My 26th

July 26th is Independence Day in Liberia. Liberia was never colonized, so nobody is quite sure why they have an Independence Day, but that doesn't stop them from having a holiday. Liberian's use the holiday to ask for "My 26th" or "My 26th on you-o", hoping for some small money or some sort of gift for their holiday. Jamie and I went to the airport tonight to pick up a team that is here working on the Addy's Hope orphanage. Going to the airport and dealing with the luggage handlers and crowds is always challenging. Adding the fact it is the 26th and there are lots of people out partying makes the trip even more exciting. We made it back with the team safely though. They'll be here for the next week working on finishing a new facility for Addy's Hope. Here are a few pictures from our most recent trip to the orphanage.

Christopher with a few of the kids.

Jamie with a few more.

Colton with a friend

African wildlife...sort of.

So in the past 24 hours we've had a few animals pass through our yard. You would think that living in Africa we'd have all kinds of wild animals around, but not so much. The lagoon behind our house is rumored to have pythons and crocodiles, but we haven't seen any yet. So we're stuck waiting for people to wander around with animals.

Someone brought this chimp by a couple weeks ago trying to sell him. I told him no, we're not allowed to own monkeys here at ELWA. He corrected me and said "no, it's a baboon" (the Liberian name for chimps). So I had to tell him no, we're not allowed to own baboons either. A couple kids brought him by again yesterday. Here he is (or is it a she?) clinging to one of the boys.

Then today our neighbors brought over a Potto monkey that his mother just bought. In Liberia they call them Softly-Softly. They're very sloth like, and a little temperamental. This one already drew blood on our neighbor's finger.

And lastly, as I was getting ready for work this morning I heard a lively discussion in our front yard. Christopher and I went out to find out that the guards were arguing with some other ELWA Security staff over who got to keep the meat from a sea turtle that washed up on shore during the night. After a few more minutes of negotiations they split up the quarry and went on their way. Here's what was left in our backyard.

Saturdays

Here is the outline for our day yesterday. Most Saturday's I try to work on a couple of the 100 unfinished projects around the house, but I didn't have much time yesterday. Jamie and I went out for a run in the morning. While I was waiting for Jamie to get ready I quickly jumped up on the roof to try to patch a leak. When I got down Dr. Sacra had come over. He said he didn't know what to do with himself during his rare day off while his family was back home in the states. After visiting for awhile we started our run. I dropped off after two laps (3.2 miles) but Jamie wanted to do a couple more.

After she got back and everyone was ready we headed to Acres of Hope for our usual Saturday visit. On the way we stopped at the ELWA guesthouse to see if we could meet a team that was here from South Carolina. After some tracking down we found out they have endured a nightmarish trip that finds them stuck in Ghana 5 days after they left the states, and 3 days before they are supposed to head back. Back on the road Acres of Hope is only about 5 minutes away, if traffic isn't too bad. On the way we got to see some of Mary Broh's team in action (more on that later), a man selling a dead deer and a fight between a couple boys.

We stayed at AoH for about 2 hours. While we were there a small group from the states stopped by to visit. They are over for a couple weeks putting on programs for deaf children. ACFI has an orphanage about an hour from here that has around 45 deaf children. Before we left the nanny's helped Jamie with the proper Lappa wearing techniques. A Lappa is just a length of cloth that can be used for a skirt or to carry babies. With the baby tied to their back it leaves their hands open to work. Here she is:

We left around 1:00 to run home for lunch. Kobe and I ran up towards Red Light to buy some ice cream while the rest of the family was eating. Vendors push around wooden carts with small coolers full of ice cream for sale. They sell small cones for $10LD (about 15 cents). We picked up a tub for a party we had planned at the Addy's Hope Orphanage. We got back and drove to Addy's Hope along with the Spencer family (Samaritan's Purse) and the wife of a doctor who is here for the month. The Spencers made cup cakes to hand out with the ice cream and juice boxes that we brought (probably creating a few more clients for Keith and Frieda). Here's a few pictures from Addy's

Oh the anticipation...

Christopher and Kobe catching kids as they leap off the porch.

Most of the cupcakes lost their frosting first.

We headed back home around 4:00. I ran up to fuel the ELWA generators while Jamie and the boys made dinner. Then at 6:30 we all headed down to the Chapman's for their bi-weekly Saturday night worship service. Then back home around 9:00 to edit pictures before bed.

I've mentioned Mary Broh a couple times in posts on Facebook. Mary is the acting Mayor of Monrovia and head of a special task force the president appointed to clean up and de-populate Monrovia. That usually means "breaking" down houses that are built illegally on the right-of-way or shanty towns that are home to criminals. My idea was to team her up with Ty Pennington for a special Extreme Makeover Liberia Edition. Ty could be standing there with his megaphone yelling "MARY, BREAK DOWN THAT HOUSE". and then of course build a new one when she's done. A friend made up these T-Shirts:
I'll avoid the deep politcal discussion, but you can check out John's thoughts.

Graduation

One of the guys I work with in services invited me to come to his niece, Elia's, Kindergarten graduation ceremony today. He is very proud of his Elia. Much of his salary goes towards her school fees and he takes his lunch hour every day to walk her home from school and make sure she's safe.



Here she is waiting to give her speaking part...she's the letter 'R'. The ceremony was 4HOURS! long. Singing...or maybe watching me take a picture of her.

Here is Patrick with Elia and her little sister Danielle back at their house.

Danielle and her unique hairdoo.

They brought out some speakers and started playing music. It didn't take long for 50 or 60 kids to gather around.

And a few random pictures at the party.

Sitting on top of my car...

When I was editing the picture above I noticed I could see myself in her eyes...

And two more random pictures. There are tiny frogs all over in the services yard right now. Africa is known for its large insects, but I've never seen frogs so small before. Here's a picture of one in Kobe's hand.

And a strange looking spider the boys found at one of the orphanages.