Living in Sumita, Japan

brrrr

2012-01-28T21:55:00.002-08:00

Sunday afternoon here in Japan. We had about an inch of snow last night. I went out this morning to “break in” my new snow shovel that I purchased for $15.00 on Thursday. It is a plastic “push model” and would cost perhaps $4-5 there in the States. I started pushing the snow and could tell right away that the snow was very very wet. As I went to pick up the snow I could also tell that my shovel was not made for heavy lifting so I just pushed the snow into the open gutter alongside our building. Now I wonder how long my shovel will last knowing not everyone will “pamper” it in the manner I did!
A couple weeks ago I went to lunch with our neighbor Abdullah who had just returned from Kuwait. We were sitting in the restaurant when the place began to shake. It was not a violent shake but just enough motion that it got everyone in the restaurant to stop doing what they were doing including interrupting their conversations. It lasted for maybe 20 seconds and as I found out later it was of a 5.4 magnitude. I never really got frightened but it was interesting to watch the responses of the individuals in the restaurant. These are people who were here when the 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit and most of them do expect another large earthquake. There was definitely a sense of tension as the building continued to shake during those 20 seconds. The new base manager for our base in Shichigahama happened to be here having lunch in the Hope Center with the rest of the staff. Nick said the first thing he did was look for me to find out what to do. Then the earthquake ended and as they listened to the radio and found out that there was no tsunami threat, everyone relaxed and began to eat again. This event did serve as a reminder to be prepared. So this past week I spent time creating an “evacuation area” here in the warehouse where we will store food, water, flashlights and a first aid kit that will be easily accessed and loaded should we have to evacuate in a hurry.
We had a couple of our staff leave this week as their contracts ended. When Michael left on Tuesday he wanted to ship his bags to the airport so he would not have to take them on the train with him. He asked if he could take a truck to do so and then just leave it at the train station for me to retrieve later in the day. I told him it was fine and to just leave the keys in the truck and I would come pick it up. So, about 10:30 Michael called to say he was there at the very small Kesennuma train station. I took Nick and headed for the station. I wanted to say goodbye one last time to Michael if I could. When we got to the station which is approximately 5 minutes from the office, I pulled up next to the truck, asked Nick if he knew the way back to the office to which he replied he did and told him I was going inside to say goodbye and that I would see him back here at the Hope Center. I went inside and was talking with Michael when Nick came in and said the truck would not start. He said he had put it in neutral and it still would not start. I asked him if he had pushed the clutch in and look on his face told me his answer. He said he had put it in neutral! I told him that you have to push the clutch in to start the truck. So, at that point Michael was getting ready to leave so we hugged and then Nick and I walked outside toward our cars. As we looked in the direction of the vehicles we saw a vehicle rolling backward in the parking lot. Nick immediately broke into a sprint about the same time I realized it was a van whose front end was identical to our truck. It was several more steps before Nick realized someone was backing out of the parking spot next to his. At that point I had my hands on my knees bent over in full laughter. I was getting a lot of attention from the Japanese people around me who had no idea why I was laughing. Of course, I had to share this story with the staff that evening. Fortunately Nick is a very nice guy and got a good laugh out of it as well.
We had a team from KOZA Baptist Church in Okinawa visit us this week. As I have stated previously, it is always a treat when they come. They are so supportive of our work here. Not only do they continue to send teams to do mud out and construction work on a monthly basis but they also send us supplies that are difficult to access in this part of Japan such as peanut butter. Speaking of which, I thought there was going to be a revolt the other day. One of the staff pointed out to me that we were on our last jar of peanut butter!!! Fortunately we had a couple of our staff going to Tokyo for the weekend. So during devotion time on Friday I announced that we narrowly averted a crisis. We would have a new supply of peanut butter coming on Monday when they return from Tokyo. It got a pretty good laugh from the staff. I only hope the staff understood the sarcasm that went along with that statement.
Well, that’s it for today! Thank you for all your prayers and support!

2012-01-28T21:55:00.001-08:00

Sunday evening here in Japan. Winter has definitely arrived here in this part of Japan. Daytime temperatures range from 32-40 degrees most days with nighttime temperatures being in the 20-30 range. For some reason I expected it to be a little warmer here this time of year. I have heard that the next couple months will be even colder most of the time. I am so very thankful that I do not have to make the long walk down the boardwalk from my tent to the shower as I did in Sumita camp! I keep thinking of how fortunate we are to have gotten moved before winter truly set in there in Sumita! I have to say that during this cold weather when the winds are blowing as they have been for a few days; it does remind me of a blustery South Dakota winter. Of course from what I hear, your winter there in South Dakota has been anything but a “South Dakota” winter this year!
We continue to do remodeling work on houses. Fortunately most of the homes are enclosed or easily enclosable so the construction staff is able to stay somewhat warm with the assistance of small kerosene heaters. The heaters don’t warm the entire structure but at least the workers are able to warm their hands before the heater from time to time to ward off cold fingers. Most of the construction staff and volunteers have come prepared for this weather so they continue to work even on the coldest days.
We are beginning to receive volunteers again with five arriving from the United States this past week as well as a young lady from Switzerland. I do enjoy having international staff around. It is fun to hear of their lives in their home countries as well as their spiritual journeys. We have not had as many volunteers the past couple months and it appears that January will be the same. I am uncertain whether it is due to the tsunami being farther removed from one’s thoughts as time passes or people just do not volunteer as much during winter months. We continue to reach out to friends and family to encourage everyone to come and assist in the rebuilding efforts here.
It is encouraging to see new businesses open here in this area. In the past month a new grocery store and a new book store have opened and quite a few businesses near the waterfront have reopened in temporary structures. I continue to urge the staff to buy locally if possible even if it costs a little more as these people have lost so much; they need all the help they can get. It also gives us a good chance to meet with the local people and show our support for this area as well.
It’s really an interesting concept they have for reopening those businesses there in the waterfront area. They have erected temporary structures right amongst the destroyed buildings. This is an area that sank during the earthquake so the roads have been elevated to avoid being flooded. I read that in some of this area, the ground had dropped as much as seven feet! As I was driving back here yesterday afternoon from Ofunato I noticed that there are now huge piles of dirt heaped in the areas that sank. They were out with track hoes leveling the dirt in the fields as I drove by the area. Word is that they will try to infill some of these areas with as much as ten feet of dirt. I am not certain where the dirt is coming from although I saw them loading trucks nearby where they are shredding the wood that was collected during clean up operations. I can’t imagine that the shredded wood could be used for fill but I don’t know where else they could be hauling it. I will have to make another investigative trek to watch them this week to find out exactly what they are doing.
One of the most encouraging things that is happening around here has been the number of local visitors that have come by The Hope Center. Japanese people are ‘gift givers’ for almost any occasion including when they just visit someone. Every store you enter has a gift section. Almost every day someone shows up here with a gift in their hands. Some of the people are neighbors. Some are people we are working for or have done work for and some are people who had been in this building before the tsunami and just want to see what it looks like now. We invite everyone in and offer them coffee or tea and usually end up chatting with them for a bit. It is just amazing to see how we have been accepted here in this area. God is definitely blessing us and our work here!
Well, it is time to get this sent. I will write again when I have the opportunity and something worthy to share! If there is anything in particular you are wondering regarding our work or Japan in general, just send me an email and I will try to answer best I can!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2011-11-24T16:13:00.001-08:00

It is Saturday evening here in Sumita. The last half of the German team leaves tonight. The first eight left last evening. The team could not get tickets all on one flight out of Sendai so they had to split into two groups. It allowed for the “younger” members to stay behind for a day. They decided to head into the mountains for a day of hiking and seeing a different part of Japan than they had been subjected to all week…
Unfortunately I was fighting a head cold for most of the week I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with the group. I did get a chance to talk with them briefly regarding their home town of Offdilln which I understand to be an hour or so north of Frankfurt. They showed me its location on the internet and shared with me how they have a twenty year cycle for cutting trees around the community advancing in a counterclockwise direction each year to a new spot. They use the wood for heating mostly. If nothing else, they are organized!!!
Today we had a home dedication for Onodera San. She lives with her son and his wife. She told Jeff through an interpreter early on when Jeff came to work on the house last month that she was the one in charge! So, today I got to meet the 88 year old “fireball”. Pastor Minigishi led the service of a couple songs, a few brief words and a scripture reading of Psalm 127. It all went well. Pastor Yoshida, Jerry and Lynda’s friend, who is here working as a volunteer made green tea when the service had concluded. He asked me if I desired some but I turned it down. I have heard all the therapeutic qualities of green tea but it still tastes to me like the grass I chewed on as kid! We had MORE tea and snacks after the green tea was gone.
After the dedication I went to the warehouse to pick up some boxes to bring to the base for moving. From there I headed out to Ofunato for a burger and fries. I found this small place named Burger Hearts in the mall there last month with Ayamai’s assistance. I have been there twice now so they know it will be a “point to the menu” order. It is just nice to have a hamburger and fries every month or so even if does cost $10.00! After finishing with my food I headed out along the coast east of Ofunato to an area I had never gone before. As with most coastal areas, almost everything along the water has been destroyed. Yesterday’s drive also took me through some mountainous regions so I was able to see some leaves changing colors as well. All in all it was a good day to just “get away”.
Sunday morning: The German contingent is now down to three as the last eight of group one left at 4:00am this morning for Sendai airport to return home to Offdilln! Everyone is heading off to church leaving me here in the camp by myself. I just want to relax today and possibly prevent me from sharing my cold with others. I just finished listening online to the Avon football game. It was great to be able to sit here and follow along. The connection was great and I didn’t lose the signal one time. Go Pirates! I may even have enough bandwidth with everyone gone to be able to watch a college game online. Keep those fingers crossed!!!
Please pray that our transition to Kesennuma to our new quarters to go well. We will be trying to tie up all the loose ends over the next couple weeks and hopefully have an operational base set up there by November 18. I have been told that we need to be fully functional there by the following Monday. There is lots of coordination with city services to handle yet so hopefully that all goes well. It is hard to think that in a couple weeks we may no longer be tent dwellers! It certainly won’t be a perfect set up there but it will be much improved. I do look forward to the day in the near future when we will take these tents down and put them in crates.
Well, that is it for this week. That being said, I may not be sending along an article for next week or several weeks. I will just “play it by ear” and see how things are going.
Thanks for all your support and prayers. I truly could not do this job without them! I want to wish you all a truly blessed Thanksgiving. Please take some time to give thanks for all the blessings we have been given!

this week's review

2011-10-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening here in Sumita. It has been a week of varied activities here in Japan. Monday was “Sports and Recreation Day”. It is a national holiday in Japan. We got together as a staff and took the twenty minute ferry ride from Kesennuma to Oshima Island. The ferry ride gave us a view of the Kesennuma devastation from a different direction; the direction that the tsunami came into the community. As amazing as it is to be in the city seeing the damage, it is even more so from the water. To look at remnants of the buildings knowing the incredible height and force that the waves must have possessed to cause such damage as they slammed into the city is difficult to believe even though the evidence is right there in front of your eyes.
Oshima Island sustained significant coastal damage as well. The island is very beautiful with what used to be nice beach areas, many secluded cove areas and a tram that extended from the port area to the top of the highest point on the island. One now sees deserted beaches where the waves crashed inland far beyond the sand of the beach washing out roads and power poles as well as coves still filled with debris and the tram’s support poles leaning or broken off. All along the coast on both sides of the island you see boat docks and ramps washed out or undermined by the rushing water. Floodwalls have been destroyed in areas as well. The island was without electrical power for a month after the tsunami. Today they are trying to rebuild in some areas, cleaning up the beaches and working to get the roads reconstructed.
Yesterday several of us went with David to do a distribution of winter items to the community of Tadaide which is a small fishing village on a peninsular region nearby that was hit from two directions by the tsunami. We had tea with a local couple after the distribution of blankets, food, hot water bottles and some other smaller items. The couple was at their house with his 92 year old mother at the time the tsunami hit. He had just recently retired from working with the city; otherwise he would have been at the city office where several persons perished during the tsunami. Their house as near as I can estimate must reside 60’ above the current water level in the bay. I saw the water mark left on the wall in their garage about 8’ above the floor. The couple told of how just prior to the tsunami wave coming into the harbor, the water level dropped so low they saw rocks they had never seen before on the floor of the bay. After the tsunami, all the roads into the village had been washed out. There was no way to get any supplies to the village or to take anyone out to a hospital. It was a month before they got electricity restored to the community.
Most of the debris has now been cleared from the area. The flood retaining wall is now gone and the harbor area is extended into the village where housing used to be. The village has no protection should another tsunami hit the area. The village lost its entire fleet of fishing boats. They are hopeful as a community to purchase a fishing boat and begin fishing again some time next year.
This morning I was sitting outside my tent reading when I noticed the local group gathering for some ground golf. We had some heavier rain on Friday so there was a pond about 6’ in diameter right behind one of the “holes” they had set. Several men were standing there looking at the water when I said to Cam, “I wish we had a sump pump”. He reminded me that we do have wet/dry vacs. I said to him, “let’s do it”! So he grabbed one vac while I rolled out the extension cord and ran it to my tent. He began to suck out the water as all the people gathered around to watch. It was going rather slowly so I went and got another vac and we had the pond drained in about 15 minutes. Actually there was a little water left, but I think they wanted to get the game going so they told us to stop. We put the vacuums away and then one of the ladies motioned for us to come over. I was going to run this morning so I waved her off but I told Cam to go over and then told Cheri who was here for the weekend to go play as well. They had a great time playing with the locals while I had a nice run. It is always fun to help out where and when we can in unexpected ways. God is so good to us here!

harvest

2011-10-08T14:31:00.001-07:00

Saturday evening here in Sumita. Another week is behind us. Rice harvesting is in full swing. There appear to be two ways to harvest rice in this area of Japan. Some people use rice combines which are about the same size as a very small car. They move along on tracs through the soft mud fields. The combines have a head on the front of the machine that resembles a mini-silage cutter with a platform for rice bags on the side where the rice grain is routed after being stripped from the stalk. When the bags fill the farmer stops and seals the bags, replaces the full with empty bags and continues on. It has been fun to watch as I have never seen rice harvesting before. The other method involves a small scythe and bamboo poles. Lots and lots of manual labor involved in this method! The farmers cut off the rice bundle at the base with a small hand scythe tying the bundle at the base and then hanging the bundle upside down on bamboo rails they have stretched between bamboo poles that they have set in the field. So far I have not seen how they will remove the rice from the stalk using the later method but am anxious to see how that is done as well.
There is something about autumn and the cooler temperatures that make me desire to run. I get the urge to run this time of year almost every year. I don’t know if there is still a connection in my brain to the days long ago of playing football in high school or if I just like getting out and running when it is cool. Anyway, the other day I was running here in Sumita looking at the rice harvesting going on. I got to thinking about harvesting and my thoughts drifted back to when I was growing up on the farm.
I remembered dad picking corn with a 77 or 88 Oliver tractor with a two row picker. We did some combining of corn but we always picked some too all throughout my high school years. I was always the “hauler and “unloader” sometimes with mom’s help. I always tried to make it back to the field before dad needed another empty wagon. To me it was like a competition to make it back before he had the next wagon picked full. There was always a chance the corn picker had broken down again as well. It is hard to believe but some of those corn pickers purchased from Abe Voigt were not always of the “highest quality”. I guess Abe didn’t always see what was wrong with them before he sold them to dad! When I graduated from high school we had several cannibalized pickers sitting to the west of the yard. I think it got to the point where we hardly ever had to go buy parts as we usually could take a “spare” part off one of the pickers parked in the trees. Let’s just say there was plenty of scrap iron on the farm sale years later. I am still thankful to my brother Dave for all his hard work previous to the farm sale.
Those days when I was growing up were much simpler times for sure! We didn’t have cell phones, ipods, computers, cd or dvd players. Schools actually were adding teachers and programs and weren’t cutting them as is the case now. One could actually go through an airport without going through intense screening and your friends and family could actually accompany you to or meet you at your gate when you departed or arrived.
The Vietnam War had just ended but still we felt no threat to our safety there in America. I also remember hearing somewhere along my life’s timeline how computers would change the world and make businesses more profitable. So, my question is; what happened? Where did things go wrong? Wasn’t the computer supposed to save us time? We live in a world where the pace of life is increased to a level where we feel like we “never catch up”. People are in deeper debt than they ever have been. Businesses are failing at record numbers. Banks are closing at a rate only surpassed by the Great Depression of the 30’s! Are we truly living in a better world today?
I think there are a lot of Japanese people finding out right now that a simpler way of life is not all bad. For the first time in their lives they have the opportunity to see that all the material things they have collected over the years can quickly disappear leaving them with nothing but the clothes on their backs and “starting over”. We are beginning to see more and more Japanese people coming to Jesus Christ through our efforts here. They see the joy in us doing the work we do and want to share in that joy. We are fortunate to work with an organization that allows us to share the word of Jesus Christ with the people here in this country. Many of these people have a hope that they have never known; a hope for eternal life. And for the first time since March 11 they now have peace and joy in living once more. There are great things happening here. Beauty is arising out of the pain of the past here in Japan!
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Please pray that more volunteers come to assist with the work here in Japan. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few!!

driving issues

2011-09-30T20:33:00.001-07:00

Sunday evening here in Sumita. It seems like it was only a couple weeks ago that I was writing to you about the typhoon. Oh, that’s right, it WAS only a couple weeks ago. Anyway, this week guess what came rolling through Japan? Another typhoon!!! This one ended up dumping a lot of rain on us during a two day period on Wednesday and Thursday. We watched the river behind the camp as it rose once again to new heights. I hope we don’t have another typhoon come through and break the “river records” again as we only have a couple more feet before the camp would become part of the river! This time the typhoon’s effect on us consisted of us walking across the floor of the tents feeling the water and mud squishing underneath the fabric flooring. I am thankful that was the extent of our “problems”.
It finally stopped raining on Thursday about midnight. We woke to beautiful blue skies on Friday morning with the mountains covered in incredible shades of green accented by white puffy clouds as they sifted through the valleys. I know I have mentioned it several times but this is an incredibly beautiful place.
This week provided some unusual challenges. It seems that this was the week that everyone forgot how to drive. We had a team of volunteers here from Osaka. As they were pulling out of the parking area on Wednesday they drove up on top of a wooden and concrete bench near the gateball field. I am not really sure how they managed to do it but it took several strong young men to lift the van off the bench so they could drive away.
On Thursday evening our Sumita volunteer, Mr. Araki, came for a visit. He was leaving just as I returned to camp from taking Mimi to the train station. I was talking with the volunteers in the dining tent when we heard a loud noise from outside. We went out to see his car parked sideways in the parking lot and a couple of the portapotties pushed back about three feet. He stated that as he was turning around in the parking lot he backed up into what he thought was a rut so he pushed on the accelerator. What he actually had backed into was the rope that anchors down the portapotties! So when he “gunned it”, he pulled the rope’s stake out of the ground which then caused him to sideswipe the portajohns with the side of his car. We got them pushed back into place on Friday morning and reanchored them with only a little cosmetic damage to one of the johns. His car actually was damaged worse as the john must have hit right at the front seam of the right hand driver’s door. He now has a new “wrinkle” right at the seam on the door.
Friday night Ayami was driving the MPV back to camp and decided to go over a very narrow bridge here in town. Unfortunately someone decided to approach the bridge at the same time and she drove into the last pillar on the cement bridge putting a scrape in the paint on the corner of the front bumper. It was really minor damage, fortunately. She has been since advised to never ever take that bridge again! (I believe I shared last week that she is a new driver, correct?) It only takes another minute or two to drive down to the next access road and come back to camp so there really is no reason to ever go the way she had come back but she did. We had a little discussion as a staff about driving habits that evening. Even though only one of the incidents involved a staff member we are still responsible for everything that happens while others are associated with this camp.
Today was adventure day for me as I drove to see a large dam in the area as well as driving further up the coast to an area of devastation I had not been to before. I got out of the car at a bay area near Sanriku. I stood on a small remaining piece of the floodwall looking out toward the ocean. It is just breathtakingly beautiful looking out over the bay. Then as I looked to my left and right I saw the areas that used to be protected by the 25’ high concrete wall that is now almost completely missing for what appears to be over a mile total surrounding the bay. Nearly the entire village was destroyed in the valley. It is difficult to not be emotional when seeing all the destruction. Every area I go to just makes me shake my head in disbelief as I see the destruction. As I was leaving the village, I looked over to see several elderly men playing gateball in a park area. There in the middle of all that destruction they were “going on with life”. It seemed so surreal in that surrounding. But life does go on for those who survived!
Well, that is it for this week. I hope all is well in your corner of the globe! Thanks to all of you for your prayers of support and safety!

the week behind

2011-09-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Sumita. It is a hot one out there today. I just made a trek up to the local grocery store to buy some ice cream. There was a baseball game going on across the street earlier and apparently they celebrated with ice cream as there was none to be found in the store!! So, I settled for my favorite Japanese snack, “Cockypea”, which is 50% peanuts and 50% wedges of small spicy rice crackers. It is a great combination of flavors. I heard from one of the staff that it is available there in the States so I won’t have to go “cold turkey” when I return home next year…haha!
The mudout/demo work continues here in this area of Japan. Six months have passed since the earthquake and tsunami and there are still many homes that remain untouched. I heard on Friday that people have until October 1 to decide if they want the government to demolish their house. If they wait until after October 1, it becomes the responsibility of the homeowner to repair or destroy it. We have heard many times from homeowners how they had no hope of rebuilding until we did the mudout of the house removing all the rubble, taking down ceilings and walls and removing all the mud from under the floors as necessary. It is impossible to understand how overwhelming it must be to walk back to your house and see it in that condition assuming it survived the tsunami.
We had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to distribute home kits to residents of temporary housing here in Sumita. One of our cleaning staff lives there so when we gave her a home kit two weeks ago news spread throughout the neighborhood very rapidly. I contacted our Sendai office and they sent up another 17 home kits so we would be able to share one with each residence.
Most of the people living there are from the Rikuzentakata area which has neighborhoods where there is absolutely nothing left except the street pavement. We spent some time after distributing the kits having tea with several of the residents hearing their stories and chatting with them. Mr. Sasaki, a man 40 or so years old, shared that he has lost both his parents during the tsunami. He showed us some photos from one of the magazines that he had at his residence. One series of photos showed his house as the tsunami approached and then it being completely engulfed as the wave crashed over his house and all the other structures in the neighborhood. On the next page of the magazine was a picture of him the following day standing amidst the rubble looking for his house. He never found it or anything from it. He is incredibly upbeat and positive about the future even though he has lost everything.
My other “tea party” was at an elderly woman’s residence. Obaasan (grandmother), as she preferred to be called, is 88 years old and lost her son and daughter in the tsunami. She is a great lady and quite funny actually. She is having trouble seeing and hearing so conversations were difficult but we still had a great time with her. We put together a small shelf unit that she had ordered which was still in the box. She fed us chestnuts, sweet potatoes, some kind of yellow pickles and of course tea! Her grandson works at a nearby hotel and lives with her. We asked her where they both sleep since there was only one small area to sleep. She pointed to where she was sitting and said she sleeps there since she is small and doesn’t take up much space!
We left there offering up our services for anything she might need in the future. The community is up on a hill above the main part of town and she walks down the hill pushing a cart to do her shopping. We gave her Ayami’s phone number so she could call Ayami if she wanted or needed a ride. Of course we wrote it in LARGE print so she would be able to read it. She then tucked the note away with her medicines. I told Ayami that she may have been promoted to being her Doctor!!! Ayami is a “new driver” so when Mimi offered Ayami’s services I told Mimi it may be best if Obaasan didn’t take her glasses along when Ayami drives!
We continue to share the Word with those who do not know God. He has blessed us so with our relationships. Please keep us in your prayers for safety as well. There have been numerous earthquakes this week. None did any more than just shaking the ground. Let’s hope and pray it remains that way. So, it goes here in Japan. God bless you wherever you are in the world!

bbq

2011-09-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening here in Sumita, Japan! I just returned to camp from Kesennuma. We were invited over for a barbeque by the Muzaffar family today. They run the English School in Kesennuma where we did the mud out last month. We had quite the feast this afternoon. They had set up two bbq grills inside the building and were cooking meat of all kinds (and I do mean ALL kinds) for at least two hours straight. I stuck with eating the beef as it was quite good and left Daiki to eating the squid, intestines and raw fish. One of the team said, “You have to try this sushi”! To which I replied, “Guess what, with all this beef here, I am not about to fill my stomach with rice and raw fish”! So, I ate salad and beef and came home a happy and filled man. Daiki played a couple Christian songs and Koji read from John in the Bible and spoke for a few minutes. This all is pretty amazing when you consider we are doing this for a Muslim family and their Buddhist friends. While Daiki was playing I went outside to get away from the grill smoke and just prayed for everyone. Daiki shared with me today that they had lots of questions after Koji’s reading so they explained about Jesus to the people. We hope to continue to meet with them and see them more and more.
We got approval this week to pursue renting the building directly behind the English School. Hopefully final negotiations will go smoothly and we can begin work on the remodel process this week. It would be great to get things relocated by the end of September. It would be great if everything falls into line and we can make it happen. It would save us so much time and money to be living where we work rather than making the 45 minute drive each way every day with a minimum of 4 vehicles, not including those driving by the volunteers. Please pray that this all comes to fruition this week.
We had a meeting earlier this week with a couple of the Kesennuma church pastors to speak with them regarding our home rebuilding processes. We had a team of four that came from Sendai for the meeting and four of us drove down from here. We all arrived approximately 15 minutes early and we met up at the 7/11. Yes, there are 7/11’s in Japan!!! Anyway some of the staff got food and some got drinks for the meeting. After a few minutes we headed up the road to the Baptist church where the meeting was to be held. We met the local pastor outside the church and handled all the introductions. We proceeded into the church, removing our shoes at the door, and entered a small meeting room. I sat down between Bri and Ayoko, SP staff members from Sendai. We were sitting there for a minute when Bri got her drink out of her bag which she had just purchased setting it on the table. Ayoko looked over at it and started laughing. She whispered to Bri, “there is alcohol in that”. We were all sitting there laughing as Bri calmly slipped it back in her bag. She stated that she just thought it was a peach tea drink of some sort…oops! Neither pastor noticed her purchase. Unfortunately for her, I did. After the meeting I told her that next time she is bringing alcohol to at least bring enough for everyone! Just one of the joys of working in a country when you cannot read the labels!!!
Summer school break is over here in Japan as it is there in the States. We will be having quite low numbers for volunteers over the next couple weeks unless things change in the next few days. Construction volunteers are to begin arriving next week from the US. It will not be the same around here with a groups showing up from the States. It has been fun to meet people from a wide variety of countries over the past two months. I only hope that we will continue to see folks show up from around the world in the days ahead.
The new construction manager arrived here this week along with his wife. Jerry and Lynda Johnson will be living in Kesennuma and he will be directing up to five teams of volunteers working in the area doing the rebuilding. Jerry is a few years older than me and is from the Kansas City area. We get along well and it is nice to just have someone around who understands my “old television” humor. He is a fan of the “Red Green” show as well so we have already thought of several projects where duct tape will be our solution.
Well, that’s it for this week from here in Japan. The days are getting cooler now. It won’t be long before the snow is flying!! I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I am praying for all of you on the East Coast hoping Irene misses you!

this week

2011-08-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hello from Japan!
Sunday afternoon here in Sumita, Japan! It has been a good week for us once again.
This week we viewed several properties in the city of Kesennuma that we are considering renting for staff housing and volunteer housing. The reconstruction phase is ready to begin and we have nowhere to house construction volunteers! Matt and Micah came up from Sendai on Thursday and we looked at a couple locations. David has cultivated relationships with both property owners and we have gotten what we believe to be good deals for both. Now we wait for approval from Boone before we can move staff in or begin the reconstruction on one of the buildings. It would be a long winter here at the tent camp if we needed to transfer volunteers each day across the mountain passes when the snow begins to fall in a couple months. I just pray that we will be able to rent these properties, move in a month or so from now and eliminate our caravan of vehicles each day heading to Kesennuma in the morning and returning each evening.
Thursday afternoon we were included in a festival in the Rikuzentakata (try saying that fast ten times…or once!) David took his guitar and played several songs including “Amazing Grace”. The rest of the staff and a couple volunteers served up food to the 300 or so local persons who came as well as passing out The Manga, which is an illustrated narrative version of the Bible with a layout similar to a comic book. Literature of all levels in very popular in this format here in Japan. It will be interesting to see how well this Bible is received as such. There was a fireworks display after dark. All in all is was a great day of hope for the future of our camp as well as being able to share with the local community in ways that we normally do not get to do during the course of a normal work day!
Yesterday we travelled to the other base in Tome for a bbq..hamburgers, sausages, salad and all the good stuff!!! The camp manager in Tome, Brock Kreitzburg, is a very interesting fellow. Fortunately for me, he has a really good sense of humor so we get along very well. He was a member of the Olympic 4-man bobsled team that won the gold medal in 2010. Unfortunately he was injured before the Olympics and was unable to compete. He is a high energy guy who is always moving 110 miles per hour and thinking about what he can do next. He has done an amazing job of organizing the Tome camp. They currently house 70 people and they are going to increase that number to 100 once they get bunks completed for the tents that were just erected as well as expanding their kitchen, storage and office areas.
This morning we had the joy of sharing first communion with one of our local volunteers and his wife as they recently gave a profession of faith to Christ. I watched them as they followed the staff members through the line and the smiles on their faces as they accepted communion. They went along with us to the festival on Thursday and worked with their daughter cooking for several hours over a very hot grill. They work so hard at everything they do. They have been severely affected by the disaster here so we do what we can to help them out as well. He is a carpenter and we hope to get him connected with our construction teams when they begin work in the area. He told me the other day through Mimi, who translated for me, that he had to sell his tools to buy food. I told Mimi to share with him that if he does become part of the construction team we would “find tools” for him!!!!
This afternoon several of us drove to Ofunato to check out the tsunami damage there as well as get haircuts. This was my first haircut here in Japan. Everything is expensive here and haircuts are no exception. It was $35.00 USD for a haircut which as Daiki explained is quite reasonable in Japan! As the young lady was cutting away I calculated how much I would spend in a year’s time for haircuts if I got one every month and a half. Perhaps I will have to try to convince Joni to leave Liberia and move here to Japan so I can “reduce my costs”! haha
The bay in Ofunato reaches into the community in the shape of a thumb. Everything along both sides of the water is completely destroyed. By the looks of the damage, the wave must have been a minimum of 40’ when it came into the bay area. There is debris piled everywhere. Boats lay on their sides many blocks inland. It appears that authorities came in, searched through the rubble for survivors and bodies and just piled up the rubble. I have no idea how and when they will begin removal of the debris there. The tsunami devastation is just so very overwhelming as it stretches for miles and miles along the coast.
Tonight KOZA church from Okinawa returns to work for a week. Tim, the pastor, and his team sent a 30 cup coffee pot to us after their last visit. It will be great to sit around and share a cup with him tomorrow. God continues to bless us here in ways we never expect! Thanks for all of your prayers. All for now!

Tanabata

2011-08-09T16:17:00.001-07:00

Kinishiwa! (Good day!)
Hello from Sendai, Japan! It is late on Sunday afternoon here. I came down to Sendai on Friday for a staff meeting and then stayed for the weekend here at Matt and Suzie’s house for a little R&R time away from the camp. After four weeks of great Japanese food, it has been good to eat a few French fries, a couple hamburgers and a little Italian food.
Last evening we attended the Tanabata festival in downtown Sendai. Sendai is a city of over one million people. It is set among beautiful green foothills with a mountain range off to the west of the city. The downtown area is a blend of American and Japanese cultures with many American chain stores and restaurants. During Tanabata, a celebration of two deities separated by the Milky Way who meet up only once every year, it is thought to bring one good luck if they write their wishes on a slip of paper and present it to the “stars”! It is believed that Orihime was good at handicrafts. The Japanese adapted the holiday to raise awareness of the importance of tasks done by women as well. So now hundreds of highly decorated paper-covered bamboo balls with beautiful streamers hanging down fill the main mall walk areas as well as the side streets in downtown. Bands were playing in a nearby park with the most important of festival ingredients nearby..FOOD! Last night I ate some deep-fried octopus which looked similar to donut holes but obviously didn’t taste like them. I would say it had a slight seafood flavor as well as melted cheese. They slather mayonnaise over the top as well. They were actually pretty good. I also had a beef gyro that was very good. We had eaten not too long before we had gone down to the festival so I really was not all that hungry..more than anything I was thirsty as it was very hot and humid. The streets were packed with people as the festival will draw over two million visitors over the three day period. It was fun to see the beautiful attire of some of the ladies although most were in western style clothing. It was interesting to watch the Japanese last night. They are very very reserved in their outward appearance so even though this is a celebration there are few people smiling. It was a very interesting night indeed!
Today I went shopping here in the “big city” for the first time. I needed to pick up some tools for the crews. All hand tools and electric tools are very expensive. An inexpensive hammer will cost $10. Here a claw hammer looks completely different with a long slender neck and small head. A 14.4 volt cordless drill costs over $100.00! I walked back and forth several times through the store trying to locate my needed items. I finally gathered up the tools I needed and went to pay. I got out my credit card and the cashier held up his index finger to which I guessed he was asking for a form of ID! He nodded his head as I showed him my Colorado driver’s license and he proceeded to complete the transaction. I just asked Suzie a few minutes ago what the one finger meant. She told me that he was asking if I wanted to spread the payment out over one, two or three months!! As you can tell it is not all that easy to purchase things here in Japan as everything is somewhat complicated when you don’t use cash or know the systems.
This afternoon I drove (left side of the road..left side of the road) to see the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy shrine at the top of a nearby hill. The shrine stands 328 feet tall. You can see it from miles away. I read on one website that stated the statue was built by a now defunct company in an effort to avoid paying their taxes and is despised by many of the local citizens because of that! It is known to be a place where those who have had abortions go to ask for mercy from the goddess. Japan is a country with a great deal of deep hidden sadness and confusion. Japan continues to have a very high suicide rate especially for an industrialized nation. In 2010, over 31,000 persons committed suicide. The trains and subways have installed gates along the loading areas in an effort to deter attempted suicides. Young people here have a great deal of pressure on them to perform at a very high level academically. It seems to have created a society where a lot of young people have no hope for the future.
Our work continues in the areas most hard hit by the tsunamis. We have had some great interactions with the families in these areas sharing the Gospel with them. In this complex society it is really difficult for them to understand that we are there to assist them in rebuilding their houses without wanting anything in return. God has been so good to us in providing us with great volunteers, staff and management team.
Well, that is it from here in Sendai. I will make the 100 mile trek back to Sumita tomorrow morning to await the arrival of this week’s volunteers. So, another week begins here in Japan.
May God bless you wherever you are!!

this week

2011-07-31T04:53:00.000-07:00

Hello from Japan!
Hi everyone,
Wow, we have had amazingly cool weather this week. It certainly was welcomed by me and our staff after last week’s heat although I think the team from Singapore would prefer to have been here last week! While I was walking around in shorts and a tee shirt this week, they were walking around with light coats zipped up to the neck!
We have had a really busy week here hosting volunteers. Unfortunately, the main office in Sendai overbooked for Tuesday evening. We had 22 men and 19 women staying in the volunteers tents. There was about 5” in between the cots. Mimi lives in the front part of the women’s tent so the area for the female volunteers is slightly smaller than the area in the men’s tent. We can fit 36 persons in the dining tent comfortably and one evening we had 46 wedged in the tent. Luckily, as I previously stated, it was cooler this week. An a/c unit in a tent only goes so far when you have that many bodies in the tent.
One of the team members from a group volunteering from Okinawa shared this story after dinner the other evening. The team was cleaning up a rice field that had been littered with debris during the tsunami. He stated that as he was picking things out of the rice field, it suddenly struck him that the “debris” he was handling was someone’s possessions only a few short months ago. It instantly became a much more personal experience for him. We are fortunate to have great caring volunteers showing up to work week after week!
Saturday evening here in Sumita. Today I went along with the team to Kesennuma to assist our “mechanic” in servicing all our generators and high pressure washers. It was another beautiful cool day. We were working on the last generator when I heard a rumbling off in the distance. I got up and walked to the center of the parking lot as I knew an earthquake was coming. It rolled through the area for about 5 seconds before the ground stopped moving. We quickly turned on a radio as we moved vehicles into position should we need to evacuate. We found out from the radio broadcast that it was an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude. After only a couple minutes they announced over the radio as well as the city loud speakers that there was no tsunami threat. As I have written over the past couple weeks I have been through a few aftershocks already. It was a much different feeling going through this experience knowing you are standing in an area that only a few short months ago was inundated with water after an earthquake and tsunami. However, I was glad I was there with the team going through this rather than as I was last week when one hit and I was sitting here in the office not knowing if my team was ok.
Sunday evening here in Japan. It appears our wonderful cool weather is now behind us. Today was hot and steamy. The team from Singapore left this morning so it is just the staff here in the camp until tomorrow evening. It is wonderful to have a little downtime. Cam, from Indianapolis, and I headed into the mountains today to check out an area that looks to have been mined in the past. We can see it from camp but getting there is the trick. We did not find the area we were looking for but ended up at a cave that is in the area. There is supposed to be a 25’ waterfall at the back of the cave. Unfortunately the cave is closed. The whole area looks to be abandoned. We ended up hiking in the area a little while and then headed off to the city of Tono where we bought ingredients for spaghetti. The sauce looked ok but really was rather bland tasting even after I added a ton of spices!! However after 3 weeks of strictly Japanese food, mainly rice, it was a nice change of pace. We do have great vegetables here so we almost always have a good salad with dinner. Somewhere along the way during dinner we started talking about the 10 deadly plagues..to which I replied, “I hope this conversation has nothing to do with the spaghetti!!!” That got a good laugh from the staff. They are great people that make this a much easier place to be. Just another day in a busy week here in Japan. Hope all is well in your part of the world.
Buzz Walkes
Email: buzzwalk57@gmail.com

Ground golf

2011-07-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

It has been another eventful week here in Japan. We had 45 volunteers go through here in the last week with most of them staying 3-4 days here in camp. At one point we had individuals from Japan, Okinawa, The Philippines, Brazil, Ukraine, Singapore and the USA all sitting around the dinner table. It makes it rather interesting to communicate to the group when two translations need to be done after each statement. It is just so amazing to see so many people come here as volunteers performing difficult manual labor just to help those in need!!!
Wednesday Mimi was in the field supervising the volunteer teams in Kesunnuma so I was here along at our tent camp. Our tent community is set up on edge of city property that is normally a baseball practice field as well as the area used by the residents for ground golf. Ground golf is similar to putt putt but they use a much larger mallet and a bigger ball setting out temporary tee boxes and pins. They mowed the area the previous day and had moved the power cables leading to our buildings which lay on the ground and run along the edge of their playing area so when I looked outside on Wednesday there were several elderly men trying to move the heavy cables back into place so they could set up their course. I went out and helped them move the cable and when we finished one of the ladies offered me a piece of acorn squash which I sat down to eat with chopsticks(not very easy to do by the way). After just a couple minutes it began to rain so I invited them into our dining tent. Of course, I was doing this without any verbal communication at all!!! Well, they came in and shortly afterward it stopped raining so they moved back outside and began to set up the course. It was only a few minutes until it began to rain very heavily. It rained for about 15 minutes while they stood under umbrellas on the field.
I took a few minutes and typed a note to them through a translator program I found on the internet apologizing for not being able to speak Japanese, telling them my name and that I was the new base manager and that they are welcome to use our facilities any time they desire! I took the note to one of the men and he read it. Apparently the translator was accurate as we bowed to each other several times before I headed back to my office. It really started pouring down rain once I got inside. The group soon moved from the field to sit in their vehicles. Everything moves very slowly here relationship wise. I knew they would not return to the tent on the same day. That would be much too forward. Well the rains let up after about an hour. They remained in their cars for the whole time returning to the field to collect up all the tee box plates and pins storing them in their small storage unit on the edge of the field before leaving for the day.
Thursday I got the opportunity to meet with the mayor of Sumita. No one from SP had ever met with him so David and I went and chatted with him for a while. Mayor Tada is very nice and received us warmly. We found out that there are 3 Japanese NGO’s with their temporary headquarters here in Sumita as well. The mayor told us that the city currently has 6300 citizens. There are 110 temporary housing units holding another 300 people with 200 more people staying with family or friends in town. He explained that there will be a festival held on July 30 with comedians coming from Osaka and invited us to be a part of the program. I think David will work up some music perhaps. I am hopeful to have a table or booth where we can display some pictures from our clean-up work here in the area just to give the people an idea of what we do.
I went to Kesennuma with David after our meeting and worked with the team clearing and cleaning out an English school run by a Japanese lady who is married to a Muslim man from Dubai. We have had a great experience working there with her sharing with her and her family.
Friday I was working out of the office and decided to take a break. The mayor told me that the gymnasium not too far from our office is the evacuation shelter for the city. I decided to walk over and check it out. I did so and started back for the office. As I was walking by the ground golf field, a group of 4 was out playing. One of the ladies was part of the group I invited into our dining room tent on Wednesday. She motioned me to come over and ran to her car returning with another club and ball. So, I got to play my first game of ground golf ever!!! Unfortunately the club was right handed so guess I will be a right handed ground golf player. It was a lot of fun listening to their responses when I hit the ball. I hit one way off line and they all just laughed and laughed. One of the ladies spoke a little English so she could at least direct me showing me how to play. Just another day in a busy week here in Japan. Hope all is well in your part of the world.

Hello from Japan

2011-07-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
Saturday afternoon, July 9 here in Japan. I arrived here Wednesday afternoon about 3:30 pm. After working my way through immigration, sending along my bags to Sumita where our base camp is located and figuring out which bus I was to take to my hotel I finally made it to my hotel near the airport about 5:00 pm. I went to sleep about 8:00 pm and woke about midnight to a small earthquake. I went back to sleep and woke up again at 2:00 am and could not get back to sleep. I had breakfast in the morning and boarded the train for a 45 minute ride to Tokyo where I was to meet up at the station with my admin assistant, Mimi. I was glad she was there waiting for me at the train platform. The Tokyo train station is an extensive maze of differing levels and tunnels leading in every direction heading off to subways and trains all arriving from and leaving for differing destinations. Anyway, after purchasing our tickets and heading to one wrong platform, Mimi and I ended up on the right platform and boarded the train for Sendai. Three hours later we arrived in Sendai and boarded the subway to take us to the end of the line. There one of the Sendai office staff met us with a vehicle and took us to the main office there in Sendai.
After meeting the staff we went out to a late lunch with the Country Director and his wife. Claus and Wanda have been here for 3 months and will be returning to Canada soon. They will be replaced by Matt and Suzie Swenson who you may remember I worked with in Liberia. We returned to the office for a brief meeting and I met with several of the staff regarding a variety of issues. At 5:30 we headed across Sendai for a staff dinner. After a very nice dinner we returned to our overnight accommodations about 10:00 pm. At about 3:00 am I was awakened as the house began to shake a bit..and then it stopped! So, in two days I had gone through two earthquakes! I told Claus the next morning that he didn’t have to arrange an earthquake a day for me!!
We left shortly after breakfast to head up the coast toward Sumita. It is approximately a 3-1/2 hour drive from Sendai to Sumita. We took the “long way” so we could stop in Kesunuma where we had a volunteer team working on several residences. After we had travelled about 2-1/2 hours we reached Kesenuma. We also drove through Ofunato where we are also currently doing some differing projects.
The devastation in this area is just unbelievable. It is now 4 months after the tsunami and there remains a large area still untouched, completely wiped out, with police search teams still going through the area. The wave was to have reached 120’ in this area! The water just funneled right up the valley. The government has been working to clear roads and debris for the past 4 months. Huge mountains of vehicles and destroyed building materials sit everywhere. I saw several ships sitting along a canal on dry land about 1/2 mile inland of the ocean. There are dying trees affected by the salt water 3 miles from the ocean! I hope to return to the area next week and possibly send along some pictures next time I write.
The weather here currently is very warm and humid with temperatures in the high 80’s. The rainy season is supposed to be happening currently and lasting for a couple more weeks but I have yet to experience rain.
Sunday afternoon: The staff along with the 18 volunteers left for church this morning at 9:15 am. We headed out through the mountains for Kesenuma to a church that had been damaged by the tsunami. As we neared town about 10:00 am, David pulled the car over and stopped. He proceeded to share that an earthquake just hit off the coast 120 miles out into the ocean and they had issued tsunami warnings for the region in which we were currently. As sirens blared and warnings were broadcast to the community to evacuate to higher ground we waited on a hill overlooking the city. We were safe where we were at so stayed there for approximately 30 minutes until we were advised that there were no significant increases in wave height coming to shore allowing for us to move on. We decided to return to the base camp where we held a brief meeting with the staff and volunteers reiterating the importance to stay together as a team and to listen to team leaders should another event happen while the volunteers work in this area. The entire episode reminded me of how vulnerable I am here not being able to speak or understand the language. I thank God for my awesome bilingual staff. So, it goes here in Japan for my first week in country. Please pray for this country’s safety and that SP will truly make a difference here through our work.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and support as always!!!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Colorado!!!
Yes, I am here in the USA as most of you already know. I got back to the States on August 26. Since then I have taken some “down time” here at my nephew Dan’s house, visited family and friends in SDak, Iowa and Wyo, done some electrical work with a friend and most recently completed a three week stint working with Operation Christmas Child at the local collection center helping with shoe box collections. OCC was a great experience seeing over 660,000 shoe boxes processed here in Denver to be shipped to Mexico, Haiti and possible Sri Lanka. With that behind me now I once again focus my energies toward finding a new opportunity somewhere hopefully overseas to work.
It was an awesome and challenging experience working with Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia. During my time there I got to see a witch doctor give up his craft and turn his life over to Jesus Christ. I was able to work with the aviation program delivering building materials, OCC shoe boxes and personnel to the bush villages by helicopter. I was able to spend nights in villages with no power listening to the villagers celebrating the arrival of building materials throughout the night with beating of drums and singing. I got to see some of the worst possible road conditions on the face of the earth. I got to work with some of the worst building materials, tools and supplies ever manufactured. I learned of the struggles of a nation of peoples hearing stories of the atrocities of the 14 year civil war that ended in 2003. I was able to visit two prisons with one of our staff as he evangelized to the inmates. I got to see and hear of young people dying due to improper health procedures including those that had gone to traditional healers. I also saw underequipped medical facilities both in equipment and staff. I got to see people disposing of garbage as well as urinating and defecating everywhere since there are few available facilities. I was able to take two brief vacations, one in Kenya climbing Mt. Kenya and going on safari and the other to Morocco to see a most beautiful country. Last Christmas was spent riding a camel into the desert and spending Christmas night there in a tent. (trust me when I say there is NO comfortable way to ride a camel!!) And last but certainly not least I got to work side by side with some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet!!! I have lots and lots of pictures of MOST of the above…I would love to share them when you have a couple days..ha!
Now all this might seem quite glamorous and you are probably wondering why I ever left. Nearing the end of my contract, I found myself just desiring and needing some down time after two years in country. Dealing with constant maintenance issues with vehicles, facilities and people’s needs while living in a country that receives over 200 inches of rain each year just wore me down. It was certainly a great experience and I love the staff I worked with there, both expat and national. I love working with SP and hope to find a new slot somewhere else where I can fit in and help share the Gospel message with the peoples of the world. I am trying to be patient and work on “God’s timing” for my life. I know He is in control and He will provide that opportunity if I continue to be the person he desires me to be.
So, as the year closes I once again feel blessed to have wonderful friends and family who are supportive of what I do, good health and most grateful to an awesome God who trusts me with more than I could have ever hoped for only a few years ago. May the Lord bless you all in the upcoming year with health, happiness and a heart for doing the work to which we are entrusted..loving others!
Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years!!!

Buzz

Roy time!!!

2010-08-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

It is a rainy afternoon this Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. Today follows up a week in which we had rain every day for at least the greater portion of the daytime hours. It is to be expected this time of year but when you are trying to fly a helicopter every day, you hope that it will not do so. We spent the week trying to wait out storms and being creative when we did fly, at times flying around, over, under and through the rain. As I explained last week, flying in the rain is not really a problem as long as you can see. It is when you cannot see the ground in front of you that it becomes a little “furry”.
Thursday we were to fly to pick up the VBS team who was in the jungle. Their sat phone had lost power so we had no communication with them. We woke to heavy rains which continued throughout the morning. We were to leave Monrovia at 10:00 a.m. to pick them up and bring them back to Monrovia. Normally we might have just decided to delay the flight until the next day but complicating matters was the fact that one of the interns, Merilee, was to fly back home on Friday night. We spent the morning and early afternoon trying to decide what to do. Finally around 1:30 it appeared to be lightening a little. Roy and I decided to “give it a shot”. The guys pushed the helicopter out of the hanger and Roy started preparing for takeoff as I called around to our regional sub-offices one last time for weather reports. Everyone reported that it was still raining and overcast. As I walked to the helicopter from the hanger it began to rain harder. I got in the helicopter and buckled myself in. Roy asked me one last time what I thought and I told him that I thought this was our only chance to retrieve Merilee. He lifted off and we headed out for the bush and to our destination of Porkpa-Ta 75 miles away. The skies were filled with clouds and rain. Fortunately it is very flat in the area surrounding Monrovia so we didn’t need to worry about mountains in our way for the initial part of the flight.
Roy previously had told me that when weather is bad it is best to fly a straight line from the point of origin to the destination should one go down. As we were flying along over the course of the first 20-30 miles I noticed Roy looking at the GPS tracker much more often than he normally does. I asked him if this was one of those days where it is best to fly a straight line and he answered, “yes, it is”!
I had been praying all day for a break in the weather and was praying even more as we flew along. As we got out away from Monrovia about 40 miles, the skies began to lift and the rain subsided. We were now flying in pretty ideal conditions. We arrived at the football field in Porkpa-Ta where the weather had been nice for most of the day. Roy set the helicopter down and I got out. I went over to where our staff was standing and told them of the need to get loaded quickly. They didn’t understand the need to do so until I explained that the weather was bad in Monrovia. They had been concerned about us thinking some mechanical problem had happened to us along the way. We loaded the staff of 5 including Merilee and their gear quickly and headed out. The weather was much the same on the way home. We ran into a rain shower about 30 miles from Monrovia that Roy tried to dodge in any manner he could. We landed at the airport in a downpour. I got out and helped everyone out of the helicopter and they quickly ran to the shelter of our hanger. The guys came out of the hanger and we pushed the helicopter inside. The rains were pounding on the metal roof of the hanger at this point making it nearly impossible to carry on a conversation. I just patted Roy on the back and said, “just another boring day, huh?” We laughed and got in the car and headed for the office. Yes it had been another “boring” day working with the helicopter here in Liberia where nothing is ever easy during rainy season!
Well, my friends, this week wraps up my time in Liberia. I will be leaving here on Monday the 23rd. I don’t know if I will have time to write next weekend. I just want to say thank you to all of you for your prayers, support and love directed to me and our staff while I have been here. I hope that you have enjoyed reading my weekly accounts. Perhaps I will resume writing when I get settled into my new yet to be determined job and location.

Flying, we're flying!!!!

2010-08-15T09:25:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning here in Liberia. The rains are falling heavily. We are to fly to Foya today to take some personnel there and then pick up the VBS team from the bush on the way back. We have called to our sub offices around the country and it is raining everywhere. Right at the moment I am not certain we will be flying at all today. Such is the case here in Liberia during rainy season. As Roy stated, it is better to be here in the hangar than leaving and making it out to somewhere in the bush and having to try to find somewhere to set down.
We have been fortunate until today to have good weather to fly. We have been able to accomplish all that we have been scheduled to do until today. Thursday we moved the VBS team from one village to another and taking supplies into the destination village as well. At one point we had 3 of the VBS staff in the back of the helicopter with their mattresses rolled and crammed in between them. I told them they did not need to worry if we crashed as they were well protected. Roy told them that it was as if their airbags had already been fully deployed! It was only a 10 minute flight from one village to the next so it was not so bad for them.
Friday Roy flew a team to the Foya region to install a solar system on a medical clinic there in the bush. There are no roads to the village. If the team would have had to go by road, this project would have taken at least 5 days. It would have taken 1 day to drive each way, 1 day to walk each way into the bush to the village and one day for the installation. Using the helicopter, they left here at 9:00 and were back here in Monrovia at 4:55. I think you get a sense of how invaluable the helicopter is to our work here in Liberia.
Yesterday we flew to Loma-ta for a school dedication. About a year ago Kendell and some other staff were flying to Yekepa when the rains began to fall. Dan was forced to set the helicopter down on a football field near the village of Loma-ta. They ventured into the village and began to talk with the people. The people expressed the need to have a new school built in the village. Kendell agreed to supply them with the building materials if the people of the village would do all the labor to include making of all the blocks. So, yesterday was the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new 5 room school house, which by the way won’t even come close to being enough room for all the children of the village. At one point I counted at least 250 standing around watching the ceremony. It was my first time going to a building dedication. Here in Liberia, protocol is very important. They spent at least 10 minutes yesterday deciding who should speak first to last. We had a town elder, a town chief, a district of education commissioner, a community education chief and a couple others including Kendell that had to “fit in” the order of presentation somewhere. As with most things here, it becomes very political with everyone trying to say something “bigger” than the previous person. All in all the ceremony wrapped up in about 2 hours which is pretty reasonable considering all the people who spoke. Then they moved onto the presentation of the gifts. Kendell came away with two shirts and a goat yesterday although we left the goat behind as Roy didn’t think the goat would take too kindly to the noise once he started up the helicopter. I am beginning to think Kendell only does all these projects just to get shirts and goats! Haha! He does have quite the extensive collection of African shirts after being here for 5 years and that is after taking many shirts and gowns back to Canada over the years to auction them off for fund raising.
We are back from our Sunday flight to Foya. We were scheduled to depart at 10:00 a.m.. We finally got out of Monrovia at 11:15. We ended up flying through and around several rain showers along to way to Foya and then more on the way back with the VBS team. Roy explained to me as we flew along that one of the most dangerous things about flying in rain is not being able to tell where the rain ends and the trees begin. It was not long after that when we flew into a harder rainstorm. Fortunately we never lost sight of the horizon but at times the trees “disappeared” into the rain and the line where one ended and the other began had also disappeared. At that point I knew very well what he was trying to explain. It is very similar to skiing or driving when it is snowing and lose track of direction! But unlike when you are doing either of those, you cannot just stop when flying a helicopter. Well we obviously made it back to Monrovia where not even a Sunday “drive in the country” is easy!!

naked guy

2010-08-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. It has been a rainy week here in Liberia with almost constant steady rains throughout daytime hours. Today is overcast but no rain has fallen as of yet. I went for a run this morning and then returned to the house to find my internet not working today. I am not certain what is wrong but will probably have to have our IT guy come over tomorrow to look at it.
We had an interesting early part of the week preparing for Kendell, Bev and the boys return on Wednesday night from Canada where they had gone for Kendell’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. We were trying to update their house while they were gone by painting the interior, getting them some new curtains made and buying them some new living room furniture. We were finally able to finish off the painting on Tuesday. Taya was communicating with Irene, the curtain maker, who told Taya on Monday that the fabric we wanted was not available any longer so Irene was going to go out and get more fabric on Tuesday and she would have them completed by Tuesday night. As we were putting up the new curtain rod holders on Monday, I asked Taya about the new curtain rods since the old ones were literally whittled sticks. She didn’t know anything about them. Apparently no one had thought of having them made. There is no place to just go buy curtain rods here in Liberia.
Tuesday morning Taya and I went furniture shopping in town as well as picking up some ¾” electrical EMT to make curtain rods. Taya and I walked from one furniture store to the next to the next in the light rain. We covered all of the “good” furniture stores and could find nothing that would work in the house. We are trying to find some furniture to go with the new paint which is a lighter blue on two walls and sand color on the other two. Black, red and maroon seem to be the furniture colors of choice for most people here. At least that is what you find in the stores. We finally just gave up. I did get the EMT and some spray paint so the trip was not a total loss!
Tuesday night Taya called me sounding upset. She said Irene brought the curtains and the fabric was a dark brown floral print. She asked me if I would come over and share what I thought of them. I told her I would drive by on the way to work in the morning and let her know what I thought. As I drove by the house on the way to work I looked to see some of the ugliest curtains I have seen since the late 70’s!!! Taya talked to Joni who is currently in the States and she is to bring back some curtains when she returns next Monday!
On Wednesday I headed into town to get a new light fixture for their kitchen. It is not easy finding a suitable light here for the kitchen when it needs to be 120 volts which is what is supplied here on ELWA campus. I was standing near the door in a store on Randall Street which is the area of the main business district when I heard a commotion from outside. I looked out to see a fully naked man laying down in the street next to a car that was driving down the street but was temporarily stopped in traffic. I didn’t know where he came from or what he was doing. He got up after a few seconds acting as if he had been hurt. He was slapping his hands on the car and yelling. This went on for about a minute while the crowd of people watching him grew larger and larger. It was at that point the Liberian driver of the car got out with her shoe in her hand and started beating him over the head with it. She was chasing him around the car hitting him over and over with her shoe. He finally slid under another car at which point she got back in hers and drove away. The car that he had crawled under began to drive away as well. The crowd of people was so large by now that I never did see “naked guy” again!
Well, that is it from here. I am certain to have some good adventures to report next week from here in Liberia where even a little remodeling is not easy!!!
P.S. This week I read where the German nationals were released from captivity in the Sudan. However the SP employee still remains hostage there. Please continue to pray for her and all the hostages currently being held around the world.

Back to prison

2010-07-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning here in Liberia. It is the day before Liberian Independence Day. I had an interesting discussion with a Liberian friend yesterday while doing some souvenir shopping. Many cars are sporting Liberian flags flying from the windows. My friend stated that before the war it was mandatory to have a flag hanging outside your house or in a window during Independence Day and Flag Day. If you did not display a flag in your residence, the police could come to your house and fine you! I told her it didn’t sound much like Independence to me…I don’t think she saw the humor in my comment! Currently it is not compulsory to do so and she acted like it was not a good thing! I guess independence means different things to different people!
I had a great experience this week. I went with Pascal, our “minister” mechanic to the Kakata regional prison. If you remember we went to the Bomi prison about a month ago. I had described that prison as not being as bad as I thought it might be. Well, the Kakata facility is older and much more crowded. There are two wings to the prison which holds 21 females, 5 juveniles and 79 adult males all in 5 cells! The cells are probably no more than 20’x20’. Pascal brought along a couple gentlemen from his church. They spoke to the women and youth in the “B” wing. I only ventured in to the “A” wing with Pascal where the adult males are packed 26 to a cell. Let’s just say the smell emanating from these cells was not nearly as pleasant as the Bomi prison! Pascal talked with each cell’s group of inmates individually before starting the service singing “I have decided to follow Jesus”. With 3 cells all singing the song, it turned into a “round” with the cells all singing at a little different timing. He then shared with the men the message of true freedom that is obtained only through commitment to a life as a follower of Jesus Christ. He also spoke to them of the importance of prayer in their situation. He has an incredible heart for this ministry and is a joy to watch as he moves back and forth in the corridor outside the cells sharing the Word at the top of his lungs. He finished his message and then prayed for the men.
Then we distributed Sunday School booklets that we brought along for them. We had planned for as many as 80 inmates so we did not have enough books. As with the Bomi prison, when you begin to hand out anything; it gets to be a frenzy of hands reaching for the handout. We also gave them plastic credit card sized cards with a prayer of commitment printed on it and a signature line where they can sign and date it as the day they committed their life to Christ. We had plenty of those to pass out. I told them that everyone would get one before we started handing them out. It still was mass confusion as the men tried to get as many as they could pushing their way to the door and reaching through the bars as many times as they could. I don’t know why they wanted more than one card but they did. I told Taya upon my return that my worst fear is someone will make a weapon out of the card and hurt someone else! I am not sure that would be the best public relations for SP!
Once we completed the sharing of these items the inmates turned to me to ask me for “something small”. I just referred them to Pascal and let him handle the situation. I am not certain they truly understand that I am there to just support his ministry. It is necessary for one person to be in control of procurement and distribution of items so everyone is treated equitably.
I do hope I get the chance to return to the prison before I leave next month. It would be great to see if we are having an impact on the people there who so desperately need hope for the future. That is all for this week from here in Liberia where prison life certainly is not easy!

animal control

2010-07-17T00:52:00.000-07:00

Monday morning here in Liberia. I am sadly reading this morning of bombings in Uganda last evening at two locations during the World Cup final killing at least 60 persons. While details at this point are minimal, it appears that the bombings were initiated by Islamic Extremists. We have staff in Uganda. I pray that all are safe this morning and the violence will not escalate from this incident. With each act of terrorism I am reminded of why we are here in Africa; to bring Jesus to those who do not know him and hopefully bring peace to this part of the world.
I am taking advantage of my beach house having taken Friday and today off creating a long weekend to relax, read and reenergize myself for my last month here in Liberia. It is so nice to be here at the beach away from the office noise and additionally away from the noises from across the road generated by the bar at night and the 5:30 a.m. church band practices. The weather has been rainy but it has given me a chance to just shut down and enjoy reading and the quiet.
Steve the cat, who is my roommate, is quite an animal. Every morning we have to play a game of fetch with his piece of broken plastic clothes hanger. This game lasts for about 30 minutes until he gets bored or is distracted by a bug or something else. I am not a “cat person”. My goal is to just keep Steve alive for the next month! Fortunately, Steve spends most of the day sleeping. He does have his redeeming qualities. He usually catches one or two cock roaches a day. He kills them and leaves them lying on the floor for me to find in the morning.
Last night after I got home from the World Cup party I was sitting here at the computer checking my email. Steve, after greeting me upon my return, headed off toward the back of the house. Approximately 15 minutes later I heard him making some noise in the bathroom. Saturday he tipped over the shower caddy so I got up to go see what he was doing this time. He was walking back and forth around the bathroom door looking up at the door. I thought maybe he had seen a roach on the door. I didn’t see anything on the front side so I stepped into the bathroom so I could see the back side of the door. There on the inside top of the door was a big brown spider. The body was about the size of a quarter with legs stretching out about 2 inches in each direction. Under it was something that looked like a cotton ball. I grabbed the plunger and hit the spider. It dropped off the door wounded and started off for the bedroom with Steve in close pursuit. I was going to let Steve have “the kill” but as it neared the closet, I thought I better take over to make certain it did not get away. I hit it again with the plunger. When I did, I killed the spider and that is when I found out what the “cotton ball” truly was. It was a sac containing baby spiders. I suddenly had what must have been 100 baby spiders scurrying off in every direction. I ran to get my bug spray from the kitchen. By the time I got back to the bedroom the spiders had spread out in about a 2 foot circumference. Steve had gone into hiding in the corner with my last blow of the plunger so he was not in the way as I began to spray the spiders. It took me about 5 minutes to kill all of the spiders in sight. I guess I will find out over the next few days whether I got them all. I am not certain what kind of spider they were and really don’t even care to know if it they are poisonous or not. Spiders and roaches are some of the “hazards” of living here at the beach where bug control is not easy even with a ‘killer’ cat!

4th of July

2010-07-08T12:00:00.001-07:00

4th of July afternoon here in Liberia. The rains have continued to fall throughout the week. My construction team began their work at the helicopter hangar pouring the footing and setting the block walls for the generator shed. Fortunately after morning rains every day, we had a few days where the rains subsided throughout most of the working hours which allowed time to construct the block walls. As of Friday when I left most of the walls were completed. I know they were planning to work yesterday but it rained for most of the day. However I am still hopeful that the building will be enclosed and I can begin to do my electrical work when I show up tomorrow. If all goes according to plan we should be completed with the project by the end of the week.
We are still waiting for the vendor to get the properly sized window for Matt and Suzie’s house. I think we are on window number 4 now. They were supposed to come late on Friday afternoon to install it but I don’t think that happened so I hope to get them over there tomorrow. It has been a long, long process but once the window is in I think we will have the house finished except for the kitchen cabinet doors. The team from Canada that worked on the house decided it would be easier to have the doors made back home and shipped over here than to make them locally. When working with a volunteer team most of the time it is best to explain to them what you would like completed and let them decide how they want to finish the project. I am hopeful that we can get the doors here by the end of the month and I can install them before I return to the States at the end of August.
I am moving tomorrow! After two years of “living in the office” I am moving to Matt and Suzie’s house! They leave for vacation tomorrow so I will take up residence in their house while they are gone. They are set to return on August 20 so I will probably just remain there for my final three days in country rather than relocating to some other place. It will be nice to be away from the office. I am most grateful to be moving to the beach and away from the noise that I have been fighting from the across the road for the past couple months. I am looking forward to waking to the sounds of the ocean rather than the 5:30 wake up I have been getting from the church band across the way!!
This week preparations began for the Franklin Graham Festival to be held here next March. We had two individuals from the Billy Graham Evangelical Association arrive from abroad. They held and are holding many many meetings with government and church groups. The expectation is that 40,000 persons will show up each of the three evenings at the local football stadium to hear Franklin. The amount of preparation that goes into one of these festivals is incredible. We are still 8 months from the date and we will have BGEA staff on hand here for the entire time leading up to the festival as well as staff around after it is completed. SP is committed to providing two of our staff to work with them as liaisons to the government and churches throughout Liberia. We are all very excited about what God will be doing here in Liberia. I can see incredible things happening here over the next several years as a result of the festival.
Bev, along with a couple interns, 3 national staff and a driver headed into the Bokomu forest this week to a village where they taught VBS. They had an incredible experience sharing God’s word with over 100 children. At the end of the week they had 40 children come forward to accept Jesus as their Savior. It will be interesting to see what they find when they return to the village in a few weeks for a follow-up session.
Many of our ministry teams are wrapping up trainings currently. We have held several graduations throughout the country over the past several weeks. Liberians love to celebrate graduations of any level. Yesterday Kendell was invited to speak at a graduation at a local school. One of the security staff at a local hotel/restaurant where Kendell eats quite often is a teacher during the daytime. He gives Kendell a “special” parking spot each time he visits the hotel as they have become “friends”. So, Kendell agreed to speak at his school’s graduation. I asked him what level graduation this was and he said it was a Kindergarten graduation which included a graduation princess and a speech from the Valedictorian! I asked him if he spoke to them about “commitment to their education” using it to enrich the lives of others. We were laughing so hard that I never did find out what he actually did speak about to the kids. I am sure whatever it was, they were just happy to be able to celebrate another graduation here in Liberia where not even graduating from Kindergarten is easy!
P.S. The SP employee and German nationals still remain hostage in the Sudan. Please continue to pray for all the hostages currently being held there in The Sudan.

let the rains begin!!!!

2010-07-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. Rain, rain and more rain would describe this week. We had a 48 hour period where it rained constantly. During those 48 hours it only varied in intensity going from a pounding rain to a soaking rain and then back to a pounding rain again. It will rain so hard on our metal roofs that you cannot carry on a conversation! Just when you think it cannot rain any harder, it DOES! We have a cement block canal that is to channel water away from our buildings and at times it was completely full of rushing water. One related issue seems to have cropped up its ugly head. We emptied our septic tanks here at the office last month and they are full again. Apparently we are taking water into our tanks when the sandy soil around the tanks gets saturated with water. I was not around when they built the septic system so I am uncertain how it was built. I know the tanks are constructed out of cement block but I think there is no leach field attached to the system. If anyone has an idea how to “fix” this problem please send me a note. Please keep in mind that we are only a few feet above sea level!
On Wednesday I was working on Matt and Suzie’s house hooking up the washing machine and clothes dryer. We had to bust a hole in the wall to run the dryer vent and do the basic hookup of water lines to the washer hoses. Of course none of the water fittings fit together properly. Any time you try to transition from hard pipe to flexible tube there is no easy way to do it. Sam actually broke off two water valves hand tightening the connections. It never ceases to amaze me the junk they send here. We ended up putting 3 washers in each hose before the leaking stopped! The washing machine, which I bought used, ended up having a minor leak which I still need to fix.
I was walking back to the office shortly after noon. The rains had passed for a while. I saw a friend in his yard looking at a tractor. He told me that he was trying to sell it for an orphanage where his wife works. I talked to him for a while about it. He told me to take it for the afternoon. It is a 29 hp Kubota with a loader and disc. I hopped on, started it up and drove it to the office. You should have seen security laughing when they saw me on the tractor. I rounded up the tools I started out for in the beginning of my walk and then drove the tractor back to Matt and Suzie’s. I unloaded the tools with Sam and then began to work on the yard with the tractor. The yard was all unlevel and there were chunks of cement dumped in holes in the yard. I worked all afternoon burying the cement chunks, leveling the yard and discing up the grass trying to make the yard look better. What started out to be a pretty “rough” day ended up being probably the most fun day I have had in a long time! I guess one never loses the desire to get on a tractor and “play” every once in a while! I told Kendell that if he bought the tractor I would stay for another year. He just laughed and said the money was not in the budget for the tractor OR me!!! Ha!
Matt and Suzie’s house is FINALLY finished to the point where they moved in yesterday. There is still one window missing but they wanted to move in anyway. There are security bars over all the windows so it is not like someone can enter through the missing window easily. Their furniture was delivered on Thursday. The “standard” bed frame made by their furniture maker did not fit the “standard” mattress they bought so yesterday they returned the mattress and went out in search of one to fit the frame. A few weeks ago Suzie had someone come over to measure the windows for curtains. She bought all the material and gave it to the curtain maker. They showed up on Thursday to hang the curtains. Almost every one of them was wrong. Some were too short, some were too narrow and some of them were just wrong in every imaginable way. Suzie went to town yesterday to buy more fabric so they can make the necessary corrections. It would seem to me that if they had enough material to make the curtains in the first place that they should have had enough material to make the corrections but that is just my opinion. I stayed out of this one. I need no more on “my plate” at this point!
This week I start the construction of the generator shed at the airport where the helicopter is housed. The UN who has been supplying power to the airport is moving their generators and we are left to provide our own power for our hangar. So it goes here in Liberia where consistent electrical power is never easy!
P.S. The SP employee still remains hostage in the Sudan. I read where two German nationals working for another INGO were kidnapped this week there in the Sudan. Please continue to pray for her safe and quick release as well as theirs.

graduation day

2010-06-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. It has been a rainy week here. We left at 8:00 am this morning in a heavy rain for a 2 hour drive to go upcountry to attend a graduation of students who attended a 3 month lower level ministry training class. The first section of the road was paved and in fairly good condition. After about 45 minutes of driving we turned off the main road onto the dirt road. It just continually got worse and worse. Fortunately it was not raining in that area as we drove to the church. The last 200 yards to the church consisted of doing off-road driving within a few feet of houses, crossing small swampy areas and trying to find spots where we could clear under trees.
There were 107 graduates today. Students are nominated to attend the classes by their churches. The churches select individuals who are leaders within the church. Some of these people will travel up to an hour each week to get to class. It amazes me their commitment to learn more about Christ. These people are truly in love with the Lord. The service was a celebration of their graduation lasting only about two hours. It was very well organized and it was great to see the people of the area. Kendell spoke for a few minutes telling them that they now have become part of the “light” of the world and they are now to go out and share that light with those in the darkness. It is always difficult assessing how much of the message is understood by the Liberians when it is delivered by one of us. Kendell did get a few drum rolls and some cheering so I think it was understood and very well received by the graduates.
As with all celebrations, gifts are given to the “special guests”. An African shirt is often the gift of choice. I am not sure how many Kendell has now. He is a large man so it is always fun to watch him try to pull an often too small shirt over his head. I got a shirt as well this trip. Fortunately it was not overwhelmingly hot in the church so I didn’t “melt” wearing it over my polo shirt. Kendell sweats easily. When the service was over and he took off his gift shirt, he was just soaked underneath. He told his boys who had gone along that it was raining in the church and that is how he got wet!
We then sat down to share a rice and soup lunch there in the church. They carried some of the church benches outside for people to sit on. Not long after they got the benches outside, it began to rain again pouring down rain for at least 10 minutes. We finished eating about the time it stopped raining and decided it was time to get back on the road. We started our way out of the neighborhood making it to the first swampy area before our wheels started spinning. I got out and locked the hubs. Kendell backed up and then drove forward through the area to a dry spot. I unlocked the hubs and got back in the car. We went another 50 feet before the wheels started spinning again. I got out and locked the hubs a second time and he drove out of the muddy area once more. This time I just walked ahead to the main road and waited for him there. He pulled up on the road and I unlocked the hubs for the second time. I got in the car and told him that next time he was going to have to get out. I just wanted to get “my turn” out of the way before we got into the knee-deep mud areas. Actually the road had some huge pot holes filled with water but the mud was not as bad as you have seen in my pictures. We had a fairly uneventful trip back to Monrovia.
I am glad that I went along to see the graduation. It was a great experience seeing these amazing people and what they will do to learn more about Jesus Christ. Well, that is it from here in Liberia where even going to church is never easy!

power plant

2010-06-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. The rains continue to pound us daily. We are still not to the all-day rains but every night we are surrounded by intense thunder storms which last into the mornings. The humidity hangs heavy in the air throughout the day most days although it is a little cooler now.
It was a rather uneventful week for the most part. As I stated last week, the IT guys are here installing the new VSat unit. All has gone reasonably well other than no one knowing until last week that we needed to apply for a license to operate our dish. I understand that it will be another day or two before we can actually operate our system even though everything is hooked up and ready to go. We still need to have someone from the government come to check out our system. I am not certain what their concern may be regarding our system but such is the way it is with government bureaucracy here in Liberia.
Yesterday I went to Matt and Suzie’s house to try to get it ready for them to move into. I still had a little electrical work to wrap up and wanted to also check out the tile work that had been done. I completed all the work I could do before noon and came home to my apartment. The IT guys called shortly after I had returned and wondered where I was going to take them to lunch. I told them I would go buy some groceries and be back in about 30 minutes and make lunch for them. I ended up getting stopped by one of Liberia’s finest along the way who was looking for his “Saturday”. As I normally do, I told him there was no way I could give money to a police officer and he told me to go on my way. I returned after my shopping outing, made lunch for the guys and did some work here in my office after that. I was thinking about taking a shower about 4:00 when I heard a knock on my door. There stood Joni. She said that a container had arrived from Servants in Service and there were 9 moving dollies and about 25 boxes of books for our ministry program. She had come by Matt and Suzie’s house earlier in the day while I was working there so she knew I had already “sweated up a storm”. She was hopeful that I had not changed clothes yet which I had not. So, I put my shoes on and followed her in one vehicle as she drove another over to the unloading area. We loaded all the dollies and a whole pile of boxes into the two vehicles. It was at that point that Rusty told us we had set a new record. He told us that we only had about 200 more boxes of books to load! Apparently Joni misunderstood what Rusty had previously told her. Instead of 25 boxes of books, we received 235 boxes!!!! Two more trips back and forth from our office to the stack of boxes loading as many as we could in our vehicles and then coming back to the office to unload and we were finally done for the day about 5:30!
Today we went with the IT guys up to see the hydroelectric plant. I had flown over it several times on the way back from upcountry but it was great to see it up close. Like almost everything, it was destroyed during the war. It was amazing to see the gutted facility. The turbines along with all the wiring and anything else of value are gone. We had hoped to walk to the dam but the river is too high to cross on the diverted part. The only way across is by canoe. It began to rain so we chatted and waited for an hour or so before heading back to Monrovia. It was just nice getting out of town for a few hours and seeing part of Liberia I had never seen before from the ground. Liberia still does not have a plan to rebuild the power plant. I have heard there were several countries interested in rebuilding it but they were interested in doing so for commercial purposes and Liberia wants it to be used to supply power to Monrovia. So, as for now there is no future plan in place for a new electrical plant here in Liberia where nothing is ever easy!
P.S. The SP employee still remains hostage in the Sudan. Please continue to pray for her safe and quick release.

The evangelist

2010-06-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon here in Liberia. The rains are here! Yesterday afternoon it rained for a little while and today it has been raining on and off all morning. Now at 2:00 pm it is just “pouring buckets” outside. I had hopes of golfing today. Fortunately there was no car to take so I remained here at my apartment to do a little work. I cannot imagine having to walk too far in this rain. There is no umbrella or rainsuit that can protect one from rain coming down this hard!
I had a great experience on Wednesday. One of our vehicle mechanics, Pascal Saah, is the ultimate evangelist. Wednesday is his day off. He will rise early leaving his house in time to be at the hospital by 7:00 am to talk to the patients. He then will head off to the university where he will talk to the students for an hour or two before going to a local prison to speak to the inmates. I had promised him for some time that I would go with him to the prison. I wanted to go two weeks ago but got wrapped up in installing the water heater and getting the tile for our house projects. I told him on Monday of this week that I was going on Wednesday with him no matter what.
On Wednesday, he showed up at the office at 10:00 am and we headed out for Tubmanburg to the Bomi prison. Tubmanburg is about a two hour drive from Monrovia. Fortunately the road is paved and in pretty good condition with only an occasional pothole so we were able to take one of our Landcruisers making the ride a little more tolerable. When we got to the prison, I noticed that the razor wire was falling off the gate. Pascal honked the horn and the guard came out to tell us the gate was broken so we would have to park outside near the gate where there were several goats grazing. We entered through the walk-in gate checking in with the guard. I looked at the back side of the gate and the hinges were broken. All one would have to do to get out would be to pull on the gate and it would fall over.
None of the staff wore uniforms or carried weapons. It was difficult to discern who was a guard and who was not. They did no type of search of either of us. All we had to do was sign in and follow our escort. I didn’t know if the escort was staff or a prisoner trustee. We walked across the yard passing an outdoor kitchen area where there were about ten men and women sitting preparing food. The prison building is a newer one story block building possibly only a couple years old. There are two hallways off the main lobby area. There are 6 cells in each hallway. We were escorted down one hallway to the end shaking hands with the men through the bars along the way. I was happy to see that the cells were clean. The walls inside the cells are “decorated” with drawings and phrases drawn and written there in charcoal by the inmates. A lot of the drawings were crude representations of animals or weapons. The phrases were mostly phrases from the Bible.
One thing that really was apparent about the men was how young most of them are. Average age could not be more than 24. All the men were locked in the cells with the exception of ten or so men who must be trustees.
Pascal began the service by leading the men in singing a song. He had one of the men read from the book of Job and then talked to the men about Job and his life. Pascal gets very animated when preaching so it was very entertaining watching him and listening to the responses from the 50 inmates. He concluded his talk and then asked if anyone had questions. One of the questions was from a man who was serving a life sentence for killing his two children. He is hopeful that someday he will get out and wondered how he would know what denomination of church he should attend. It was really one of those “wow” moments that just reach out and take hold of you.
Pascal prayed for the men and then I spoke for a few minutes just encouraging the men to realize that today is the first day of the rest of their lives here on this earth. The world may end today or it may end tomorrow and that if they did not know Christ, they needed to reach out and come to Him today. We passed out a small booklet Pascal had brought along to distribute to the men. It is always chaos any time you pass something out here whether it is at a school, a church or a prison. Everyone wants to get one no matter what it is. Fortunately we had plenty of the booklets. Pascal spoke individually to a few of the inmates who asked him for specific things such as soap and writing materials before we left departing the same way we came. Another two hours down the road and we were back in Monrovia. All in all a great day of outreach here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

I'm in hot water!

2010-05-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. Today is one of the sunny/rainy days. I woke to bright sunshine and rain falling on the roof. It has rained intermittently now for the past 4 hours. We still have not gotten to the all-day rains. They are certain to begin soon.
The Canadian construction team left on Monday. I am so grateful to have had them here. They, as most do, fell in love with the country and the people of Liberia. It is difficult to come here and not be touched in some manner.
Tuesday morning I went to get the tile necessary to complete Matt and Suzie’s house in one of our finest vehicles, John Mark. I had 3 tile guys committed to the project and needed to get them the tile as soon as I could. JM has seen it’s better days but it still runs good plus we only needed to go a half mile or so to get the tile. We got to the store where the manager had told us on Monday morning that they would deliver the tile to us on Monday afternoon. He now explained that his truck had been busy and he would go for the tile by 10:00. He didn’t even have the tile at the store!! I knew he would not get the tile by 10:00 so I told him to forget it and headed out for Bushrod Island where the tile was stored. Sam, my friend was with me. We had only driven about 5 miles when I could feel that the brakes were not releasing on the car. I tried to tap them and at one point stopped, backed up, and tapped the pedal repeatedly in trying to get the brakes to release. No matter what I tried I could not get them to release. So, I pulled off the road onto a side street and called my movement officer. He sent along another vehicle for us to take on our way. By the time the other vehicle got to us the brakes on JM had released. Tedoe, the driver had no problem getting JM back to the office.
Sam and I continued on our mission across the bridge through heavy traffic and to the store to retrieve the tile. After a long wait in the store we finally got ten boxes of tile loaded and back on our way to the office. What would have been a 30 minute excursion if the store near our office would have had the tile as promised took us over 4 hours!!!
On Wednesday, Sam and I began working on the process of installing a insta-hot hot water heater in the girls staff house. The installation involved busting out part of the cement block wall to allow us to tap into the cold water line and rework the connections to the shower fittings as the house originally had hot and cold both tied to the same line..Why, I don’t know..There was no separate hot water line in the house so we needed to run a hot water line to both showers from the hot water heater as well. We also had to vent the heater as it runs off LPG. There is no gas vent pipe here in Liberia so we used 2” galvanized pipe in its place. Of course, as with any installation here, the first thing you do is throw away the sheet with all the warnings on it! Ha! The process went quite well actually. We only had a few minor water line leaks that needed to be repaired after turning on the water. On Friday night we got to the point of firing up the system. I had done all the gas fitting leak tests..(you should see the piece that Joni had manufactured to hook the heater to the gas line. It looks a little like the mouthpiece from a trumpet with a ¾” female adapter welded on the end of a piece of copper pipe!) I had mounted the remote control in one bathroom so I turned on the gas at the tank and walked into the bathroom and hit the “on” button. The remote lit up. I opened the valve to the hot side of the shower spigot…and waited…and waited…the water was not getting any warmer. So, I went back to the heater and checked to make sure everything was set properly. Oops, I forgot to turn the gas valve on at the unit. I turned it on and went back to the control. I turned it on and opened the water valve..and waited..and waited..still only cold water. So, back to the water heater I went. Male logic told me it was time to start taking apart the unit. (Did I mention the instructions were here in my apartment which is about a block away from the house?) I took off the front panel and saw there were a couple of contact switches on the control circuit board. I had no idea what they did but thought I would try them anyway. One started the burner and the other started an exhaust fan so I knew I had a functioning unit but I just was not getting it to turn on. By now I was getting tired and I knew there were a couple of the girls that had come down from the bush and wanted to shower. So I broke down and went to get the installation instructions. I got back and started reading through the book’s “what to do if it doesn’t work” section. I finally came to the conclusion that the water pressure was too low to engage the igniter on the burner. So, I told Sam, go to the other shower and open that valve as well. He did so as I opened the one in the bathroom where I was located. A few seconds later I heard the water heater kick in and H-O-T water came out of the spigot for the first time. Of course, I then had to tell the girls that they needed to pair up to take showers. Ha!
Actually I spoke with ELWA who provides the water and they turned on another pump to increase pressure. Yesterday the system was working fine….right up to the time when a contactor burned up on one of the ELWA water pumps!!! I told the girls last night that they might need to go back to the shower buddy method again. They really didn’t care. They are just so happy to be able to take hot water showers without having to warm water on the stove (I can hear my mother now saying, “well, we had to do that when we lived on the farm!” Ah yes, the good ‘ol days!!) Tile on the floor for the DCD and hot water for the girls here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

just another day!!!

2010-05-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

So, today I was talking with the Lebanese business man who is going to fix the engine for one of our vehicles. I told him I needed a warranty. He said, "We have been in business for 25 years and no one has ever needed a warranty. This is my diesel mechanic and he has never had a problem. I told him, "Well he may be good but the only perfect person that ever was here on earth was Jesus and I don't think he is Jesus so I need a warranty. He laughed and said, "ok, you can have 3 months!"

ahhhhh Canadians...

2010-05-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. The team from Canada is upcountry attending a church service in Jawajey-Barneyboone. SP has worked with the community in the past assisting with several improvement projects. The team will return this afternoon taking a short tour of Monrovia and then spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach before leaving tomorrow night heading out on the two day trek back to western Canada.
It has been great having them around. The construction team has done a ton of work on three of our residences. Two houses are now completely rewired. Plumbing fixtures have been updated including adding solar water heating systems to two of the houses. Cabinets were built and repaired for the properties and ceiling repair work has been done. I ran around all week trying to round up materials for their projects. It was a good experience for me to get out and go to all the hardware and building supplies stores again. The building materials quality IS getting better but it is still a long way from the level we are accustomed to finding there in the USA. Many items are still only available on a one time basis. For example, you may find a particular brand of light bulbs that are good. When you return to the same store to get more, they may no longer have them or ever expect to get them again.
In Kendell and Bev’s house we decided to replace a rusted out shower pan in their bathroom. When the shower pan was pulled out, about half the tile fell off the wall. The last tile person had cemented the tile to the wall without ever scoring or chipping the wall. So, in effect there was just a half inch to one inch layer of cement sitting against the wall holding the tile in place..or was the tile holding the cement in place? Ha!!
I drove from one store to the next trying to find tile that matched. I finally found a couple similar patterns but they did not have enough of either to complete the job so we ended up putting 3 different tile patterns on the wall to finish the job! This too is Liberia!
All in all the team completed far more than they intended to do. As I stated last week, it is amazing sometimes the amount of work that can be accomplished when we do it in His name! I certainly will miss having the team around!
We did have a couple afternoon field trips for the team this week as well. Tuesday afternoon we went to an advanced level training for one of our ministry classes which is being held at a church on the Firestone rubber plantation. The class is comprised of pastors, deacons, elders, church mothers and worship leaders from various denominational churches throughout the area. This was the first time I had attended one of the trainings. It was great to see everyone there excited about the opportunity to advance their knowledge of God. Pastor Dave from Canada spoke to the class for approximately 20 minutes and then fielded questions from the class. Most of the questions addressed to Pastor Dave were of a legalistic nature. One gentleman asked Pastor Dave what he thought about a church having a sinners’ bench. Another pastor asked about requiring women to wear head coverings in church. Another asked about worship teams using different musical instruments. The questions certainly reopened my eyes to how easily it is to get caught up in “who we are and how we dress” rather than honoring God with all we do.
Friday afternoon the team, Bev, Joni and I went to a local orphanage and distributed Operation Christmas Child packages to the children. There are 50-60 children in the orphanage. The children held a short program for us singing several songs and performing one drama. It was all very cute. It was interesting to see the expressionless looks on the children’s faces as they received the packages. It most likely was the first time any of them had received a gift as such. It was fun to watch the expressions change as the children opened all the packages at the same time. It was very hot in the building where we were. Quite a few packages came with mittens, scarves and hats. It was great looking around seeing the children sitting there wearing hats and mittens, chewing gum or eating candy with huge smiles on their faces. Of course, all of the hats will be worn on those “cold days” here in Liberia when the temperature drops below 85!!!! Thanks to all of you who participate in the OCC program in any way. It is a truly great way to touch the hearts of children who have very little to celebrate here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

Mothers Day

2010-05-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all the moms! I am reminded of last Mother’s Day when the church here in Rock Hole that I attended had the program that lasted over three hours in 90+ degree heat. Ah, what fun!! Ha!
The team from Canada arrived as scheduled last Sunday night. This week proved to be very interesting trying to stay on top of everything going on. Monday morning after devotions, I ushered my four man construction team off to the three properties they would be working on while they are here explaining to them what I hoped they could accomplish at each in the two weeks they will be here. From there I took them to the local hardware store to show them the materials that are available to work with here in Liberia. After their initial shock wore off, we spent most of Monday rounding up materials for their projects. Tuesday they began in earnest building cabinets, attacking plumbing projects and rewiring the electrical. The team is working extremely hard trying to get the Deputy Country Director’s house ready for them. After they completed some of the work at that house the plumber and the electrician headed off to our other two houses to work on projects there while local masons completed necessary cement work in areas where tile is to be laid. The team is concerned regarding whether they will complete their work before they leave next Monday. I told them that they would get done what God wants them to finish and not to worry. I think they will be surprised at the end of the week how much they have gotten done. We have also scheduled a few outings for them including an OCC distribution at an orphanage later in the week. It is most important for them to enjoy this experience even though they are working very hard crawling around in hot and dirty attics and sweating more than they probably have in their entire lives!
Essentially this week I was going back and forth trying to move between the properties supplying all of them materials that they needed as well as trying to handle everything else I normally do here at the office. In addition to daytime duties, I was also left in charge of making certain the men were fed at night. Monday I took them to the local Chinese restaurant. They all thought it to be quite funny that they were here in Africa eating Chinese food! Between Kendell and me, we kept them pretty well fed throughout the week. I am glad Bev is back today taking over my duties of “food coordinator”! One afternoon I was driving to town where I needed to pick up some materials for the guys. I got caught up in traffic caused by road construction in the main business district and had to turn around on the road and come back so that I would be here to take them to supper even though I was only a couple blocks from where I needed to be. It would have taken an additional half hour to get to where I needed to go. I knew I didn’t have time to make it there, buy the materials from several businesses and then fight traffic all the way back to the office to be here in time to take them to supper. I am certain this week will be challenging as well as they try to wrap up the projects.
I have talked in the past about the local ELWA hospital and some of the issues they face on a regular basis. I was told this story recently by a friend. He stated that he was outside the hospital when a car came speeding up to the emergency room entrance. A Liberian man got out and ran to the door screaming for help. The emergency room nurse came out to see there was a man lying in the back of the car. The man had been hit by a car on the road, possibly even the car that had brought him to the hospital. The nurse looked at the man laying in the car briefly, then told the driver of the vehicle that there was no bed available in the hospital and that he would need to drive the injured man to Kennedy Hospital, which is at least a 15 minute drive into town under the best of circumstances! The nurse then turned around, walked back into the emergency room, closed the door behind him locking it. The man got back into the car and began to drive away. He got only a few feet before he stopped and quickly backed up to the spot he had been previously. He got out screaming that the man had stopped breathing. He began to bang on the emergency room door begging for help. My friend got involved and began shouting and banging on the door as well. Several of the hospital staff finally opened the door to the emergency room and took the injured man inside. They were able to revive him and last I heard he was still alive. This is just another serious challenge here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

never easy!

2010-05-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. The rain is falling on the roof as I write this. I walked to Kendell and Bev’s house a little while ago to get the building keys and it was dark out over the ocean. This rain could last for quite a while. Of course since the skies are dark and filled with clouds, we have no internet access at this time. I guess it is God’s way of telling me I should stop procrastinating, sit down and write to all of you!!!
To follow up on last week’s article regarding ELWA electrical power; we did have power on campus all week. Our office actually ended up “loaning” ELWA money to buy fuel. We will now deduct that amount from our rent and utility bills so it is just a temporary solution at best. But at least I did not have to worry about getting generators set up this week at all of our residential properties. Who knows what will happen when they need more fuel to run the generators next week.
We are in the final stages of preparation for the 12 person team coming from Canada. Bev is the ultimate planner and has put together a very detailed schedule for all parties. She has tried to get me to be detailed regarding what “my” construction team will be doing every day. I told her it is next to impossible to do that as we really have no idea how quickly we will be able to do the repair work on each of the properties. It is just basically a guess as to how long it will take to complete the projects. Plus, now that it is raining during the day, we will have to do the buildings’ exterior repairs around to times when it is not raining.
Kendell has asked me to make Matt and Suzie’s house the number one priority for this group. We had hired ELWA services to fix up the house for us. They initially told us they would be finished with it by the end of the year (and yes, I am speaking of 2009!) Wednesday Matt and I went over and met with Rusty, a volunteer from Washington, who has been in charge of the project for ELWA. The house is far from being completed. The whole interior of the house needs work at this point. Electrically, the only thing they have done is run new wire from the switches to the lights. The entire kitchen needs to be finished to include new upper and lower cabinets and all the plumbing work. The bedrooms have been painted and once the electrical is checked with new devices and lights are installed, they will be finished. My best guess is it will take my team at least a week to complete the work on the house. I hadn’t even planned for them to work in this house so my “schedule” that Bev wanted is now in my trash can. I am just so very grateful to have this team come and work. I had an email from one of the team the other day stating that if they were going to build kitchen cabinets he would need a compound sliding mitre saw. After I got done laughing, I emailed him back and told him as diplomatically as I could that we did not have one and that whatever they could build with the saws I do have will be of a much better quality than anything found in most any other house here in Liberia! I hope he did not take offense to my comments. It is just difficult to explain to someone, as it was explained to me when I first came here as a volunteer, that yes we want to do quality work but at some point you need to realize this is what you have to work with and you need to get the job done. Everything will be ok in the end whether we have the proper tools or not. This too is Africa.
Thursday night we went to dinner to a restaurant that is attached to a new hotel. The food at the restaurant was very good. We checked out the rooms after we finished eating. The rooms are very nice comparable to a nice hotel room there in the USA. They are very well furnished with nice beds and bathrooms. If one didn’t know he would think he was not in Liberia! As Kendell stated, it is nice to see someone having enough confidence in the security of the nation to be putting up a structure of such quality. I had to agree that it is a good sign for Liberia. Buildings are being built of better quality and appearance every day. Hopefully tools and materials will continue to improve as well.
Ok, I think that wraps it up for this week. I am certain to have some great construction stories for you next week from here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

electric times!!!

2010-04-30T10:54:00.001-07:00

Rainy season is upon us! Every night now about 9:00 pm, the lightning and thunder storms begin. It is not long after the first flash of lightning that the rains begin. The last two nights have been incredible rains. It has just poured and poured for an hour or so. It is so loud here in my apartment below the tin roof that it is impossible to communicate even when someone is sitting next to you. TV is not an option during these periods as we lose satellite signal during these storms. This too is Liberia!
I spent the past week here in Monrovia working out of the office on Monday and Tuesday before taking on some electrical issues at the girls’ staff house. The electrical panel there had multiple wires under each breaker. The panel and breakers got so hot that it melted some of the plastic dividers between the breakers. So, on Wednesday I had Sam bust a hole in the plaster and block wall large enough to install an “American” electrical panel. I took out the old panel marking all the wires by phase before installing the new one adding several additional conduit sleeves up into the attic should we desire to add circuits in the future. Everything went well but there still are some issues with a few circuits there so I will have the team from Canada address them when they come on the 3rd of May. I will be working with that team doing some major remodel work on our staff houses here on campus. Initially I was going to take the team to Foya to work on our house there but decided we needed to address some of our properties’ issues here instead. I will probably hire someone to do the work there in Foya sometime in the future after our new well is drilled there at our sub-office.
As you are aware, dealing with generators and power issues for our properties is a big part of what I do. I was elated when I heard a few weeks ago that we would be “hooking into” ELWA power here at the office. ELWA is the organization that owns the campus where our office and 4 of our staff houses are located. By hooking into their power, it would allow me to run our office building AND my apartment off their power basically eliminating using two of our generators while providing a more consistent and stable current to our building. Well, yesterday Kendell told me that ELWA is in serious debt and he does not know how they will continue to operate. He stated that he expects them to run out of fuel sometime on Monday (tomorrow) and they are so far in debt to TOTAL that he doesn’t think they will be able to get any fuel to run their generators. He asked me to look into the cost of setting up our four residential properties on individual generator power. So, instead of eliminating 2 generators, I may be adding FOUR more to our fleet!!!
As you might have figured out, this is not a good thought to me. Even though all the houses are within 2 blocks of the office, it would create the need to transfer fuel to each location every day or every other day as well as making certain each generator is maintained properly. It will probably mean adding a staff member or committing someone full time to control our generator operations, maintenance and repair. It also means we would have to purchase the generators from the States or have locally purchased generators re-tapped as power from ELWA to the residences is 120/240 volts and all generators found here in country have voltage outputs of 240/380.
ELWA also controls operation of the hospital and an elementary school here on campus. The hospital is losing the Dr. who has been here from the US for the past 14 years. There is no replacement Dr. scheduled at this point so things are unstable at best there right now. I don’t know if the hospital has some type backup generator but they probably wouldn’t have fuel to run it if they do! Please pray for the funds to come to ELWA that they may operate in a profitable manner. They were wrought with corruption for many years losing money to dishonest managers and employees. For the past year they seemed to be heading in the right direction hiring an honest manager and making some major systems upgrades but now these difficult situations have arisen for them.
All of that being said, I still know that God is in charge and will use these difficult times to His benefit if we follow His guidance. It may not be the way that we desire it to be but I still give Him all the glory and praise for allowing us to be here and giving us the opportunity to reach out to the peoples of Liberia. Well, that is it for this week from here in Monrovia where it is never easy even just keeping the electrical power turned on.

logging and driving

2010-04-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. It is another warm day here. I am trying to stay inside where it is cool after a very hot week. I just checked online to find out it is 91 degrees that “feels like” 109!
On Wednesday we got out the Woodmizer to make certain it was working before sending it out to the field to cut up some logs for church construction. We had not moved the machine or done anything to it since last fall when we stored it in the container. Wednesday we towed it across the street where we had a few logs laying around after some recent tree removals here on campus. We set up the machine putting down all the support bases, checked all the fluids on the engine, turned the key and stood in amazement as it fired right off! Things were off to a great start.
The machine is operated with two bank of hydraulic controls; one to operate the cutting head and one to operate the log positioner. I moved the cutting head to the end of the rail so I could pick up the first log. I went to the positioner control bank at the front of the machine. That bank allows you to pick up and move the log into cutting position; lifting, spinning and leveling the log as necessary. I pulled on the lever to lower the log pickup forks and….nothing…no movement whatsoever. Since it had been a long time since I last operated the machine I thought that perhaps there was a switch I had not turned to the proper position. I looked at everything and all appeared to be correct.
Kevin Kehr, an American who grew up here in a missionary family and now lives here, was there “playing” with me as well as 10-15 Liberians who had gathered to watch. Kevin started taking things apart trying to figure out the problem. At that point I suggested, “Maybe I should go get the manual”, to which he replied, “What fun would that be”? So, we continued to take apart the control boxes trying to find out where we were losing power. We finally traced the problem to the hydraulics solenoid. There was an extra one included with the replacement parts for the machine so we replaced the solenoid, fired up the machine and away it went. The actual repair process probably took at least an hour and a half. Trust me when I say we look much more intelligent here in the article than we did physically fixing the machine!!! We ended up cutting a couple logs making planks, 2x4’s and 2x6’s. It was a lot of fun even with our initial problems. Now we need to coordinate with Ministry and get it out to the field to work! I will probably hire Kevin to run it. He is one of the few people who has the know how to work the machine AND probably more importantly, fix it should there be a problem.
Thursday I caught a ride on the SP helicopter going to Foya. I went to do my final assessment on material needs for our repair project we will be doing there with a team from Canada in a couple weeks. It was nice to be in Foya in a couple hours instead of having to survive the torturous road.
I did all of my measurements on Thursday afternoon completing what I needed to do. I thought I would catch up on some of my correspondence but the internet was not working there in Foya. So, it looked like I had some extra time on my hands for a day until we were scheduled to leave the following afternoon. The food at the office there in Foya leaves a little to be desired at times. Dan and I decided to walk into town and buy some bread. Along the way we talked with a few of the children as they came out to greet us. It was several degrees cooler and probably a little less humid there in Foya but still very warm. We returned to base feeling worn out from the heat. We relaxed and ate some of our bread with a little peanut butter. That evening we were glad we had the bread as the cook made her famous Macaroni Spam Plantain casserole. I have had other variations of the same recipe before including one with those ingredients PLUS sardines and boiled eggs. I think I am safe in saying that none of them are very good. Dan had never eaten it before so he took like two bites before we dumped our share into a separate serving dish kept for the national staff. It looked like we ate quite a bit out of our serving dish! We then ate a little more bread and called it a meal.
Friday, the base manager and I met discussing the work projects. He then told me he was short a driver for the day. They were to deliver bulgur wheat to the village of Yalladu as compensation for a USAid project completed there and had no one to drive the truck. So, I volunteered to drive as long as someone could direct me to the village. One of the LIAP program technicians guided me to the village. The road just kept getting worse as we went along. We finally ended up driving down a road where we had to cross 3 bridges. The first of the bridges was cement. The second was two steel I Beams with a log on each side of the I Beams and the third was comprised of just 6 logs!
The “roads” are in really bad condition currently with ruts, holes and rocks everywhere and it has not even started raining yet! I can only imagine how it will be after a couple months of rain. I told Kendell when I met with him on Friday afternoon after I returned to prepare for the worst. I think it will be even worse than last year when we had to stop vehicle movement in that area for about a month. It will be interesting to see what happens here in Liberia where vehicle movement is never easy!

A short week

2010-04-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend was another 3 day “holiday” weekend for us after a very short week. We had both Easter Monday and “Fast and Pray” Day, which was Friday, off this week. I spent Friday working from my apartment, reading and spending time in prayer. I didn’t do as well with fasting. Even though I should commit to fasting sometime, I have never been able to do it for very long. There is just something about my stomach “grumbling” when I have not eaten for a few hours that takes my focus away from my prayer.
After a somewhat uneventful week, one of our pastors had an auto accident on Friday in Robertsport which is approximately 3 hours drive from Monrovia. He and his wife were sitting at the top of the hill in their personal vehicle with it turned off and in park waiting for a bus to climb the steep hill. Suddenly their car broke free heading down the hill with no brakes. He managed to crash into a house at the end of the street totaling the vehicle. They were fortunate enough to come away with just minor cuts and bruises. We sent a team on Saturday afternoon to load the vehicle in our truck and bring it back to Monrovia. They loaded the car using a block and tackle and planks to drag it into the back of our truck. We just got done “unloading” it. They backed the truck up to a rock pile, tied a tow rope onto the back axle of the car and then pulled the car out of the truck with a pickup dragging the car over the rock pile and down into the street. It was quite a show!
The next few weeks will be rather hectic around here. We have a veterinarian team from the United States here this week. They will spend two days at both sub-offices going into communities where we have placed animals doing vaccinations. I am thankful for the helicopter as Dan will be flying them to each sub-office but we will need a vehicle assigned for them to move around once they arrive in the sub-office. I am hoping to fly to Foya later in the week when Dan takes the team there. I need to go to do a final analysis of what materials we will need when we do the base remodel project in a few weeks when a team arrives from Canada. There is so much going on right now sometimes it is hard deciding what needs to be done first. Such is the case when you manage multiple departments as I do. I am so very thankful to be able to fly around the country rather than drive. It certainly makes it easier for me.
Next week we begin to do a two week assessment of our programs’ effectiveness out of both of our sub-offices at the same time. We will have two separate teams mobilized to visit communities to follow up on our past projects finding out the impact on the community in both a physical and spiritual sense. As you might imagine it creates some challenges for our logistics department moving people around during the week from community to community. Then we are to swap the teams at the end of the 1st week sending the team from Bopolu to Foya and vise versa. I cannot wait to see the results of the study. Hopefully we will find that we are not only improving the quality of communities in a physical sense but that we are also bringing people to Christ.
Just a quick follow up on Prince, the young man that the girls were helping. Prince is still awaiting clearance to move into the orphanage. The girls did however get him placed in a “foster home” until he receives his clearance to move to the home. As I stated a few weeks ago, everything moves very slowly with government offices here in Liberia where nothing is easy.

Easter week

2010-04-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday here in Liberia. It has been a very nice day. It rained last night during the night so this morning was a little cooler. We had an Easter sunrise service on the beach this morning as well as meeting for brunch this afternoon. So, concluded our Easter Sunday activities.
I want to take you back to finish my water heater story. If you remember from last week, we took down the water heater, cementing the hole in the wall and resetting the anchor bolt. I worked through Monday morning and decided to slip up to my apartment to rehang the water heater about lunch time. I tried to reinsert the anchor bolt into the anchor but it would not screw in all the way so I measured the amount that needed to be cut off, went down to the warehouse and cut it off with the sawzall. I came back up, inserted the bolt and tightened it in the hole. So far, so good! I was standing on a chair beside the counter now readying myself to hang the heater. I picked up the water heater and put my left foot on the counter to balance myself as I lifted the water heater to hang it on the bolts. As I did so, I shifted more weight to my left foot which was not a good thing. (Remember us cracking the countertop last week when we were trying to empty the water heater?) Well, the countertop completely gave way under my weight with my foot now going through the laminate top. I kept my focus on the water heater not wanting to drop it and break it and tried to take it down to the counter before I fell all the way through the broken section of the top. I succeeded in setting the heater down on the top without any damage to the water heater. Unfortunately the hot water valve on the wall was not quite as lucky. On the way down the water heater hit it and broke it off. So, I unscrewed the valve and went to the local hardware store to get a replacement. I came back, installed the new valve and proceeded once again with hanging the water heater. I carefully placed my left foot back on the braced section of the countertop and lifted the water heater to the wall. Apparently when Sam cemented the anchor back in the wall he did so with the spacing between the anchors about ½” wider than it was previously so now I could not get the water heater bracket to fit over the anchor bolts. Down with the water heater I came once more. I took out the longer of the anchor bolts and took it outside to the vise and bent it so that it would enable me to hang the heater. I brought it back up to my apartment, put it back into the anchor and lifted the water heater once again. It seemed like I was now about 1/8” too wide to hang the water heater. So, down the stairs I went to get a hammer. I returned and tapped on the sides of the bolts so as to gain my 1/8” to enable me to hang the water heater. I once again lifted the heater into place and it fit perfectly! I hooked up my water lines being very careful not to break the connectors and turned on the water. The hot water flexible tube was now leaking so I turned off the water and went back to the warehouse to get an extra one I had recently purchased for another project. (Did I mention that it was really hot on Monday? By this point my shirt was just soaked with sweat) I went back up the stairs, replaced the tube, turned the water back on and everything worked fine!!!! I had hot water once again. However, I now had a piece of the countertop to replace. I took out the piece, gave it to our procurement officer and two days later everything was good as new with the new piece of countertop installed. All in all it only cost about $60.00 to rehang the water heater after paying for the valve, the tube and the countertop! Sometimes things just do not go as planned!
Wednesday I was fortunate enough to ride along with Kendell to see our new office in River Gee County on the eastern side of Liberia. It is a 14 hour ride by car. It took us a little over 2 hours by helicopter. We flew along the coast most of the way down. What beautiful coastline we saw! This whole area remains quite uninhabited. Fishtown, where our office is located, is still very primitive with most of the houses sporting thatched roofs. Most of the surrounding area is dense rain forest. The trees in that area are incredibly huge! We were told that the local people survive off hunting and gold mining, although from the looks of things I don’t think anyone is getting rich mining!
We are working on a health care rehabilitation initiative there in the county. Both the clinic and hospital we saw were deplorable. There are 66,000 residents in the county and only the one hospital. It is almost a certainty that you will die if you get seriously ill in that area of the country. So it goes in remote Liberia where nothing is easy!

just another Saturday

2010-04-03T03:15:00.001-07:00

Palm Sunday here in Liberia. It is a balmy 89 degrees as I write this. We have been having a few rains this week as we “ramp up” for rainy season which “officially” begins April 15.
I finally put the finishing touches on inventory late Friday afternoon and submitted it to Kendell. I got up yesterday morning refreshed and ready to relax a little and perhaps take on a few tasks I had been putting off until I was finished with inventory. As I came out of my bedroom I looked to where my 13 gallon water heater is mounted on the wall in the corner above the kitchen counter. One of the lag bolts had come completely out of the wall. It now was leaning against the other wall and was being held up by only one bolt. Fortunately for me Sam, my “Fix-it-man” was coming to the office to get money to go buy some materials for an upcoming project that he is doing for me. I called him upstairs and we proceeded to unhook the water heater from the water lines and take it down off the wall. I was very happy to see that the remaining anchor was still set in the wall quite well so I don’t think the water heater would have ever fallen down. I probed the wall where the other anchor had been set and found out that it was installed in the cavity of a cement block so in reality it probably was holding little if anything for the past couple years. I remember looking at it several times thinking that the anchor really didn’t look set that well in the wall but I didn’t want to disturb it as long as it was holding! So, Sam busted a bigger hole in the wall and then mixed up some cement and filled the cavity of the block with cement reinserting the anchor in the wet cement and then smoothing it out nicely.
As I was moving the water heater over to the sink to drain it, I set it on an unsupported area of my thin laminate countertop and put a big crack in the counter top. So when I do put the water heater back up tomorrow morning, I will have to see what it will take to replace the panel in the countertop.
We “finished” with the project in about an hour and one half. I was going to send Sam on his way to buy wood with one of our drivers only to find out there were no drivers here. So, Sam and I hopped in good ol’ John Mark, an old 4WD Toyota Tacoma ½ pickup, for a trip toward Freeport in search of 4x4’s and other wood supplies that he needed. There is one major area over near the port where wood is milled and made into posts, planks and framing wood. It is at least a 20 minute drive to get there under the best of circumstances. Traffic was very light yesterday so we made it quite easily. Once you turn off the main road you are now on a dirt/mud road with wood sticks, posts and planks laying everywhere. Young men run up to the truck asking what you are looking for directing you to an area where you can find the product in hopes they can make a small commission on the sales. I was glad to leave Sam to do the negotiating for our wood. He headed off with the young guys back behind a pile of wood while I stayed by our truck. He must have been gone 20-25 minutes before he resurfaced with 3 young guys carrying 4x4’s behind him. This has to be some of the most crooked wood I have ever seen. Sam told me it was the best there was. I told Sam that he bought circular wood. I said that it was the first post wood I had ever seen where the ends touched each other! He got a good laugh out of that. The young guys went back for 2x2’s and 2x4’s which were no better quality than the 4x4’s but this too is Africa. They tied the wood on top of our rack as Sam completed the money part of the transaction with the leader of the group. We hopped back in the pickup, bounced our way out of the area and back on the main road heading back toward the office. We had not gone a mile before we saw some of Liberia’s finest policemen standing alongside the road flagging us off the road. I pulled up next to one of them and asked him what they wanted. He just said pull over so I just put the pickup in gear and drove off. Unfortunately, this scene was repeated 3 times in about ½ mile before we got out of that area. We were almost back to the office when we came to a police check point where we had to pull over. The policeman asked me for my driver’s license which I got out and showed to him. He then proceeded to tell me that we had an “improper load” since we did not have a flag on our lumber which stuck out no more than 3 feet behind the pickup. I was about to get into a “discussion” with him regarding all the unsafe vehicles on the road that they never do anything about when he told me we could go. He did so without ever asking for a small “appreciation fee” or anything!!! Well, we made it back to the office without getting stopped again. So, concluded my yesterday’s unplanned adventures here in Liberia where not even a relaxing Saturday is easy!

flying from Foya

2010-03-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Picking up where I left off in Foya last Sunday. Monday we went to the UN heliport at 12:30 to catch the 1:40 flight back to Monrovia. It was a warm day so we three sat in the shade chatting while we waited for the helicopter to arrive. The helicopter arrived 15 minutes late at 1:25. We would be delayed in taking off from Foya by at least 15 minutes. The people began to unload from the helicopter. I noticed there were quite a few people getting off and that none of the people getting off were carrying bags. That was not a good sign as it meant they were all going to continue on with the flight. The Pakistani Major who was handling the flight called us over and told us to go to the helicopter. We got to the helicopter and he told us to take our luggage on board so we did and got back off as it was very hot inside. I went over and started talking to the Major about the flight. He stated that there were 25 people scheduled for the flight and as with most of the UN choppers, this one could carry only 21 people. I had a nice chat with him regarding our work there in the Foya region as well as discussing his military commitment and how long he would be there in Foya. 30 minutes passed and the Russian flight crew returned to the helicopter along with all the people who had gotten off when the helicopter landed.
UN protocol states that UN personnel are to fly and then if there is room NGO personnel may fly. Well, we all boarded the helicopter and sure enough, 25 persons. Now what? As we sat all crammed into a helicopter made for four fewer people the Major first asked for volunteers to stay behind. No one stepped forward. After talking to the Russian pilot for a few minutes, Major Najeet said the only fair way to decide was for the people who got on in Foya to stay behind. So he asked those who got on in Foya to please stand up. Tiffany and I stood and began to collect our bags, Major Najeet pointed to us and told us to sit down. So, we sat down again. The Major and the pilot then stepped off the helicopter standing outside for about five minutes talking before reentering the helicopter. I was praying the entire time they were off the helicopter that somehow we would be able to stay on the flight. The Major once again asked for volunteers to stay behind. When no one volunteered, he pointed to two Pakistani troops and said, “Ok you please get off”. He then pointed to a Bangladeshi Captain and told him he needed to pick one of his men to stay behind, which he did. The Major then asked one of the other NGO persons to please get off. We had made the flight! As the Major departed, he looked at me and smiled and I responded by thanking him. They closed the doors and we were on our way leaving about 45 minutes late!
We had two more stops to make along the way back to Monrovia. The first stop in Zor Zor went fine as no one got off or on. We departed for Gbarnga where we were to refuel. We got into Gbarnga and everyone got off the helicopter. I noticed that only two persons took baggage with them as they got off. Hopefully no addition persons would be getting on. After about 15 minutes, refueling was completed and we all walked back to the helicopter and got on. Only now there were about 28 persons on the helicopter all crammed into an area not large enough to hold that many people. So, the flight coordinator asked everyone to exit the helicopter. We all got off and they started checking the list of passengers. They checked off our names and asked us to re-board. Once again we were back on the helicopter as they tried to figure out who would be flying and who would not make the flight. It was another 30 minute delay before things got sorted out and the door was closed and we were on our way. We were going to make it back to Monrovia if all went well!
We now had time concerns as it was getting late and we had 45 minutes to fly yet. There are no runway lights at the airport where we were to land in Monrovia so we had to be on the ground by 6:30. We were flying along when I noticed that the pilot was turning to avoid a rain storm in our flight path. And then he turned again and again. We increased in altitude and still seemed like we could not avoid the storm. After 1 hour and 15 minutes we started to descend. I looked over at my coworker Eric who smiled and said, “We made it”! I looked out the window to see a long line of UN trucks. I shook my head from side to side and leaned over to him and said, “We are back in Gbarnga!” which of course we were. The storm was so intense over Monrovia that we could not get around it or through it. Air Traffic Control made us return to Gbarnga for the night.
SP has a small office there in Gbarnga so I called the driver at the office and told him to pick us up in the morning. I didn’t want to take a chance on any flight delays again. Fortunately there is a UN guest house there in Gbarnga so we bunked down there for the night and waited for Melvin the next morning. We made the bumpy drive in 3 hours and 15 minutes to Monrovia ending an eventful couple days here in Liberia where traveling is never easy!

Foya

2010-03-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday evening here in Foya. The crickets are chirping outside now at 8:00 pm. It always seems much later here than it truly is. Actually it is nice to get away from the city and the noise. The people are very nice here in the country. It also is probably 5-10 degrees cooler here as well. This place does not come without challenges though. Once it gets dark here there is not a lot to do. There is no satellite tv, limited internet, limited electrical power and no water in the building. We are almost forced to read a book or worse…TALK to each other…ha! The furniture here leaves a lot to be desired as well. I currently have 3 foam mattresses on my bed and still can feel the slats of the bed frame on a certain part of my anatomy. The living room furniture is of a similar quality making something soft to sit on very desirable.
We arrived here Friday via the UN helicopter. They are always an adventure. The crew on this flight was Ukrainian. You get to hear the flight instructions in Ukrainian English and of course get to ride in an old Ukrainian helicopter with all the information within the craft being printed in Russian. We had to make two stops along the way to Foya. At the first stop, three persons were to get off and did not. So, we were overloaded for our next leg to Voinjama. I heard the Ukrainian “flight attendant” tell the Liberian airport controller that we would be ok taking off but it was landing with all the weight he was worried about…and then they both started laughing. Well, we obviously made it here and I look forward to our return flight tomorrow even if the seats are less padded than my bed here! Keep in mind my alternative to flying UN at this point is a 9.5 hour drive down the road.
Yesterday afternoon Tiffany and I went to the market here in Foya. Along the way we stopped numerous times to shake hands and talk to the children. I asked several children if they went to church to which some replied yes and some no. This morning we decided to go back into the village with copies of a picture of the Nativity Scene to hand out and to talk to the kids and sing a few songs. Basically my idea was to have Sunday School right there in the village. We waited until after 11:00 to leave the office so as to not keep anyone from going to church. We made our way down the road about ½ mile before we came upon a group of children all yelling “Pumwee”(“white man” in the local language of Gissi). We stopped and starting talking to the kids asking their names and ages. Sadly, some of the kids have no idea how old they are. Most could speak some version of English. We sang “If you’re happy and you know it” which most of them knew. Then we tried “Jesus Loves Me” which no one knew. We tried to teach it to them but one of the older kids said it was too hard to learn. So we talked a little about the picture of the Nativity Scene and then started passing out the copies. Hands came from everywhere. I had made 25 copies and there still were about 20 hands still outstretched as I gave out the last one. I asked them to sing a couple songs. They sang the “ABC” song and then another couple songs I did not recognize. We talked for a few more minutes and then headed on our way.
This afternoon we went for a “Sunday drive” through the forest. What a drive! We headed out looking for a bridge project that I was involved with planning last year. I ended up being the driver for this expedition. We started out on bad dirt roads and ended up driving on what can only be described as a walking path cut through the forest. I was trying not to go “too crazy” with 3 other persons in the car. I do know that one time the right front wheel was off the ground as I drove over a large boulder. Fortunately it came back down softly and I am pretty certain I am the only one who noticed. After we had driven a couple hours and were now driving down along the walking path I finally asked our guide if he knew where the bridge was. He said he knew where the community was but didn’t know where the bridge was. That was not a moment of comfort for me because there are several villages with very similar names in this area. I think you will be impressed knowing that we actually stopped and asked directions twice! And we did finally find the bridge which is a very nice cement structure in the middle of the forest. Hopefully someday soon they will actually complete the road to the bridge! It really was fun. It would have been even better if I could forget for a few minutes that I am the one responsible for keeping vehicles running here in Liberia where even a Sunday drive is not easy!!

and the band played on!

2010-03-10T22:59:00.000-08:00

It is late Sunday afternoon here in Monrovia. The building generator is running this afternoon trying to keep things in the kitchen freezer frozen as well as running my refrigerator in an attempt to keep things cool. I have had generator issues all week. Tonight will be the 4th night that I will be without power for all or parts of the past 5 nights. I had issues earlier in the week and they resurfaced again on Friday night. Unfortunately the dogs have been running the neighborhood barking and howling at the moon this week throughout the night. Friday night one of the neighboring churches had an all night tarry (prayer meeting) so music was blaring until 6:00am Saturday morning. The generator repairman came yesterday and took it apart but they needed some parts they could not get yesterday so it will be tomorrow before they fix it and get it back going…hopefully. So, I have at least one more night ahead for me reminding me of those days on the farm so many years ago trying to sleep with little to no air movement during those hot days of July and August. Ah yes, the good ol days!!! Ha!
Just a couple updates for you this week. All continues to be quiet in Voinjama with no further reports of violence. We had vehicles passing through the area all week and none reported any problems. I just hope and pray that all remains quiet in the area. I am scheduled to fly by UN helicopter next Friday to Foya to complete our inventory for that region. Initially we were going to drive but just the thought of the 9-10 hour drive was enough to make the ride in the UN chopper seem like a much better idea.
I just spoke with Joni regarding Prince who is the young man the staff is trying to help. They were hoping by now that he would be in his new home at the orphanage. As I stated two weeks ago, things move exceedingly slow any time the government is involved. They are still waiting for the government to give them the go ahead to have Prince actually move into the home. Hopefully this will be the week it all comes to fruition.
Yesterday, Kai, our movement officer drove to Bopolu with our mechanics in our 1987 Landcrusier to retrieve our “wounded soldiers”, our recently damaged vehicles. I don’t think I told you about the one that started on fire a couple weeks ago. The staff had just returned to the sub-office and parked “Jacob”. After a couple minutes with the vehicle just sitting there they noticed smoke rolling from under the hood. So, they opened the hood to see the wiring on fire near the engine. They grabbed the fire extinguisher which I had just recently refilled after their most recent generator fire and they quickly extinguished the flames. Speculation is that the battery terminals were shorted out against the hood after a bumpy ride causing a short which then started the fire. Anyway, somehow yesterday my mechanics were able to get lights working so they could bring the car down following the one that was wrecked two weeks ago. My movement officer told me he was just going to go and drive it down. I told him that he probably should invest in some Plexiglas and duct tape if that is what he planned to do. The clay roads are beyond dusty this time of year! He made it back late last evening dropping it off to a body shop. It will be interesting to see how much repairs will be for “Eve”. I should have gone along on this adventure just to take pictures. Maybe it is better that I didn’t. Some things are left better to one’s mind to imagine what our “convoy” of 3 vehicles must have looked like. One thing is for sure, no one can accuse SP Liberia of spending money foolishly on new vehicles!!!
Kendell is still in Haiti checking out the damage and our SP operation. He was driven through downtown Port Au Prince last week. He stated it really gives one an eerie and sad feeling to see people amongst the rubble in the streets living in temporary shelters built out of anything that can be found. Please keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers in the weeks and months ahead. SP is staffing up for the “long haul” there. Take a look at the opportunities available online if you feel called to do so. That is it from my nice cool office on this Sunday afternoon. Later on I will head upstairs to my apartment to “no power” where nothing is easy!

upcountry

2010-03-06T03:16:00.001-08:00

It is late Sunday afternoon here in Monrovia. It was a very eventful week for me. I was talking with Kendell last Sunday when he informed me that he was going to Yekepa to the college on Monday and Tuesday. I knew I should not take two days away from the office but after giving it some thought I decided to go along.
On Monday we went to the airport. We got on our helicopter and flew to Gbarnga to our sub-office from which is run a school feeding program. I was able to do a quick inventory of the office’s assets in the hour we were on the ground. Kendell and Joni visited the orphanage which is in the area that we helped start several years ago. Upon their return we headed to the helicopter and headed for Yekepa. You may remember that Yekepa was where I worked as a volunteer when I came to Liberia two years ago. I had not been there in almost a year to see the university. So much has changed. The chapel is now completed as are most of the buildings on campus with the exception of the gymnasium and a new communications center. The plan is to begin both this year. It is a beautiful campus far different from what I saw when I arrived two years ago. I had a great time seeing workers I met when I came here and spending time there. I was also able to do a quick inventory of assets there as well. We spent the night chatting with the Chinchens who run the university and dining on only the finest foods. Joni even got me to eat some termites or bug-a-bugs as they are called here. Surprisingly dried they taste like sunflower seeds but not quite as crunchy.
On Tuesday we loaded up the helicopter and flew to the village of Loma-ta. Kendell has promised to help them build a school there if they make the block. They were to have 8000 block ready when we got there. They had about 800. Kendell gave them until the 10th of March to get them ready or told them we will find another community to assist with building a school. There are plenty of young men to work in that village. It is dry season so they cannot claim to be in the fields working so I am unsure why this is presenting to be such a problem for them to do. All I can say is there were children running everywhere. They told me they have 210 school age children in the village and the village is not that large!!! Hmmm, maybe I have figured out what the young men are doing with their time after all!!! The children followed Joni and I around the village like pied pipers. When we got back to the present school where Kendell was meeting with the village’s elders, a crowd gathered around Joni when she sat down in the shade. She started talking to the women and children and then asked the children to sing a song. Rather than singing a church or school song, they serenaded her with the Watsan song which includes phrases like “wash your hands before you eat”. Joni and I got a good laugh out of their choice in musical selections. We returned to Monrovia after our time there leaving several hundred villagers watch us take off from the local football field. As you might expect the villagers are very interested in seeing the helicopter take off and land.
Tuesday evening I was lucky enough to be around for the last night of the crusade going on across the street. They finally wrapped things up at about 10:30 or so it sounded from the underside of my pillow.
Wednesday was a day of catch-up after being gone for two days. I swear it must have been a 40 hour day. While working my way through the afternoon I found out that one of our vehicles had been wrecked as it was hauling a couple drums of fuel to our Bopolu office. Fortunately the driver and his passenger had only minor injuries.
Kendell told me that he was flying to Bopolu on Thursday morning to visit with the branch manager for a few hours and asked me if I wanted to go to look at the vehicle. So, I said sure. Thursday we loaded in the helicopter and flew to Bopolu in about an hour. I got to see the car which has some pretty extensive body damage since it had flipped on the side but the engine and frame appear to be ok so I really feel fortunate that things are not worse. With some serious hammering and glass replacement “Eve” should be back running in no time!
On Friday we received notification that in a village near Voinjama near the northern border six Mandingo youth had killed a Loma woman. The tribes have been rivals for years. Unfortunately things got more tense throughout the day ending up with a riot in Voinjama where a church was burned and another looted. The last report I received was that 5 persons were killed. The violence had subsided by Saturday and things appear to be calm as I write this but as with any tribal conflict, you never know when things might flair up again. So it is here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-18T04:12:00.001-08:00

It is late Sunday afternoon, Valentine’s Day, here in Liberia. This week I want to share a story about some of our staff here in Liberia. We have a great group of young people who work here with SP. God has provided us with talented, dedicated and caring individuals to lead our programs. Justin came here a few months ago as a volunteer. He is a great young guy who wanted to get experience working for a Christian non-profit organization. Upon his arrival, he was attached to our WatSan department and almost immediately sent to a bush community to build water filters.
His first night was quite memorable as he reached the place where he would be staying for the night, was told where he would be sleeping and eventually turned in. He went into the room, got ready for bed and laid down on the mattress and went to sleep. Sometime during the night he heard a radio blaring BBC news as someone entered the room and then the person proceeded to crawl into bed alongside Justin laying down with his machete putting the radio right next to his head. Justin laid there in shock for the most part listening to the radio as the other person drifted off to sleep and began to snore. He finally reached over and turned off the radio and tried to get back to sleep but admits it was a somewhat restless night wondering what was going on. The next day he found out that he had crawled into someone else’s bed. He just didn’t know he was supposed to share it!!
Justin has an amazing heart for the people here. He befriended a young man that he met on the beach spending time with him and getting to know him. He found out that the young man, Prince, is an orphan who lost his parents during the war. He had been living with his aunt but was thrown out of the house by her. He ended up sleeping in the bush with his few belongings still trying to go to school during the days hiding his belongings in the bush while he was gone. Justin paid for Prince’s school fees and fed him from time to time. One night a couple weeks ago Prince was mugged while sleeping in the bush by some other boys getting beaten and left with bruises on his body. The boys took everything he had except for what he was wearing and one other shirt which he held onto. That was all he had left in the world. Justin immediately went to work trying to find a place for the Prince to live. He made phone calls, talked with people in the community and with other staff. It is not easy to find a place for a 15 year old boy here. After chatting with Joni and Taya, they decided they would allow Prince to stay in a tent on a cement slab inside the security fence by their house until a place could be found for Prince. They told me how excited he was when they told him he would be sleeping there. He could not believe the tent was for him. The girls have taken on feeding Prince and making sure he has had a safe place to live for the past few weeks.
I found out on Friday from one of our staff who has connections to orphanages that she has found a place for him to go to live. This week she will be going through the whole legal process involved with the government to “make certain he is an orphan” and getting permission for him to enter the orphanage. Hopefully by next Sunday I will be able to share that Prince has been successfully placed in the orphanage.
I am so proud to know and be associated with this staff here. Prince is just one example of them reaching out to those in need far above what their “jobs” require them to do. One gains a true sense of God’s love seeing how they reach out in situations just like this one to those who truly are in need. So, that’s it, my Valentine message about the love shared by a few select individuals to someone who really needed it. I pray that this all works out for Prince. Hopefully someday he will understand if he does not already how God sent some of His disciples to help him out in his time of need. Our work here is so much more than the developmental things we do. I am just fortunate enough to be a part of a loving caring team who has been entrusted to share that love. Happy Belated Valentine’s Day to all!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-18T04:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Armed Forces Day!!!

2010-02-11T05:18:00.000-08:00

Armed Forces Day here in Liberia..one can only guess what might happen today. Lots of Liberians headed for the beach which means I will probably not go that way.
Here is the latest from me...
Sunday morning here in Liberia. 10:00 a.m. and it is already 85 degrees. It has been a very hot week. Perhaps that is not what you may want to hear knowing what your weather has been over the past weeks and months. But if it makes you feel any better, it is not a “comfortable” heat. It is very humid as well.
This week was like many others here with a few extra “challenges” thrown in for fun! Mondays are always interesting. Well, this past week proved to be no exception. While dealing with my usual situations hearing about everything that was not working (including no water in the office again) or listening to program managers tell me about materials that must be purchased and moved upcountry by the end of the week I received a phone call from Wilson, our warehouse manager. He had gone to Total’s main office to procure fuel. We buy fuel and gasoline in bulk and store it here at our compound and then ship it to our suboffices in drums. We are able to buy fuel and gas duty free which saves us about 60 cents per gallon. Anyway, purchasing fuel is a long process including waiting while Total checks our account to make certain the funds are in the account and only then will they give us a receipt. Usually it takes about 1-1/2 to 2 hours!
Wilson rode one of our new motorbikes to Total, checked in with security, locked the bike and entered the office. Upon receiving the receipt for our fuel he departed going to the security booth where the guard said, “I thought you rode your bike out of here”. Apparently, so the guard’s story goes, he saw someone riding the bike out of the compound with the helmet on and just assumed it was Wilson. It would be virtually impossible for that to have happened without him knowing. The office door is approximately 15 feet from the guard’s booth. Wilson had chained the motorbike up just on the other side of the booth. So, Wilson called me. I called the movement officer and our security chief who then had to go to Total to try to sort this all out. It ended up with the police hauling away the security guard taking him to jail and holding him over night. I asked Wilson several times whether he was certain he chained up the bike and his response was always yes with a description of how he had done it, each time being the same. I do believe him.
So, the rest of this week I had to deal with Total and their security company who has stepped forward to claim responsibility for the loss. They have asked for all the paperwork for the bike and have stated that they will replace it. I do believe that this will all work out ok. It is just something else that I didn’t necessarily need to deal with this week.
Our water supply continues to be a problem from ELWA. We have had limited or no water for the past couple weeks. On Tuesday morning after hearing, “Buzz, there is no water” for about the 20th time, I told someone I was heading upstairs with a marker to make a tee shirt with these words on the front and back, “YES, I KNOW THERE IS NO WATER!!!”
Rusty the maintenance manager has tried to do everything he can to piece together a working system. I called Rusty one afternoon when we had no water just asking him whether he thought the “patient was going to live or whether the prognosis was terminal”. He has a very difficult job. I just wanted to let him know I appreciate his efforts. His description of how they were trying to piece the water system together without new parts was nothing short of “bubble gum and duct tape” to stop the leaks..and of course there are no replacement parts here in Liberia where nothing is easy! His parents were to arrive on Friday with new filters and parts so they can repair the system and return it to normal supply pressures.
I received word out of Haiti this week that my friend Roy Harris, the helicopter pilot, broke his one and only pair of glasses that he had taken with him. Worse is the fact that he got this pair while he was in Sumatra 4 years ago and does not know the prescription so his wife Kathy in NC can’t even get him a new pair made! Pray for the wonderful powers of Super Glue that his glasses will hold until he can find some new ones. It does sound like living conditions are improving daily for our staff there and they are distributing tons of food and shelter materials. You can find updates at www.samaritanspurse.org.

February...wow..

2010-02-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

Late Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. Joni and I went golfing earlier this afternoon out to the Firestone rubber plantation. The golf course is not one that will host any PGA tour event any time soon but it does offer us the opportunity to just get away to a quiet area for a while with a chance to relax from all that is happening around us.
Upon our return I found out that ELWA is having water issues again with a broken filter so I have no water today again. I came over here to Kendell and Bev’s house to take a shower, enjoy the a/c and use the power so I can get this ready for you.
Most of our staff was upcountry this week. One day during devotions I looked around and realized I was the only Expat there. Our projects upcountry are going well. Several meetings were held with our partners and the reports that are being turned in about our projects are all very good. That speaks very highly for our project managers and staff.
My week “got interesting” last Sunday when I was here working on the article. I was typing away when my computer just turned off. After sitting here for a minute with a look on my face that was probably as blank as the screen, I pushed the power button and it started to go through its opening process. It looked good until it got to the desktop. There I saw just the icons for the basic software package that came with the computer and only a black background. No longer did I see the pretty bird that had previously adorned my screen. Uh oh! Well, I started and restarted my computer several times searching for the files and directories that once were there. I could find nothing. The first thought was I should have backed up my computer more often. (Who can say they have not had that thought before?) Most depressing to me was the thought that I may have lost all the pictures I have taken here and on my vacations to Morocco and Kenya. I kept looking for something, anything that would get me back to the right directory. Finally after several minutes of searching, I accidentally stumbled across the article I was writing that day. Don’t ask me how but I did. I did a “save as” option for the file, found the directory and found all my files under a different directory. My computer was still working very slowly so on Monday our IT man worked on it basically taking all morning to realign the directory to access my files properly again. The computer finally was ready to use at about 1:30 in the afternoon. I got on the computer as quickly as I could accessing email that I needed to respond to or follow up. I had several other procurement projects I was working on that I needed to get to as well. I worked late on Monday trying to catch up. Tuesday morning I got up to find that my computer was not charging and the battery was low. Once again, I got the opportunity to chat with our IT man. He found out the power adapter was not working. He said he could fix it for about $40.00 in parts. Well, he has been extremely busy so I finally got my computer back on Wednesday at 4:00 after spending $50.00. I learned a lot about my work habits over those two days. The first thing I learned is I am very dependent of my computer. I also learned that I had a lot more time to interact with others when I was not sitting in front of this screen. Of course, I was not able to do much of the work I needed to do but the whole situation served as a good reminder of what is important; the interaction with those around us having a chance to interact and find out more about them and their faith. Even when “our plans” are derailed we still have the opportunity to reach out to those around us.
A brief follow up on our team in Haiti. I got word from my friend Roy Harris, one of our two helicopter pilots there, that conditions are worse than anywhere he has ever been. Roy is a Vietnam veteran and was also in Sumatra after the tsunami so I think that gives you an idea how bad it is there in Haiti. Our staff there are currently living and working under very difficult conditions but yet I would be willing to bet they all would tell you that at this time they would not prefer to be anywhere else. SP has listed jobs on its website that it is looking to fill for our new office in Haiti. It will not be easy work but it will be very rewarding to those who go.
Well, that is it for today. Electricity was off for about an hour but is back on now. Hopefully that means I will also have water when I get home to my apartment here in Liberia where my problems are small but nothing is easy.

my new job

2010-01-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. It was another eventful week here in Liberia. Our main problem this past week was no fuel. It seems there was some delay with Total’s shipment out of Ivory Coast so there was a very minimal amount of fuel in Liberia all week long. We had to send our truck out twice during the week looking for fuel. Luckily we were able to find 200 gallons one time and 500 gallons the second after some searching. Unfortunately in those situations we have to pay the duty on the fuel which is 60 cents per gallon. We really don’t have any choice but to pay it to keep our vehicles operating.
I took on another job last week. Dan Spencer, our helicopter pilot, was due to fly back to the States on Friday so he wanted to take his wife to dinner on Thursday night. Unfortunately for him most of the staff was upcountry or had other plans. Sometimes one knows when you are the “last resort”. Well, in this case I really knew I was his last resort when he asked me if I would watch their 4 kids. I knew because after he asked me and I said I would do it, he started laughing. I had to reassure him that I was serious and would do it for them. The kids are ages 3-12. I showed up at 5:30. Cheryl had made potato soup which is one of the kids’ favorites. The table was set and the kids were in the process of making valentines to send along with their dad. I knew it was going to be an easy evening.
Dan and Cheryl left saying they would be home by 10:30. Inwardly, I just laughed knowing staying out that late is not really possible. There is not that much to do around here once the sun goes down. The kids played for a little bit and we discussed what movie we would watch after dinner. We sat down and ate our soup about 6:00. Of course during the meal the kids needed to share with me their best burping skills as well as going through a whole list of “knock knock” jokes. Nicole the oldest is really sweet and helped me clean up after dinner as the others wandered off to play. Reed is a LEGO man and headed back to his room to build. Acacia, second youngest and Hannah, the three year old, sat down at the table and started working on the Valentines to be sent to Grandmas and Grandpas, cousins and other friends back in the States. I sat down at the table with the girls helping them with the Valentines for about an hour. Hannah had to go to the bathroom so Nicole took her into the bathroom. I was sitting there talking to Acacia when we heard Nicole yell from the bathroom, “We can’t unlock the door!” The first thought to enter my head was, ok so I finally get a babysitting job and what happens..kids lock themselves in the bathroom. They will never invite me to do this again!!
I went over to the door and looked at the lock which was a skeleton key lock. I have written before about the poor quality of materials here in Liberia including the locks. I could tell this was a really bad lock. The house was completed only a few months ago and already the lock was broken. The windows of the house have security bars so there is no other way out of the bathroom. I looked at the door and pressed on it in several spots near the lock. It was a hollow core style so knew that if worse came to worse I could break it down. I looked at the bottom of the door and the gap was large enough to slide a key so I told Nicole to slide the key under the door which she did. I tried turning the lock several times with no success. I asked Reed if he knew where some tools were and he said yes. I worked on the door for a few minutes trying to get it to open when Reed came back with what could only be described as a “Jr. Workman” pliers and a tiny screwdriver set. Amazingly the girls remained quiet and calm during this entire time. I took the handle off the door and the plate but still could not get the door to open. By now probably 10 minutes had passed. I took Reed’s pliers and turned the key with as much force as I could without breaking the key or the pliers and finally, thankfully, the door lock released and I opened the door. The girls walked out quietly. Nicole said, “We were praying” to which I replied “So was I”!
Dan and Cheryl came home about 8:00 and we shared our saga with them. I warned him to never ever lock that door again as the next time it probably will not open. The next day everyone knew of my babysitting adventure as the kids could not wait to tell their teacher and everyone else. Such is life here in Liberia where even babysitting is not easy!

1st week back

2010-01-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. We returned to Liberia from our holiday time in Morocco early in the morning New Year’s Day. Taya, Justin and I had a great time in Morocco travelling around the country via train, van and rental car. Morocco’s landscape is very diverse and beautiful varying from mountains to deserts to beautiful vineyards and farmland. The cities are both a blend of old and new architecture built with incredible craftsmanship. The architecture is simply astounding with lots of hand carved moldings and beautiful tile mosaics. The country’s population is 99% Muslim. It was my first time being in an environment so heavily dominated by Muslims. You wake in the morning at 5am to the sound of the call to prayer being broadcast from the mosques. The people are reserved but very nice. When taking pictures you must be careful to not include people unless you have asked for their permission to be photographed. It is not uncommon for them to refuse your request for a photo.
We did find a Catholic church in Marrakesh where we went for Christmas Eve service. The entire service was in French which is the second language of the country after Arabic. It was a very old and beautiful church with stained glass windows and beautiful artwork. It was a nice service even though the only thing I could “understand” was the play depicting the birth of Christ and some of the carols the choir sang.
Christmas day was quite another experience for us as we rode by van to the edge of the desert and then traded in our van for camels which we rode for over an hour into the desert at dusk spending Christmas night in a tent there in the desert. We thought it appropriate that our tent was green and red canvas inside. The next day we woke to a beautiful sunrise, had a little bread and tea and then got back on our camels for the ride out of the desert in morning light. It was an incredibly beautiful as well as unusual way to spend Christmas and the holiday season.
Monday began our return to work here in Liberia. All of our staff from upcountry needed to load vehicles and return to our sub offices. All went well as we had no breakdowns on the way back. This past week was very challenging with everyone starting up programs again going back to work. Our fiscal year begins in January so everyone has “new money” to spend. This week I spent time ordering vehicles and motorcycles and placing orders for food, materials and construction tools. I also spent time arranging for and completing repairs on generators, air conditioners, electrical systems and water systems. As I lay in bed this morning after my generator was turned off at 6:30am I thought about how much simpler my life would be here if we just had electricity supplied to our office and residences. I would no longer have to spend time wondering about whether the generators preventative maintenance is being done, whether we need to move fuel for the generators or which one will be next to break down.
Yesterday I spent replacing the water pump for our office. It stopped working before the holiday but I delayed repairs until the new year began. Unfortunately, EWLA who supplies us with water was having trouble with one of their pumps as well so we had no water on the second floor of our office most of the time in the week leading up to the holiday break. After hearing “Buzz, there is no water upstairs” approximately 10,000 times this week, (ok maybe that is a slight exaggeration) I decided it was time to replace the pump. It would seem like a simple procedure but as you might have figured out by now, nothing is easy here. We set out at 9am trying to locate a pump and pressure tank of a similar configuration to our current one in hopes we would not have to rework our plumbing lines to the pump. We went to 5 different stores before finding one with a similar pump and pressure tank. Of course the pump and tank were not the exact same configuration so we ended up having to do some pvc pipe cutting and refitting on the connections.
In addition to the pump we had another issue to deal with. The valve on our 1000 gallon reserve tank was no longer working so we needed to drain the tank and replace the valve as well. The plastic tank adapter was also leaking so Sam climbed inside the tank so we could replace the adapter as well once we had the tank drained. After two trips to town and 4 other trips for parts to local stores we finally got everything together and began to refill the tank at 4:15pm. What should have taken a couple hours took us all day to repair. Ahhh, this too is Liberia where nothing is easy!!! Happy New Year everyone!!!

Back from Morocco

2010-01-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hi all. We made it back from Morocco early Thursday morning. I had a great time seeing a very beautiful country and exploring. I loaded some pics today on my Picasa page. Check them out when you have time...I will try to go in and put captions on them but no promises..
http://picasaweb.google.com/Buzzwalkes/Morocco
Hope you all have a great 2009

another week closer to Christmas!!

2009-12-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon here in Liberia. It has been another eventful week with the “usual challenges” of generator and a/c breakdowns along with other plumbing and electrical issues. At one point all 3 generators in our Foya office were down. Suzie and I were chatting the other day and she said to me, “Well at least you cannot say your job is routine”! Yes, I agreed, there is always unexpected variety in my days and weeks!
Suzie is the wife of Matt Swenson, our Deputy Country Director. Suzie and Matt came here about 3 months ago. Work wise, they hit the ground running! She has a strong background in proposal writing and development. She jumped head first into our Program Development department writing for several different proposed projects all at the same time spending long hours to ensure meeting proposal deadlines. She is at a point now where she is able to sit back and look at different opportunities within Liberia where we have not had outreach in the past. She and I met on Monday with Dennis, a local pastor, whose church is heavily involved in church planting and community outreach. I have known Dennis for quite some time as he and SP have partnered on several development projects. Recently I told him that I wanted to attend his new church. To which he asked me which Sunday I would like to speak. I ended up sharing with the congregation a few weeks ago. I guess it must have gone ok as he now has asked me to go up country with him after the first of the year to speak to churches up there. I was concerned how much the people in the church here in Monrovia would understand. Their primary language is Liberian English which is much different than “South Dakota” English! I am REALLY concerned about what they will understand when I speak in the rural areas! But you know what, God will get my message through to them as long as I am sharing His words and not mine!!!
One of the things Suzie and I wanted to speak with Dennis about was an interest that we as a group of Expats have regarding the Randall Street area. Randall Street in Monrovia is the main shopping area for Expat Staff. You will see many disabled persons in the area when you go there. They want to “assist” you with parking or anything else they can for a small appreciation fee. We feel called to find a way to reach out to those living, begging and working in the streets there.
It is one of those situations that I have talked about in the past where it is hard to just say no. You know they have needs but you also know that giving them a little money is not solving the problem. In fact, doing so will probably make it worse in the long run drawing more people to the area as well as delaying the person’s assimilation back into society.
Our meeting with Dennis went very well. Suzie asked him numerous questions regarding his church and the work they do. He shared about projects where we are currently partnering together upcountry. We finally got around to the issue at hand with Suzie mentioning to him our primary goal in organizing the meeting. The look on Dennis’ face was priceless as she said the words “Randall Street”. He got a big smile as if he had “heard this one before”. In reality I am sure there are other NGO’s who have tried before to create an outreach in the Randall Street area. In situations like this it is all too common for programs to begin and end quickly in failure. The worst thing one can do in this situation is begin a program without proper planning and give up when we do not see the results we desire.
Dennis spoke to us about the need to create an avenue through a local church where people can come to address spiritual as well as physical needs. He explained the importance of establishing mutual trust with each person individually before even approaching them with a possible solution to their economic needs. These are relationships built over time possibly taking months to years for some people. We, as Americans, of course want to fix things right now! It is not easy to accept that long term solutions take a long time to develop. We wrapped up the meeting with our attention now focusing on finding a church that may be close geographically to Randall Street that may already have a connection to the area. Of course, as Dennis pointed out several times, we always need to be aware that a church may be getting involved only to secure funds from us. It is never easy!
Well, my friends, this will be my last writing for 2009. We are closed for the Christmas holiday beginning Friday the 18th. I along with a couple friends leave for Morocco on Sunday night for 10 days of exploration. I will share our findings upon our return. I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a most Blessed and Wonderful Christmas. Please remember those who are less fortunate this holiday season. Merry Christmas!!

ABC update

2009-12-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. I just finished having lunch with my good friend James who is the construction manager at ABC University in Yekepa. He and I went to church this morning. There are 10 ceiling fans in the church and they had two turned on. It was incredibly hot in there. And like most Liberian services it was Long and Loud! We are sitting here at the restaurant cooling down and using the internet.
I just got a brief update from James regarding construction there at ABC. James has had 8 volunteer teams come and go through Yepeka this year working on different campus structures. Currently there 16 structures completely finished there on campus. All of these buildings have been completely rebuilt in a nineteen month period. The national staff that James has been working with has done tremendous work while learning building skills using power tools they had never seen before. I remember when we went to Yekepa as volunteers in April of 2008 working with the locals there who had never seen, let alone operate a cordless drill or power tools. The teams that have come to work this year for the most part have served more of a support role than anything as James, and Dave previously, have done an incredible job of working with the locals training them while building beautiful structures with sometimes less than desirable building materials. Looking back over the past year and a half we can only stand in amazement at the transformation that has taken place at the university and give thanks to God for all he has allowed us to do through His guiding hand.
Christmas season is upon us here in Liberia even if it does not have the “Christmas feel” like it does in the States. We are making progress though. New this year are Christmas lights on one of the grocery stores! We even have a Christmas tree and decorations at the Staff House.
It has been incredibly hot and humid this week. Any physical exertion causes one to perspire heavily. Think of a hot day in July there in South Dakota and that is what the weather is like right now. So, what did we do for our Christmas party last night? Just what you would expect..tackle football in the sand on the beach. There were 6 of us who decided that it would be a really good idea. Unfortunately we came up with the idea after eating! We all waddled across the road to the field where we battled it out along the shore in the sand for an hour or so. One of the more creative plays by our opponents was a reverse where two players were to cross behind the quarterback. Apparently somewhere in the design of the play they forgot to include who would go nearer the quarterback so they ran head first into each other, both falling to the ground. The game ended in a tie (or so our opponents say) and we all ended up sweaty and sticky coated with sand. We headed for the water to rinse off and then to the faucet on the outside of the house to rinse off the salt water. After our cleanup we held a gift exchange which was limited to 200 Liberian dollars, or approximately three US Dollars. One of the “best” gifts was a pair of Obama flip-flops. It is hard for me to believe that they were only 200LD!! I was trying to get them but ended up being disappointed as I lost them at the last minute. I ended up with a couple hand-woven hot pads which are nice but they are no Obama slippers, that’s for sure..haaa!
It is difficult to stay focused on work now as almost every North American Expat is looking forward to either returning home for the holidays or going somewhere else. Our office will be closed from December 18th through January 3rd. I along with a couple of my coworkers am headed to Morocco for Christmas. We are not certain what we are going to do and probably will not make any definite plans. We just want to go and make our plans as we go from day to day. One thing that we all would like to do should we have the chance is to snow ski. We have read where skiing is possible for a brief time during the Moroccan winter. It is not the skiing that we are looking forward to as much as the donkey ride up the hill which is used in place of a ski lift. I think it would just be one of those, “yes, I did it” activities to be told to others somewhere down the road! I still have two weeks to go until then here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

Happy Tubman Day!

2009-12-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

It is late on Saturday afternoon. The long weekend has officially begun. Monday is a national holiday here as we celebrate the birthday of President Tubman. He was President of Liberia from 1944 until his death in 1971. It is always interesting to read the biographies of the political leaders here in Liberia. President Tubman is no exception. As a senator, he labeled himself the "Convivial Cannibal from the Downcoast Hinterlands,". I have no idea what the label might refer to but it certainly is a catchy “nickname”! President Tubman is also known as the Father of Modern Liberia. He was very successful in bringing about incredible growth and development to this country. However as with all politicians here, there still are those who say he was a corrupt individual who treated his political opponents with incredible cruelty. All I know for certain is that his face adorns the national currency and we get Monday off! This will be the 4th day off this month. Earlier in the month we celebrated Liberian Thanksgiving. Then the second Tuesday was a senatorial election for which the President declared a holiday. You would think that it would be really important for Liberians to vote knowing their recent history with corrupt politicians. I read in one of the local papers that less than 8% of the eligible voters ended up voting in that election where there were 10 candidates on the ballot. Of course there are claims of corrupt election officials and problems with polling places. Since no one got more than 50% of the vote 2 weeks later we had the runoff election with the top vote getters from the previous election on the ballot. So, we had another voting day holiday. I heard that fewer people voted in the second election than the first for a variety of reasons. Some said they needed to return to the farm for harvest and some said they just took the day and watched movies with friends or went to the beach. Most thought that the outcome was already decided before election day. I had one of our drivers say that the ruling party always wins. Well, such was not the case as the opposition party won this election. It will be interesting to see how things progress as we get closer to the presidential election in 2011.
Last Friday I went “rag” shopping for the first time. You cannot find rags to purchase like you can in the States. I went with a couple local staff members down to the waterside district. It is an area that is near the port. There you find bundles of clothing, shoes and anything else that can be bundled and sold. It is quite the experience. I had gone there before and I always make certain to take little cash or anything else of value when I go there.
I thought probably the wisest thing for me to buy to use as rags would be women’s tee shirts. It seemed like the probability of them being taken and worn by our staff would be minimal since most of the rags are used by the male staff. I ended up purchasing a 100 lbs. bundle for $55.00. When we got back to the office, I told Wilson, the warehouse manager, to make certain to put a large “SP” on each shirt with a permanent marker before giving them out. We even created a sign out sheet for the rags. I thought I had pretty much covered every possibility of seeing them just “disappear”. On Saturday I walked over to where the mechanics were working on a vehicle. I looked at Pascal, our somewhat vertically challenged head mechanic. He was wearing a fairly snug white striped v-neck tee shirt with a large red hand written SP on the front. I was laughing so hard I had to just turn around and walk away. To his credit, he was covered in grease and dirt from head to foot so he had indeed used it as a rag! Later in the day Wilson started splitting the seams on the tee shirts. Hopefully we have resolved the “problem”.
This week when Dorothy from our finance department went to the bank to get cash; the driver double parked by the bank. As he was sitting there waiting, 2 police officers came up and stuck ice picks in all 4 tires. So, there he was sitting with 4 flat tires when our finance person came out with our security chief who had gone along. The security officer immediately got involved and tried to get everything calmed down. I lost part of the story in translation but do know that they ended up having to take all 4 tires off the vehicle, roll them down the street and get them repaired. I think we also got a fine for double parking. I think this is a pretty standard procedure when we go to the bank. I guess the police must be cracking down on it in that area.
I received my first “my Christmas on you” greeting this week. It is similar to Black Friday in the US. In the States we go shopping to kick off the Christmas season and here they begin to let other know that they are expecting a gift from the other person for Christmas by making sure they get in the first greeting. Ahhhh, Liberia, you got to love it..where nothing is easy!!!

OCC

2009-11-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

It is late Saturday afternoon here in Liberia. It was a holiday week for us here. Liberian Thanksgiving was Thursday so we had the “day off” even though most of the expats were here working. I did shut down a little early going for a run in the late afternoon heat.
It was another week of broken generators, air conditioners and door locks. I spent over half my time this week dealing with issues of repair. Most times you have to call and call to get a service person to come out. They are always coming “just now”! I finally got to the point with the a/c people that when I called the last time (this has been going on for a week) I just told him, I need you to just stop lying to me. Can you do that? When he said yes, I said, “ok, now when are you REALLY going to be here?” He told me that he would be here in an hour and he was….hallelujah!!
Rainy season is ending. The rains are coming mostly during the night now. The days are hot and humid at this point. It is a little after 5 pm and still 86 degrees in my apartment. Luckily power is on in the office and I am “stealing it” to run my fan.
Tuesday will be election day here in Liberia. They are electing senators in several of the counties. Today there is a rally across the street on the football field. It is organized by the ladies who got together near the end of the war sitting in a soccer field every day praying for the war to end. As the peace negotiations to end the civil war here in Liberia were being held in Ghana; the ladies went to Ghana prayed and linked arms not allowing the delegates to leave the peace talks until the delegates finally came up with a peace accord. There was a documentary done on the ladies titled, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”. I certainly admire their resolve and faith.
I had an email from my sister Jean the other day. She was asking if there were any specific items that I thought should be included or added to the shoe boxes which are the core of our Operation Christmas Child program. I went online to see if there was a listing of recommended items and there was on the OCC website. I also found an interesting website with the headline of “Campaign Against Operation Christmas Child”. I opened the site and found out that it is an Islamic site that tells of SP “bribing children with shoe boxes”. I suggest you check out this site for yourself. The address is: www.inminds.co.uk/occ.html
At first when I read the article I was somewhat upset. Then I realized what an incredible ad of support it is for our program. Where else could you read of the incredible impact that these shoe boxes have on society? What starts out as a small shoe box for one child turns into an incredible opportunity for us to share the word of Jesus Christ with these children and their families. If the Islamic faith is so very concerned with the program, you know we are making a difference each and every time we take the shoe boxes into villages where we can share the word.
I know that collection time for shoe boxes is coming very soon in the USA. So, please, if you have thought about filling a shoebox and thought it would not make a difference, please reconsider. Not only are the items welcomed by children who have very little but it does give us an incredible platform on which to share the word of Christ or as our Islamic friends state in the article, “tens of thousands of children have been converted to Christianity.” It is more than just a shoebox! It is a way to save souls that might otherwise be lost. Thanks as always for your thoughts and prayers of support. We appreciate them more than you will ever know. That’s it from here in Liberia where nothing is easy.

Ahhhh…Liberia…

2009-11-03T23:41:00.000-08:00

We made it back as scheduled on Saturday afternoon. All our baggage arrived from Kenya as well. I made it to my apartment at about 5:00. I had the security start my generator so I could get a/c. I began unpacking and flipped on the tv only to find out my subscription had expired. I turned off the tv and grabbed my laptop thinking I would catch up on some emails. I inserted my internet card and tried to log on. I had forgotten to tell them to renew my internet at the first of the month so that would not work. I messaged Taya to see what the girls were doing for dinner and she invited me over to the house. So, I grabbed my laptop and made the one block trek to their house. Of course when I got there, their internet was not working either so we just watched a little tv, ate and I returned to my apartment for a good night’s rest.
Sunday: I woke early since I was still 3 hours “ahead”. I made coffee and read for a while. I lounged about most of the morning before heading to the girls’ house in the afternoon to take advantage of a/c and internet. When I got there I noticed their new a/c unit installed 3 months earlier was not working properly and of course internet was still working sporadically. We decided late afternoon to go to dinner. Unfortunately we didn’t have a car to go but we finally did get a ride to the Royal Hotel where we had dinner and discussed possible Christmas plans. I was so tired by 8:30, I could barely stay awake. Our ride finally showed up and we returned home where I quickly brushed my teeth and headed off to bed.
Monday: I made the rounds to say hello to everyone and I found out two a/c units in the office were not working. Each office basically has its own split a/c unit. There is no building heating system so very few buildings here have central air conditioning. I called the repairman and went around checking the filters on all the other units. I cleaned what I could and waited for the repairman. The repairmen fixed the units at the office but did not have the parts to repair the unit at the girls’ house. They were to come back the next morning to finish the repairs.
I knew after being in the States that I would be frustrated by the internet connection speed upon my return. I think it is worse than when I left. Hopefully something faster/better will be available soon. Our new vehicle management software is internet based. Currently there is no way we will be able to use it with our current internet system. Personal internet and TV subscriptions renewed so I enjoyed a quiet evening at home!!!
Tuesday: I woke up, headed for the shower…no water. They had blown a hose on the filtering system here on the campus so we had no water in the building until 10:00 am. I got to go out to dinner again with one of the volunteer groups returning from Yekepa..yeah!
Wednesday: In the afternoon one of the staff came to me to tell me the a/c in the conference room was not working. I knew we had a meeting in there that evening so I went to see if it could be repaired. I finally found the outlet behind the unit and could tell the fuse was fried. I got an extension cord and plugged it into another a/c outlet in the room. It was working fine again.
Thursday morning I was sitting in devotions when I got called out by one of the security guards. One of the commodes in the ladies bathroom upstairs was leaking. So I took the flexible tube off and gave it to one of our maintenance staff along with $5.00 for a new one. Problem solved.
We met with our vehicle maintenance staff informing one member that we would no longer require his services and told two others that we were modifying their jobs. All in all it went pretty well. I replaced the receptacle behind the a/c unit in the conference room. They “conveniently” installed the a/c unit on the wall directly in front of the electrical outlet so I had to tip the unit forward holding it so Koffa could install the new electrical receptacle behind the unit. I noticed that the cord was getting hot when I unplugged it from the outlet. I plugged the unit back in but it was still getting hot. I gave up for the day.
Friday morning: I called the a/c repairmen to have them come to look at our conference room a/c unit and asked why they had not returned to repair the girls’ a/c. I found out the repairman had been ill the past 3 days. I tried unsuccessfully to load more vehicle information into our computer. I finally gave up about noon and decided to go to town to find some items I was trying to locate…simple things like small numbers for a house or mailbox. I wanted to mark our new key tags. No such thing like that anywhere to be found. I guess when you just paint numbers on everything there is no need for adhesive numbers. It was just good to be out of the office. I came back to the office about 3:00 to find the receptionist and someone else trying to get a piece of paper out of the copier. It was wedged in an area that could not be reached so I got my screwdriver and started disassembling the copier. Kendell walked by as I was sitting on the floor, looked over at me and just laughed. After about 20 minutes and a copier half disassembled I finally got the paper out and guess what? It worked when I reassembled it!!!! My cement guys came at 4:00 to begin work so that we can install another a/c unit. They worked until 7:30pm.
Saturday: The cement guys arrived at 8:00 and the painter at 9:00. We are painting 3 offices today too. 6:00pm and they are still working on the cement but should finish soon here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

return to Liberia

2009-10-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

It is Thursday morning. I am currently sitting on the deck of my room here at the resort in Malindi, Kenya, Africa looking out at the boats in the Indian Ocean. It is a beautiful day here today. We are wrapping up our ministry retreat this week after spending last week in meetings that introduced us to the new internet based fleet management software program. We were also supposed to upload all our vehicles including all the pertinent data so we would be ready to use the software upon our return to our offices in our respective countries. Unfortunately internet service is not very fast here so the data uploading will have to wait until I return to Liberia on Saturday.
It has been a great time here. I have gotten a chance to hear some great speakers this week. I attended a seminar the last 3 days focused on Islam and Muslims. It really brought to light for me how little I know about the religion and the people who practice it. One of the more alarming statistics is that there are 2.5 billion Christians in the world and 1.5 billion Muslims. On the surface that seem like a pretty good statistic but we need to remember that Christianity had more than a 600 year “head start”. It gives us an indication of how quickly the Muslim population is growing. This is due in part to Muslim laws regarding marriage. A Muslim man may have up to 4 wives at one time. (Obviously not all of them do.) He may then divorce any of them at any time in a very simple procedure and take another wife to replace the one(s) divorced. I definitely will take time to learn more about Islam in days ahead.
This is a also like a reunion for me as six of us attending were all in the same orientation class in Boone, NC a little over a year ago. It is great to hear everyone’s experiences from the past plus year. We have people attending from all of our office throughout Africa. I have had a chance to spend some time with some of those from North and South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their stories tell of their amazing commitment to their faith and their work under extremely dangerous political climates and economic hardships. They make me feel fortunate to be in Liberia where thing in comparison are “not so bad”!
We also have some free time to allow us to read or do other activities as well this week. I have been eating, playing tennis, eating, deep sea fishing (I reeled in a 22 lbs. wahoo), eating, riding bike, eating…Have I mentioned that we seem to be eating a lot? The food here is great and after being in The States eating all the good food there, some of my clothes are just a wee bit snug. Soon I will be back to rice and “soup” and my waistline will once again return to a normal size! My bike rides into the neighboring area confirm that the surrounding area is suffering similar ills as in the rest of Africa with many people living in mud block structures and living off what little they have.
As great as it has been the past 6 weeks being gone from Liberia, first in the US and now here in Kenya; I am just ready to be somewhere where I will not be living out of a suitcase for a while. Kenya on the surface is very nice but there is no better place on the face of the earth than our country that I have seen. We talk of how difficult things are there at home but I think if you have had a chance to travel to other parts of the world you know and understand just how good things are at home. In the USA we worry when unemployment reaches 10%. In this part of the world there would be rejoicing if it got down to 40%!!
I want to express my gratitude to those who gave me a chance to share some pictures and a little about my experiences in addition to thanking everyone who came to listen. I hope I left you with a more clear understanding of the situation in Africa and more specifically Liberia. I do want to state one final time, thanks to everyone who contributed to my church construction project as well. If you have a desire to communicate to the church directly at any time to see how they are doing, I would be happy to pass along the email address of the Pastor.
In closing, thank you for your prayers. They are both needed and greatly appreciated. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers in the upcoming days and months ahead. That’s it from here in Kenya. Have a great week. Next week I will be writing about what happened while I was gone there in Liberia where nothing is easy!

ON to SD

2009-10-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

Made the flight from Denver to Rapid City yesterday. When I took off from Denver the winds were gusting. As we were going down the runway the plane was moving 2-3' side to side. I was glad when the wheels left the runway even though we were bobbing and dipping. But it all was good...Cold here in SD this morning...October is here!!

Back in the USA!!

2009-09-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I am back in CO for the moment. I am planning to be here until the end of the month when I will move on to SDak for a few days. I will be in the Avon/Tyndall area until the 12th when I fly back to Kenya on my way to Liberia. It is good to be home eating great food and enjoying fast internet service and 24 hour a day electricity. I hope to see a lot of you while I am here in the US which is still the greatest country on the face of the planet!!!

One week away!!!

2009-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 3:00 p.m. One week from today at this time I hope to be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on my way to Colorado. Another week has flown by at an incredible rate. Things are just really hectic here right now with proposals being written late into the night trying to tie up funding for the next few years. Funding for our projects not only comes directly from donors but also from other organizations such as USAID who we are currently partnering with on several projects.
We are looking at several new geographic areas of Liberia in which to work. Unfortunately they are far removed from Monrovia. Kendell has stated several times that we are not a “cold tar” INGO which means we do not work along paved roads. One of the counties River Gee is on the opposite end of the country from Foya where most of our project work is happening now. I keep reminding those who are writing the proposals to make certain they include vehicles in any proposal they write. There is no way we can take on a new workload or even maintain our current load with the vehicles we currently have on hand.
We had to “put down” another vehicle this week. It was going to cost way too much money to repair it. I guess we will try to sell it off for parts and along with another vehicle not currently running try to come up with enough cash to purchase something we can operate locally here in Monrovia.
Thursday another vehicle had transmission problems on the way to Morovia coming from Foya. I first heard about the breakdown about 10:30 am. I have seen some pictures and know the rescue went well into the night. I still don’t know how bad the transmission problem is. I guess there were 4 vehicles involved in trying to get it back to Voinjama to get it into a garage for damage assessment. A couple others overheated trying to drag it back through the mud as I understand it. Some times when I get news like that I just get up from behind my desk and head out into our yard and walk around. Some days I get a lot of exercise walking around the yard! I think what we really need is a good mechanic to come from the US to guide and work with our mechanics here. I think our guys do the best they can but I also feel like some maintenance issues are probably falling through the cracks. The roads remain incredibly bad but some of the things that happen seem like they could be prevented if the vehicles had they been checked out or repaired properly while in our garage here.
I had another interesting shopping experience today. I was in town trying to locate ceramic tile for an upcoming project. It is nearly impossible to find tile that is attractive. You either have a choice of a really ugly pattern tile or a white tile with a small imprinted grey squiggly line across it. After visiting 3 stores I finally located something that was acceptable in the size we needed along with smaller white tile for the bathroom walls. The choices of 6”x6” wall tile were white, blue and pink. While searching for the tile I walked past an electrical supplies store. I have been trying to figure out how we are going to wire our Quonset building that we are going to use for a warehouse. In the store I saw metal conduit which I had not seen here before. I went in to talk with them and found out that they had plenty of ¾” emt in stock. One little problem, though. They have no fittings! They have no connectors, no couplings, only one hole straps…They said the fittings would be “coming soon” which could mean anywhere from tomorrow until next September! So, I am once again trying to figure out how to wire the structure without penetrating the skin of the building. Anyone have any good ideas?
I, along with 3 of our female ex-pat staff, made it over to the church for service this past Sunday. While the building is still not completed, it was nice to see people worshiping inside the new building. They had probably about 100 people including a lot of children in services so that was great to see. I will share pictures when I get back to SD.
I hope to make it to SD around the 1st. So far I will be speaking at the Good Sam Home in Tyndall on Tuesday the 6th and at the Tyndall Presbyterian on Sunday the 11th. I hope to see you there. This will probably be my last article for a few weeks. That’s it from here in Liberia where nothing is easy.

Dear Santa,

2009-08-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

I know it is only late August but thought I would write before leaving Liberia for the US in two weeks. There is something I need badly and don't want to take a chance that my letter will not reach the North Pole from here in Liberia before Christmas. Santa, please bring me a really good can opener. I am now on my third one that I have purchased here in Liberia. I have bought the best I can find and every one of them (pardon my French) is a piece of crap. Tonight I had to mangle the can and actually bend it to get my mushrooms out of the can. Thank goodness they were pieces and not whole!!! Well, I guess that is it from here in rainy Monrovia. I hope you are having a good year and you will not have trouble finding my place even though I plan to be elsewhere this Christmas.
Be well,
Buzz

August rains

2009-08-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon here in Liberia. Another day of rain. Matt who arrived with his wife two weeks ago stated that he has yet to see the sun here. It will rain most of the day this time of year with varying degrees of intensity. Oh well, only another month and I will be on home leave. We will be moving into dry season by the time I get back on October 15 so for me only one more month of this.
The rainy season is taking its toll on our vehicles, however. I moved into my new position last week as logistics coordinator which oversees all vehicle maintenance and movement. From what I understand, the roads upcountry are very bad with the road to Foya where one of our sub-bases is being impassible this weekend. They are to work on the road Monday but there is only so much you can do with a mud and clay road. More rain will bring along more potholes which will bring more and more vehicle damage. Unfortunately we have too few vehicles here for the work we do causing the vehicles even more stress as they are being used when they should be serviced. Trying to set up a service schedule when we never even know if the vehicles can make it to Monrovia is next to impossible.
All that being said, we have an incredible staff and drivers who continue to work in some of the most difficult working conditions imaginable. Every day these people risk themselves just to get to the projects over the upcountry “roads” which in some cases are no more than walking paths. We just completed a bridge project upcountry in an area where there was none previously. We continue to build latrines, drying floors, digging wells and doing other projects all the while the rains continue to fall. These are very hard working resilient people here.
The church is scheduled to have its first service tomorrow. I am hoping to make the trek over the hill to service but that too will be dependent on the weather. It is back in a remote area and roads there are very bad during rainy season.
Ryan and Dayna were to fly out this afternoon to Kenya for a 10 day vacation. Unfortunately Kenya Airline had workers go on strike yesterday. They cancelled their flights here to Liberia. There is no other airline that flies out to Kenya so I am uncertain what they will do. They were to meet some of Dayna’s family there so it will really be disappointing if they can not make it. Air travel from Monrovia is not easy. Recently the FAA denied Delta’s plans to fly directly to Monrovia from Atlanta. They are stating that airport security is not good enough at this point. When I think about airport security, I keep thinking about the security agent in Charlotte a couple years ago. He told me that told me I could not take my chapstick on the plane. He thought it was a lighter. So, I am left to wonder just what it was that they saw here in Monrovia that is causing the delay! When I return next month to Denver I fly from here to Brussels to Chicago to Denver all 27 hours. I will be returning from Sioux Falls. Unfortunately, I have to fly back through Denver to get to Chicago and then to Brussels and on to Monrovia. But, I am looking forward to spending a month back in the States. I am planning to be in Bon Homme County from October 4th to the 15th. I am speaking at the Tyndall Presbyterian Church on Sunday the 11th. I hope to see a lot of you during that time. If you would like have me speak at a function during that time period, please send me an e-mail. I would be happy to show pictures of Africa and/or our projects to anyone.
Well that is it for this week from Liberia where during rainy season, nothing is easy!

another week gone by

2009-08-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening here in Liberia. The rain has been falling intermittently all day long. We have a couple visiting us from the US. They were to fly to Yekepa today on the helicopter but had to turn around due to the weather conditions. They did actually land on the soccer field of village up country. They walked into the town and chatted with the village folk for a while before turning around and coming back to Monrovia.
Don, one of the visitors is our structural engineer. He and his wife Cindy are great people. Cindy is a worship leader and worked with local pastors teaching them about worship all week. It has been a pleasure getting to know them. They ran an office in Uganda for some time. Don has been all over the world and has lots of stories to share. One of the things he was here to do was to train someone on the Wood-Mizer log saw that we received earlier this year. Kendell decided it would be best if an ExPat learned how to run it so do you want to guess who got nominated? Yep, I was elected by a unanimous vote of one to zero. We took the saw up into the bush where our ministry team is supervising the building of a church. The villagers had cut some trees down making good sized logs. They had also leveled a spot for us to set up on and were waiting for us when we got there. We set up the saw as they dragged one log down the hill. Don picked up the first log and made a few cuts before he turned it over to me. By the time he had done so, we had most of the village standing around watching us. The saw is quite a machine. It operates with hydraulics and is a lot of fun to operate. We cut up a couple logs and made 16 2x4’s. We were ready to call it a day when one of the guys said they had another log. We told them to bring it down the hill to us. Twelve guys pushed and dragged a huge log over to us. It must have been 20’ long and 2’ in diameter. They rolled it over to the lift and I began to pick it up. I thought the machine was struggling a bit but we got it up on the platform and into position. I took off a couple 1-1/2” slabs trying to square it up. I went to roll it and could not get the roller to spin the log. So, Don came over to the controls and tried to spin it. It was at that point we both noticed smoke coming out of the hydraulic controls. We shut down the machine and opened the box. When we opened the control box, we saw hydraulic oil everywhere. The cap for the oil reservoir lay inside the box. Our guess is the log was too heavy and when we lifted it to put it on the saw, the oil blew out of the reservoir. We could no longer move the log so had to push it off the saw and luckily were able to get everything in position so we could bring it home. I asked the locals how long it would have taken to saw that many 2x4’s with a chain saw and they said it would have taken 2 days. So, they were happy with what we accomplished. We prayed with the village, hooked up the saw to the truck and headed down the road. Hopefully we have all the bugs worked out and I won’t have that problem when we take it out the next time.
I moved into my new job this week. Kendell asked me to take over the Logistic department so on Wednesday Sam and I picked up my desk and moved it down stairs. We got it to the main door and then found out it was too wide to get it through the opening. I was trying to move it intact as the more we take these desks apart, the more easily they fall apart. I was taking out the drawers when a couple of the guards came to help. They picked up the desk and started to turn it. They were turning it the wrong direction to get it through the doorway. I kept saying, “turn it the other way, turn it the other way”. Well they made about a 180 degree turn when their arms were completely crossed. That is when the desk just fell apart. I now had a 3 piece desk. It was then that one of them said “we need to turn it the other way”. I said, “not any more, just drag it into the office”! I moved the drawers into the office and went back up stairs to get my laptop. One of the guards followed me up the stairs and asked me if there was anything else. I just laughed and said, “no, I will get the rest”!
Church construction is moving along. The ceiling went up this week and windows should be in place for service next Sunday, which will be the first in the new location. A SP fund is now set up if you should desire to contribute to the building project.
I got my ticket for my home leave this week as well. I will be back in the States from September 15 to October 15 spending time in CO and SD. I hope to catch up with some of you then to share stories about my time here in Liberia where nothing is easy!

Happy 26!!!

2009-07-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

Liberian Independence Day is the 26th of July. Independence was declared here in Liberia on July 26, 1847. 162 years later the Liberian people remain concerned about safety and the stability of the country. The government throughout the years has been filled with corruption. The government was controlled almost exclusively by the Americo-Liberians, those people who were of American slave descent, until 1980 when indigenous tribes began to fight for government rights and control. Since 1980 it has been one conflict after another between tribes fighting for control of the government and control of the natural resources. There still remains tribal disharmony throughout the country. We face those issues regularly, especially in rural settings.
Of course the worst of the recent tyrants probably was former President Charles Taylor who is currently on trial at The Hague for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone both before and during his presidency. He traded with the rebels in Sierra Leone trading guns for diamonds until 2001 when all trade was blocked by the UN Security Council. Taylor was finally forced from office in 2003 and a peace accord was signed by all the different warring factions.
A free election was held in 2005 with Ellen Sirleaf Johnson being elected President. President Johnson is a woman of Americo-Liberian and tribal descent. The current government is comprised of all the different ethnic and tribal factions to try to promote peace through equal representation for all the peoples throughout Liberia. People still talk about the corrupt politicians within the system although I feel it is much better than in the past. I think President Johnson is a great leader as well. She has done an amazing job of leading this country trying to find businesses willing to invest in the country to bring it back to a level of prosperity and peace.
But once again it will be a week of excitement around here. Liberians love to celebrate. This week will be trying for us Expats as is every holiday here in Liberia. You may remember me writing about Christmas when those “who have” are asked for something by those who maybe do not have as much…We will be told “My 26 on you!” meaning they are asking you for their Independence Day present whether it be money or a gift of some type. I will send along a holiday update next week to let you know how it all turned out.
I want to give you a quick update on the church building project. I have been working with Pastor Agu arranging for materials. We were not able to obtain much in the way of donated materials. Last week we worked up a materials list that will be needed to complete the project. Total cost of construction will be approximately $9600.00. Work is to begin this week attempting to get the roof in place. As with most building projects here, things are progressing very slowly. I hope that the roofer can complete the roof this week. The church will be told today, Monday, the date when they must be vacated from the current building. If the roof on the new structure is completed as scheduled, at least they will be able to hold services on the new site next weekend if they must.
I am in the process of setting up an account code with SP for the church building fund to allow for donations to be received there in the US and Canada. SP is graciously allowing me to set this up so donors can take advantage of applicable tax benefits there at home. This is not technically a SP project. It is a “Buzz” project where I am donating my time and money to help these great folks build a permanent place to worship. I encourage you to pray about this project and contribute to it should you feel directed to do so by God. If you have any questions, please e-mail me and I will answer them as best I can. If you would like to make a donation you may do so by mail. Please earmark all funds to go to Soul Rescuers Church Building Fund, Monrovia, Liberia. to ensure the monies get credited to the proper account. You may send contributions to:
Samaritan's Purse, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC, 28607-3000.
Thank you in advance for your prayers and support. It truly is appreciated by people who desperately need your assistance.
Well, that is it for this week. I hope you have a great 26th. My 26 on you!!! Nothing is easy in Liberia!

The year in review!

2009-07-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hello from Liberia! July 20 marks my 1 year anniversary here in Liberia. This past week I signed a one year extension to remain here until next July. This year has gone by incredibly fast. I can still remember Kendell picking me up at the airport. It was pouring rain the night I got here. There were people standing everywhere as I exited the customs area at the terminal. I had not been in contact with anyone here for a couple weeks so didn’t even know who I was looking for when I arrived. Thankfully Kendell is a tall guy and I spotted him right away as I got outside. We made the mad dash across the parking lot in the rain and made the bumpy drive into town.
A lot has changed since I got here a year ago. I thought on this “anniversary” I would just review some of the changes of the past year. First of all, the airport is much more organized now with the people kept away from the terminal so one can exit the terminal without being overwhelmed by people trying to “help you with your bag”. The 25 mile road from the airport into town has been repaved. The main road into Monrovia has been repaved, as well as our streets here on ELWA compound. Street lights are up again along the main road. You can see areas where electrical lines are being restrung although all power is still derived from diesel generators at substations or more localized as it is here on our campus. I think when I came last year there were only 2 or 3 gas stations around town selling out of pumps. Now they are everywhere around town and you see very few people selling from mayonnaise jars. The Liberian National Police even have police cars now!
While the primary business district looks much the same without any major improvements, I do see quite a bit of new and rebuilding construction going on around the city with lots of new housing and many buildings getting windows and bars and several new coats of paint. Paint does not stay on buildings long here. That can be attributed to the quality of the paint and also to the coastal salt air breezes. Things rust incredibly fast here.
While the main road into town has been repaved, almost all other roads and streets remain full of potholes and are in serious need of repair. The electrical distribution in the downtown area is scary at best with wires crisscrossing the street and connections made by just twisting the wires together sometimes with the bare wire exposed. I don’t know how they will ever set up a metering system for the power in that area of town without redoing the entire system. Currently they are working on the sewer system in the downtown area trying to rebuild that but with the rest of the infrastructure in such disrepair, I have to believe it will take a long long time before Monrovia sees a functioning sewer system. I do know there is a city water line that reaches to parts of the city including the airport where our helicopter is located but know that there are many buildings that depend on a local source of water. Almost all of the residential areas still draw water from local wells.
Maybe I have become more attune to what is happening as time here passes but I do think violence such as armed robbery is getting worse. A couple months ago, someone tried to break into our hangar at the airport. They were trying to cut the lock off the door but they never gained access to the building. We seem to be somewhat insulated here on our compound but we have had numerous employees that have been robbed or at least know of someone who has been robbed by rogues during the night. As I stated last year, it will be interesting to see what happens as people continue on without jobs here. We have young people living in the city that ended up here after the war and know of no other life than violence. Obviously, they turn to what they know to survive. It is unfortunate but a fact of life.
All that being said, it has been an incredible year of opportunity for us here at SP. We have ventured into areas we never could have dreamed of going thanks to the arrival of the helicopter and people so incredibly dedicated to their work and to God. In the last year we have rebuild many churches, built several hundred latrines, dug wells, installed over a thousand bio-sand water filters in remote village homes, taught community health programs, introduced cattle, goats and sheep into villages that had none, built fish farms, rice farms and many other things to make the people in the bush healthier and more self sufficient. God has been incredibly good to us here. I hope to continue to report more about what is happening here in the upcoming year. Nothing is easy in Liberia..yet!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-04T04:02:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying a long weekend wherever you are. Here in Liberia we celebrate the Liberian Independence Day which is the 26th of July so worked yesterday and will be back at it again on Monday. I just wanted to provide a link to Joni's blog. She wrote this article about the work we do after being up country last week and it is great...please take the time to read it when you can...
Happy 4th!!
Buzz
jonesinliberia.blogspot.com

Our Bopolu adventure

2009-06-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

The trip upcountry started out like so many of our adventures these days; trying to get a vehicle to get us to our destination. Even though we have scheduled trips, our assigned vehicle was being delayed by our mechanics. We were to leave at 7:30 am Monday morning. When “Tony” an older Toyota Hilux club cab pickup finally rolled up to the door at 12:00 noon I found out why it was delayed. They had replaced the speedometer cable. I am not certain why it was a priority to replace the cable since speed limits rarely come into play with our road conditions but at least we now know how fast we are going in Tony as we head for the potholes! Apparently during our mechanic’s inspection process, which is to happen before any vehicle is cleared to leave the compound, he missed the fact that the bottom of the rear seat was no longer attached to anything. Once we got it loaded, we were on our way. At the last minute it was decided we should go to downtown Monrovia and pick up some oil for the Bopolu base motor bikes. While the driver was getting the oil I went across the street and purchased a tarp so we could cover our bags in the back of Tony. My partners for the trip, Ryan our LIAP program manager and Benedict the SO2 program manager made some great purchases from street vendors before we left. Ryan bought a knife for $10.00 that is probably worth $3.00 and a movie for $2.00 that is probably worth nothing(I tried to watch it last night and both sound and picture looked and sounded like the movie was recorded in a movie theatre on a video camera)…Benedict made some major purchases buying a watch, a portable radio and two bottles of cologne for $30.00.
After our purchases we headed out on our 3 hour trek to Bopolu. Trying to leave the downtown area we got caught up in traffic and got delayed about 30 minutes more. The rest of the trek was rather uneventful other than trying to roll down my window without a handle…and of course trying to roll it up again when we hit a rainstorm along the way. Our office in Bopolu is on a compound surrounded by a 10’ high bamboo fence. There is an office/guest house along with a warehouse and another smaller building where we store cement. Ryan and I bunked together in one of the guesthouse rooms and Taya who had gone upcountry in the helicopter was in the other. One does not need to worry about an alarm clock there. There is a rooster that sits about 6 feet outside the bedrooms and begins to crow about 5:00 am and he is L-O-U-D!!! Ryan threatened to kill it after the first night. The second morning I heard Ryan leaving the room at about 6:15 and then I heard the rooster making noise as he was run off his perch. He lived on to crow another day. Thursday it sounded like he was a little farther away when he was crowing so I guess in some minor way Ryan was victorious as he proudly proclaimed.
The two days of work in Bopolu went well working with the staff on inventory matters. I also was able to make it to a couple locations where we are assisting the villages in building rice mills. We went to have a meeting with the town’s people to get them refocused on projects that had stalled out. Of course finding a vehicle to get us there was not easy. One of the vehicles was sitting there without a battery because that was being used on the base generator. Once we got on the road after reinstalling the battery we headed out to the villages. We had successful meetings setting up new construction time lines toward completion. I look forward to visiting the villages after the mills are completed.
The last night we were in Bopolu a rain storm came through as well. When we got up early on Thursday to head back to Monrovia, we were able to see the damage as the wind broke down several sections of the fence. We loaded our vehicle, pushed it to get it started, pushed another to get it started and headed out on the road for Monrovia by 7:30 in “Ruth” whose back seat was laying down due to a broken bolt in the seat back. (Do you get the idea that our vehicles need a little bit of work?) We were only a few miles out of Bopolu when we drove up to some rubber trees that had fallen across the road. There was one person there from a nearby village already cutting off tree limbs with a machete. We joined him with our tools although they were so dull they proved to be ineffective. It was amazing to watch the locals cutting down 12” diameter tree trunks with a machete.
We called back to Bopolu and told them to put together the chain saw in the warehouse and bring it to us. We cleared the first obstruction and had moved about ¼ mile up the hill to the next set of fallen trees. We had actually managed to cut off all the tree trunks to allow us to pass through to the other side by the time they got there with the chainsaw. It took only minutes for them to saw up the rest of the trees and remove the pieces from the road. After about 1-1/2 hours of work, we were back on the road all coated with rubber. The latex was leaking out of the trees where it is cut and it is just like glue. We ran into a couple of other spots that had already been cleared by someone else on our way back. Another trip upcountry is complete here in Liberia where nothing is easy! Happy 4th of July to everyone!

06/21

2009-06-22T03:10:00.000-07:00

Fathers’ Day here in Liberia. It is a warm one out there today. The sun is shining, humidity is high and the heat index is probably about 115. I slipped down here to the girls’ house across from the beach where the power and the a/c is on. It will be another two hours before my generator is turned on.
I would state that summer is here but there really is no “summer” here in Liberia. They really only talk about two seasons; rainy and dry. Rainy season is now upon us with it raining almost every night around nine o’clock.
Two interns, Alison and Lisa, arrived last week to teach VBS. Their experience will be slightly different than your local VBS’s there in South Dakota. The helicopter will fly them and their supplies into the Bokomu forest tomorrow. They along with a couple Liberian SP employees will spend 9 weeks in 9 different villages in the rain forest sharing the word of Jesus with the children of the villages. The initial plan is to bring them out every Friday and fly them back in every Monday but with the rains one never knows if that will actually happen. Dan was flying to Foya yesterday and had to turn around and come back due to zero visibility. As I previously stated, when it rains hard here it really rains hard!!!
I talked with a couple guys that came down in a truck from Foya today. They stated that the road is already getting bad. It is amazing that we do not have more vehicle accidents. I guess it is a testament to our drivers although there are several that I have had a chat with about their driving as I rode with them. Some of them drive as fast as they possibly can right up to the edge of a mud hole, slam on the breaks, work their way through the hole and then accelerate as fast as they can until they reach the next set of holes. This basic scenario is repeated over and over for the entire trip. As I stated before, any time I head up country I will fly every chance I get. Tomorrow I am heading up country to Bopolu. It is normally about a 3-4 hour trip by truck. I have not taken a truck to Bopolu before so it should prove to be interesting. I will be there until Thursday working with the warehouse staff trying to get our inventory for the LIAP(Liberian Integrated Assistance Program) set up so we can more closely monitor the flow of supplies to work sites. Hopefully I will be able to visit a couple worksites and talk with the people in the communities as well.
We finally were able to pick up some of the materials for the church construction project. I spoke with Pastor Agu on Saturday. He said they were able to pick up some good roof framing lumber and roofing zinc along with several doors. I drove by the construction site yesterday and the holes for the windows have been knocked in the block. Hopefully they can begin to build trusses and set them this week. It would be great to have the new roof on by the end of July. I know that sounds like a long time off but everything takes a long time to do when you are doing all the cutting, nailing and cement work by hand.
I got pricing for the windows the other day. Hopefully the doors that were donated will work and we will not have to buy any. We still will have to purchase the ceiling materials and all the electrical supplies even though that will not be more than wire, a few boxes, a few lampholders and of course one ceiling fan!
My guess at this point is the church will still need to come up with approximately $5000.00 to get the church finished. Pastor Agu remains concerned where this money will come from. I continue to remind him that God will provide for our needs in HIS time. We may need a miracle or two to happen but I know that after all this church has gone through that God will provide the funds so the new structure can be completed. As always, nothing is easy in Liberia!

weekly news

2009-06-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

Another week has flown by! I spent some time this week trying to obtain funds and materials for the church without much success. We have a possibility of some new “used” materials surfacing this week. Please, pray that this lead turns out to be something substantial.
Saturday morning, I was downstairs looking into obtaining a vehicle to head into town when Kendell came into the yard. He stated he was going to Jawajeh to check on some projects and asked me if I wanted to go along. He said he would be back about 2:00 which would allow me time to hang some large posters Joni asked me to hang. Jawajeh is the hometown of the Liberian Vice President’s wife. It is a community of approximately 115 homes and 1000 residents. Yes, those numbers are correct. And we are not talking about the homes being 5 bedroom houses! It is a mostly Muslim community with less than 30 people attending the new Christian church in town with 7 people turning their lives over to Christ.
Anyway, Kendell and I started out with our driver Emanuel about 10:00 a.m.. It is about an hour drive from our office to the village under normal conditions. Yesterday was not normal however. As we were leaving I called Joni who was on her way into town. She said there had been an accident and traffic was really backed up. Emanuel decided it would be better to go a back way. Things were progressing at a pretty good pace as we tried to skirt through the edges of Monrovia. As we were driving on Jamaica Road nearing the main road north out of Monrovia we came upon a huge crown lining both sides of the road. We slowly moved through to the center of the crowd where we saw two body bags laying beside the road and a police homicide truck parked beside the road. I am unsure what happened. My first thought as we drove along was that I was really happy that Emanuel was driving for us. Even though we were in no danger one never knows what is happening when you see a crowd gathered like that.
We continued on with our journey to Jawajeh. When we arrived, Kendell met with a few of the people there as I walked through the village talking to the people. I got to see the three houses we are building for the teachers behind the new school. They were splitting bamboo poles getting ready to attach them to the larger framing poles before they begin the mud stucco process. I saw a new latrine we helped the town build. I got to talk with people who we helped obtain goats and sheep. We got to see the fish farm that is being built by the ladies of the town. We moved onto Beh-Sol where we met with the leaders of the community there. Most touching was meeting with two young ladies who are participating in our CHE (Community Health Evangelism) program. I don’t know their ages but guess that they were 19-24 years old. One of them said she had made it through the third grade and she said could read. The other could not read or write but had two children already. The girls told us that they meet twice a week for the CHE training. They receive a meal and they are taught about health information such as the benefits of keeping your house clean and taking your dishes inside after you wash them so insects or animals will not touch them. Another part of the program includes Bible teaching. It was amazing to hear the one young lady tell the stories of Adam and Eve and then Cain and Abel with incredible detail and accuracy. They both expressed the need for programs to teach the adult community population to read and write. I hope at some point we can begin a program there to do just that. I asked one of town leaders how many of his town’s people could read and write. He stated it was very few. He stated that he actually serves as village contact person for two programs since so few men can read.
It truly was an incredibly rewarding day talking and interacting with the people there. It is great to get out and meet the wonderful people out there in the villages. It serves as a great reminder of why we are here when you hear their stories and see and feel the gratitude of the people who had nothing only a few years ago when the war ended.
Well, we left later than we thought and then ran into a serious traffic jam coming through an area of Monrovia known as Duola. Emanuel actually turned off the engine as we sat there for about 5 minutes without moving. We finally made it back to the office at 5:30. Joni’s posters will have to wait until tomorrow night. I will probably have plenty of time in the evenings now since it is raining almost every day. Joni brought along a rain gauge when she came back in January. She said it rained over 10 inches in a little over 24 hours on Thursday and Friday. Nothing is easy in Liberia, especially during rainy season!

weekly updates

2009-06-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

(I am going to start putting my weekly article that I write for the TTribune here for those who do not get the paper.)

Saturday afternoon the 5th of June, here in Liberia. Rainy season is officially upon us! It is raining every day now. Some days it will rain 2-3 times per day with a morning, afternoon and evening or late night shower. It may last only for a few minutes or it may last for and hour but this is only the beginning. We soon will move along to days where it will rain all day long.
As you might expect, it has a significant impact on what we can accomplish in the field just as it does for farmers there back home when it rains. A huge problem we face this time of year is getting to projects over the unimproved road systems. The rains also makes it difficult or next to impossible to paint, pour concrete, set block or do anything else construction related. I guess the best way to describe the process this time of year is we do what we can when we can and leave the rest up to God!
We are having some water issues here in this area. I noticed a few nights ago when I went to take my shower that something smelled ‘bad’ like a motor was burning up. I later detected it in the water in my sink as well. I heard they are working on it today. I decided to run out this morning and get some water to drink. Even though I run my water through a purification system it still was not tasting very good. I headed downstairs about 10:00 to see what vehicle might be around to drive. We have 20 vehicles in country. Some of them are upcountry at the sub-offices. We normally have 5-6 around here to drive. It is quite a collection of vehicles. I am having a hard time coming up with a way to describe the “fleet”. Perhaps the best way is to say that most of them have seen their better days. They take quite a pounding going up and down these roads here in Liberia. After speaking to the guard, I found out my selection was down to two of our “finest”. I took the keys for the logistics pickup, a Ford diesel. I was anxious to drive it since it had recently had a major overhaul of the engine. It has about 150,000 miles on it and smoked quite badly before. So, I got in, turned the key and it rolled over a couple times and stopped…dead battery. I headed back to the guard shack trading in the keys for the Toyota pickup we call John Mark”. It was purchased by a former employee for his program. He had little understanding of vehicles. All he really knew was he needed a pickup and this one looked pretty “cool” with oversized tires and pinstriping. I have been here 11 months and have seen the vehicle setting waiting for repairs more than it has been on the road! Although the engine runs well, JM suffers from other maladies. At one point they were hauling stick to an area where our Ministry was building shelters. The guys must have had a ton of 20’ long 2-3” diameter sticks on the poor short-box truck. Not long after that mission JM was setting by the shop waiting to have the frame straightened and box reattached. Anyway, JM and I headed for town to get water. It was a pretty uneventful trip although there were a lot of people out and about. This is the second month of the President’s declared “First Saturday” cleanup day where everyone is to commit to cleaning up the city for 4 hours from 6-10 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month. I have not really noticed a difference yet in the cleanliness of the city but hopefully people will begin to dispose of things properly rather than just throwing trash on the ground.
I do want to update you on the progress the church has made over the past couple weeks. The church has signed and received a deed for property for a new location. I went last Sunday to look at the property. The existing building like many is one that was destroyed during the war and has never been rebuilt. Three walls currently are block rising to about 8’ high. Some of the block has been knocked down over time and will need to be replaced. There is a huge amount of cleanup work that is taking place right now. Not only has the brush overgrown the property but any vacant property becomes a dump site for trash. Pastor Agu and some of the members have spent a lot of time there cleaning up and it is beginning to look inhabitable. We hired someone to come and set pillars for the end wall that is completely missing. That was completed this week. Now the block will need to be put into place completing that wall and then the roof trusses can be built and put up. I am hoping to get enough lumber donated to build trusses so we will not have to use “sticks” for truss lumber as they did when they built the current structure. Time is short to get things enclosed as only 8 more weeks are left before we must be gone from our current place of worship. It will not be easy as it begins to rain more during daytime hours. Nothing is easy in Liberia!

New pics of my Foya trip are up...

2009-05-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

And guess what I found out. I even got some pics of country music superstar Aaron Line. He even led devotions here one morning in Foya...nice people all!!!
here is the picture page link
http://picasaweb.google.com/Buzzwalkes

This is Liberia

2009-05-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

(This is my article that is to print in the hometown newspaper next week. I thought it would be good to share it here as well)
I have been attending a small church for the past several months that is in the Rock Hole community on the other side of Rock Hill from where our office is located. Sunday, Pastor Agu spoke about a problem that has arisen with the land owner. I think I mentioned in the past some of the land issues that arose at the end of the war. This week I got a first hand look at the issue.
As you might imagine, when the war ended people set up shacks anywhere they could find a piece of ground. What did they have to lose? Most of the people had no where else to go and they would just claim a spot until it was proven they did not own the land. It is now 5 years since the war ended and land disputes continue to be a major problem for the court systems. Records were destroyed during the war and you have people selling land that has never belonged to them in the first place.
Getting back to the church, in 2006 the church was operating out of a school building. It was growing so they decided to search for some property. One of the deacons told the Pastor that his family owned some land and stated he would check to see if the owner might allow the church to locate there. Originally a woman named Marbel Grisby representing her uncle the owner of the property, Mr. Harrison Yaidoo of South Orange, NJ, stated that she had spoken to Mr. Yaidoo and they would welcome the church to relocate to the land to help fight off squatters and illegal land sellers. In April 2007 the Pastor and church leaders met with the owner when he was here in Liberia. He stated that he did not want to sell the property but they were welcome to stay on the land as long as the church assisted in keeping squatters off the land. Miss Grisby even became involved in the church serving in several capacities. In July 2007 Miss Grisby told Pastor Agu that she had received permission from Mr. Yaidoo for the church to build any structure it wanted on the property. On September 16, 2007 the Pastor and 7 church members met with Miss Grisby and told her of their intention to begin the building process. They began building a permanent structure on the land on September 17, 2007. They spent approximately $6000 erecting cement pillars and putting on a zinc steel roof thinking this would be the permanent location for the church. Part of the money was borrowed to complete the work. Some time passed without any problems. In September of last year, Marbel phoned to say she was going to Ghana and then on to The United States and would need some money from the church as a deposit on the land. If the church would be unable to come up with the money, she would have to seek out a buyer for the land. The pastor and his wife were able to scrape up a total of $430.00 to give her taking part of the money out of their own account. They went to give her the money with seven members of the church. Also present were her mother and sister. She told them to get a surveyor and she would present them with the deed to the land when the surveying was finished. Two days later the church arranged for the surveyor and told Miss Grisby to be available when he came later in the day. The surveyor called later to say she was not at the property. When they were able to contact her, she said her son was sick and she had to take him to the hospital. She asked them to arrange to have the surveyor there that evening. They did so but when she did not show the Pastor called to find out where she was and she stated that she was held up in traffic. The next day Pastor Agu and some of the leaders went to see her to get a receipt for the money. They got there just as she was leaving for Ghana. She stated she did not have time to give them a receipt or the deed. Two days after she left Pastor Agu received a call from someone claiming to be the administrator for the property. She said the church needed to vacate the premises.
Miss Grisby failed in her attempt to get to the United States and returned to Liberia 3 months later. Pastor Agu explained to her all that had happened while she was gone. She stated that if they were asked by the administrator to move, they should move. They tried to get a receipt but she would not do so. Pastor Agu pleaded with her and wrote Mr. Yaidoo in the States. They still told the church they would have to move.
So, for the last seven month the church has been trying to work with the court system to help them through this and find a way to remain on the land. It all came to a close last week when the woman was on the stand in court and stated that any money the church gave her was just for “pocket money” and she had no reason to repay it. The court has ordered the church to vacate the premises within 3 months. They will be able to disassemble the structure and take what is salvageable but that really is not much consolation.
I spent last Sunday afternoon talking with the pastor and his wife. They obviously are very discouraged even though they have found a possible place to relocate. I have assured them that they need not worry, first because it does no good and we know we are to give our worries up to the Lord. Secondly, I told them that I will personally make certain the new church is built and it will be a better structure than they currently have. I also shared with them that one thing I knew was the new church would have that this one does not; it will have a ceiling fan directly over where I sit in church! At least that got a good laugh out of them. They are great people who came here from Nigera to start this church. He runs a primary school at the church teaching many local children who cannot afford to go to school elsewhere. Mother Peace teaches microbiology at a local college.
These are two persons who are highly educated, tried to follow the law and through the devious dealings of a family have lost everything as a church.
Please keep us in your prayers that we do find a new church site without it being too far from the current site. Everyone that goes to this church walks so it must be relatively close to prevent loss of members. We do know God will provide and we will move forward!

There is no place like home..there is no place like home...

2009-05-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Saturday afternoon here in Monrovia. I just got back yesterday after 5 fun filled days in Foya. The base was crowded with visitors and program people. I think there were more people in Foya than there were here in Monrovia! And that is a good thing because it means people are out overseeing projects. However, it also meant there was "no room in the inn" which meant I stayed off base at a "guest house". Now, if you have taken the time to view my pictures of my vacation to Kenya, you get a clear understanding of what I deem to be a 'good place to stay'. Well, suffice it to say, where I stayed in Foya was not on the 'good places to stay' listing. Although I should feel blessed to not have been mugged and I never saw a bug until the final morning. It was a nice size roach doing the backstroke in my water bucket in my "bathroom" which consisted of a stool and adjoining shower stall with a half wall around them. It was just a little on the rough side but hey, it was better than sleeping under a bush somewhere...What should one expect for $10.00 per night?
I had the chance to visit several villages where we have work ongoing. It was great to drive through village after village and have a church pointed out to us that SP either helped build or rehab. I got to see new latrines, drying floors and got to sit in on a meeting with the town chief and elders where a new clinic is to go. All in all it was a great trip but as they say, there is no place like home...

The flu is coming! The flu is coming!!!!

2009-04-28T00:49:00.000-07:00

Reading CNN this morning about the flu virus in the States and in Mexico. I saw where the press is already calling this a possible pandemic stating that possibly up to 7 million people could die..although I think fewer than 200 people have died to this point. I am in no way trying to make light of the seriousness of this flu but I do have to question who is driving the media into this state of frenzy. It couldn't possibly be the drug companies could it??? Gee, I wonder how much they will gain as everyone once again seeks vaccination for this flu. I will state this in capital letters so there is no misunderstanding. IF YOU WERE GOING TO OR FEEL THE NEED TO GET A FLU SHOT GET ONE!!!
My point, and yes there is one, is why is there so much focus on preventing this possible pandemic when there are other things like world hunger that we could prevent if we gave them half the attention this flu pandemic is getting. I found the following site this morning...
http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm
I have not checked to make certain the numbers they present are correct so I am ASSUMING they are! I will talk briefly about just one of the numbers and let you check out the website for yourself.
EVERY year 15 million children die of hunger. If my research is correct, the worst flu pandemic caused about 2 million deaths...But yet we spend millions of dollars trying to prevent the flu each year...We can prevent and cure world hunger but yet I am unsure we can prevent the flu.
Just a thought for today...

crickets chirping...

2009-04-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not really but things are way quiet around here. Marcel left on Monday on his way to his vacation and on to Canada. Kendell is in the US. Joni is upcountry...seems like everyone is either somewhere else or going somewhere...Had a rain during the day yesterday. It was the first daytime rain. So, seems like rainy season is near. Not much else going on...
Hope all is well in your part of the world
BW

Safari days!

2009-04-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

When I was coming to Liberia as a volunteer just a little over one year ago I hoped to be able to see some “African animals”, you know like lions, elephants and giraffes. Actually, I had no idea where Liberia was before doing some research. When I did check out all that Liberia has to offer in the way of wildlife I was extremely disappointed. There never were that many wild animals here and most of what was here was killed off during the war. So, when I was putting my vacation together for Kenya, I told the travel agent I wanted to do two things and then maybe fit some other stuff in. The two things were to climb Mt. Kenya, which I did(see last week’s article) and to go on safari and see some “African animals”. It all worked out and I had 8 days of safari going to several different game parks, staying at tent camps, the Ark and in a couple very nice bungalows over the 8 day period. This being the dry season before the 3 month rainy season begins in Kenya, it is a down time for tourism. So, there I was, just my driver and me heading from park to park for 8 days driving around looking animals. The safari vehicles are vans which have a top that pops up so you can stand and take pictures as you drive along. I am certain it would not be an approved method of travel in The States but it works really well for safaris!
Driving in Kenya on the main roads in most areas is a vast improvement over the roads in Liberia but there still are many areas where roads are under construction and very rough. To get to several game parks one must navigate on those rough roads. I saw more animals than I could have ever hoped to see. I saw lions, elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, black and white rhinos, a leopard (which is rare to see), cheetahs and many many more. I saw animals and birds of many shapes and sizes that I had never even heard of before. I was able to take lots and lots of pictures. Of course, initially I found myself taking picture after picture of every animal around and by the time I was near the end of my trip I was like, “ok, so there is another herd of elephants”. I had to remind myself from time to time that in a few days I would be back to the real world with only a few domestic animals around me so I needed to appreciate what I was seeing at the time.
A normal day for safari is leaving the camp at 6:30 am, going out to look for animals for 1-1/2 hours, returning to camp for breakfast, possibly going out again in the morning if it is not too hot to find more animals, return for lunch, then personal time to lay by the swimming pool or do something else, going back out at 4:00 pm for 2 hours to find more animals, return to camp for another meal with entertainment usually consisting of tribal dancing and then the evening is free time to do as you wish. It truly is a very relaxing day.
One day at Masai Mara we headed out in the morning after breakfast. All the vans are outfitted with HF radios so everyone can communicate what they are seeing or finding. We were at the site where a lion was laying watching the water buffalo it had killed when someone reported a cheetah was spotted. So, we took off heading in that direction. Masai Mara is a huge park of 583 square miles. It was an all out scramble to get to the cheetah. When we got to the bush where the cheetah was there were 5 other vans there as well. Everyone was taking pictures. The cheetah was sitting probably no more than 20 feet away under a bush just watching every one. Finally it got up and walked around the bush and stood on a rock. Of course when it moved, all the vans jockeyed for position to get the best view of where it now stood. I took a couple pictures of it standing there and then I was just standing in the van watching it when a reedbok got up and started running for the riverbed. Unfortunately for her, the cheetah was between her and the water. The cheetah took about 4 leaps before we lost sight of it behind a bush. I heard a small animal sound and told my driver, “well, that is over”. Of course, once again, all the vans jockeyed for position to see what had happened. When we got around the bush I saw the cheetah just sitting there looking around with the dead reedbok laying in front of the cheetah. It was amazing to think how quickly it had all happened. The cheetah sat there for a few minutes, then dragged what must have been a 100 pound animal off into the bush to hide it. We drove off to find more animals.
I showed some of my vacation pictures to the SP staff here the other day. There were several questions from the Liberians on staff. The funniest being, “Don’t they have any dogs or chickens there?” I told them, “yes they do, but I didn’t go to Kenya to take pictures of dogs and chickens. I went to take pictures of BIG animals.” And that I did! I am in the process of trying to load some pictures on my internet page at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Buzzwalkes I hope to have them posted by the time you read this.
It was a great vacation. As I stated last week, I would recommend Kenya to anyone who has a desire to go on safari. The people are very nice, the food is great and there are still lots and lots of animals to be seen.
All for now! Happy Belated Easter everyone!

The flight and climb

2009-04-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

Jambo! (Swahili for hello) I am back from Kenya! I had a fantastic adventurous time there. It is a great vacation destination regardless of age. You are certain to be well taken care of and as my waistline can attest very well fed.
I had Taya drop me off at the Monrovia airport on the 14th a few hours before my departure time. She had been witness to my ‘countdown to vacation’ for the two weeks leading up to the 14th so I am certain she was happy the time had finally arrived for me to depart! Here in Liberia they close the gates to the terminal two hours before departure time and will not let you through should you arrive after that. So being early is a must. I shared with Taya on my way to the airport how no matter what the circumstances are that I always get nervous going through the whole airport screening process. Here in Liberia they are trying to reestablish trust with international air carriers so there is basically a double screening process where all of your documents including boarding pass and passport are checked twice as well as your carry on luggage. Anyway, I made it through check in and customs with more than two hours to spare with no problems. I texted Taya that I made it through and could now just relax. I was on my way to 15 wonderful days in Kenya. As time passed, the terminal area seemed to be filling with passengers so it looked like the flight was going to be full. The flight goes from here to Accra, Ghana and then on to Nairobi. We boarded the plane on time having our boarding passes checked and everyone walked out to the plane, boarded and took their seats. I texted Taya again to tell her that we had boarded the plane. As it seems is common these days a couple passengers ended up with the same seat assignment so one of them ended up getting up. I never did see where he went to sit. Then the flight attendants came through the aisle and counted everyone on the plane. It seems we had one extra person on the flight. You would think it would be an easy process to remove the extra person since they already had identified him and then be on our way but as with most things in air travel these days, nothing is easy. (There are like only 3 or 4 flights a day out of the airport. I have no idea what flight he was to be on since the next one didn’t leave for several more hours.) Then came the announcement over the plane speaker system that since they did not know whether the man had checked any luggage that they were going to have to unload all the luggage; we would have to get off the plane with all our carry on luggage and claim our bag(s) from the baggage loaders and then we would reload the plane and be on our way. I texted Taya that we were now getting back off the plane. (I don’t know what would happen if it had been raining or if there had been an unclaimed bag.) We all re-boarded the plane after this process and we were finally on our way.(I did send Taya one final text telling her we were now back on the plane and would be on our way soon) Yeah!!!! I was just amazed that someone could make it all the way through including the boarding pass check at the door on the way to the plane and still get on the wrong flight. And if his boarding pass showed he was on the wrong flight, then why did we have to reclaim baggage since his check-in baggage should have been correctly marked and loaded on his proper flight? As you can tell I still have a few unanswered questions regarding this process. And to be honest, it doesn’t make me feel one bit more secure knowing that something like this could happen so easily but as I think we all understand if someone really wanted to board a plane and cause a problem they would probably buy a ticket for the plane they board and not just try to board the wrong one!!!
Ahhhh…Kenya…I arrived at 6:00 am on Sunday morning. I was picked up at the airport by Polycarp who would be my driver and tour guide for the rest of my adventure, excluding the time I would spend on Mt. Kenya. The intial part of my trip was a hike up Pt. Lenana which is the “hikers’ peak” of Mt. Kenya. It consists of a 32-35 mile 4 day hike staying at cabins on the mountain, 2 on the way up and one on the way down. We had porters and cooks so the only thing we needed to carry were just a few personal things and water. This is the “off-season” for tourism in Kenya right before the rains are to begin. It is very very dry this time of year. The first day we make about a 4 mile hike on a road which was about 4” of dust. Normally it would not have been a problem but I was wearing some shoes I had recently purchased at one of the local markets. I had been wearing my hiking shoes for work and they were completely worn out so I was forced to find new ones. I went with a friend and found some “new” shoes a few weeks before I was to leave. I wore them hiking in the neighborhood here a couple times and the soles started to loosen so I had that fixed before I left. However that did not give me much of a chance to break them in, even though they were second hand. So, after that first day of walking in all that loose dirt I had developed a pretty big blister on the back of my right heel and a smaller on one on the left heel. As soon as we got to the Old Moses Cabin where we to spend the night, I removed my shoes to give my feet as much time as possible to rest. The following day was to be a 6-7 hour hike to Shipton’s Camp which is at the base of Pt. Lenana. I knew I would need God’s help if I was going to make it now. I was in a hiking group with one other person. We met several other groups there at the camp that had one to two persons each. I started talking with one of the guys and he mentioned that he had a small first aid kit so I asked him if he had any medical tape, which luckily he did. So, after a somewhat restless sleep at 11000 feet, I got up and taped up my heels as best I could over the bandaids I had brought along and at 8:30 am we headed out for Shipton’s Camp. The first few steps were painful but after a while I had “walked through” most of the pain. We took our time walking and stopped for water and picture taking along the way and about 11:30 stopped for lunch. I took just a few minutes to eat as I knew the longer I sat, the worse my feet would feel once I started up again. There is a pretty distinct trail heading up to Shipton’s so it was not really possible to get lost. I had music playing on my MP-3 player and just kept walking stopping only every now and then for a little water or to take a picture. At 1:30 I made it to Shipton’s Camp which is at 13,775 feet. It was still early afternoon but I proceeded to go to my bunk and lay down to protect my feet as much as I could. I got up for dinner but headed right back to my bunk after eating. I felt very antisocial but I knew that if I was going to make it those last 2250 feet I was going to need to save my feet as much as I could. We got up at 2:45 am after a very restless night, drank a little tea and ate a few sugar cookies and headed out into the dark at 3:20. The trail up the mountain from that point is filled with scree, small rocks, making walking more difficult on steep inclines as you have a tendency to slip. I was doing all I could possibly do to keep from doing that as it was pretty painful at this point to slip with my heels in the condition they were in. It was interesting to be walking with a headlight shining down at your feet so you could see where you were stepping. At that altitude to do so is also somewhat nauseating as Matheau one of the other hikers found out. I looked to the side from time to time just to keep my bearings. At times I could tell that we were walking on a ridge with drop offs on either side going down as far as my light would shine. At that point it is just best to focus on moving one foot in front of the other which is a task at that altitude. The sun was just peaking over the horizon as we reached the summit at 6:30 am. It was an incredibly beautiful view from there. We sat and had some tea and biscuits, took some pictures and after about 30 minutes began our descent down the mountain. We headed down a different side of the mountain providing more breathtaking vistas. Going that route was a very difficult trek going over many boulders and through scree fields. In total we walked for about 12 hours that day. I have never been so ready to sit and not do anything. I had something to eat that night and then crawled into my bunk. I had a cabin all to myself that night so slept pretty well having descended to about 10,000 feet. I knew we only had about a two hour walk the next day to reach our car at the park entrance and then it would be back to the hotel for a hot shower and rest in a real bed. I woke about 6:30 the following morning. I tried to sit up and could not do so without using the wall to pull myself up. I was really sore. It reminded me of the days of two a day football practices. I got dressed, packed all my stuff, ate a little bit and then we headed down the road. The trail from that point downward was very good so walking was pretty easy. The previous day I had developed a new blister on the inside of my left foot so that would rub from time to time when I stepped wrong. Two hours after leaving our camp we were at the gate. I was never so happy to see a car in my life. We took a few pictures, got in the car and headed back to the hotel ending phase one of my vacation. Next week I will write about my time spent in the national parks on safari.

I'm back!!!

2009-03-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

Back in Liberia again...just got home a few minutes ago...it was a great trip..I will share more later and post some pictures later this week...

Friday afternoon

2009-03-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

Hi all. Friday afternoon here in Monrovia. We had a short week of work. There is a women's colloquium(what is a colloquium anyway?) going on at the stadium near our office. The president of Finland along with other famous women are supposed to be coming. Rumors flying around are that Oprah and Michelle Obama are coming. I will be heading out with my "I love you Oprah" sign in the morning to stand along the road(which was closed today effectively closing our office). I will let you know if I make it on the Oprah show!!!
Only a little over a week and I will be heading to Kenya. I got some "new" shoes to wear for the hike and looked at them the other day and the sole was falling off one. So, I sent it out to have it repaired. I just got them back so will be trying out the repairs tomorrow. Hopefully it will hold. I wonder if anyone has ever gone barefoot to the top of Mt. Kenya???
Guess that is all the excitement from here...

Less than 10 days!!!

2009-03-04T11:14:00.001-08:00

Hi all
I am under the "10 day" mark for when my plane departs Monrovia for Kenya. Not that I am looking forward to it or anything!!! We flew up to Yekepa today to meet with a contractor who may be doing the steel work on the chapel. The roof on the chapel is set at about a 45 degree angle and the peak is probably about 40 feet off the ground. We had hoped that we would get a steel worker volunteer group to come and do it but we do not have anyone yet and rainy season is right around the corner. We do want the roof on before that hits. So, we hopped in the chopper at 9, flew there, met, had lunch and were back in Monrovia by 4...I love helicopters...

Hope all is well in your part of the world
Buzz

22 days and yes I AM counting...

2009-02-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

About this time in 22 days I will have my tooshie parked inside a Kenya Airlines jet headed for Nairobi. Not that I am looking forward to getting away for two glorious weeks or anything like that but it will be a welcome change for a couple weeks.
Things went well this week with our helicopter distribution project. We even decided to distribute some zinc and cement to some poor unexpecting folks there in the jungle...Hopefully neither landed on them!!! I told the others I just see this family sitting there in their hut praying for a new home. Day one "wham" zinc roofing falls outside the door. Next day they pray that they are grateful for the zinc but they really need cement to finish their house...and "boom" 8 bags of cement drop from the sky!!! As Taya stated, the second day they also could be grateful for receiving a net to catch bushmeat in as well!!!! Oh well, stuff happens when you are transporting things in the jungles of Africa!!!
have a great weekend all!!!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T06:04:00.000-08:00

Hi there.
Valentine's Day here as it is there. We also observed an additional holiday this week with Armed Forces Day falling on Wednesday. It seems weird to celebrate something like that here but celebrate they do.
Dan, the helicopter pilot and his family arrived last Sunday. We have flights scheduled for the upcoming week. I am looking forward to getting in the air once again. I may begin to reduce my involvement with the aviation program as I have too many other irons in the fire. They are still working on the hangar. They told me two weeks ago that it would be done by Sunday. Every day brings another round of "take it down and do it right" so I will really really be happy when they are done with their portion of the work.
Well, I think I am off for a short run...it is a nice afternoon here at 84 degrees...
Sending out a Valentine heart to all my sweethearts...
Buzz

Joni's blogsite

2009-02-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
I just wanted to pass along the link to Joni's blog...some great pictures there...nothing like a little rat on a stick!!! enjoy!!!
www.jonesinliberia.blogspot.com

It's not easy-o

2009-02-04T22:38:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
Just wanted to tell you of my accident on Tuesday night. I got hurt thanks to the wonderful combination of materials sent to this country. About 10:30 pm I found myself in bed, as normal. Made it through the day without being killed or killing someone else....all of the sudden my phone rings. I had it on the nightstand next to the bed. So, I rolled over...only one small problem. I was a little closer to the edge of the mattress than I thought. Now under normal circumstances it would not have been a problem but here in Liberia beds are made a little differently. For some reason, Liberia has ended up with bedframes that are narrower and longer than the mattresses which means the mattress is about 6" wider than the springs underneath. Well, when I hit the edge of the mattress, it kinda acted as a springboard launching me out of the bed onto the floor but not before I scraped my arm on the wall on the way down trying to stop my descent. I think I will be ok. I am just wondering who I could sue. There has to be a lawsuit in this somewhere...
Hope all is well in your part of the world and all your mattresses fit juuuust right!

Saturday

2009-01-31T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
Just thought I would try to be more "regular" about posting here. Seems like some really take it hard when I don't write...who would have thunk it!!! The reason I have not posted a lot is due to me writing for the hometown paper. I didn't want to put the same thing here that I write for the paper. I will try to come up with something "fresh" so those of you reading this AND the Tyndall Tribune will get different materials.
No new news on the caterpillar front. We had people who went to several meetings this week but I have heard of no mobilization efforts. I heard someone say that the best idea is to find a good way to cook and eat them. They could solve all kinds of issues if they were edible! As disgusting as it may seem it probably is not that far out of the realm. Joni was telling a great story at dinner last night about when she was in Malawo. She was walking through the village when she noticed this guy sitting by a fire with a nice bowl of whole rats. She watched as he skewered one with a stick and put it over the fire(skin still on)....It was a great story. I will find out if she has it on her blogsite and will give you the location if she has it posted. I have also heard of people in that village boiling grasshoppers to be eaten.
Guess that is all for me. 6:00, time for shower and dinner.
have a great weekend

Friday

2009-01-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

Another week is about over. Only tomorrow, depending on how long I work, and it will be the weekend. Progress is being made at the airport. The walls to the hangar are at about 17'. They are supposed to set trusses some time in the next couple days. I look forward to the day the roof is on and completed.
Everyone has returned from the holidays. It is good to have more expats around. We did say goodbye to Dave and Trudy yesterday as they left for home. Dave was the project manager at ABC. However, the guy coming to replace Dave is James who I came over with last April so it will be good to see him from time to time.
Well, exciting news is limited on this end other than talking about the invasion of the caterpillars. Not certain what we will do to get involved but hope we can do something.
have a great weekend all!!!

Mama said there'd be days like this...

2008-12-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

I woke up about 2:30 this morning as my generator was going off. I got up at 7:00 covered in sweat. I went outside and promptly chewed out the national who was supposed to fill it yesterday. He said he had. We refilled it so we could run my refrigerator today. And it began to leak..several small holes in the bottom of the tank. I was expecting to get to the airport by 8 as they were going to start pouring concrete today. So, we spent the morning removing the top of the generator which had the tank welded to it, took it to get it bronzed and put it back on. By 11:30 I was heading out to the airport. I got there to find they had already poured a 20x69' section....only they forgot to leave the trench where the floor drain was supposed to go...and upon checking closer, the depth was less than 4" in spots plus I found out they used no rebar...So, after a phone call or two, they resigned themselves to the fact that they will rip it out and start all over. I came back to the office..by now it was 3:30..I had one of the guys waiting all day for the people to come and fix my satellite tv...they never showed...Anyway I went over to see if Dave could help me with something and when I pulled up in front of the place where he was staying, I got out and heard a hissing noise..tire going flat...I drove back to the office and proceeded to start to take off the tire. It was at that time that the security guard came up and told us the generator was still leaking...We went to get the tire fixed. While sitting there waiting for the tire to be fixed, Marcel called to tell me that the generator at his house was losing water. I just told him I could not deal with anything else today and the guards would just have to watch it and add water tonight. So tomorrow, I will have one guy taking the top off my generator in the morning as another goes to fix Marcel's generator and I head off to the airport to make certain they are pouring the concrete right...It is 6:00 pm and I feel like this day has lasted about 75 hours...time for something to eat, a little reading since I still do not have tv and then off to bed..The generator will probably stop running during the night again as it loses fuel but you know what...it is all "small stuff"...At times it becomes overwhelming but we just have to step back, pray and move on...God is good and I feel blessed every day even when things are not going right...
Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas

2008-12-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas is upon us,
Only one week away.
It is hard to believe
When it will be 92 here today!

For me it is different this year
Liberia is where my Christmas will be
Weather here every day is the same
Heat index of One Hundred and Three

I can feel your sympathy acomin’ my way
Knowing just how I am “suffering”
When you will be lucky to reach “zero” degrees
In South Dakota today.

Well, such are the perks
Of African living these days
But please don’t forget
The blessings you have in many ways

While you’ll be out looking
At all the Christmas lights
We’ll be driving around
Looking at the lit cell towers at night

Decorations at Christmas
Are not something you see here
Except for an occasional building on which is painted
“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”

I asked about Christmas traditions in Liberia
Of which I have found few
They will have a service Christmas Eve
But that is about all that they do.

I asked about presents
And you can about guess
That they are not a priority
When they can barely afford food, no less.

But yet they approach this holiday with cheer
Thanking our God for all that they have to show
Surviving another very tough year
For Nothing is Easy in Africa, you know.

Seems to me somewhere Americans got confused
What Christmas day is to be about
And these people understand better
Why we celebrate the Birth without doubt.

That a baby was born in Bethlehem
So long ago
To save us all from our sins
Don’t you know?

So as you go about with your holiday cheer
Please keep those in mind
Who are so less fortunate
Than the rest of us this year.

As I close out another year’s rhyme
I want to wish all my family and friends
around the world a Merry Merry Christmas
And all God’s blessings to you at this time!!

Hi all!!

2008-12-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry, guess I have been pretty slack keeping you all updated on everything here. Our internet system has not been working the best including my personal system. And let me tell you, it is not easy-o to convince a Liberian that there truly is a problem with the system. The last "reason" from our IT person why our system at work was not working was "the whole country of Liberia is down". Well I am upcountry in Bopolu and things seem to be working ok. We must be getting a "pirated signal" from Guinea or Sierra Leone.
Anyway, this is the last week Roy will be here before going back to the States. We are moving concrete to a village that is a 9 hour walk from the closest road. It is quite a trek for Captain Roy. It is about a 15 minute flight one way. Sure makes for a boring day for me. Fuel him, hook on 10 bags of concrete and go sit down for 30 minutes. Fuel him, hook on 10 bags of concrete and go sit down for 30 minutes. Tomorrow will be our last day of flying. Then I guess I will have to do some "real work". They have started on the hangar so I will be at the airport supervising that for the next 6 weeks. Hopefully it will go quicker than expected and the helicopter will be inside shortly after the first of the year.
Well, guess that is about it. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We did...turkey and all.(Turkey was $4.00/lb and worth every cent!!!)
Hope all is well in your part of the world
Buzz

Head em up, Move em out!

2008-11-22T03:19:00.000-08:00

The things I never expected to do while I was here. Another is added to the list. Yesterday we rounded em up and headed em out...yep the big snail herding project is now completed. Let me tell you, it is not easy to herd snails with a helicopter but we did it!!! Ok, actually we boxed up 2000 of the little fellas in some crates and sent them merrily on their way in the net attached below the helicopter. I have gotten no "fatality" report so am guessing all went well and they survived the flight. Amazing what the Liberians like to eat. They will be divided up in two different communities where they will raise them and breed them(don't want to know how that happens but I am guessing the words "can you slow down" never are said). I am trying to upload pictures so you can see them "flying away"
Well, tomorrow we head off to move water filters. I think the next big animal project will be moving Prairie dogs...that should be fun...
hope all is well in your part of the world
Buzz

picture link

2008-11-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Monday morning here in Monrovia. The weekend was nice. I sent the helicopter off on a weekend excursion and stayed behind. I had a few other loose ends to tie up, then spent the rest of the weekend relaxing.
Anyway, have had a few people looking for the picture link. Here it is...http://picasaweb.google.com/Buzzwalkes
hope you all have a great week
Buzz

Once again

2008-11-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

This whole internet thing is kinda scary sometimes. This morning I wrote a message to let you all know I had added some pics to my picassa page. Then I did my word verification, got my approval and viewed my message as it was posted. Now a few hours later, "poof" it is gone!!! The computer gremlins must be working overtime today!
OH well, anyway, there is some new pictures posted from our trip to Malawu. It was a great experience moving roofing materials and shoeboxes up the mountain with the helicopter. And the night spent in Malawu was indescribable although I will try to do so in my next Tribune article!
Hope all is well in your part of the world.
Buzz

Our first mission

2008-11-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

Hi all
I just finished loading some pics from our first helicopter mission. We moved 200 bundles of zinc, 50 containers of wood preservative, nails and 100 OCC boxes to Malawu in two days. It was a pretty incredible experience. I will write more about it later
Buzz

Happy Monday

2008-11-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

Hi all
Hot day here in Liberia. I think today might have been the warmest yet since my arrival. Of course it did not help that I was upcountry since Friday. It is probably 5 to 10 degrees cooler once you move in from the coast.
I had a great weekend. We went on our scout mission for our first materials airlift that we are hoping to do this week. Then we flew on to Yekepa for the opening of the Bible College that I worked on when I was here in April. We got to do quite a bit of flying in the helicopter and I saw some friends I had not seen in a while. All in all a great trip. I am trying to post some pics of the trip right now. We will see if it works tonight.
Hope all is well in your corner of the world
Buzz

Flying! I'm flying!!!

2008-10-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

No, not our helicopter but rode back from up country in a UN chopper. The UN helicopters are from Russia with Russian pilots...pretty simple flight info..no smoking and no drinking. Even funnier was smelling cigarette smoke coming from the cockpit while in flight!~!!
Oh well, we made it...I will upload a few pics on picasa. Also, I am writing a weekly article for the Tyndall Tribune. I will try to keep this info different from that. If you want to read that online you can do so by going to www.tyndallsdnews.com
have a good one
Buzz

Just when you think it...

2008-10-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

Thought the rainy season may have been over...didn't rain yesterday and this morning it was clear and h-o-t! Now about 1:00 in the afternoon and it is raining lightly outside. I hope it will cool things down. I know this morning's weather will be more like what we will see in the months ahead but I will take any cooler weather I can get until then.
Finally getting close to getting contracts signed for the hanger and with the builders. Hopefully within the next couple weeks I can say that the building process has begun.
Yesterday was another sad day as we sent two interns home. Erin and Mel are great fun and it will be much lonelier around here without them. If people keep leaving soon my Bible Study will just be ME!!!
Took a few pictures this morning while driving around. I will upload them to picasa...
hope all is well with you all...sorry about your Dodgers JJ...
Buzz

And then it happened!

2008-10-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Ahh...Thursday was the big day...the initial flight of the SP helicopter around Monrovia. Dan, Kendell, his two boys and I went up for a "maintenance" flight. Spent about 30 minutes flying around the area. What an incredible experience as we flew along the coast, flew by our office a couple times and viewed the city and how it is laid out. It was amazing to see just how much swamp area there is in this area. Also, interesting to see how closely some of the houses are to the swamp..or in the case of some, in the swamp...All I can say about the helicopter flight is it was awwwwwwweeeeeesome!!!!! Can't wait to get up again and fly upcountry when Dan returns.
Kevin, who has been here for 4 years said this is the most rain he has seen. I hope he is correct. The weather is changing as we near the end of the rainy season. It is getting warmer with the rains now mostly in the predawn hours and after dark. We had a couple days this week where it rained during the day but not as much as the previous week. So, as we anxiously anticipate the end of the rain, I am wondering just how hot it will get...Guess it stays at a tolerable level until February and March when it "turns up the heat"...oh well, not much can be done about that...
4:30 in the afternoon here on Saturday...I am heading out for a run/walk along the beach. Hope all is well in your part of the world.
Buzz

Saturday

2008-09-27T03:40:00.001-07:00

A rainy morning here after a rainy night. One of the programs here set up a tent yesterday afternoon for a graduation ceremony. It was down on the ground last night when I got back from dinner.
A very interesting week trying to get everything outlined for the hanger...Spent time with the helicopter pilot and another gentleman from Boone trying to get all the building details finalized, a contract finished and clearance to fly approved by the local authorities...It was another long/short week..lots of hours spent but time flew by...
I did stay up last Sunday to watch the first half of the Dallas/Packer game..came on at midnight here...It had been awhile since I had been up that late..glad I didn't try to stick around for the second half...
Also found out that Joni will begin her trek back to the States this week as well as Phil and Dr. Warren leaving so things will be different around here by the end of next week...
Guess that is all for today.
Hope you have a great weekend
Buzz

Saturday

2008-09-27T03:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning

2008-09-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Just your 'weekend update' on the happenings here in Liberia. What a week..Talk about time flying by..Spent time preparing for meeting with the local aviation people last weekend and then met with them on Monday, called on Wednesday and am waiting for their response to our plans. Hopefully we will find out Monday if they accept our budgeted proposal and can get some signatures and begin to build very soon. Also we bought a cement mixer on Tuesday so had to drive up to get it. Kendell told me it held like a bag or bag and 1/2 of cement so I thought it probably was not that big. I went up there with one of the drivers spending about 2 hours getting there through highly congested areas. When they opened the gate there it sat all shiny and new on its little trailer. Want to guess if we had a truck with a hitch??? noooooooo..Back in the truck, all the way back through the market all the way to our office, get in another truck to get a ride to meet up with someone else who had a truck with a hitch, get out, swap places with them, back up through the market area to get it and then tow it all the way back. So Tuesday I spent most of my day on the road. What really is funny about this was that on Tuesday Bev talked about time management in devotions!!! I did share with her my "management"experience from the day!
Then on Wednesday, the valve that we replace on Monday began to leak AGAIN! So, dump all the gas out of the tank into drums and began the process of replacing the valve. As of yesterday we were at a point of trying to reinstall after driving all over town trying to find plumbing parts to enable us to put a new filtering system in that came from the States along with a pump and meter. We tried to put two new valves on and each cracked before they were even tight. I got a new "heavy duty" one today and will install that on Monday. Prayers that it actually does not break and not leak would be good!!!
Well, that is about it...No evening excitement this week.
Hope all is well in your corner of the world
Buzz

week in review

2008-09-15T05:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
Late Sunday afternoon here in Liberia. Just finished reading “Left Behind”. It is a very good read if you want to understand more about the Final Days. Just thought I would compose something for the blog even though I won’t get it added until tomorrow morning. Last week proved to be interesting. I got an invitation from someone who lives on the Mercy Ship to come and have dinner with him. (you can view a picture of the Mercy Ship in one of the pictures I loaded last week). So, Thursday night Joni, who had never been on it either, and I headed over. I asked her to go since she will be leaving soon(ok, so she is fun to be with too) So, I am driving, which is similar to bumper cars only you are in vehicles and ours happen to be about twice the size of most on the road. Anyway, I am out there dodging cars. It is kinda a full time job just to drive in traffic and at this point Joni proceeds to tell me that she signed on to come back in January for a year to which I responded, “that’s great”. She said I didn’t sound too excited. I told her I was just a little busy at the time. It will be really, really really great (just in case she reads this!) to have her around to torture for another 7 months!!!
Anyway it was cool(and I do mean COOL) to be on a former cruise ship that has been turned into a hospital boat. Dinner was pork roast(which was just a wee bit tough) with gravy, cous cous and broccoli. Renee, my friend, told us there are 450 expats living on the boat. Most are in the medical field and volunteer to serve 1, 2 or 3 month tours on the boat. Renee showed us around the ship(I had never been on a ship before) and included his room in the tour. He shares the room with 2 other gentlemen. His living space is about 6x8..not a lot of room to move furniture around!!! Anyway it was really interesting sharing devotions on the ship. Joni and I both stated the same thing, that it seemed weird being surrounded but 200 other white people. She also stated it was interesting to find so many people here on this ship but we see the same 20 people when we venture to town. Of course, they have everything they need on the ship including a store, a café, a bank, a school and of course the hospital. An interesting fact about the Mercy ship is that they will not take expats as patients. They are here for the Liberians only. I looked into a couple patient rooms. They had about 10 beds in the rooms. Probably about 2-3 feet inbetween the beds. Sad, but it probably will be the best care these people will ever see.
Yesterday we unloaded the container that brought over the hanger we were to use for the helicopter. It takes a while to unload a building like that when you are doing it piece by piece. Luckily we had about 12 guys here to help. We ended up storing it in another container on the ground until we get ready to erect it here on the compound. I keep hoping that God will send someone to help with this project as the building instructions leave a lot to be desire and there are a LOT of little pieces. Sure could use your scaffold, Dave!!! And tools and lots of concrete equipment. Where is Terry Schulz when you need him!!!
Other news regarding the helicopter. We got approval from Boone to move ahead pursuing a lease at the airport here in town. So, I went from one overwhelming building project to two somewhat manageable projects assuming we can work out the lease.
I guess that is it. This is way long. As always, I hope all is well in your part of the world
God bless…

Robertsport pics added

2008-09-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

added some more pics from Joni's tour of Monrovia and some pics from last weekends trip to Robertsport...here is the link to Robertsport..you can take it from there to see the others..
Buzz
http://picasaweb.google.com/Buzzwalkes/Robertsport

think I am going to cry!!

2008-09-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

Stopped by the grocery today and guess what they had sitting in the middle of the aisle...tortilla chips...I think it was like $8.00 for a 2 lb bag, but trust me..at this point I didn't care!!! So I only bought two bags because I had no idea if they were fresh or whatever...only taste a little like cello so may have to go back and get more yet today...
Beautiful Saturday here..spending time trying to stuff more padding in my furniture...it looks good but sitting on a 2x4 set on side is not comfortable, trust me...Also bought the pieces to do my shower curtain so I will have a real shower curtain by night fall I hope...
all for now

more excitement!!!!

2008-09-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

Guess what I am having for the first time in Liberia???? A glass of Tang...well that is not a first but last night I found ice cube trays in the grocery store so I am having a glass of Tang with ICE!!!!! Some times it is the little things one misses...Just thought I would share...

WE got HIM!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Big day today...came home after work and the humongous rat was stuck to the glue...Of course if you have not been keeping up anything that has the body shape of a rat is called a rat here...in reality it was a small mouse...had a really long tail though...My Liberian friend Koffa sent him on to heaven with one mighty blow...I am thinking it was better for him than dying in the trap. Anyway, poor fella...Rose put so much glue on the board he never even got to the peanut butter...Life is like that some times...work and work and work and don't even get a reward before dying..
The weekend is here..no plans on this end...maybe a beach day if the weather cooperates...
Have a great one

Buzz

September Rain

2008-09-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Another rainy one here in Liberia. Not much of a bother though as I have been working inside most of the week. I did have a nice weekend.
Friday night was all night prayer.(I made it to 1;30) I got up at 5:30 to go to Robertsport beach on Saturday with "the kids"...It is a really nice beach area in what used to be a resort town until the war. They are slowly, and I do mean slowly, trying to rebuild some places. It is a rough road getting there. Anyway, that was a lot of fun watching the surfers and just laying in the sun(yes, I had on my spf 2000 sunscreen).
Sunday was a down day as it rained so I read throughout the day and had a nice long nap..The past couple days have been hectic trying to get things organized.
One sad note, Joni's cousin who was here visiting had severe stomach pain on Monday night. She went in yesterday and luckily for her Warren our temporary physician was around. He went in and did some surgery. All must have gone well as she is back at the girls' house this evening. Pleae keep her in your prayers as they will be trying to return home next week some time.
Guess that is it. Should get this sent off and head home for dinner.
Hope all is well in your part of the world
Buzz