Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day.

Mother's Day is taken quite seriously here in Liberia. Most churches had nominations and voting weeks ago for "Mother of the Year" for their particular congregation. Today, in churches all over Liberia, the winners of those ballots, as well as ALL mothers, were honored in worship services.

Today was a day when ladies dressed up in their finest dresses. Many women had new outfits for the occasion. Matching shoes and handbags, hats or head wraps, lace, brocade, satin, bright colors, big jewelry...it was a good day for those of us who enjoy a well-coordinated outfit! The ladies of Liberia looked very lovely today.

I felt a little dowdy in my brown skirt and apricot blouse! I was hat less; not wearing heels; no necklace or dangling earrings. I had felt pretty good about myself before I left the house this morning, but inside church, I looked rather plain next to all the gorgeous women in the building!

Our mothers at the village were all dressed up, too. And the kids were excited. Before breakfast, they had given their mothers cards and gifts they had made at school this week. The children knew it was going to be a special day at church.

Hope your day was special and memorable, also.

Babs

Down By the Sea

Living half a mile from the ocean gives opportunity for regular walks on the beach. Coming from the California central valley, this is a treat to often stroll the sandy edge of the ocean. From time to time we take some of the children with us on these outings. The kids are losing their fear of the water. It is fun to see them enjoy getting their toes wet, and of course, it is always fun to slide down a sand dune! Here are some pictures of our most recent beach walk with a cottage of boys.

Meltdown

She sobbed in my arms for forty minutes. She had arrived at the orphanage 48 hours earlier, and all of a sudden it became too overwhelming. I let her cry; just held her and rocked her. I had no words. Life is hard sometimes, and in her six years, she had learned somethings about heartache. She never knew her mother; ma died giving her life. And seven weeks ago, her daddy died. She had since been living with an auntie, who did not have enough time, energy, or resources for another child. Auntie had even less food. Life was not all that great with auntie, but it was all that she knew. Now she was in a strange place; it was so different, and she sobbed for the loss of her previous existence.

As I sat with her, I thought how typical this was of many of us...or at least me. I get comfortable and used to a certain routine and way of life. It might not be great; it might not be the best; it might even be bad; but it is what I know. So even if something comes along that might be better, I can be rather resistant and hesitant and experience a sense of loss. O.K., there could possibly even be some kicking and screaming involved!

She finally calmed down and we continued to sit in silence. It was good to just be together. Then we talked; about her new dollie, and about her favorite song. When she was ready, we joined the rest of her new family outside. It was soon lunch time. I watched her get in line for the dining hall, all evidence of sadness gone. Sometimes, one just has to let it all out and acknowledge that things are difficult and life is scary. That seems to work for me, too. Here, in this place, I find myself many times sitting in the lap of God.

That was four days ago. Now, she is enjoying life. She has played dodge ball; made a paper butterfly; ran relay races; learned how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose"; enjoyed story time; memorized the words to the song "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round". Today, it was a joy to see her laugh as she attempted to bounce a large ball to her team mates and do "The Hokie Pokie". She is figuring it out that sometimes change is good. Sometimes, change is the best thing!

She still has her sad times, when she misses her daddy, but the big meltdown is past, and life is not so overwhelming now. She does not know it yet, but someday she will: God has His hands around her and it will be O.K.. She can sit in His lap anytime she wants!

Praying that you, too, know where to go when life gets to be too much!
Love, Babs

A Big Scary Day

This month we accepted fifteen community children to attend the village school. They are the sons and daughters of some of our employees and they range in age from five years old to eleven years old. These ladies and gentlemen fill out the classes that we have going now with the children who live at the orphanage. These day students have been placed in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, or first grade.

In the first picture, you see some of the new students being led by a security guard to the dining hall. This was scary, coming into our compound; some of these children had never had any contact with white people. They were led to the dining hall where they were told a little about our village and the classes they will attend. Paperwork was completed.

They were given a tour of the school and the facilities were explained. Yes, it’s called “Bathroom 101”. This was really scary! What would happen if you fell into the white well while someone pushed that silver lever? Perhaps you can remember the fear invoked, starting a new session at school when you were a new student. Having to use the bathroom did not tend to make you relax in your new setting. Well, in two or three days, the scariness of the commode has been conquered; it has become all fun and games, and the excuses to go to the bathroom are quite resourceful.

The other thing that happens the first day they come to the village is that they are examined by a doctor. Ministry of Health says that all employees and children that are involved in an institution such as this one must have a physical exam and regular checkups. A U.S. doctor who was volunteering in Liberia for a couple of months agreed to come out to our village and exam the new students.

In the second picture, there are four kids waiting for their exam in our clinic. Babs came in with a camera and asked the girls if they would smile for a picture. They were not in the smiling mood, and just stared at Babs. So Babs tried to be funny, hoping to solicit smiles. Finally they looked at each other and giggled about the strange white lady. None of this is lost on the two boys in the background. They find the whole thing hilarious. I think we have some very normal kids here.

Hope you can smile at whatever is going on in your day today.

Dave

Ohn Mine Goodness!

From the communities surrounding our village, there is a group of young men who have formed an athletic association. Early in the evening, several times a week, they practice football (soccer) in a sand lot across from our village. They challenged the employees of our orphanage to a friendly game of football. And we accepted the challenge!

Some guards, a cook, and a gardener made up the heart of our team, but we were a few members short, so friends of the guards (read "ringers" here) filled in the open spots. Dave wanted to play, but as the village health manager (and his loving, caring wife!) I told him that he could NOT play soccer with those guys! I have watched them practice, and is anyone else aware that soccer is a full-on contact sport? Only without the protective pads and helmets of American football? Oy! I reminded Dave that there is no Medi-flight helicopter here in Liberia. So he became the unofficial team captain!

A day and time for the game was finally agreed upon by both teams: a Sunday afternoon. Of course, two days before the Big Match, I was informed by the official team captain who is our Head Of Security (also officially known as "Supreme Commander"...no, I am not kidding here; that really is his title!) that our team needed uniforms. What?!? He must have noted my reaction (this is why he is the Supreme Commander, as he can read body language so well), as he then suggested that at least the same color shirts for the whole team would be good. Which is still a daunting task here in Liberia...fifteen matching adult shirts?

But we are resourceful people, and off we went to town, in search of matching shirts. With the help of some Liberian personal shoppers, we finally found new white tee-shirts in the market at Waterside. We stenciled our village initials on the shirts. They looked quite nice, and the team was pleased to be wearing official game shirts.

It was a fun game, with our unpracticed but very spirited team putting on a good show. We attracted a little crowd of spectators, some of which were children and mothers from our village. The mothers enjoyed cheering for our High Commander whose name is Charles. Now Charles is a very proper man and a bit intimidating in size and demeanor. But that did not stop the mothers from yelling at "Charlie" to make a goal! Wow! Never before thought of him as a Charlie.

There was a man at the game who had a bull horn. He graciously did a running commentary throughout the game. His favorite phrase was "Ohn Mine Goodness!" as the ball flew from one side of the field to the other. The crowd cheered every good kick and block, no matter which team executed the play. It was an enjoyable afternoon with our neighbors. Of course, we let the athletic association win (which really means we got slaughtered!). Bottles of water and good natured remarks were exchanged at the end of the game, and our team promised to play them again!

Monday, it was back to work as usual. All the team shirts were handed in, and "Charlie" was Charles again. The medical clinic was a busy place though, as I handed out Ibuprofen to our battered and hobbling football players. And the theme that kept recurring in conversations throughout the day was "Next time, we'll show them!" The competitive spirit is alive and well in Liberia!

Wishing you all a good day!
love, Babs

Very Vexing

I am vexed! This is a normal term in Liberia. We hear it all the time: Comfort is vexed when she cannot open the washing machine; Isaac is vexed that he is not able to go to school yet; Benjamin is vexed because it is not his birthday. Dave had a gentleman tell him that he did not want to vex Dave. And now I am vexed!

Why, you ask? I paid over $8 dollars for three navel oranges! They were big and juicy and looked so yummy; I had to have them. But what a shock at the checkout stand! It was hard for us to take, spending over $2.60 per orange, as we have lived pretty much our whole lives with access to wonderful fresh oranges we pull off our own trees. In fact, our sister in law has the Best Orange Tree in Stanislaus County, and she sometimes would let us have some of HER fabulous oranges.

On this shopping trip, we also paid $4.62 for two bell peppers and $6.70 for four zucchini! No, we do not often buy items like this, but sometimes we just crave fresh fruit and vegetables that are familiar and it is very exciting when one finds them in the supermarket! Just so you know, we opted to NOT get the box of Froot Loops for $36, nor the bag of Nestle's chocolate chips for $18! That would have been just too vexing!

We will savor and enjoy every tasty bit of our extremely over-priced, but "worth-every-penny-because it feels like home" oranges, peppers, and zucchini!

Have a great day, and enjoy the produce aisle at your grocery store.

Babs

Big, Scary Spider...

I do not move too quickly first thing in the morning. I never have been a ball of fire right out of Sleep Land, but as I get further from my original birth year(sigh), it seems I am even slower. Well, this morning, I discovered something that gets me going!

After rolling out of bed, I stumbled to the sink and washed my face. As I pulled the towel off the rack and lifted it to my face, I found myself eyeball to eyeball with a racer spider. I guess he was napping on the cozy 100% cotton. Racer spiders get pretty large...just a little smaller than my hand! And they move FAST (hence the name "Racer" spider). They are pretty harmless, but that thought does not compute well before 6:00 am.

I screamed, and scurried into the bedroom and leaped onto the bed. Poor Dave! He was still in Sleep Land, and this was definitely a rude awakening. Apparently the racer spider was as disoriented as Dave, as the spider headed in the direction I went. I am still screaming, and Dave, now quite awake, is trying to tell me that the spider is trying to get out of the light and into the dark bedroom. I do not care WHY he is following me....I just know he is hot on my trail. And moving fast (almost as fast as I moved). It now looked like a very bad movie: the spider was back lit in the opened bathroom door (someone forgot to slam the door shut when she escaped the nasty spider's evil clutches the first time!) and he paused to locate his prey (this possibly was only my perception). He then proceeded to head straight for the bed. Did I mention racer spiders move very fast?

Luckily, Dave does move quickly in the morning, and he hopped out of bed and smashed the spider as it made it's final approach. Dave is my hero! And I will always check the back of my towel now before drying my face. I do feel a little bad about the spider's demise, but it was either him or me! One of us had to go... that bathroom ain't big enough for the both of us!

---Babs