The only update from the flight last night was that we were on the
plane from Brussels to Abdijan, Ivory Coast and then to Monrovia,
Liberia for TEN HOURS... I definitely had some fanny fatigue going
on...we got to the Monrovia airport at 10 pm instead of 7.20 and we
were immediately immersed in a throng of people. A man named Isaac was
holding a sign for "ACFI guest" and he basically muscled us through to
baggage claim where he got a man to help us with our bags. Then we
stepped out of the airport and were met with hugs from Lillian and
Georgia, both from the ACFI office, in beautiful African dresses. They
had two cars and (blessedly) put me in the one that had A/C. We
traveled about an hour to the ACFI guest house, where Oretha and Kema
were waiting with food. Our rooms were spare but clean and they had
the generator going and two fans in my room. We ate rice, chicken with
black beans, and bread with cold bottled water at around 11:30 pm.
Bishop Kofi is staying there as well so he and the other staff were
immediately enthralled with the picture albums Angel had brought. I
brushed my teeth with my bottled water, set up my mosquito net and
immediately fell into bed. But before I shut my eyes, I thanked God
for allowing me to be here. I could almost cry with joy. I have fallen
in love with the country, the people, everything about it! I am
dripping sweat (seriously, if I don't lose weight while I'm here,
something is definitely wrong... but the food is great! I am drinking
a lot of water and sweating like a pig. Bishop Kofi even commented on
how "cool" I looked this morning as sweat dripped off my nose!) but I
absolutely love love LOVE being here.
This morning i am at the ACFI office while Angel is at an adoption
workers meeting. I am doing some computer work, like setting up a new
router so we can be on the Internet. I have a list of other "jobs" to
do regarding technology, but I am having to adjust my expectations.
When I arrived, I asked for the two office netbooks so I could update
them. They were in Lillian's office. But Lillian's office was locked.
So where is Lillian? She's gone to get the key to her office. Okay,
well, can I just plug my computer in to charge its battery? No, there
is no electricity now because the generator is not on. Why is the
generator not on? Because there is no gasoline in it. Is someone...?
Yes, someone has gone to get gasoline. An hour passes. I hear the
generator start up, so I realize that's the signal that electricity is
available to the offices. Lillian is back with the key. She gets the
two office netbooks. But where is the new router I just pulled out of
my bag? Oh, someone put it in the safe. Can you please get it for me
so I can install it? Here it is. Okay, this is the router, but I need
its electrical cord too. Oh, it's in the safe as well. Could you get
that for me too please? You get the picture...
A man named Klahn-Gbolah just stopped by. Bishop Kofi had called him
to tell him I was here at the ACFI office and I had brought gifts for
him from Ruth Finley and Pat&Melissa Myers in the States. I gave him a
big hug, and his gifts, and he said he was working in the city this
week and maybe we could do lunch later? He goes out to ENI Mission on
the weekends to work on a school building out there (8-9 hours from
Monrovia, through horrible roads)... I told him I would not be able to
see the Mission this trip, but the next time, because this is
definitely not the last time I'm coming to Liberia.
I get to meet Sayfou and Maddie this afternoon. A driver is taking me
to Dixville when Angel gets back from her meeting. My next post should
be very exciting!!!