Liberia, Day 7

Hi Ruth! I'm still in Liberia.

I don't have any pictures from today, sorry. Today, we mostly just worked.

This morning, we were supposed to have a meeting with a woman who works for a group that tries to stop fighting all over West Africa. We called to make sure we were going to the right place, but then when we got there she called and told us to go to a different place! So we had to drive over there quick. And when we got there, it wasn't a place where we could really ask her questions, like we thought - it was a big meeting about how people from Liberia could get involved in a big conference that was happening to talk about how to help people who are poor.

In the meeting, someone from a European group talked about the conference. But a lot of people in the room wanted to know why it was a day before the conference, and none of their groups had been invited, and no one had talked to them about it until the day before, even though it was in Liberia. Good question!

We had to leave a little early because we had another meeting with a woman I met on the plane. We went to the restaurant where she was the head of catering for lunch, hoping that she might be able to tell us more about how woman who were businesspeople like her during the fighting managed to keep their businesses going. We didn't learn much about that, but we did have a nice lunch. Her daughter lives near us, so she may say hello next time she's in the United States.

Then we went to our last meeting, with a woman who now helps women learn about the legal system. We talked about how she protected her children from the fighting, and how women see themselves differently now. [Mom: She said, "thank goodness for us women, there was a war."]

Then we came home. I talked to a man at Tubman University on the phone - he lives in a place called Maryland, which is in Liberia, but is named after the Maryland we live in (remember what I said about the Americo-Liberians, or Congos?). Maryland (our state) has a sister-state program with Liberia, and I'd told someone else we met who works with it that I'd like to help out if I could. So Prof. Isaac had wanted to meet with me before I left Liberia, but Maryland (Liberia) is very far away from here in Monrovia. So we just talked on the phone.

Then, since it's my last night here (which means I get to see you soon, yay!) I went to my favorite restaurant I've found here so far, Big Treat, for dinner. Big Treat has loud music and local food - only one thing per night! Tonight, they had fish (the whole fish, even the eyes! I didn't eat the eyes).

Now I'm back at the hotel, writing to you. I love you, and I'll see you in only 2 days! I hope movie night was fun.