is not a project through SIM and so is not tax deductable.

Overdue

So I see from the date of my last post that it's been almost 6 weeks since we've blogged. Really I didn't have to look though, I could tell by the emails from my parents complaining about our lack of reporting. So lets see...what's happened the last 6 weeks.

About three weeks ago we went out to a potluck for missionaries at Christian Aid Ministries (CAM). They have potlucks occasionally and this one served to say farewell to our neighbors the Sacras as they head back to the US for a couple years. CAM provides support for medical clinics and has a feeding program for orphanages. To facilitate all that support they have a large warehouse with pallet racking. But pallet racking can be used for more than storing pallets of rice and medical supplies, it can be used for climbing and jumping off. Which Kobe did, and broke his wrist.

While it was hurting that evening Kobe decided he didn't want to bother Dr. Sacra as all the missionaries thanked him for his medical care over the past 15 years. We actually waited two days until Monday to go get x-rays and confirm that it was in fact broken. Don't worry though, it hasn't slowed him down.

One thing you see everywhere are children (and adults) walking around with baskets of various foods and goods to sell. One of our favorites are what the Liberians call "flour chips". I like to call them funions though because they vaguely resemble Funions with a slight onion flavor. One of the girls who sells them, Jackie, was sitting by my office looking very sad about a month ago. I stopped to buy some and she, almost in tears, asked if I could help her find somewhere else to live. Over the next two weeks Jamie and I met with Jackie a few times and learned her story.

Jackie's story is very common in Liberia. A child from the village is sent to live with relatives in the city so they can get an education. What ends up happening is the child becomes a servant for the family in the city. Instead of getting to go to school Jackie was walking around selling flour chips so her auntie could go to school.

Jamie and I were trying to figure out a better option for Jackie. We talked with some friends but were having a hard time finding somewhere safe for a 14 year old girl to live. We were just about to give up looking when we found out that a Liberian friend was just moving into a new house (and had some spare room). We tried to call this friend a couple weeks ago, but our cell service was down due to a lightning strike. It turned out, this friend was also trying to call us the same weekend to talk...she didn't know why, but just thought there was some reason she needed to talk to us. We ended up driving to this friends house and she agreed to meet Jackie and the two hit it off almost instantly. Jackie moved into the home last week. Here she is standing on the porch.

To show appreciation to the friend for taking Jackie in we helped to provide some furniture and shelving for the house. Jamie and I put together some shelves for the kitchen and a bookshelf to take out this weekend. You will also note the new license plate in the windshield. After living here for 15 months we finally have a license plate that isn't paper.

Work has been busy too. We've started to build a fence around the ELWA campus for security. Here the guys are mixing the concrete. The drum in the middle of the picture is the water.
The contractor wanted to pose with the footing.

Jamie working on Blessing's hair.

Blessing continues to grow and is 10 months old now. She's crawls faster than I can run and is on the verge of walking (running?). We are trying to start the process to adopt her as a special needs case but progress has been slow. I think I will leave that post for Jamie. One of the highlights of our time here in Liberia has definitely been our visits to a couple local orphanages. It has also been challenging though as we go through the ups and downs of international adoption along with a dozen +/- other families who are trying to bring children home. Maybe I can get Jamie to write a little about that journey too...