"Is it raining in there? It is raining out here too!"---Winnie the Pooh

Well, it all started out as a pleasant Sunday drive. Yes, it was raining...uh, pouring, really...as we went to church yesterday morning. The rain had started about 5 a.m. We left for church at 8 a.m. It rained throughout the whole church service. It rained during brunch. Things were getting a bit soggy!

When we began our trip out of Monrovia at 11 a.m., we encountered interesting road conditions. Several intersections were flooded, with big traffic jams, as vehicles jockeyed for position in the one lane that was on the highest part of the road. On a four-lane road, five lanes of traffic (no, we do not know how suddenly there were five lanes of traffic, either!) all competed for the one high spot on the road.

Needless to say, it was a mess! With horns honking and arms waving, everyone slowly maneuvered their way through the deep water, except for the taxis without passengers. They knew better than to try it and turned around, as they would have been swept off the road as one of their fellow taxi buddies discovered a little too late.

Going home took quite awhile. We passed through many flooded areas. Homes had several feet of water in them. A new hardware store that opened seven weeks ago was under water. We passed people carrying mattresses, household goods, and personal belongings on their heads. And the rain was still coming down!

It poured all afternoon and into the night. Finally stopped around 9:00 p.m. We are wondering what Monrovia looks like this morning. And where all those displaced people slept last night.

Oh, by the way, it is 5 a.m. and it is raining again!

Wishing you all a good, dry day.

Dave & Babs

As Carl Carper Would Say, "If It Don't Rain Today, It Will Miss a Darn Good Chance"

Well, it began raining about 6 am this morning. However, "raining" doesn't quite capture the full picture. It would be like saying Modesto was a tad hazy these past weeks. It poured from 6 am until 9:30 am, and dropped 2 and a half inches...if you can believe the "Pork N' Bean" can rain gauge. Dave hates it when it is raining so hard that the water pounds through the seams of his umbrella!

The morning's storm also included lightening bolts and thunder cracks. All in all, it was a very impressive storm, and as we are finding out, it's a common occurrence for this time of the year.

When it was finished, the whole compound was covered with water. Where we come from, water sticks around for awhile. That is not the case here in Monrovia though, and that is a good thing, as it looks like rain again this evening!

Have a good day, wherever you are!

Dave and Babs

During the deluge...


After the deluge

The Check is in the Mail

O.K., today was one of those days that does not happen all that often here at Rafiki Liberia. Well actually, about once a month. It is payday...the first of July.

A lot of preparation has gone into making this day go very easy for me by Charmaine, our accountant. This morning all I had to was go around to our 25 employees and give them their pay slip plus $600 Liberian ($10 U.S.). They then left at around noon to make the trek into Monroiva to the bank to get the rest of their pay.

It is very common to pay employees in cash here in Liberia, and Rafiki used to do that as well. The $100 bill is the most common Liberian denomination. Now that is worth about $1.66 U.S. We have seen nothing larger here. When you are paying someone for a month's work in $50 and $100 Liberian bills (60 to 1 ratio to the U.S dollar), there is a lot of money laying around; tables of it!

People come up with all kinds of unique ways to transport a suitcase full of money from the bank to the work place. The problem is that everyone knows its payday. On the way back from the bank, with a suitcase full of money in the backseat, one's thought process tends to proceed along these lines: "With unemployment at around 80%, there are a fair amount of individuals with little more to do than to think of how they could utilize these funds once in their possession."

Even when you have to slow down for the 73 year old mother of 12, grandmother of 37, crossing the street, you start imagining her pulling out her AK 47 and having her way with the company's money.

To get around all those ill thoughts that the depraved mind can come up with when under stress, Rafiki has gone through the efforts of getting employment numbers for all the employees and setting them up with their own savings account at a local bank. There was fear and trepidation as to how this process of getting paid would be accepted, as some of the employees had never been in a bank before. I understand completely. A bank is not where I go to relax either.

To every one's glee, this has been most acceptable to everyone receiving a paycheck. The $600 Liberian ($10 U.S.) they do get is to insure that they all have Taxi money to get to the bank.

So, today July 1, everybody liked me. And that doesn't happen very often. Just once a month now.

Dave

Let The Games Begin

We are playing games here in Liberia. Almost daily, we head out to the play yard in the late afternoon to play games with the children. Games such as "Duck, Duck, Juice." It is difficult for some of the kids to remember that it is "Duck, Duck, Goose" when they have never seen a goose.

We play "football" (soccer) with two coaches who head for the ibuprofen after our games (Dave and Tarry Nelson). Babs is the referee because she has the big whistle. Our teams are The Gorillas vs.The Crocodiles.

We play "Red Rover", "Follow the Leader" (Dave is the most fun leader), and run races around obstacles.

We also tried to play "Animal Upset" (a variation of "Fruit Basket Upset") but some people have had a difficult time understanding the concept of running through the circle to the opposite side instead of all over the play yard. Maybe next time we play that game, it will work better.

As the older children are on a school vacation, they have been meeting Babs in the dining hall after breakfast for some "Alphabet Bingo," Bible Cards (a matching game), and matching letters. Also doing some phonics work.

Dave hopes to teach some of the older kids how to play checkers this weekend. He is a good teacher who makes one work for the win. Just ask Jill.

So lately, games have been a large part of our life. Hope to someday teach someone here how to play "Rook", our favorite game!

Have a fabulous day!

Dave and Babs

Lessons From Liberia

Here are a few things we have learned so far, after one month at the Rafiki Village Liberia:

---You cannot kill a medium-sized spider with a screwdriver.

---When the ground is covered with ants, keep moving.

---Two year old children have attitudes no matter what country they live in.

---Palm Springs, Liberia, ain't nothing like Palm Springs, California!

---When you are clueless as to what is being said to you, even though it is supposedly English, just smile.

---In the rainy season, always have an umbrella handy.

---When you haven't had sweets in ten days, you slowly savor one M&M at a time.

---Do not get in the way of a three year old and his car.

---It is difficult to distract ten children waiting outside a medical clinic for their turn for an "injection" (immunization) while the eleventh child is inside the room, and not happy with the situation.

---Walking next to a child holding an umbrella without getting poked in the eye is a challenge.

---Screaming at a large spider (make that an XL spider!) does not make it disappear.

---Percocet helps one sleep at night (just kidding!). Being exhausted helps one sleep at night!

---Benjamin's laugh makes everyone laugh.

---God is good...all the time.

Wishing all a fabulous day!

Dave & Babs

A Gecko Named Nuisance!

Starting to get to know the native staff workers here on the Rafiki compound. Last week, I was introduced to a guard whose name was Honest. I was kind of hoping for 'Bruno,' 'Hefty' or 'Bubba,' but 'Honest' is a good name for a guard, too. Later I discovered that his name was really Earnest! This was after several days of calling the fella 'Honest!' As you can tell, I do not understand what the locals are saying much of the time. 'Earnest' is a good name for a guard, too, but in my head he will always be 'Honest.'

I do enjoy the names of people. There is a child here named Anna Blessing; the laundry gal is named Comfort; Sunday is a groundskeeper; Patience is a hospital administrator; two children being considered for placement here are named Hope and Grace (not sisters). I think this is a wonderful idea! Maybe if in the States people would stop naming children after actresses and entertainers (who usually have questionable lifestyles!) and consider naming their kids after the Fruits of the Spirit, well, maybe children would have something to live up to! Just a random thought...

Here is a picture of the school children in front of the flagpole. They begin each day at the flagpole (unless it is raining) with the Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem, Lord's Prayer, and a hymn. Nice way to begin school. Then they line up and walk to the classroom. The teacher is Joanne Colvin, who also is the Village Director here in Liberia. She has a wonderfully decorated room with many books and is teaching the kids basics, like numbers and the alphabet. The children like school, and are learning how to listen and obey. For most of them, this is their first experience with school, so every behavior has to be taught.

The kids are afraid of geckos! I am feeling pretty good about myself, as this is about the only thing in Africa that I am not afraid of! Probably because of those commercials on TV with the talking gecko selling the insurance. He seems so friendly! Now don't get me wrong...I will not TOUCH a gecko, but at least I don't hyperventilate when I see one. Anyways, there are geckos sometimes in the children's bathrooms at school, and that can be very disruptive. Eight kids freaking out!

Well, that is all for today.

Wishing all who read this a fabulous day.

Babs

Sneaky Snake

Hi All,

Well, I can go home now.  (Not really).  Today I experienced something that I had heard about but never thought I'd see.  Babs has been in the fetal position for about 5 hrs. now because she experienced it also.  The director was screaming (oops.  no, directors don't scream).  She was asking Tarry and I "what is it with men and their cameras, get away from that snake."

Tarry, our next door neighbor was asked by his cleaning girl who washes his car when she has time, to move his pickup out in the driveway and she would wash it.  Tarry goes outside and gets in the pickup, looks up, and a Cobra is wrapped around the antenna striking at him through the windshield.  He then phones me from inside his pickup...like what am I going to do, except get my camera?  It was a feisty little guy, about 12" long.  Whenever we got close to him, he would rear up and make these lunging moves toward us.

We, being in our shorts and tee shirts (not the official Rafiki snake gear) decided to call the paid guards to come and dispatch the snake.  They were not all that keen on messing with it either.  Matter of fact, if the women would not have been out there by then, I think they may have turned and walked.  They got a stick and put and end to the excitement.

As this was all unfolding, SanJay (the house cleaner) and Babs were huddled together 50-60 yards away consoling each other.  Some women just don't like snakes...it doesn't matter what color their skin is.

See ya later,

Dave