To Kpayellay and back

Today we went to Kpayellay Town. I (Rusty) work with a man named John Eddie at ELWA Technical Services who's family is originally from that town. A few weeks ago John asked us for some help with a project in his home village. The village is remote and he has been trying to fund a school for the children that live there. We asked if we could go see the school and village, and John happily agreed to take us.

For most of the month of December Jamie's sister, brother in law and family are here visiting. We decided while they were here it would be an excellent time to take the hike to John's village and explore a little of the interior. The 11 of us, along with John Eddie and our neighbor boy Kelvin (who watched the vehicles while we hiked to the village) headed out around 7:30 this morning.

To reach the village you pass through the Firestone rubber plantation. Firestone has operated a rubber plantation in Liberia since the 1920's. They have almost 200 square miles of rubber trees that are tapped for natural latex. Here are a couple pictures of the rubber trees and the harvesting of the latex.

The end of the car road comes at the Farmington River. From there you have to set out in a canoe that ferries people and goods across the river.

Once on the other side of the river you hike about 45 minutes to get to Kpayellay. Along the way we crossed 5 or 6 creeks, saw a trail of army ants and lots of other flora and fauna.

Newly planted rubber trees near the village.
Army ants
One of the stream crossings.

Once we reached the village we were greeted by the town administrator. He took us on a tour of the village and surrounding area. Then we were treated to a traditional Liberian meal of rice and pumpkin soup. Afterwards we gathered for a discussion with all of the town people (around 100 people live in the town). They let us know how excited they were to have visitors. Nobody there could remember the last time they had white people visit the village, if ever. They were very gracious hosts, and concluded by giving us a large rice bag full of plantains and a dead monkey that the chief had just brought back. We decided we didn't know any good monkey recipes so we took the plantains and left the monkey with the chief.

A floral arch they had decorated for our arrival.
The village. It is ringed with banana, plantain, Kola nut, and breadfruit trees.
Niece Cori resting after the hike.
The boys resting with some coconut they gave us to drink and eat.
Where the town performs blacksmithing.
The school. Approximately 29 children learn with no books or writing instruments. They do have the small blackboard that the teacher uses to give the lessons. The teachers are a couple men from the village who sacrifice valuable farming time to provide this basic education.
One of the boys enjoying some stick candy.

Our host and guide, John Eddie.
Exploring the village with Cali while we waited for lunch.
Roofing material waiting to be used. Like all roofing in Liberia, it is called Zinc. In this case it is called "Country Zinc".
Visiting with the locals in the palava hut
A great picture that Royce took of one of the local women with her twins, Prince and Princess.
And last but not least, our monkey...