Suakoko
July 21, 2009
After a solidly four hour drive…and I do mean four hours…you can tell the progress. The roads are much better, by better I mean less huge pot holes…everything is so much cleaner. I believe at least once a week they have a national clean up day…to remove the trash. You even see regular citizens throughout the day, when they walk by and see trash…they will pick it up and put it in the proper container…
Now, Monrovia is the major city…it is urban and has all those characteristics of high population areas. Suakoko…Gbranga…Bong County…now that is the Interior!!! The Interior is when we really talk ab out ‘Interpreting Differences’ and transitioning cultures…modernization versus traditionalism, young vs. old, or even new generations needing to acquire their future gains through the elders versus the more modern or market based mechanisms of just getting out there and going for yours. Every society, I imagine, has organizations where people engage in their cultural activities; however, in areas such as this (Interior West Africa), young people traditionally were a major part of the participation and this served as a mechanism to transfer cultural values and roles while maintaining the structure of the social group.
One of the many books I read to prepare for this trip, was a piece by John Gay. Gay spent some number of untold decades in this area and really put together some of the most culturally insightful literature I have come across. It is a very quick read, most interesting, and very helpful in regards to developing an appreciation for another way of looking at things. Especially when it comes to the implications of modernization on traditional culture. A lot of transferable lessons…particularly when we look at the conflict between western culture and those dominated by Islam. Red Dust on the Green Leaves…just like the south…the dirt is VERY RED…
After a nice long drive, deep into the Interior…heading North towards Guniea…we arrived at Suakoko. Cuttington University is supported by the Episcopal Church of the United States and is the oldest private four year degree granting institution in sub-saharan Africa…How about that? 🙂
This is the new Gate…when I was here a few months ago…they were just delivering the materials…now it is up and running.
This is where I’ll be working…Will fill you in on my assignment at a later time. But for now, it will include reviewing the service learning curriculum and providing training on such. I will also be providing training on statistical analysis for use in quantitative and policy analysis. All this will include a train the trainer format so that ultimately they have increased capacity to train others. If it is all based on one person, it is useless. If participants can then take the information, culturally modify it if need be, then train the next crew…and the next, and the next, and the next…then we will have done something 🙂
This is the building that I work in…so far anyway for the first few days. It is a new building, just finished a few weeks ago. Guess who built it? The Chinese…still making those inroads!
And inside the building they have given me this quaint little office to use for a time. My office:
During the day, there is a great demand for the internet bandwith….so it can be difficult; so in the future I will post when I can…mostly in the evenings or early mornings I guess.
I’ve got a ton of pics…I’ll post some…but, most will get posted when I get back on my major web-site. Thanks for checking me out and all the hits…makes a person feel like they are actually doing something. Suakoko, Liberia…hell-uv’a long way from almost flunking out of High School 🙂
Suakoko, Here I am!
July 20, 2009
Well, all my arrangements came through…as they eventually do. Sometimes it gets shaky, but with patience it comes through…the experience thus far has been great! The folks at the Royal remember me now from the other trips so it is wonderful to renew old acquaintances and feel comfortable in your environment. Something how four hours of a time difference can really throw you off, maybe I am just getting old, but it is kickin my _ _ _…if you know what I mean…
The good thing about this trip is that I have been here enough to adjust to the initial bombardment of a new experience drastically different than my usual life, so that I can actually soak up some of the deeper nuances and just enjoy. Now I am more careful with my camera for the last thing I want to convey is something negative. And you know, we as Americans can tend to be so caught up in our conveniences, appearances, and simplicities that we are quick to look funny when something isn’t the same or doesn’t appeal to our silly sensibilities. Let me tell you something…there are challenges here…having been through a war this long makes that obvious…but, these people are RICH!!! In so many other ways…they know how to live…which some of us who have abundance could actually learn from them. So…keep that in mind when you go through my Blog and see the pics…
My man Jerry Mbagwe, special assistant to the President of Cuttington University, picked me up from the hotel that morning…and since Jerry is such an excellent reader of people, he knew to immediately take me to the local watering hole and get me a nice cold guiness…this is foreign stout guiness…not that water we get in the States Draught Bottle…yuck! One thing about West Africa…things may get rough, but you can usually find a cold guiness somewhere close 🙂
Janie’s was a great spot…right across the street is the huge empty complex of the Ministry of Defense built when Samuel K. Doe was President. The building was not finished and currently sits empty…I’ll post pictures of that one on my web-site later. After our cold beer, a friend of Jerry’s friend had us over to her home for lunch. It is located right behind Jenie’s…’oh’…let me tell you…the food was so Good! 🙂 We had ‘Rie’…Liberian for Rice…and when you say Liberian…the ber is pronounce beer…as in Libeerian…emphasis on the ‘b’ 🙂 We had Rie, chicken with eggplant and palm oil with African pepper! Now, African pepper is not regular pepper…if you are not ready, or have a weak stomach…it will clean your insides out 🙂 But, I love it…it is so good…now the Palm Oil, if you are not familiar with it…It will make a rubber tire taste good! They take the fruit from the palm tree and gather them up…put them in a press and squeeze it until the oil comes out…imagine somewhat of what they do with Olives to make olive oil…except in this instance we are talking about Palm Oil…it is a staple with rice…
I’m sure my Dr. won’t be happy with me because of the Cholesterol…but, hell what am I supposed to do…the Dr. will say why is it high…I will say, because I ate Palm Oil, Dr. will say why did you do that, ( in a chastising kind of way) and I will say sarcastically…because, it like…”TASTES GOOD” 🙂 ok?
that is my Clean plate on the left…as we might say in Liberia…”Happy Belly”
On my site, I’ll eventually post a brief history on Liberia…suffice it to say for now though that there has been serious conflict off and on since the Military Coup in 1980. The vast majority of the infrastructure was destroyed and untold atrocities visited upon the Liberian people. When I first landed in 2007 on a UN jet, there was a burned out jet with a rocket hole in the side. How do you think you would feel landing next to that 
It was sad to see how bad things were those first few trips. But, I am so proud to say that the Liberian people with the leadership of Madame President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf “O’ Ma” as in “Old Ma” are really making a strong come back!!!
On the way to Suakoko from Monrovia, we passed the new campus for the University of Liberia at Fendall..The Chinese are building it…and if you have been keeping up with China and Africa you can see that they are investing heavily to build relationships…
And on the way past Fendall, of course we saw the rubber trees. A huge component of Liberian foreign relations is comprised of the role of Firestone in the development or lack thereof in Liberia. For those of us in the developed countries, we all know to well the high demand for rubber in our countries. Huge plantations of Rubber trees still comprise the terrain of Liberia…ever seen a Rubber tree? They are the ones off in the distance with the White coloring.
Well, It is getting late…I’ll be posting tomorrow if I get some time. After that I will probably begin to wax eloquent on the spiritual implications of my visit…may be a cross between Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Frost, but I’ll try and keep it together!
Thanks for the support, thus far!
Just a Quick Evening Post
July 19, 2009
Ever been interested in hearing a Liberian Band that plays a full array of Elvis songs…how about Country Music…and you would of never thought that they could play “take me home”…”to a place”…”called”…”West Virginia”…do you think they know about WV… ok, you get the point…it was nice though 🙂 I would of liked to hear some Liberian music…
I always enjoy Elvis, but had to eventually head outside…and there I saw a friend I had previously made. I remember him from last time…his name is ‘Bush Meat’ or ‘Sweat Meat’:
Or as some of the Liberians would say, “Good for Soup” 🙂 Yes, a little Palm Oil and some Rice…our little friend may have a destiny 🙂 I am surprised he has been around this long…well…bless him!
Tomorrow, I’ll be off to the Bush!
http://www.takingownership.org
Just Landed
July 18, 2009
Whew…what a long couple of days…wasn’t as bad a trip as usual. Savannah to Newark to Brussels to Monrovia…each flight was delayed at least one hour for technical difficulties. Glad they are checking the plane though! Left at 12:16, afternoon, from Savannah on Thursday…arrived in Monrovia Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. There is a four hour difference…4:00 in Savannah…8:00 here.
Landing at Roberts field (named after the first President) is always awesome though. The coast is beautiful!!!
This must be one of the better times of the year in terms of weather. Usually, when I come it has been between April and June…smoking hot…when you step off the plane it is like walking into a sauna with all of your clothes on. But, the weather is fairly mild now…a bit of rain everyday…very nice!
On the way to Monrovia, you can see so many positive changes taking place since I first started coming back here in 2007. So much cleaner, roads much nicer…and they have even started building new housing. A big relief since when I first came there was a burned out jet with a hole in it (maybe from a rocket) sitting on the runway. On the way in, you see all the different types of housing, fruit, palm oil and such being sold on the side of the road. This time the driver needed something for home. So we stopped so they could get ‘choco’. Now keep in mind, Liberians speak English…but it is Liberian English…they also speak several different languages…but keep in mind they come from a different family of languages. It takes some time usually to develop an ear for Liberian English…think of it as the emphasis goes to the dominant consonants and vowels..the weaker ones get drowned out…so you really have to listen…even though I have an ear for it…it took me a minute to realize ‘choco’ was really charcoal 🙂 They use it for the ovens to cook ‘te food’ 🙂
Very nice people! Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll be heading out to Suakoko…one thing you learn in Liberia…things don’t always go as you think they might 🙂 It’s ok though…it is a part of ‘Interpreting Differences’. So as technology allows, I will be posting…in the mean time, here are some pics from this a.m…enjoy:
Light traffic on a Saturday Morning:
Young Liberian Boy selling eggs, when I saw him later in the day…he had sold all of his eggs:
Liberian Boy and Girl selling Lettuce:
A major form of transportation in Liberia is the ‘Peh’ Peh’…imagine the sound of a horn on a motor bike, ‘Peh’, ‘Peh’…they are all over the place…everywhere you go…you hear ‘Peh’ ‘Peh’, ‘Peh’ Peh’…in some areas you will see a group of them…called the ‘Peh’ ‘Peh’ boys…sometimes if you give up some money…they’ll give you a ride…at the corner where you may see dozens or more of them…they call that the ‘Peh’ ‘Peh’ station…Liberians are known for how they put together these interesting sayings!!!
This is a common sight…Liberians can’t afford to sit back and be entitled…everywhere you look, somebody is working…like this young Liberian girl carrying her work:
On a typical day you see the yellow cab everywhere. Talk about overload…sometimes when you see them it looks like a college frat party trick…almost to the point of arms and legs hanging out of the car…”They do what they have to do, and get where they need to get to” 🙂
And let us not forget the side street shop…carvings and such…if you need something…stand there long enough and someone will come sell it…well, not everything 🙂
When I find a place with enough internet speed, I’ll be uploading a lot of pics to my website.
Look in the Photo Gallery…
This is life in the city (Monrovia), life in the country looks quite a bit different!
More later!
Interpreting Differences
July 13, 2009
Over the past year, I participated in a seminar called “Interpreting Differences”. People with a variety of differences including race, gender, background got together on multiple occasions to talk about how we interpret situations differently. A lot of good came out of it, as we improved our communication skills and learned to include an appreciation for how others think. Now, I get a chance to take this to another level.
I am on my way to Gbranga, Liberia. Over the years, I have spent time/worked in Liberia on several occasions. However, this time I’ll actually be spending a significant amount of time outside of the capital city (Monrovia) and will be immersed in the rural areas in Bong County. This time I’ll be going back to Liberia as the first Fulbright Specialist working in country since the Civil war began in the early 90’s. Because I’ll be working to expand their capacity to re-build their own country, I’ve spent a significant amount of time studying up on Liberian culture, the Kpelle people, and broader issues facing the country.
One book I read was ‘Mask of Anarchy’…talk about Interpreting Differences!
Interestingly, the Kpelle people migrated to West Africa around the 1500’s. They are the largest clan/tribal group in Liberia. During the era of Human Trafficking, the Kpelle were one of the groups (forest clans) that were regularly rounded up in the Slave Raids by some of the other tribes who participated heavily in the Slave Trade. Completely throw away the notion that it was just the Europeans…some tribes made a living off of the slave trade. To the point where they engaged in armed conflict with others to maintain their lucrative positions in the trade…Look up King Joe Harris (Bassa).
So it really drives personal reflection to go back to Africa as a Fulbright Specialist to work in an area dominated by the Kpelle people…who in large part could actually be my own ancestors.
I’ve got a few more days to prepare…and also make sure I’m caught up on all my work! While I am working in Liberia, I’ll regularly post pics and my thoughts on this Blog. But, I’ll also be posting on my new web-site. I’ve been working on a book over the past couple of years…It should be ready to go to print when I get back. To go with the book, I have a web-site to support the concept : Taking Ownership. So follow along with me on my journey of immersion in West African culture.
My new web-site will be up in a few days: http://www.takingownership.org
It is under construction so be patient with me! If you look in the photo gallery, I’ll also be posting pictures of my various travels. There is a pretty interesting set of photos of Cape Coast Slave Castle in Ghana.
Interpreting these Differences…should be very interesting!
http://www.takingownership.org
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