Happy Thanksgiving!

Things we are thankful for:

--for dry beds at night.

--for English teachers who expected us to use proper annunciation and grammar.

--for children who actually seem to miss us! (or at least fake it well)

--for the ability to read and write.

--for wonderful family and good friends.

--for the health to work hard.

--for a rich Christian heritage.

--for the occasional Pop Tart.

--for hair coloring (thanks, Diane S.)

--for ministers, Sunday school teachers, catechism instructors, Bible leaders who taught us Truth.

--for avocado trees that are actually growing.

--for nationals who like us even when we do something really stupid.

--for internet access.

--for eyesight to enjoy the awesome Liberian sky.

--for the laughter of children.

--for air conditioning at night.

--for Liberians who model such humility and honesty in prayer

--for plenty to eat.

--for indoor plumbing.

--for sunscreen.

--for Adirondack chairs.

--for the assurance of salvation and the joy of life now.

Hoping your Thanksgiving Day is blessed and full of thanksgiving to our wonderful God, the Great Provider of all good things.

Love, Dave & Babs

On Being Healthy...

I have been blessed with a germ-impervious body. I rarely get sick. It is a hearty Dutch model, and has served me well. When I was a kid, friends of my parents would say about my sister, “Oh, she is so pretty” and then they would look at me and remark, “And she is so healthy-looking!” Yes, that summed it all up!

When you are 6 years old, healthy-looking is good. And useful. I did not have measles, mumps, or even chicken pox, even though my siblings were hit with those illnesses. At 16 years old, looking healthy was certainly NOT the goal, but so it goes. What do ya’ do?

I am not bitter…really!

But now I find that, at my current age (you guessed it, 42!), healthy-looking is a good way to be. Except since we have arrived here in Africa 6 months ago, I have been sick 5 times! Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a couple of orphanages to screen some children. Two days later, I was sick. Like for four days! This sturdy Dutch body is apparently no match for sneaky African germs. Guess it was the flu….again. I was given a malaria-detecting test and tested negative. That is good.

Malaria is a constant concern here. Most of the nationals know right away when they have it, because it is not their first bout with it. Some have nausea, some headache, some achy joints. A fever is present, but it might be constant or intermittent. That’s one of the the problems with malaria: symptoms can vary so from person to person.

Malaria is a big killer. World-wide, it will kill millions of people again this year. Almost half the world’s population is threatened by this disease. Young children, older folks, and anyone with a weakened immune system are at greatest risk. Malaria comes up in the course of a conversation regularly, as it is a part of life here. Right now, we have two guards suffering through it. That brings the number to 14 of people (staff and children) that I am aware of who have battled malaria since we arrived in May. And it is just the beginning of mosquito season!

This Thanksgiving, be thankful that you live in a malaria-free part of the world.

And pray for those who don’t.

Babs

The Little Truck That Could (Almost...)

Here in Liberia the contractor who built this village is finished with this phase of construction and is finally moving his equipment and left over material. All of us at the site are glad that we can say good bye to the construction crowd and the mess that has seemed to accumulate as a by-product of their labors. One of the things that needed to be removed was a container. It was used to lock up tools and valuable items. It has been an eye sore for as long as we have been here, prominently positioned in the middle of the facility. Today all that changed! We got the word that the truck had left Monrovia (10 a.m.), and would arrive to pick up and move the container to the contractor’s main office on Bushrod Island. Bushrod Island is the harbor area next to Monrovia where all goods are unloaded off the cargo ships. Everything comes into this country by ship! Bushrod Island is always bumper to bumper with trucks and cars.

So the truck finally arrived at about 4 p.m. The drive to Bushrod usually takes about 1½ hours by car. Of course it would take a little longer with a truck, especially when the driver does not want to chance getting a ding in his paint job or bumpers. Maybe someone can help me figure out exactly what year this truck is (or was), but my best guess is that I was about 10 years old when it was new.

This fine vehicle (‘58-‘60 Dodge?) came with a driver and 3 attendants. One of the fellows worked the crane. He sat behind the cab, in between two huge gears that were part of the crane that was mounted on the back of this trusty vehicle. One of the other guys would crawl underneath and engage the power take-off when needed. The third fellow was responsible for hooking up the cables. A well oiled machine!


Finally it was backed up to the container and cables were being hooked up. This was an arduous process as the turning radius is huge because the front wheels do not turn very much. Also, the clutch was wore out, or maybe it was because of all the oil going past it; anyway, six of us had to push when it was in reverse because the truck could not move on its own power. Woe unto you if you were down wind when the engine was put under a load; the smoke was breath-taking!

O.K.! We got it now. Small problem though: now the truck will not go through the sand with it’s load. Every able man on the site had to push to get it this far. Well, except for the three helpers! They had to sit on the front bumper in an effort to keep the front wheels on the ground. At this point, just when one thinks this is not going too bad, the truck runs out of diesel. Not to worry, there is more in the can behind the cab. The main fuel tank is sitting on the passenger side floor board. Why it doesn’t get filled before it runs out is a mystery; nobody knows! Now the injector pump needed priming; a 30 minute ordeal.

Well, it’s only 6 p.m. and the truck is cadillacing down the main street of the village, heading toward the main gate. The security guys have the front gates opened w-i-d-e. We are close, so close, to getting rid of this thing.


After a 16 point turn through the gate, it is on the road. Note the wheel that is off the ground as they pull onto the county road. That is the tire that had all the cords showing. This is how they will most likely keep it from wearing out on the way back to Bushrod Island.

This silhouette of the container going down the road is a pleasant sight for us. One has to wonder though, with it going to be very dark in one hour, and no lights on the truck or container, what are they thinking? Two weeks ago, Babs and I were coming home from the internet café and came up behind this very thing in the dark: an unlit container on a truck. Fortunately, the car in front of us saw it and then we saw their tail lights. If per chance one of his three tires that were down to the second layer of cords blows out, they will park it in the middle of the highway, since there is no shoulder to pull off on, and return in the morning to deal with it. Such road hazards are the norm here.


The Rest of The Story:

After months of talk, we were promised that by Sunday the container and all the debris would be removed from the village. The container left Saturday evening, and most of the debris had also been hauled off. It is now Sunday morning, and after church we left town, and headed inland out of Monrovia. The joke was that I should be careful not to run into the back of a blue container that may have been dumped in the middle of the road. Well, sure enough, we were not quite to Red Light Junction, (named for the red stop light that used to blink there before the war) and there it was! They seemed to have had some tire issues and now the truck will not start. They made it half way home (10 miles) in 18 hours. I have no doubt they will make it the rest of the way. The people of Liberia are hard workers and very resourceful with what they have to work with. My heart goes out to them; this has been a hard way to make $200, but that’s trucking. Been there, done that!

---Dave

Bed, Bath, and Way Beyond... (or, "Babs Decorates")

Finding the perfect piece of furniture...
This store is great! Note how one can even purchase fish for dinner here.


A done deal! (The lady behind me is not happy that I would not buy her bananas, but I was totally focused on buying my towel shelving).


Doubling the purchase price.
Never before have I painted against such a beautiful backdrop.


Perfection! I love it!

Winter in Liberia

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Here we all are, over half way through the month of October. For the most of our lives there have been events, mostly linked to agriculture (almonds bloomed, peppers were planted, cabbage was harvested, almonds knocked, and after many loads of peppers delivered, the year was about shot) and weather that marked the year’s passing; first cold, then hot, and then things cooled off again. Here, it is very different.

In Liberia we are just finishing the rainy season. September is normally the wettest month of the year. This year was no exception. September averaged 20 inches a week for the month, raining almost every night. The school aged Rafiki children recently took a field trip to the airport. One of the places they visited there was the weather station. They informed us that the rainy season is officially over the 15^th of October. So, here we are trying to remind ourselves that it is the middle of October and the year of 2008 is coming to a close.

Time always seems to go faster and faster but here, in Liberia, it is especially hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that summer in the states is over and Christmas is just around the corner for us all. Instead of cooling off as it is doing where we have always lived, here it is just hot and getting hotter and steamier. The months of June, July, and August, what we have always thought of as summer, is now our “rainy season.” We are finding out why the rain is enjoyed by those living here; it brings a little cool with it. Today, after 3-4 days of being dry, it rained 2-3 inches and was a nice relief!

When we arrived in Liberia in May and the first torrential rain storm came, we were told by the nationals “that we had not seen anything yet”, and we hadn’t. Now we remarked about the intense sun, and were told “you haven’t seen anything yet”. In church this morning there was a group of people from Illinois. They were fanning themselves and looked like they were going to wilt. We were quite comfortable. We may actually be acclimating!

October is the month that everyone here is planting their gardens. Up and down the highway we see villages preparing their ground for planting. Yes, we also will give farming another go. With the arrival of our container the 2nd week of September, we now have a lot of vegetable seeds to plant. Dave is watching the neighbors to see how it’s done here. We will keep you posted.

Wishing you a bountiful, cool fall.

Dave & Babs Veneman

More Disturbing Car Statements

Here are more car statements that we found interesting.

Kind of makes our cars in the States boring, don’t you think?
(You can enlarge each photo by clicking directly on the picture).

A Bug’s Life---Here are some interesting creature specimens we have encountered so far:

Our little frog friend was hanging on the back door one morning.

This guy decided to dress as a leaf for Halloween. Good costume.

He has an attitude going on here.

Great color for a beetle: emerald!

Isn’t this moth cute?

He is less than a half an inch long…antenna included.