School Daze

Hello, again.

For the last two weeks the weather has been very nice. Usually in the lower 80s and the humidity has not been too bad. It rains on and off throughout the day.

 

We are all reeling with new job assignments because our Education Director and our Child Care Director have finished their term of service and returned to the States. They left two full time jobs that need to be absorbed by the four of us who are left here in Liberia. Home Office has assigned our village two new staff members who should arrive in October. We will be counting the days!

 

In the meantime, Babs is doing the Child Care. She just returned from the doctor's office after sitting there for four hours with a little girl. Thank goodness she had an appointment!

 

The question you might be asking is that if Babs took over the Child Care, is Dave going to take over the Education? To be a Director of Education, shouldn't one have some sort of degree and maybe a little experience? I must admit I do have a little experience when it comes to education, but it was not an especially good experience and I think it was worse for my teachers. My degree is one from "The School of Hard Knocks", something that we are trying to spare these young children. 

 

Each morning, I meet with a capable staff of teachers. We pray together, and then I leave them alone so they can teach!  This morning, there was a class of boys that was rather rowdy, so I popped into their classroom and said "hi" to the students. I gave them the old line that they have a good teacher who is here to teach. That is a very important job, so she should not be wasting any of her valuable time on students who did not care to learn. Those students who did not wish to behave and learn from her, she could send them to me! In my younger years, when I was pretending to be a student, that line usually got my attention. As I left the room, it was quiet, as several pairs of big eyes watched me leave.  Maybe I did learn something in school!

 

Dave

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

Well, it is raining. The rainy season is here with a vengeance. Like "two-inches-of-precipitation-in-two-hours" sort of rain!  In case we have never mentioned it before, Liberia gets about 180 to 200 inches of rain a year. As Liberians say, "Plenty!"

People plan their lives around the rainy season. Many roads become inaccessible. Trips to the "interior" are minimal, as dirt roads become massive puddles and hardy four-wheel drive vehicles often save the day! Perfect country for an International Scout (motto: "Everything Else is Just a Car"). We do not have a Scout, but a very functional Toyota Land Cruiser.  Good thing, too, as one of us likes to drive through mud and sand just so he can use the four-wheel drive capability as often as possible. One of us is very excited that there is a lot of mud around these days.

The seasons really should be called the mud season and the dust season. We exchange clouds of red dust billowing off the roadway for red mud splashing up over the hood and windows of the Land Cruiser as we venture into town. And we are never too far from an umbrella, as it can go from sort-of-cloudy to torrential-downpour in five minutes. One always needs to be prepared (another Scout motto!) 

Wishing you all a pleasant day from drippy Liberia. Stay dry!
Dave & Babs