Liberia, Day 1-2

From Where in the World is Dad?

Hi Ruth! I'm in Liberia. My internet connection is pretty shaky, so I'm not sure I'll be able to update this every day, but I'll do my best. I miss you, and I miss Mommy.

Let me tell you, sweetheart, I hope the flight you and Mom take to come visit me in Ghana is easier than the one I had over here. Liberia is actually a little bit closer to Baltimore than Ghana, but I had to fly to Ghana first and then come back a little ways. Plus, we got stuck on the ground for three hours before we left because they couldn't figure out how to make the airplane door close right! And then I ate some yucky food that made my stomach upset.

But now I'm here. That's the important thing to remember about traveling - sometimes it takes a long time to get there, and sometimes the trip isn't very pleasant, but at the end of all the travel: then you're somewhere new. There are lots of interesting places in the world, and it's worth seeing them, and Mom and I hope that we can help you see them and learn about them.

Right now, I'm here to learn about fighting. It makes me sad, but that's why I'm here. When you grow up more, I hope you'll understand more why fighting makes me so upset. [I'll tell Mom this, because it might upset you, and she can decide what to tell you, or whether to let you read it if you ever come back to this when you're bigger and you can read: it makes me sad because on the way in from the airport I saw a whole soccer game being played by boys on crutches, because they were all missing legs.]

Yesterday not much happened. Because our flight was delayed, we didn't get here until late. I managed to buy a phone that would let me call you and Mommy from here - that's how I got to hear you ask me about cows after dinner with Grammy.

I wish I had more pictures to show you, but I haven't spent much time looking around the city yet. Sinkore, which is part of Monrovia, where I am, is a very different place to be. Because of the fighting, lots of places - like my hotel - don't look very nice. It's very nice inside, and the people who work here are very helpful and friendly, but one of those friendly people is our private security guard. Here in Monrovia, people don't trust that the police will come if you call them - it's a little complicated why, but basically it's because lots of the police aren't paid enough to live on and have a home and take care of their children, and so they don't always do what they're supposed to do. And around the hotel is a very high wall, and on top of the wall is barbed wire that would hurt anyone who tried to get in and steal things. Most of the houses and businesses here have walls like that - so when you drive down the street, a lot of what you see are walls and fences instead of houses or businesses.

From Where in the World is Dad?

The other thing that there's a lot of - and this is good, I guess, in a way, because it means that the fighting is mostly over - are people like me, who aren't from Liberia, but are here trying to learn, or trying to help out. Right across the street from us is a wall that says "CRS," for Catholic Relief Services. And there are plenty of others around - IREX, USAID, Save the Children, etc.

Today, I went to three meetings. I know, you think that all Mommy and I do at our jobs is go to meetings! I can't tell you everything about all of our meetings because I promised people that we wouldn't say some of the things they told us.

First, we stopped by to see someone works to help people start organizations to help each other - like, groups that get together to try to change what the government is doing, or try to stop people from fighting (but mostly to change what the government is doing). She also works to help get radio stations started so that people can listen to the news. We asked her a lot about what she's doing now, and how the groups are going. We also talked about how a lot of the people in Liberia believe in magic (sort of like the magic The Shadow Man has - voodoo, which is the name for the kind of magic he does in the movie, is something people in real life believe in too, and a lot of the ideas come from Africa). She thought it was a bad thing - I'm not so sure.

Next, we were supposed to meet with a woman who helped stop the fighting in Liberia, but she couldn't see us because she had to go out of town.

So, instead, we had lunch. I asked the man who was driving us around to tell us someplace not expensive to have lunch, and I think he misunderstood me because he took us some place very expensive. I will have to be clearer next time!

Then we came back to the hotel to make a lot of phone calls (I know, exciting!). Some people we called said they'd be happy to meet us and talk to us. Other people said to call back later, which often means, "I don't really want to talk to you, but I don't want to just tell you so."

After that, we went to dinner with Mr. Boie. Mr. Boie is the brother of a man I work with, Mr. Sam (Mr. Sam might be at our BBQ later, if he can make it). Mr. Sam came to the US from Liberia in 1989 to go to school, right before the very bad fighting started, and he hasn't been back ever since. Mr. Boie stayed in Liberia, even during the fighting - he's very brave - and took care of the rest of the family. He also coaches the Liberian basketball team. [To Mom: They practice at the stadium, which is still called the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex, which no one can explain to me.] Mr. Boie told us a lot about waht things were like to live here, and about what he does now - he's an accountant for a company that exports chocolate (well, cocoa, which is made into chocolate). Right now, it's rainy season in Liberia, which means they aren't growing much chocolate here - but unfortunately, there has been fighting in a country next door, Cote d'Ivoire, that grows cocoa, and so people have been shipping Ivoirian chocolate out through Liberia.

And now I'm back in my hotel room, doing some work, and writing to you, and being sad and missing you and Mommy. I love you, and I'll see you in 7 days.