Kuwaa Mission Trip

Plants and Animals

2010-05-17T08:10:00.007-06:00

Some of the plants in the jungle were really interesting. The trees were huge - not only tall but with immense trunks. Some had growths that looked like fins at the ground level. The fins could be almost 2 ft tall and about 3 inches thick and looked like a bench. They might be 15 ft long, running along the ground. There were tall trees where the trunk wasn't actually connected to the ground, it was just supported by a series of vines. The trees gave a lot of shade over the path through the jungle, and it kept us somewhat cool while we were walking between villages. We would look for a nice breeze to make a comfortable spot for a break while walking. We figure that we walked about 80 to 100 miles during our 2 week trek in January. I walked about another 40 to 50 miles in February and March. The villagers don't measure the distance in miles, they measure it in hours. What takes them 3 hours to walk would take us 4 hours. They are a lot faster, as they have been walking all their lives, they are not overweight, and they are used to the heat! We walked a total of 47 hours in January when we visited 13 villages. In February and March, I walked about 26 hours to and from the villages where we worked on the wells. I knew in advance that we would be doing a lot of walking, and I was somewhat apprehensive about it. Looking back on it, it wasn't too hard. It was very interesting. I'm ready to do it again!

We didn't see many animals along the trail. The hunters have cleared them out. We did see evidence of the animals. We saw elephant footprints and broken down trees where they had crashed through the jungle, near Kondesu. We also heard some elephants crashing through the trees, but we didn't see them. They are very dangerous, so I'm glad we didn't see them. We didn't have any way to protect ourselves. It's like avoiding bears in Alaska.

They had some animals in the villages, but they don't raise them on their farms. They keep a lot of chickens in the villages, and I had hours of entertainment watching them. In Lowuma, they had 2 sheep that the government had distributed. The villagers carried them in from Fassama (7 hours). While I was there, a new lamb was born. That was exciting. So, they are on the way to repopulating. Previously, they had lots of sheep, but they were all eaten during the war. The villagers keep cats, dogs, and monkeys, but they don't treat them like we treat our pets. Our pets are better cared for than their children.

I have more photos of plants and animals in my photo album.

Bugs

2010-05-11T14:42:00.011-06:00

The children in the villages love catching termites and eating them. A few days after a heavy rain, they come out in force, and the kids are up early in the morning scouting them. The first evidence that I saw of the termites (besides the damaged buildings) was their wings. There were wings all over the ground one morning, and the kids were having a hay-day. After they catch them, they fry them up in a pan and eat them. They're kind of crunchy, and they do have some protein, but I didn't care for them. They left a scratchy feeling in my throat. I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat them. The kids enjoyed them, though. They also eat them raw, which may not be such a good idea. The termite mounds are impressive. I have a photo here of Bekki and Stan in front of one. The black box in the photos is a video - take a look at it.

Another disgusting delicacy is the bamboo worm. It's about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch in diameter. They say it's real sweet, but I didn't have the guts to try it. For something sweet, I'll take sugar cane. We chewed some of that, and it's good.

Have I mentioned that Bekki doesn't like grasshoppers? There were plenty of them around.

There were also a lot of butterflies. They seem to come out more in the afternoon. Beautiful colors - blue, green, black & white, yellow.

What's for Dinner?

2010-05-05T11:57:00.012-06:00

A note about the photos. I cannot get them embedded into the body of the text, so I'll describe them here. The top one is the 16 ft+ boa constrictor that we ate in Lowuma. Next is the community vat for processing palm oil. Center is some people that we met along the trail, walking to the market with their bush meat. Next is a closeup of the smoked monkeys - you can see a paw sticking out. The bottom one is some people we met on their farm close to the trail, showing the rice that they are harvesting.

I have had people ask me what I ate when I was up country. I ate what was available! The villagers live a subsistence lifestyle. They eat what they can produce by farming, hunting, or trapping. They grow rice, cassava, eddoes, types of eggplant, peppers, onions, pineapples, oranges, bananas, plantains, potatoes, jackfruit, mangos, peanuts, and maybe something else that I've forgotten. They usually eat one meal a day, and they must have rice. If they don't have rice, they say they haven't eaten.

They use palm oil, processing it from the palm nuts that grow wild. There is red palm oil, which comes from the fruit of the palm, and there is brown oil, which they process from the palm kernel. I helped them with the processing. What a chore. The palm kernel oil is delicious, so it's worth the work. I'm posting a photo of a big vat where they process the palm oil. This is in the village of Gbeleyankei, and all of the people use it. It would hold about 400 gallons! They live a communal lifestyle, so they share in the work and the product. They take care of each other.

Dinner usually consists of rice and soup. The soup usually has meat from the forest, such as monkey (yuck), porcupine (yum), anteater (yum), snake (yum), chicken (can be yummy), deer (can be yummy), catfish (yum), or other things that may not sound as good! They don't believe in wasting any part of the animal, so the deer stew even had part of the hide in it. Once, they cooked chicken which had un-laid eggs in it. Otherwise, they wouldn't eat eggs, believing that you are taking away somebody's child. I always picked things out of my food - like fish heads and bones - and left them on my plate. Somebody then took my plate and ate the rest. They don't waste anything. I was there during the dry season, when food is more plentiful. I understand that in the rainy season, they don't eat so well.

When the hunters bring something home, they share it with others in the village. One man shot a boa constrictor snake while I was there. That was delicious! It was 16 ft 4 inches long, so there was a lot of meat on it. They shared with the whole village. Since they don't have refrigeration, they smoke everything to preserve it. While on our village trek, we met people along the road that were taking dried monkeys to market. There is a photo of that posted above. They put the whole dead monkey on a rack above the wood fire. They have about a 2 day walk to go to market, where they sell the "bush meat". They will then buy things like salt and sugar. They also buy caustic, which they use to make soap. And of course, they buy shotgun shells for hunting. Fishing is done with hand-made nets.

So, what's for dinner tonight? I'm having chicken breast - boneless and skinless. I'm spoiled.

Hauling sand and gravel

2010-04-26T11:29:00.008-06:00

We need sand and gravel to make the culverts, so we use the native materials. The villagers dug sand and gravel out of the stream in Lowuma, and in Gbeleyankei, they got gravel from around the village. The whole village got involved, even the children. In Gbeleyankei, they had to haul the sand from a stream 1/3 mile away. The sand and gravel from the stream was nice and clean, but the gravel from around the village was not clean. It had palm kernels, sticks, dog poop, and other things that don't make for strong concrete. So, the gravel had to be cleaned. There's not nearly enough water for washing it, so we screened it with a fenner. The fenner is a basket used for sifting rice to clean it. I tried my hand at it, as you can see in the photo. Four women worked all day to clean enough gravel for the culverts. In Lowuma, the well crew used a mosquito net to sieve the silt from the sand and gravel. We had to use the materials that were available. The villagers had to haul the cement, tools, and pump from Fassama; we don't want to haul any more than is necessary.

Please take a look at my photo album. I have lots more photos there. The link is on the main blog page. Also, I welcome your comments and questions!

Preparation of Well Culverts

2010-04-20T08:16:00.007-06:00

While the digging is going on, we are also preparing concrete culverts for casing the well. The culverts are 36 inches outside diameter and have a 2 inch thickness. Wire mesh is placed in the center for reinforcement. After the concrete cures, the form is peeled off. Koko came up with this method to replace their previous method which uses a heavy steel form. The steel form is very difficult to carry by hand through the jungle. The sheet metal was easy to transport, and it worked very well. We made 19 culverts in Lowuma and 17 in Gbeleyankei. They were allowed to cure a minimum of 10 days before installation.

By the way, if you are wondering how to pronouce "Gbeleyankei", it is Bee-yan-kay. Accent on the second sylable. Lowuma is contracted to Lo-ma. The Kuwaa like the "Gb". It sounds mostly like a "B".

I learned a little of the tribal languages. The people in both villages are part of the Kuwaa Tribe, but they speak different languages. In Gbeleyankei, they speak mostly Kuwaa, and in Lowuma it is mostly Bandi. When you greet someone in the morning, you say "Good morning," and then you ask them how was their sleeping place. They should respond, "No fault with God". That's a little different, isn't it? When speaking English (the national language of Liberia), you greet them, "Good morning. How are you?" and they respond, "Thank God". They are glad to be alive. Greeting people is important to them. Relationships are important. Americans need to slow down a bit to be culturally appropriate in Liberia. In the morning, the villagers walk around and greet each other before starting their day. During our assessment trek, I walked around with Pastor Chris in the morning.

Digging a Well - African Style

2010-04-19T09:19:00.007-06:00

Digging a well African style is not like drilling a well in the U.S. In the isolated Belle forest in Liberia, we had no electricity, no power tools, no fuels, and the only transportation was by foot. The villagers carried the tools and materials on their heads for about a 7 hr walk from the end of the road. We hired a well technician named Koko to plan and supervise the well installation and to monitor it after completion. Koko had a crew, including John, Justine, Mambu, and Morris. My last posting had a photo of the crew posing by the well culverts in Lowuma.

The well is dug by hand with a pick and a "digger" or "pingaling". The digger has a sharp, flat surface to smooth the side of the hole. The dirt is shoveled into a bucket and hauled to the surface with a rope. Usually, the hole is 40 inches in diameter, and the crew climb up and down the sides of the hole, using small dugouts for toe-holds. In Lowuma, Mambu started the hole before we arrived, and he made the hole with a 40 inch radius, instead of diameter, so it was too wide to climb with toe-holds. They used a ladder or they pulled each other out with a rope.

In the photos, you can see the tools used for digging. The pingaling has a long handle and looks like the ice breaker we used in Alaska. There is another long piece of bamboo standing up next to the pingaling; we used this to measure the hole diameter. You can see Mambu's back in the photo. It's back-breaking work!

Another photo shows John coming out of the well on the ladder. The ladder is home-made from native materials. The people are very capable in making things from their native materials.

Justine is coming out of the hole with a rope, after we reached the limit of the ladders. There wasn't any OSHA representative on site, so I just tried to keep people alive. It is risky work.

Morris is a villager from Lowuma who volunteered to help by pulling the dirt out of the hole. He then joined us in going to the next village of Gbeleyankei. I think he learned something from the experience, and we enjoyed his company.

The hole was dug until we reached water, and then we tried to get another 6 feet. When the water was coming in too fast to keep up by bailing it out by hand with 2 buckets, we had to call it quits. At the end, Justine and Mambu were digging in waist-deep water. The Lowuma well was dug to a depth of 35 ft, with about 4 ft of water depth on March 17. During the rainy season, the water depth will be more, and at the end of the dry season, it may be less. We bailed the well and got more than 100 buckets of water (about 300 gallons) in an hour, so the water influx was strong. I believe that it will be sufficient for the village. At any rate, we had worked for 3 days to deepen the well and were unable to, with the tools at hand.

That's all for now. I'll continue with more details on how the wells were installed.

Please give me some comments / feedback about the photos or questions about what we did. Are the photos too large and causing delays in loading? I know that not everyone has the good internet capabilities that I now have. Later!

Success!!

2010-04-16T11:34:00.008-06:00

We have successfully installed wells in 2 villages that previously had none! That is so amazing. It is life-changing for so many people.

The villages of Lowuma and Gbeleyankei are now filling buckets of water from a well, instead of from a stream. The wells were completed last week, after I had left the jungle. The well technician, Koko, said that they celebrated by dancing. I wish that I could have been there, but maybe I can go back next year and see it for myself. I'm posting a photo of Gbeleyankei's stream here.

It was such a wonderful experience for me that I dont know for sure where to start recounting it to you. I decided to tell you the good news first - the success - rather than chronologically. I will continue to make postings on the blog with details of the well construction and my experiences.

The work was all done by hand, as there is no power in the villages (just manpower). The whole village was involved in the work, from bringing sand from the creek to lowering the culverts into the wells. I'm posting a few photos here, to whet your appetite. The people are very hard-working and strong. They dug sand out of the stream to mix concrete for the culverts. In Gbeleyankei (pronounced Bee-yan-kay), they carried buckets of sand on their heads for about 1/3 of a mile. I walked out there with them and took photos, but didn't offer to carry anything back. Women much older than me did, though. I've had a comfortable life, that's for sure.

Besides the 2 new wells, we plan to repair 4 wells that are currently not pumping - in Gatema, Konjade, Kenata, and Kalata. The Gatema repair will be substantial, requiring installation of more culverts. The other 3 wells only require the pump to be set deeper, as they are currently above the water level.

More to come.....

Safe and Sound in Billings

2010-04-15T17:27:00.002-06:00

I am back in Billings, safe and sound. Well, I'm not so sure about the "sound" part - at least mentally! I'm very jet lagged and tired, so my mind is not too sharp. The trip was 35 hrs, from the time the plane left Monrovia until arrival at the Billings airport. Talk about a marathon.
And now, today is April 15, tax day! What bad timing. I have my extension application ready to mail now. The forms weren't even out when I left in December.
It is really nice to be home again. The cats were happy to see me. I was happy to see them, too, and my bed, and my shower! And good internet access again. My apartment upgraded the speed to 8 Mb/sec. I think it was about 0.4 kb/sec in Monrovia - when it was working. So, I will be able to upload lots of photos. I promise to start that tomorrow.

Forgive the wierd English

2010-03-26T10:27:00.001-06:00

I don't know why, but this computer translates to Hebrew and then back to English, so my posting gets changed up a bit. Don't think that I've lost my English language ability! I've tried to fix the "Tyler" thing, but it changes back. So, I think you get the jist of my message, anyway.
Gotta go!
Cindy

I'm in Monrovia again

2010-03-26T10:09:00.003-06:00

I am back in Monrovia, staying at the Lutheran Guest House again. I got back late Sunday night. We had an equipment failure and had to get supplies on Monday. I am staying here, though, because there's not enough time for me to go up and come back again. Transportation is a HUGE issue. Anyway, they should be back to work by now and have two wells completed in a few weeks. We got 2 wells dug and one partially cased. We had to build concrete culverts on site, as you can't exactly haul them by foot. And, I think I mis-spoke. I think I said that the villagers would haul the cement in from the end of the road, carrying it on their backs. They don't carry anything on their backs! They carry everything on their head!!
The computer that I have been using has died, and I've been trying to resurrect it. So far, no go. So, I'm borrowing a computer now, and I don't have the ability to post any photos. They will be coming, though. I took over 400 photos.
The best part of my trip was the people. They were so nice. I got to know some of them quite well. I promise that I'll have lots of stories to post later on.
I have been sick for the last few days after returning from up country (the jungle). I think it was a virus, as I feel fine now. I was so thankful for indoor plumbing!!! And water coming from a tap!!! The people at the Lutheran Guest House were concerned about me and even took me to the clinic for a malaria test. It was negative. The girl reading the test was confused at first, because she had never before seen a negative test. They say here that everyone has malaria. They just live with it.
Well, I've imposed enough on a kind person to use their computer. I promise that there will be more postings when I have the opportunity. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Also, thank you all for supporting the mission. The Kuwaa people need our help so much, and they really appreciate it.
Love,
Cindy

She's baaaack!

2010-03-23T13:48:00.003-06:00

Cindy is back in Monrovia! She arrived a couple days ago but hasn't been able to get online yet. The internet is unreliable, but she is working on getting online with an update.

-Bekki

Up-Country

2010-02-20T12:40:00.003-07:00

Hi everybody,

Cindy wanted me to let you know she left for up-country and will be back in a few weeks. Hopefully she will be back with good news of two wells installed and many latrines!

Keep her and the mission in your prayers.

-Bekki

And....We're Off!

2010-02-08T23:55:00.011-07:00

Not off to the races, and not off our rockers, but off to the bush! Pastor Chris left yesterday with the first of 5 loads of materials and tools for 2 wells in the Kuwaa region. The good people at Lutheran World Federation loaned us their truck for a few weeks. Yes, it will take a few weeks. The road is so bad! You may already be tired of hearing about it. Chris should have arrived with the load last night in Fassama. I won't know anything until he gets back, as there is no cell contact up there. They plan to unload the truck today and rest. Then, tomorrow, they'll head back to Monrovia. We will load the truck on Thursday, and they'll be off again on Friday. This routine will continue (hopefully) until we have all 5 loads up. We expect to have it done by the end of the month. We are storing the materials in an old Connex container in Fassama. There is a lot of old equipment that was left by the logging industry many years ago. We are glad to have the container to store things in. Otherwise, it would be difficult to keep it from being stolen. We asked to have announcements made on the radio to tell the villagers when to arrive to pick up the materials. As I said, there is no cell phone coverage. We don't pick up the radio station here, so I hope that goes well. They should arrive to start carrying loads after the second load from Monrovia is delivered. The well technician will go up on the second trip and walk in to the village with the villagers. There are 25 sacks of cement, well pump, pipe, pump rods, and misc. tools to carry. We will split the sacks of cement in two, bag it in plastic and then rice bags. They have to carry it on their head for about 10 hrs, so 50 pounds is plenty. 100 pounds would be too much. There are 2 villages getting wells. The second village should send people on Feb. 24 to pick up their materials. Pastor Chris will go back and forth with the pickup each time and will be in Fassama to distribute materials. I will go to the first village (Gbeliyankei) next week - Feb. 16. The well technican and I will get that well started. They dig it by hand to about 40 or 50 ft, hauling dirt out with a bucket on a rope. During the dry season (which we are in, right now), the ground is very dry and the hole shouldn't cave in. They dig foot holds into the sides of the hole, to climb up and down. While the hole is being dug, we will cast concrete culverts in 2 ft sections. The hole will be cased with the culverts, which are only a few inches smaller than the hole. We have a pulley to lower the culverts into the well. You should see photos of this when I come back!
We also hope to be able to do repair work on some of the wells in other villages that are not operating. We are bringing a few spare parts. We found about 8 wells that are not working. We will try to educate someone in the village to be able to take care of the well, and I'm preparing log books for them to record the well depth, pump setting depth, work performed, etc.
I also plan to do some education about sanitation. We will have toilets!!! As a card-carrying member of the World Toilet Organization, I will see to it!
I ask for your prayers for the success of the project. It is amazing to think of the difference that we can make in these people's lives! There are about 500 people in each village that will have access to clean water, where all they had before was a muddy stream. It is truly a priviledge for me to be here. I thank you all for your support of the Mission.

Most Gracious Hosts

2010-01-29T00:01:00.005-07:00

The people in the villages were the most gracious hosts. They offered us their best of everything for food and lodging. They have very little by our standards, but what they have, they offered to us. It was very humbling, and I also realized that we could not have survived without their generosity.

The villages varied in size from about 600 to 2000 people. They are farmers that live in town and walk to the farm every day. The smallest village only had about 20 houses, for 600 people. The houses are usually made of sod, with a thatch roof. We tried our hand at making the thatch roof - that's the photo above. The lucky ones have a corrugated metal roof (they call it zinc). They also weave a mat for the ceiling. They do have wooden doors, with a nail in the center for a handle. That reminded me of a hobbit door (from Lord of the Rings). They are also rather short doors and low ceilings. The bath house and toilet (if they have one) are outside. The best bath houses have a gravel floor and bamboo all around, with a cloth door. It's open to the stars. I guess if it's raining, you get a better shower. They use a bucket of water and a pitcher to pour it on. In the cooler weather (less than 80 degrees!), they warmed the water for us over a charcoal fire. That felt nice. I got where I really enjoyed the bath. We were usually very hot and sweaty after walking a long way in the jungle. It felt so good to be clean - at least somewhat clean. Our concept of clean sort of changed! We only brought about 2 changes of clothes, so I had a hiking set and a sleeping set of clothes. After the bath I put on the sleeping set of clothes. I washed my socks and underwear during my bath and hung them to dry. I bought the fast drying nylon stuff for the trip. It worked out pretty well. If it was cool at night, we used the Indonesian sarongs that we had brought, for covers. They have a similar piece of cloth here, called a lapa. I rolled up my extra clothes in a pant leg for a pillow.

I have to say, the worst part of village life is the lack of toilets! I am now an official member of the World Toilet Organization (no joke), and I'm trying to change that. They usually just "go in the bushes", which is rather unsanitary. When the rainy season comes, all of that washes into the streams. Then, lots of people get sick from drinking the creek water. The filters will remove the bacteria and parasites, so that will help a lot.

The food was good, especially after a long hike in the jungle. They always served rice. In fact, they say if you haven't eaten rice during the day, you haven't eaten. Usually, we had some kind of soup with the rice. Stan, the other volunteer, always asked for extra pepper. We call him Indiana Stan. He is really amazing. The soup consisted of "bush meat" or chicken. They have lots of chickens in the villages. The bush meat was what they hunted in the jungle. We really liked the porcupine, but didn't care a lot for monkey meat. Did your mother ever tell you to finish your plate, because there are starving children in Africa? Well, she was right. Malnutrition is very bad here. When we were finished eating, someone always cleaned our plates. And, they eat all parts of the animal - bones, skin, and all.

Well, there is a little insight into village living. They have no electricity or running water. The water is just dipped in a bucket from a stream. But now they have filters to make it safe for drinking! Thanks to all of you for supporting that effort!

Water Well Plans

2010-01-26T08:10:00.007-07:00

We are making plans to return to 2 villages to install water wells for them. During our assessment trek, we found that 8 of the 13 villages we visited do not have a well. Of the 5 that do have wells, 4 have wells that are not working! Oh, the people need so much help.
We currently have funds for only 2 wells, so we have selected Gbeliekei and Lowuma. The villagers in Lowuma have taken it upon themselves to build a clinic and a toilet. They have no well, so we want to put one in for them. The villagers will dig the well to about 45 ft by hand. We are bringing a well expert from Monrovia. There is no road into the area, so we will bring materials to the end of the road, and the villagers will have to carry the materials on their heads along the forest paths. It will take them about 8 to 10 hours one way. We have a total of 50 sacks of cement, two hand pumps, tools, and various accessories. We are having trouble arranging transportation to the end of the road. The cost is outrageous, and we don't want to use all the funds for transportation. Please pray that we find something reasonable. The price is high due to the condition of the road. There are numerous log bridges to cross, and only a pickup or Land Cruiser can make it. So, we're looking at about 5 trips from Monrovia.

Distributing Water Filters

2010-01-24T05:02:00.005-07:00

We visited 13 villages in the Kuwaa Chiefdom, or Belle District of Liberia, over a 2 week period. They don't have road access, so we walked.

We distributed about 90 of the 100 Sawyer Point One Water filters that we brought over. Most of these people do not have any clean drinking water available. They drink directly from the stream, which is, of course, contaminated. These filters are membranes and they remove parasites and bacteria, making it safe to drink. The people were so happy to receive them! Thanks to all of you who donated towards them! One filter has the potential to save many lives. If you didn't have the chance to donate towards the purchase of one, please see the item about donations on the blog - there's still time! We hope to bring them more.

In the mornings, we would have meetings in the center of town, in a "palava". They have a formal type of meeting process, with introductions of the chief, the elders, and us, the guests. They presented us with a "white heart" gift, to honor us. This was a coin, some kola nuts that they chew, and sometimes a live chicken. We also presented them with a white heart gift. Then, they told us their news in the town, and we told them what brought us there. We helped them assemble a filter and then used it. We used these filters for our own drinking water during our trek.

We're Baaack!!

2010-01-23T08:54:00.004-07:00

Just a quick post until the laptop battery dies...

We're back from our 16 day trek, where we walked for about 47 hours and visited 13 Kuwaa villages. We distributed about 90 water filters to give the people safe drinking water. It was such a great experience. Everything went very well. We'll add more later!

Happy New Year - Liberian style

2010-01-01T04:39:00.002-07:00

For New Year's Eve, Bekki and I were fortunate to join a missionary, Bette, at a church service at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Monrovia. It started at 9 pm and was similar to our church services, with some liturgy, bible readings, and hymns. They use the old red hymnals. They are very animated and sing very loudly. They also have a responsive saying that goes:
leader: God is good.
congregation: All the time.
Leader: all the time.
Congregation: God is good.

The Liberians don't usually request things in their prayers. They usually thank God for various things. There was about 1.5 hrs of testimonials, where people got up and talked about what they were thankful for. It was things like good health, just being able to cross the street safely, finding a job, finding the church. They were all dresssed up in colorful clothes, and the women wore wrappings on their hair. Some of the men referred to God as "She"! We didn't think it was appropriate to take photos, so I'm sorry but we don't have any.
At midnight, they all shook hands, and then we made a procession outside into a field, with candles. We all stood in a circle around the Pastor and prayed and sang. This was the one time in the year that they make prayer requests. We wrote our requests on pieces of paper and they piled them up in the middle of the circles, with candles surrounding them. Then they started the papers on fire. My request was for the success of the Kuwaa Mission. I thank you all for praying for our health and safety, and I ask you to also pray for our success.

Happy New Year to you all.

visit to the beach

2010-01-01T04:02:00.006-07:00

We went with Eb and Janelle to the beach near the Guest House. It was nice, relatively clean, with people relaxing, and some people doing gymnastics types of things. Here is a photo of 3 boys doing stunts. They were having lots of fun with it, building human pyramids, swinging each other around. We got our feet wet, but it's not advisable to swim because of the parasites in the water.

The kids liked getting their photos taken. They would keep trying to get in the front of the pack. Then, they always wanted to see themselves on the digital display. They have nothing, but they are so happy.

Be thankful for your water

2010-01-01T03:09:00.002-07:00

I appreciate our good water in the US even more than ever now. A nice shower at the end of a hot, sweaty day feels like heaven. Here in Monrovia, most people don't have running water. They get about 2 jugs of water a day from a community well. We took a photo of one. They have to pay for the water, and they have to haul it. They also have water towers downtown where vendors come to fill similar jugs and deliver them with a cart. Here, where we are staying at the Lutheran Church in Liberia Guest House, they have a reservoir on the roof that gravity feeds to the bathrooms. Usually, the water runs out about mid-day, so we fill a plastic water container and dip out of it. We pour the cool water on ourselves with a pitcher to get a shower. It takes some getting used to a cold shower, but after the heat of the day, it feels good. When we go to the Kuwaa region, they don't even have well water. They bathe in the rivers and ponds. At the end of the dry season, which goes from November to April, the puddles get pretty dirty. They also harbor disease. When I come back from there, I will even appreciate Monrovia water!

HELLO: Helping Encourage Liberia's Little Ones

2009-12-31T03:46:00.007-07:00

December 31, 11:30 AM

Yesterday we went to the Trumpet of God Institute with a couple we met at the Lutheran Compound, where we are staying. Eb and Janelle Flomo are the co-founders of HELLO, Helping Encourage Liberia's Little Ones. They invited us to go with them to TOGI to pass out book bags with school supplies for the teachers and Principal Olive.

Janelle is a middle school teacher in Minnesota. She had her students write to the students at TOGI inviting them to be penpals. While we were there, the students wrote letters back to Janelle's students in Minnesota. We took pictures and videos of the students so that Janelle's class can see who their penpals are.

The students in Liberia have a month off of school, from mid- December to mid-January, so they were on vacation when we came. There were only about 50 of the 200 students at TOGI there. The school was nothing like what you would see in America. I cannot imagine having over 200 people in that small space at one time. The classrooms are open, with no doors and open hallways. It is very hot, 90F on average, and they do not have airconditioning.

There were chickens running around the courtyard and into the classrooms. Also, one of the students had a "pet" rodent called a duk. It was wild but Eb told us he was "taming' it to be a pet. One kid was holding it and it seemed content but when the other students would come up and try to pet it or touch it, it would bite at them and make awful noises. It was scary to be close to but it didn't seem to bother them.

HELLO brings paper, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers and other school supplies that we would consider basic. The students' ages are much higher than we would expect for their grade levels. This is because the civil war significantly disrupted their education. HELLO came to this school in 2006; there were some students that were there then and they got up and spoke. In the three years, many of the students had excelled 4 or 5 grade levels.

I found a razorblade on the ground and quickly picked it up so that it wouldn't get into the wrong hands and someone could cut themselves. I found out, this is what they are using to sharpen their pencils! They have children in kindergarten using razorblades to sharpen pencils?

We had a lot of fun helping the kids with their letters and even explaning to them what snow and sledding is. Before we left, Janelle taught them a song, "Come and Go with Me to My Father's House." They then thanked us for coming and some individual students got up and said thanks.

The school motto is, "Building character for a better future." They also had a lot of encouraging phrases painted on the walls; including, "Knowledge is more valuable than silver and gold."

The biggest problem HELLO has is funding. You can visit their website at:

http://www.helloliberia.org/

-bekki

Taking Care of Business

2009-12-30T10:42:00.002-07:00

We have been taking care of a few items of business around town. It is interesting to see the people and the city. There are a lot of buildings that were damaged during the war, but there is also a lot of re-building going on. The streets are crowded with people in the open air markets, there are lots of taxis, few buses, lots of people walking. The old is mixed with the new. I saw some brand new John Deere farm equipment on the side of the road, and new gas stations being built. Then, I saw gasoline being sold in glass one gallon jars (like pickle jars) on rickety tables by the side of the road.
I'm about out of battery power on the laptop, so I have to go for now. They don't turn on the electricity (or, current, as they call it) until 7 pm, so I'll have to wait to finish this. See ya!

Greetings from Monrovia!

2009-12-29T05:45:00.003-07:00

We are here in Monrovia, staying at the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL) Compound. We arrived on Sunday night from Brussells. We haven't had good internet access, so I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a few days. I'll keep this short to be sure that it gets posted, and then I'll try to add more. Things are going fine. We are trying to get acclimated to the heat and trying to rest up after the trip. We're still not sleeping well at night due to jet lag. So, it's good that we have this time before we head off to the Kuwaa forest. Our Liberian guide, Chris Kowula, met us at the airport. He is the pastor to the Kuwaa people and will be leading us on the trek through the 16 Kuwaa villages.
I'll post this now, before the Internet fails! and, I'll try to get you some photos soon.
Cindy & Bekki

Change of Plans

2009-12-24T08:41:00.002-07:00

Mother Nature doesn't always keep our plans in mind. She changed ours on Tuesday. We went up to the airport for a 9:10 am flight, but the airport was fogged in. We didn't get out, so they re-routed us. Actually, it's the same routing, but different timing. We leave today (12/24) at 1:15 pm, go through Minneapolis, and get to Brussels at 2:15 pm on Christmas Day. We have 2 days in Brussels and then fly to Monrovia on 12/27.

The lemons became lemonaide, if you ask me. Christmas in Brussels? Not bad at all. And 2 days to recuperate from that flight before getting on the next one. I like that, too. And the best part was having 2 days at home when everything was already done! A two-day staycation. I made Christmas sugar cookies, had friends over for dinner, Bekki decorated the gingerbread house, and we played Quiddler. I cleaned the house, too, which felt good. I hate to leave a messy house.

The weather looks good for a departure today - darn good, with a temperature close to zero F.

Many Thanks

2009-12-21T19:18:00.002-07:00

My thanks to all of you for your prayers, financial contributions, for feeding me and giving me a place to stay during my road trip, for running errands for me, giving me great suggestions, taking care of my cats and my mail, and so much more.

Flight Details

2009-12-21T08:04:00.002-07:00

We are approaching the deadline on getting things done before leaving! Yikes! We leave tomorrow, Tuesday 12/22 at 9:10 am from Billings and arrive on Wednesday at 8:20 pm in Monrovia. The time difference is 7 hrs. Here are the flight details:

Blgs-Mpls 9:10 am - 12:08 on Northwest/Compass Airlines

Mpls - Amsterdam 3:25 pm - 6:40 am Wednesday on Northwest / KLM Airlines

Amsterdam - Brussels 9:45 am - 10:35 on KLM Airlines

Brussels - Monrovia, Liberia with a stopover in Abidjan, Ivory Coast 12:00 noon - 8:20 pm on Brussels Air

It sounds like a long flight. I hope we can sleep. Bekki usually has no trouble sleeping, but I don't do as well. I'll be ready for bed when we arrive in Monrovia. Chris Kowula, the Liberian Lutheran Pastor to the Kuwaa people, will pick us up at the airport and take us to the Lutheran Church of Liberia (LCL) Compound guest house. I'm getting pretty excited!!!

Gifts

2009-12-19T10:56:00.003-07:00

I am bringing gifts to the Kuwaa people from America. It was fun picking them out and thinking about what they would find useful. I'm a real bargain hunter, and I found some good buys. I'm bringing some binocculars, pocket knives, flashlights, head lamps, bandanas, jelly shoes, and reading glasses.

I will also buy gifts in Monrovia to bring back to the villagers in February and March. I'll get basic needs such as salt, sugar, and chicken boullion cubes. That really brings home how spoiled we are in the U.S. How would we feel to get chicken boullion as a gift? A lump of coal would be better than that. The villagers would probably really like a lump of coal.

I feel blessed

2009-12-14T16:08:00.003-07:00

Have I said how blessed I feel having this opportunity? I really am blessed. It is such a wonderful opportunity to help people in need. I had been looking for something like this for a long time. And it is such a great group of people that I'm working with. The people on the Kuwaa Mission Board are great! They have a sense of humor, they're committed to the cause, and they're a lot of fun to be around. I also trust them with my life (and Bekki's).

Thanks to all of you, too, who are following my story. And please keep us in your prayers as we travel, asking for safe travels and good health.

Ngala de na fande.

Kristen is Cat Sitting

2009-12-08T19:25:00.003-07:00

Most of you know that I have 2 cats - Kuching and Sassafras. Well, I had been trying to figure out what to do with them while I was in Africa. I can leave them for a weekend, but 4 months is a different story. And, that's way too long to impose upon friends to look after them. Well, I have the perfect situation. My second cousin, Kristen, is stationed in Billings with the Army for a short time. She needed a place to stay, and she loves cats. So, we are roommates! My cousin, Gretchen, on the other side of the family, works with Kristen and she put us in contact with each other. Thank you so much, Gretchen!!!

So, Kristen moved in the first week of November, and the cats love her. She took good care of them while I was gone on my road trip. She will be here until the end of March, and then it won't be long before I'm home.

I am so thankful to have her living here, taking care of the house, and watching the place. We're having a good time together, too. In fact, she's making dinner for me right now! What a deal. I'll do the dishes.

Visiting Jensen's family in Chicago

2009-12-03T11:26:00.005-07:00

I had the pleasure of visiting Jensen Seyenkulo, one of the Kuwaa Mission Board Members, in Chicago on the weekend of November 21-22. Jensen is Liberian, and he lived in a Kuwaa village as a child. He moved to the US when the civil wars started. He is a Lutheran pastor, now working at the ELCA office in Chicago. Jensen is married to a Lutheran pastor, Linda Johnson Seyenkulo, and they have 3 kids. I had the opportunity to go to Linda's church with the family, and Linda introduced me to the congregation.

We had a nice visit. They fed me Liberian food and Chicago-style pizza. They're both delicious and altogether different! Jensen recorded some Kuwaa language onto my laptop, so that I can learn a few phrases.

Thanks to Jensen, Linda, and their 3 kids for sharing their time and home with me.

Bethany Lutheran Church, Slidell, LA

2009-11-25T21:08:00.007-07:00

I had a wonderful visit on November 15 with the congregation at Bethany Lutheran Church in Slidell, Louisiana. They are the congregation that is sponsoring the Kuwaa Mission. I gave them a short presentation about what we are doing this year.

During the month of January, we will walk from village to village and do an assessment. We need to determine the needs, the best locations for wells and latrines, and the pulse of the villagers. They will need to do a lot of work to get the wells and latrines installed. There are no roads into the villages, so they will have to carry materials on their backs. After we complete the assessment, we will return to Monrovia and report to the Kuwaa Mission Board. They will decide upon our plan. Bekki and Stan will go home at the end of January, and I will return with Pastor Chris Kowula to the Kuwaa Chiefdom. We hope to get 2 wells and some latrines installed.

We are bringing 100 portable water filters to the villagers. We will use the filters to clean the water before we use it, and we'll show them how to use them. They are called Sawyer Point One Filters. They remove bacteria and protozoa, using membrane technology. The filters can be backwashed and re-used, so they will last for a long time. Everything that we do will be low-tech, since the villagers will have to maintain it when we leave. If you would like to buy a filter for a family, send a check to Bethany Lutheran Church and earmark it for filters. They cost $40 each. There is a link at the bottom of my blog to the Kuwaa Mission website, where you can find Bethany's address.

The main thing we want to accomplish this year is to give the Kuwaa people hope for a better future. I am really thankful that I have this opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

Spaghetti

2009-11-25T20:52:00.002-07:00

Spaghetti is what I think about the Interstate Highway system. Without my GPS, I would be in trouble. It has been 20 years since I lived in the lower 48 states, and there are a lot more traffic and a lot more roads. I'm suprised at how bad the roads have become. They are so bumpy, especially the concrete insterstates. Some have huge holes in them. I'm glad to see the stimulus money being spent to repair them. And, I have seen lots of construction.

I'm thankful that the weather has been so good. And, I have been able to time my travels to miss big cities during rush hour. I hope the weather holds out until I get back to Bilings.

Traveling in the motorhome has gone well. It's nice to carry my bed along with me. And being able to cook is great. I have had 2 close calls. I stopped at a rest area, and I heard a hissing noise from the back tire when I got out. I called the Good Sam Emergency Road Service, and it was going to cost me $500 to buy a new tire. Along came a truck driver and he aired up the tire, and told me that he thought I could make it the 20 miles into Memphis, because it was a dual tire, on the rear. So, with a prayer, I slowly went into Memphis, where they fixed the tire for $37.05. I'm so glad that I stopped at that rest area when I did, I'm glad I heard that hissing, and I'm glad that the truck driver came along. It could have turned out much worse.

Walking a tightrope

2009-11-25T20:43:00.002-07:00

I finally got used to driving the motorhome. It took some getting used to, though. The first hurdle was the radio. I had brought some audio books from the library, to entertain myself during the long drive. I accidentally got the CD player on shuffle, and I couldn't quite understand what was going on in that book!

My biggest hurdle was at a toll booth in Oklahoma. It wasn't really a hurdle, it was more like a tightrope or a balance beam. Yes, most like a balance beam. I came up to an unmanned toll booth to get a ticket, and when I opened my window, I realized that there is a screen on it. That's different. And, no door by the driver. That's different, too. So, I had to go out the side door, as it's the only door to the motorhome. Well, they don't make those toll lanes very wide, and I couldn't even open the door all of the way. There was a 2.5 ft high concrete barrier in the way. I sucked in my gut, squeezed through the door, and stepped on top of the balance beam. I walked along it to the end, jumped off, and got my ticket. Jumping off proved to be easier than climbing back up, but I made it. By that time, there was a long line of traffic behind me at the toll booth. No wonder that people hate motorhomes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T20:18:00.002-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
I am at my sister's house in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and we're going to my Aunt & Uncle's house tomorrow for dinner. Of course, we will have turkey and all the fixings. If the weather is good, I'll drive the motorhome up and then head out from there towards home on Friday. However, the weather isn't looking that good. It's been 35 degrees and raining all day, and it's supposed to get colder tonight. That sounds like snow to me. And, I'm not driving the motorhome on snowy roads. So far, I've been lucky with the weather and road conditions (except for bumps).
I hope that you all have a great holiday.

Trinity Lutheran Church presentation in Boulder

2009-11-10T20:49:00.004-07:00

I had a wonderful time visiting Don and Karen at their home near Nederland, CO, and on Sunday, I gave a presentation to their church in Boulder. It was at Trinity Lutheran Church, and they had a lot of interest in the mission. I want to thank Don and Karen, Pastor Mark, and all of them for giving me the opportunity to speak to them. Stan Olsen, a Mission Board member from Anchorage, also was there. He had been visiting his brother in Denver and came up for the presentation. Thanks, Stan. He brought me one of the filters that we are taking to the Kuwaa people. I'm impressed that it is so small. It will be easy to carry. And, it removes bacteria, cryptosporidium, and giardia. It's approved by the EPA. I want to buy one for myself. We will take the filters with us and use them while we're there. We have 100 to distribute. That will go a long way towards keeping people healthy. Such a simple thing! It's called a Sawyer Point One filter, and it uses membrane technology.

Boulder, Colorado

2009-11-07T16:24:00.002-07:00

I have arrived in Nederland, Colorado, and am staying with my friends from Anchorage, the Lamprechts. What great weather we're having - in the 70s, and their 2 ft of snow from last week is almost gone. I'm glad that I missed that. The trip down went fine, although a little windy. I have climbed to an elevation of 8650 ft, so it's downhill from here.

Tomorrow I will give a presentation about the Kuwaa Mission at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Boulder. Then, I'll be on the road again. They are expecting another storm on Sunday night, and I need to miss that. Maybe the wind will blow me right to Oklahoma.

Road Trip

2009-11-04T18:49:00.003-07:00

I'm leaving tomorrow on a road trip to raise funds for the Mission. I bought a motorhome (since I don't own a home any more!), and I'm driving it to Louisiana and places in between. The organizing congregation of the mission is in Slidell - across Lake Pontchatrain from New Orleans. I'm giving a presentation on this Sunday in Boulder, Colorado, at the Trinity Lutheran Church. My friends, Don and Karen Lamprecht, set that up for me. Thanks, Don & Karen! I'm looking forward to seeing them. The weather has been great for the last few days, and most of their snow has melted. This area of the country had snow very early - the first week of October. But in the usual fashion, it has melted already. It's supposed to be 70 deg. tomorrow. A great day to start a road trip! I don't know when I'll have Internet access again. I plan to spend the night tomorrow at Walmart in Casper, Wyoming. But, I will catch up with you again. Please pray that I have safe travels.

Supplies

2009-11-02T21:38:00.003-07:00

I have been busy acquiring the supplies that we will need in the bush. One thing is a mosquito net. I found one at the Army Navy store in Billings. I also got some light weight, water proof, breathable backpacks for both Bekki and I. The backpacks we have are more book bags and probably not tough enough to withstand the trip. We will be walking between villages, through the tropical forest. I'd better get some more mosquito repellant, too. And sun screen. I have a hat and some sun-blocking clothing from Orvis and Eddie Bauer. It's strange to think that not all clothing is sun-blocking. I'll know more about that when we get back.

Pin Cushion

2009-10-31T15:24:00.003-06:00

I got the rest of my shots yesterday: typhoid, tetanus-diptheria, and measles-mumps-rubella. I feel like a pin cushion. But I think that's all the shots I need, unless the doctor recommends more.

Getting shots

2009-10-28T16:19:00.002-06:00

So, I have been getting prepared to go to Africa. There are a lot of shots required. I got the yellow fever shot. It made me a little sick, but not as bad as H1N1 flu. I mean the flu, not the shot. I still need a few more. I have to plan when I want to be sick from a shot. It's hard to plan a time to be sick. I have other priorities than being sick. Have to do it some time, though.

Hi there!

2009-10-28T16:05:00.001-06:00

Hi there!

I'm starting a blog to let you know about my upcoming trip to Liberia, Africa. I am leaving on Dec. 22 and will help some remote villages in the Kuwaa region develop potable water and sanitation facilities.

Cindy