So I am finally home. That trip is really a killer. The first flight is only 6.5 hours and it's kind of a red-eye so it's ok. We crashed the lobby of a Sheraton at the Brussels airport when we got there because the layover was for 6 hours. About 3 hours in, we got kicked out. So we freshened up in their ultra-modern bathroom and made our way back to the airport. It was frigid out and we of course did not have winter coats with us. It was so nice to see Western things (like Starbucks).
The 2nd flight is the worst. It's 8.5 hours and though there are movies to watch and airplane meals to distract, it's still a long haul. It's hard enough to get through an 8 hour workday never mind sit in the same 3 square feet of space for 8 hours. Thankfully I had a seat between me and my seatmate. It was the first time ever I sat with someone who genuflected over his airplane food. But to each his own. I did get the chance to fill up on girly movies - I watched Baby Mama and Mamma Mia and then a few tv episodes amidst some non-productive naps.
The seats in this airplane each had their own touch screens. But they had games on them and both on the way over AND on the way back I got some adult behind me who just had to play games. As a result my chair was bobbing and they were tapping at the back of my head for hours. I hate planes enough but this was almost enough to drive me batty. But then the people in front of me were ultimately THOSE people. The woman couldn't seem to get comfortable and had to get up over and over again and she had to put her chair as far into my lap as she could. They had a precocious and dramatic 7 year old who laughed out loud at everything he was watching on tv and made annoying comments in his non-airplane voice for the whole 8 hours. I tried to put him in my happy place with ear plugs and an eye mask but my attempts failed. I got through it. I'm a bad flyer, I admit it. I was brought back to when I was twelve at the end of the flight when my stomach didn't cooperate for landing and I searched in haste for the barf bag in my seat pocket. It was really gross. I feel bad for the flight attendants who find those gifts once the plane has emptied.
The worst is being in New York and having to wait for that last 35 minute flight. It was nice to just walk around the airport and enjoy being American again but we must have taxied for 45 minutes once in the plane. That's annoying because the take off time was 425 and the landing time was 600. So you know they factored that all in. Why? I guess until I work for an airport, I'll never understand the scheduling.
Two funny hotel stories I forget to tell you. One night I got back to the hotel and it was like 9 by the time I made it up to my room and I was exceptionally sweaty and tired that day. When I get to room 49, there is no room 49. The door that had the number on it is not there. I figured I hadn't gone to the right floor but sure enough door 50 was on the left. I tried my key in the new numberless door but it didn't work. Of course the phone in the hallway didn't work so I went down a flight where that phone did connect. The guy at the desk was like, oh we had to change that door. I will bring you a new key. So he brings up a new key to my brand new door with no number. It was really bizarre. He didn't think it was bizarre.
Equally as bizarre...Kara's room was initially two doors down from mine. Outside her room was a nice view of the ocean. One night I returned and a floor to ceiling brick wall had been built in that space. So much for the ocean view.
Anyhow, it is beyond wonderful to be back home to my routines, my warm living room, and my shower. It is not nice to have woken up at 330, but it has given me some nice quiet alone time to catch up on things and start making lists. I do love my lists.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Waning
Today I spent the entire day interviewing candidates for the Accountant and Admin. Assistant jobs. Interviewing is always interesting – so many stories to hear, so many paths that got people to the table where they are sitting across from me. Today I heard stories about people’s jobs during the war. I heard the job description repeated back to me word for word as if it had been memorized. I had a man, who, when I asked him to tell me about himself he started with the literal day he was born, told me about where he went to grade school, to high school, and every single job he has had since then. It was 5:45 and I thought I was going to pull my hair out.
I did meet some great candidates. People who were full of energy and really knew what an NGO like ours was looking for. People who wanted to be part of a team and really get involved. People who made sure I understood that the lives of the people of their country and the welfare and health of their neighbors was truly important to them and working on this project was a chance to show their commitment to the cause. I know, it could have been a bunch of BS but I like to think I am a really good judge of character, so grain of salt. I also met a man who was a refugee to Guinea during the war and now he is back.
We heard a story during interviews yesterday about a woman who lived in one of the ‘bush’ counties and had to walk six hours to get to her health center when she was sick. She was given medicine and was walking home when it started to rain. So she had to make a decision if she would just get home and know that her medicine had ruined in the rain, or take it then and there. She took all of the medicine. She didn’t make it. This is some of the education about sickness and preventative medicine that we will be working on. We also have another project here called DELIVER that is working on supply chain management of drugs and medical supplies. It will ensure that no one has to walk six hours to get care and that when they do arrive at their health facilities that the centers are stocked with the appropriate drugs and supplies.
I am exhausted. It has finally caught up with me. I thought about my bratty comments that I wrote yesterday about being ready to give up my crappy shower. I thought, seriously, I’m supposed to be the understanding one. That was really bratty of me. But I thought more and gave myself some flexibility. Though I’ve been on a handful of these ‘adventures’, it’s not how I live. And that is fine, I can be sick of an environment I’m not accustomed to after two weeks. I truly long for my pillows and my shower.
We are sitting in the hotel lounge right now and there is this guy who like permanently lives in the hotel who is talking to this other guy about how the hotel celebrates Christmas with all the visitors that will be here. It seems as though a new crop of expatriates has come in on the last plane. A lot of new faces at breakfast and dinner today and a lot of new people toting their laptops around with them like there’s just not enough to time left in the day.
Ok, last set of pictures ( I think unless there is time tomorrow afternoon before we depart).
Here's a bunch of guys. This is a good example of the idleness I was talking about yesterday. They are hanging outside of a tire store and on the left it looks like 'a place where they cut hair'.
This one has a bit of car window glare but one I like a lot too. Looks like they are preparing to sell bananas and lemons and maybe some grain in that plastic bag...though there are a lot of things sold in little plastic bags. There is a sign on the wall to ask people to help stop exploitation and abuse of women and young girls. I wonder what those women are talking about.
I like this one too - it's kind of an action photo of the guy filling up their canisters at the water pump for the neighborhood. This was outside a Women's Empowerment Cooperative that we visited where they were learning quilting techniques and making beautiful quilts. Someone is selling lemons - this is a typical 'business center'.
You know what was interesting in interviewing is that 80% of the Administrative Assistant candidates were male. Women are still the caretakers of the children here which means they often don't get a chance to go to school (though my women candidates were AWESOME). Our driver's wife said that when her youngest is 2, she will go back to school. One gets the impression though that many women don't ever get that chance though and that men are the bread winners and the ones that get the opportunity to advance themselves and continue learning. Though with an unemployment rate of 80%, neither men nor women at this point have many oppotunities. Anyhow, this is one of the murals on one of the main streets. The President here, Ma Ellen as she's known, is unbelievable. She has stocked her cabinet with strong women leaders too to show the women here that they too can be educated, strong and powerful.
And this is going to be a good one when I have the software to crop it. I don't know what was inside this building that so intrigues these little boys but the red door made it an excellent picture.
I did meet some great candidates. People who were full of energy and really knew what an NGO like ours was looking for. People who wanted to be part of a team and really get involved. People who made sure I understood that the lives of the people of their country and the welfare and health of their neighbors was truly important to them and working on this project was a chance to show their commitment to the cause. I know, it could have been a bunch of BS but I like to think I am a really good judge of character, so grain of salt. I also met a man who was a refugee to Guinea during the war and now he is back.
We heard a story during interviews yesterday about a woman who lived in one of the ‘bush’ counties and had to walk six hours to get to her health center when she was sick. She was given medicine and was walking home when it started to rain. So she had to make a decision if she would just get home and know that her medicine had ruined in the rain, or take it then and there. She took all of the medicine. She didn’t make it. This is some of the education about sickness and preventative medicine that we will be working on. We also have another project here called DELIVER that is working on supply chain management of drugs and medical supplies. It will ensure that no one has to walk six hours to get care and that when they do arrive at their health facilities that the centers are stocked with the appropriate drugs and supplies.
I am exhausted. It has finally caught up with me. I thought about my bratty comments that I wrote yesterday about being ready to give up my crappy shower. I thought, seriously, I’m supposed to be the understanding one. That was really bratty of me. But I thought more and gave myself some flexibility. Though I’ve been on a handful of these ‘adventures’, it’s not how I live. And that is fine, I can be sick of an environment I’m not accustomed to after two weeks. I truly long for my pillows and my shower.
We are sitting in the hotel lounge right now and there is this guy who like permanently lives in the hotel who is talking to this other guy about how the hotel celebrates Christmas with all the visitors that will be here. It seems as though a new crop of expatriates has come in on the last plane. A lot of new faces at breakfast and dinner today and a lot of new people toting their laptops around with them like there’s just not enough to time left in the day.
Ok, last set of pictures ( I think unless there is time tomorrow afternoon before we depart).
Here's a bunch of guys. This is a good example of the idleness I was talking about yesterday. They are hanging outside of a tire store and on the left it looks like 'a place where they cut hair'.
This one has a bit of car window glare but one I like a lot too. Looks like they are preparing to sell bananas and lemons and maybe some grain in that plastic bag...though there are a lot of things sold in little plastic bags. There is a sign on the wall to ask people to help stop exploitation and abuse of women and young girls. I wonder what those women are talking about.
I like this one too - it's kind of an action photo of the guy filling up their canisters at the water pump for the neighborhood. This was outside a Women's Empowerment Cooperative that we visited where they were learning quilting techniques and making beautiful quilts. Someone is selling lemons - this is a typical 'business center'.
You know what was interesting in interviewing is that 80% of the Administrative Assistant candidates were male. Women are still the caretakers of the children here which means they often don't get a chance to go to school (though my women candidates were AWESOME). Our driver's wife said that when her youngest is 2, she will go back to school. One gets the impression though that many women don't ever get that chance though and that men are the bread winners and the ones that get the opportunity to advance themselves and continue learning. Though with an unemployment rate of 80%, neither men nor women at this point have many oppotunities. Anyhow, this is one of the murals on one of the main streets. The President here, Ma Ellen as she's known, is unbelievable. She has stocked her cabinet with strong women leaders too to show the women here that they too can be educated, strong and powerful.
And this is going to be a good one when I have the software to crop it. I don't know what was inside this building that so intrigues these little boys but the red door made it an excellent picture.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Two Working Days Left
I have to say that I don't really have much of content to share with you. We have two working days left. Two more days of the hotel guards who all weigh 100 pounds soaking wet to be trying their pick up lines on Kara. Two more days of sketchy hotel internet. Two more days of my moldy shower curtain and faint sewage smell during my sometimes cold and sometimes pressureless showers. Two more days to get everything done! To get our correspondence in for approval to the US government, to interview 20 more people, to plan the meeting that must take place as soon as Kara arrives back again after Thanksgiving...it can definitely seem daunting. And when generators have to be turned off in the office at night and you are forced to go somewhere (hotel? dinner? colleague's house?) you wonder what work you could be doing and what you're not going to get done. This is a Western issue - that there are not enough hours in the day for work; not enough hours in the day for anything. Which leads me to a little bit of thought.
There are a lot of idle people here. Idle because there is nowhere for them to be but out in the streets. Some people have 'business centers' that they run out of their houses. They sell anything from candy, to coconuts, to phone scratch cards, to manicures. There are the people who sell things walking up and down the streets. But for the great part of the population who is not employed, there is just idle time spent standing around, I assume trying to find a way to make a buck. At night, there are people just milling around out on the streets in front of houses and businesses. Since there are no street lights and it is pitch dark, I don't know what they're doing. But I do know that we all go home. We have the opportunity to make our homes comfortable and a place we want to spend time. I expect a lot of these folks do all they can to keep from being sequestered in their little abodes. That being outside is freeing to an extent and doesn't confine the body and the mind like four walls can. It's weird to drive to the hotel from work and see so many people milling around. During the day, it is interesting to see everyone - women braiding each other's hair, men working on bikes and cars, people selling things, people cooking, people washing clothes and children...everything is right there for you to see. This is how some keep from just being idle.
Then there's us. Never enough time. Never enough bandwidth. Never enough internet. As if there aren't enough disparities already. I myself have huge issues with being idle. I'd like to think of it in the context of relaxing. I don't know why I'm so bad at relaxing - part of the culture, part of being an over-achiever, part of being an opportunist. I wish I could find the medium. And I know I can, I know I can turn off the computer. I know I could work on relationships more and read more and just enjoy being idle. The dichotomy between what my 'idle' should be and what 'idle' this population is forced into is another bothersome characteristic of being and working here for me.
Ok pictures!
Certainly no electricity or machines to wash and dry clothes for most people. This is the most common method of drying clothes:
Oh I forgot to tell you that yesterday we saw 4 potential office spaces. This is the outside of one of the ones that had more potential. Yes it's in shambles. Yes it's gutted. But what you can't see is that it's its own compound with its own gate, room for cars to park inside and has the bones and room setup to promote team collaboration with all team members sitting on the same floor and near each other. It has this lovely porch and nice vegetation too. It is in an area that Betsy calls the NGO ghetto, but right off the beach. Oh there are so many people who live right on the beach. Real estate that would garner millions of dollars in the States. We are certain that when tourism makes its big bang here that a lot of people are going to be paid off to find another place to live. Both good and bad consequences to that...you decide.
This is another one I really like. It's right outside the Ministry of Health. Whoops, I just realized that there's a picture of a person doing his business in this picture. I think this is a mural to tell people how to stop diahrhea. But there are murals and public service announcements like this around town. I've seen a lot of HIV/AIDS cartoons on telephone polls recently published by the UN I think.
And this is a picture from our ride to work that we take everyone morning. We pass by a school for health workers that is run by nuns. The Ministry of Gender is also here so there are professionals in the street getting ready for the work day.
See you Thursday!
There are a lot of idle people here. Idle because there is nowhere for them to be but out in the streets. Some people have 'business centers' that they run out of their houses. They sell anything from candy, to coconuts, to phone scratch cards, to manicures. There are the people who sell things walking up and down the streets. But for the great part of the population who is not employed, there is just idle time spent standing around, I assume trying to find a way to make a buck. At night, there are people just milling around out on the streets in front of houses and businesses. Since there are no street lights and it is pitch dark, I don't know what they're doing. But I do know that we all go home. We have the opportunity to make our homes comfortable and a place we want to spend time. I expect a lot of these folks do all they can to keep from being sequestered in their little abodes. That being outside is freeing to an extent and doesn't confine the body and the mind like four walls can. It's weird to drive to the hotel from work and see so many people milling around. During the day, it is interesting to see everyone - women braiding each other's hair, men working on bikes and cars, people selling things, people cooking, people washing clothes and children...everything is right there for you to see. This is how some keep from just being idle.
Then there's us. Never enough time. Never enough bandwidth. Never enough internet. As if there aren't enough disparities already. I myself have huge issues with being idle. I'd like to think of it in the context of relaxing. I don't know why I'm so bad at relaxing - part of the culture, part of being an over-achiever, part of being an opportunist. I wish I could find the medium. And I know I can, I know I can turn off the computer. I know I could work on relationships more and read more and just enjoy being idle. The dichotomy between what my 'idle' should be and what 'idle' this population is forced into is another bothersome characteristic of being and working here for me.
Ok pictures!
Certainly no electricity or machines to wash and dry clothes for most people. This is the most common method of drying clothes:
Oh I forgot to tell you that yesterday we saw 4 potential office spaces. This is the outside of one of the ones that had more potential. Yes it's in shambles. Yes it's gutted. But what you can't see is that it's its own compound with its own gate, room for cars to park inside and has the bones and room setup to promote team collaboration with all team members sitting on the same floor and near each other. It has this lovely porch and nice vegetation too. It is in an area that Betsy calls the NGO ghetto, but right off the beach. Oh there are so many people who live right on the beach. Real estate that would garner millions of dollars in the States. We are certain that when tourism makes its big bang here that a lot of people are going to be paid off to find another place to live. Both good and bad consequences to that...you decide.
This is another one I really like. It's right outside the Ministry of Health. Whoops, I just realized that there's a picture of a person doing his business in this picture. I think this is a mural to tell people how to stop diahrhea. But there are murals and public service announcements like this around town. I've seen a lot of HIV/AIDS cartoons on telephone polls recently published by the UN I think.
And this is a picture from our ride to work that we take everyone morning. We pass by a school for health workers that is run by nuns. The Ministry of Gender is also here so there are professionals in the street getting ready for the work day.
See you Thursday!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Well the internet was giving us a lot of problems at the hotel this weekend so my blog posting has been delayed. I also didn’t leave the office AT ALL yesterday so I didn’t do any drive by photographing.
Sunday at the beach was indeed lovely. Though it is still awkward for me to go in a caravan of white girls to a beach where there are a bunch of white people lounging around (there were a handful of Africans there too) with Liberian kids sitting on the fringes of the beach area waiting for leftover food. That all being said, Kara and I and the rest of the ladies all went in the ocean which was toasty warm and had a real strong undertow. The ladies said that the tow wasn’t too bad that day and it’s often much stronger and you really have to watch out for one another. I didn’t go too far in because the floor wasn’t flat and it rose and fell so you never knew where your next step would lead you…very Liberia.
After a quick game of Scrabble we headed back to the hotel with our newfound tans and opened our computers for the first time that day. What a treat to not be on our computers all day.
Here’s a picture of Kara at the party we went to on Saturday with the impending storm behind her. The storm didn’t end up being that bad, but the clouds sure were ominous!
This is a picture of the street that crazy market was on that was so densely populated that we drove through getting to the party.
There is always so much going on in these pictures – There is a kid carrying 2x4’s in a wheelbarrow, there are people dressed in traditional and Western clothes, there are the omnipresent women with amazing posture carrying such heavy things on their heads. So many things to see here all the time.
With our end in sight, getting things done suddenly takes on a new urgency. We have shortlisted our 140+ candidates and gotten our total interview group down to about 35. This is our main task for the next three days. Today we also looked at 4 more potential spaces for office which ran the gamut from too fancy and too overpriced, to modest and habitable. It will be interesting for me, who will not be involved in the project after I leave here, to see what they choose and how they decide to move forward.
On my mind, because it’s time for a philosophical rant, is investment. There is a lot of monetary investment in Liberia. Unlike many of the other countries we work in, NGOs and the UN are still running the lives of the population here. They are providing both the infrastructure and more often than not, the service delivery of healthcare, food, security, and training to both professionals (healthcare providers, teachers, ministries) and to the general population to learn skills and trades to help them lead better quality lives. There ARE schools that run independently and people certainly do make a living, but the NGOs build capacity (big developing country lingo) of people and institutions to make the country stronger from the ground up. I think of what that must be like, wonder if the people here think it’s good or bad or if they’re ambivalent. Wonder if they are happy that there is so much international presence and if they think it’s really helping them personally.
Which brings me to personal investment. I myself am not overly patriotic. That is not to say that I am not patriotic. I am apathetic I guess most of the time. When I am abroad, I am absolutely not apathetic and am very thankful that my life is so easy and my that my daily decisions won’t affect if I have food on the table or if I’ll be able to make money the next day to then put food on my table that night. I remember working in Ukraine and how annoyed I got at how clear it was that everyone was out for himself. Not that I blame these people; if I lived there, I would fight for number 1 too. But any group as small or as big as it is, a school workgroup or a country, if there are people who are only looking out for themselves then there will never be complete progress. Achieving the best results will always be undermined by the guy who doesn’t want the best for the group. In a country where you have to fight so hard to stay afloat, where you’re competing against your neighbor to sell the next piece of 5 cent candy or the next can of Coke, or if you have to spend your weekly check to pay a black market doctor to make sure you are getting care that you trust and know is effective, how can you possibly be thinking of the greater good of the country at the same time?
On the streets of Liberia there are tons of billboards and painted signs on walls that tell the people to pay their taxes to invest in the welfare of its people and to not be ‘visionless’ in their quest for self-improvement and think of the growth that the country needs. It’s a great goal to ask people to think about the aggregate and to think about their neighbors but is realistic? There are plenty of wealthy people in Liberia, in Ukraine, in all the countries we work in. They have the ability to think about others. We in America have the ability to build ourselves up individually while contributing to the greater good at the same time, even if it’s just in small ways like throwing money into the Salvation Army red bucket. It’s not even just a frame of mind that needs to be changed in Liberia – it has so many more levels. I can’t help but be reminded of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, and forgive me if I’m getting all pedagogy on you here. Maslow’s depiction of the pyramid of needs and how they are fulfilled throughout a person’s life if s/he progresses up the pyramid isn’t limited to one population. People need money. It doesn’t matter where you are; love does not put food in bellies, as romantic as having a loving family and partner may be in the question of survival. Having access to and the ability to buy the food and essential. The bottom of the pyramid is the animal version of the romanticism I described above, though homeostasis is entirely objective. I would say that many, many people’s lives here can be frantic and the productivity of the next day can certainly be unknown. I feel like the second level is the hardest for not only people here, but even in the States, to completely achieve and ‘move out of’, if you will.
This is an unfinished thought, though it’s a concept I think about all the time, not only here but at home too in my own neighborhood and it is one of the reasons why I will always work in the community and why I will always be working on moving communities and people up to the next level in their own pyramids. I guess as a social worker, I’m a lifer.
I leave you with a picture and a story (this is a long post, did you really have time to read all of this?).
This is a movie theater that was destroyed and looted during the war. The realtor who was showing us apartment space next to it said that he remembered going to Saturday morning cartoons there. Our Office Manager remembers going there with all the other kids. It’s in disarray now with people squatting in it, now doubt sleeping there at nights. The inside, I imagine is a disgusting mess. The outside is another daily reminder to the people who travel this busy street of the horror that is behind them and what may someday be again.
Sunday at the beach was indeed lovely. Though it is still awkward for me to go in a caravan of white girls to a beach where there are a bunch of white people lounging around (there were a handful of Africans there too) with Liberian kids sitting on the fringes of the beach area waiting for leftover food. That all being said, Kara and I and the rest of the ladies all went in the ocean which was toasty warm and had a real strong undertow. The ladies said that the tow wasn’t too bad that day and it’s often much stronger and you really have to watch out for one another. I didn’t go too far in because the floor wasn’t flat and it rose and fell so you never knew where your next step would lead you…very Liberia.
After a quick game of Scrabble we headed back to the hotel with our newfound tans and opened our computers for the first time that day. What a treat to not be on our computers all day.
Here’s a picture of Kara at the party we went to on Saturday with the impending storm behind her. The storm didn’t end up being that bad, but the clouds sure were ominous!
This is a picture of the street that crazy market was on that was so densely populated that we drove through getting to the party.
There is always so much going on in these pictures – There is a kid carrying 2x4’s in a wheelbarrow, there are people dressed in traditional and Western clothes, there are the omnipresent women with amazing posture carrying such heavy things on their heads. So many things to see here all the time.
With our end in sight, getting things done suddenly takes on a new urgency. We have shortlisted our 140+ candidates and gotten our total interview group down to about 35. This is our main task for the next three days. Today we also looked at 4 more potential spaces for office which ran the gamut from too fancy and too overpriced, to modest and habitable. It will be interesting for me, who will not be involved in the project after I leave here, to see what they choose and how they decide to move forward.
On my mind, because it’s time for a philosophical rant, is investment. There is a lot of monetary investment in Liberia. Unlike many of the other countries we work in, NGOs and the UN are still running the lives of the population here. They are providing both the infrastructure and more often than not, the service delivery of healthcare, food, security, and training to both professionals (healthcare providers, teachers, ministries) and to the general population to learn skills and trades to help them lead better quality lives. There ARE schools that run independently and people certainly do make a living, but the NGOs build capacity (big developing country lingo) of people and institutions to make the country stronger from the ground up. I think of what that must be like, wonder if the people here think it’s good or bad or if they’re ambivalent. Wonder if they are happy that there is so much international presence and if they think it’s really helping them personally.
Which brings me to personal investment. I myself am not overly patriotic. That is not to say that I am not patriotic. I am apathetic I guess most of the time. When I am abroad, I am absolutely not apathetic and am very thankful that my life is so easy and my that my daily decisions won’t affect if I have food on the table or if I’ll be able to make money the next day to then put food on my table that night. I remember working in Ukraine and how annoyed I got at how clear it was that everyone was out for himself. Not that I blame these people; if I lived there, I would fight for number 1 too. But any group as small or as big as it is, a school workgroup or a country, if there are people who are only looking out for themselves then there will never be complete progress. Achieving the best results will always be undermined by the guy who doesn’t want the best for the group. In a country where you have to fight so hard to stay afloat, where you’re competing against your neighbor to sell the next piece of 5 cent candy or the next can of Coke, or if you have to spend your weekly check to pay a black market doctor to make sure you are getting care that you trust and know is effective, how can you possibly be thinking of the greater good of the country at the same time?
On the streets of Liberia there are tons of billboards and painted signs on walls that tell the people to pay their taxes to invest in the welfare of its people and to not be ‘visionless’ in their quest for self-improvement and think of the growth that the country needs. It’s a great goal to ask people to think about the aggregate and to think about their neighbors but is realistic? There are plenty of wealthy people in Liberia, in Ukraine, in all the countries we work in. They have the ability to think about others. We in America have the ability to build ourselves up individually while contributing to the greater good at the same time, even if it’s just in small ways like throwing money into the Salvation Army red bucket. It’s not even just a frame of mind that needs to be changed in Liberia – it has so many more levels. I can’t help but be reminded of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, and forgive me if I’m getting all pedagogy on you here. Maslow’s depiction of the pyramid of needs and how they are fulfilled throughout a person’s life if s/he progresses up the pyramid isn’t limited to one population. People need money. It doesn’t matter where you are; love does not put food in bellies, as romantic as having a loving family and partner may be in the question of survival. Having access to and the ability to buy the food and essential. The bottom of the pyramid is the animal version of the romanticism I described above, though homeostasis is entirely objective. I would say that many, many people’s lives here can be frantic and the productivity of the next day can certainly be unknown. I feel like the second level is the hardest for not only people here, but even in the States, to completely achieve and ‘move out of’, if you will.
This is an unfinished thought, though it’s a concept I think about all the time, not only here but at home too in my own neighborhood and it is one of the reasons why I will always work in the community and why I will always be working on moving communities and people up to the next level in their own pyramids. I guess as a social worker, I’m a lifer.
I leave you with a picture and a story (this is a long post, did you really have time to read all of this?).
This is a movie theater that was destroyed and looted during the war. The realtor who was showing us apartment space next to it said that he remembered going to Saturday morning cartoons there. Our Office Manager remembers going there with all the other kids. It’s in disarray now with people squatting in it, now doubt sleeping there at nights. The inside, I imagine is a disgusting mess. The outside is another daily reminder to the people who travel this busy street of the horror that is behind them and what may someday be again.
It has been a surprisingly relaxed weekend so far and even included a little working out, a little resting in the sun, and a party! What more could you ask for for a Saturday? We deserve it though…what a week.
We, and by we I mean mostly Betsy, spent a lot of time during our first week planning for the launch event for the project. There needs to be an event where press are invited and the project gets an ‘official’ launch to activities by the US Government and the Ministry of Health (these are the players in every country we work in). So the event was held at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and all the big names were invited. The US Ambassador to Liberia was there, the Minister of Health was there, and the Director of the USAID Mission was there. There were a few dozens Ministry of Health employees, some other health care workers, and dozens of people just standing about (there is a lot of idle standing about here…people looking for a buck or a way to make a buck. At least they are allowed to stand around off the street?).
All the big name people gave short speeches. The ones from the US government were typical – we look forward to making this a mutually beneficial relationship and helping Liberians to help themselves blah blah blah. The Minister of Health who had just left a meeting on corruption brought the subject into his speech and said the fastest way to get kicked out of work being done by the Ministry of Health is to steal. He was actually pretty funny. He emphasized that until we eliminate corruption from all ministries and all work being done to help the people, then we aren’t fully doing our work. True that! Best of all was the MC who is the Deputy Minister of Planning at the Ministry (yes there are lots of titles and you have to use them all the time; I could never be in politics! Just call me Miss Kristen!) who spoke like a Minister and roused the crowd like we were in a Sunday sermon. He spoke about Lifting Up! Liberians and helping Liberians lift themselves up. Everyone chanted in response, Lift Up! With the call and response and the opening and closing prayers I was quite certain that there was no line to be drawn between church and state. We celebrated with a catered meal of traditional Liberian food around a big conference room table.
Yesterday, after a little trippage to the gym and some time out by the pool ( I know, the hardship, right?) Betsy brought us with her up a long, long road to CeCe beach where her friends were holding themselves an engagement party. It was really quite cool.
This was down the long, long road where there was this ENORMOUS market on both sides of the street and THOUSANDS of people in the road and in the market. It was so densely packed with cars and people and goods that I got a little overwhelmed!
They are a couple of expatriate friends also doing work here and had invited their friends, both expatriate and Liberian to celebrate. There was traditional Liberian food, dancing, and oh! the location! You could have mistaken it for a beach bar on the Cape. It was such a 180 from downtown Monrovia – beautiful sand beach, little huts to sit under, an amazing ocean view…it was just what we needed! We had traditional Liberian food. Here’s a picture – rice, plantains, skewered chicken (kind of barbecued), and then a dish we keep seeing which is a combination of greens, fish, beef, and chicken.
I’m not a fan but apparently, I’m in the minority.
It’s Sunday morning and Kara and I are just taking it slow before heading back out with some friends to a different beach for the day. There are a handful of people in the hotel lounge and on the patio reading, doing whatever we all do on our computers, and taking it slow. It is sure to be a busy week so it’s good to get to have some deliberate down time now. Kara and I are going to take a walk up to the American Embassy where there are people selling overpriced stuff – it’s like hawkers alley. Makes me a little nervous but a good exercise in just saying, no, no thank you. This is such a departure from my over-scheduled and over-planned daily life at home. When the generator goes off at 6pm, you just stop working. What a good excuse to just turn things off and find other ways to spend your time – cooking, reading, enjoying friends. Isn’t that really how it’s supposed to be?
We, and by we I mean mostly Betsy, spent a lot of time during our first week planning for the launch event for the project. There needs to be an event where press are invited and the project gets an ‘official’ launch to activities by the US Government and the Ministry of Health (these are the players in every country we work in). So the event was held at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and all the big names were invited. The US Ambassador to Liberia was there, the Minister of Health was there, and the Director of the USAID Mission was there. There were a few dozens Ministry of Health employees, some other health care workers, and dozens of people just standing about (there is a lot of idle standing about here…people looking for a buck or a way to make a buck. At least they are allowed to stand around off the street?).
All the big name people gave short speeches. The ones from the US government were typical – we look forward to making this a mutually beneficial relationship and helping Liberians to help themselves blah blah blah. The Minister of Health who had just left a meeting on corruption brought the subject into his speech and said the fastest way to get kicked out of work being done by the Ministry of Health is to steal. He was actually pretty funny. He emphasized that until we eliminate corruption from all ministries and all work being done to help the people, then we aren’t fully doing our work. True that! Best of all was the MC who is the Deputy Minister of Planning at the Ministry (yes there are lots of titles and you have to use them all the time; I could never be in politics! Just call me Miss Kristen!) who spoke like a Minister and roused the crowd like we were in a Sunday sermon. He spoke about Lifting Up! Liberians and helping Liberians lift themselves up. Everyone chanted in response, Lift Up! With the call and response and the opening and closing prayers I was quite certain that there was no line to be drawn between church and state. We celebrated with a catered meal of traditional Liberian food around a big conference room table.
Yesterday, after a little trippage to the gym and some time out by the pool ( I know, the hardship, right?) Betsy brought us with her up a long, long road to CeCe beach where her friends were holding themselves an engagement party. It was really quite cool.
This was down the long, long road where there was this ENORMOUS market on both sides of the street and THOUSANDS of people in the road and in the market. It was so densely packed with cars and people and goods that I got a little overwhelmed!
They are a couple of expatriate friends also doing work here and had invited their friends, both expatriate and Liberian to celebrate. There was traditional Liberian food, dancing, and oh! the location! You could have mistaken it for a beach bar on the Cape. It was such a 180 from downtown Monrovia – beautiful sand beach, little huts to sit under, an amazing ocean view…it was just what we needed! We had traditional Liberian food. Here’s a picture – rice, plantains, skewered chicken (kind of barbecued), and then a dish we keep seeing which is a combination of greens, fish, beef, and chicken.
I’m not a fan but apparently, I’m in the minority.
It’s Sunday morning and Kara and I are just taking it slow before heading back out with some friends to a different beach for the day. There are a handful of people in the hotel lounge and on the patio reading, doing whatever we all do on our computers, and taking it slow. It is sure to be a busy week so it’s good to get to have some deliberate down time now. Kara and I are going to take a walk up to the American Embassy where there are people selling overpriced stuff – it’s like hawkers alley. Makes me a little nervous but a good exercise in just saying, no, no thank you. This is such a departure from my over-scheduled and over-planned daily life at home. When the generator goes off at 6pm, you just stop working. What a good excuse to just turn things off and find other ways to spend your time – cooking, reading, enjoying friends. Isn’t that really how it’s supposed to be?
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Stories from the Front Lines
Yesterday we ended tying up a lot of loose ends mostly because we were able to meet with the US government to clarify a few things. Due to this meeting, at 6:45 last night Kara was able to get these important waivers out that will allow us, when approved, to pay the salaries of government employees who are working in clinics throughout Liberia. So that was a big win for us.
We have gotten dozens and dozens of job applications, especially for the driver position. It will make it hard to choose who to short list next week.
We ended our day at Bamboo bar, which sounds exactly like its title where we talked over wine and dinner. The woman who joined us is a Fellow at the Ministry of Gender where there is big news this week about the Gender Minister being highly visible and involved in the trial of a man accused of raping a 2 year old. **Warning** More disturbing story to follow. Scroll down to pictures if this is too disturbing.
Rape is one of the many really bad problems still facing Liberia. Because there is no data on its prevalence it has been hard to track. Emily, the woman who works at the Ministry of Gender, told us that in a poll 58% of women said that they were raped during the war. I won't go into the details but there are multiple horrible scenarios that soldiers would force women and their children into to exert their power. There are multiple factors attributing to the continuance of women and especially children being raped even though the government has imposed a life sentence for those convicted. There are culture, gender and power, and paradigm issues about what's right and wrong that are intertwined. While there is some money for communication campaigns - radio ads and billboards - changing behavior given all of the variables is a huge task. Add into the pot that there is likely a high rate of mental health problems in the general population due, in part, to the atrocities of the war. In the meantime, there is still a huge stigma involved for women who have been raped. Emily said that very often husbands will not go back to their wives because the rape is looked at as being her fault and now she is dirty.
At the same time thousands of rapes are being reported a year. Last year, the justice system convicted FOUR men of the crime. Corruption and padding the pockets of those in the system is typical. The systems needed to prosecute and convict often are just not strong enough and the justice system is so overloaded. The jails don't have the money to feed prisoners more than once a day even if they do get convicted. Can you imagine being the leaders of this country trying to figure out how to make all of these changes?
So the long and short of the story is that the Minister of Gender has had it and she said she is going to be involved in this case to make sure justice is served. Unfortunately, because it's been so high-profile it risks the chance of getting thrown out of court because the defendent has not had a fair trial. Sadly, this man was a daycare provider and may be back in the schools with other defenseless children. Hopefully, this Minister, playing the unpopular role and probably getting herself into a lot of hot water and even danger, will emerge the victor and the risks she is taking speaking her mind for important change in the justice system will be the catalyst that the country needs to move forward on this issue.
Phew, tough topic. There are so many stories here all the time. Here are some pictures:
This is a pretty typical side of the street view. People drying their clothes and selling their wares amongst the rubble of what was once a habitable building.
Here is a little field I've seen soccer matches in. This was in the early afternoon when the kids had all streamed out of their schools in their colorful uniforms. It's pretty cool about 2 oclock when there are hundreds of kids in uniforms of every color out on the street.
And along with the theme of my fascination of all the myriad things people can carry on their heads, this woman was selling fish! We had the opportunity to meet with a caterer who will be catering our event today and she brought us a traditional
Liberian dish with fish, crawfish, beef (mmm, maybe beef skin?) and chicken with seasoned rice. The fish looked like what is on this woman's head. I stuck to the chicken and rice because as daring as I like to think I am, beef skin did not look appealing.
We also spent time talking to our driver about the use of mosquito nets. I feel like most people around the world know that the distribution of mosquito nets is a task development organizations have taken on en force in the past few years. There are a ton of issues involved in not only the delivery of them, especially to remote areas, but the use of them once they have been delivered.
Our driver was telling us that he has a bed net for his newborn, but he and his wife and their toddler son do no use the nets. The nets are insecticide treated to prevent mosquitos who may be infected with malaria from landing on someone while they sleep. What I didn't know and what he told us was that they are heavy and hot and don't allow air in. They have an insecticide smell and make sleeping harder. He said if you have electricity (not so common here) then you can have a fan and that makes it hard for the mosquitos to land. It seemed from what he said that most people, or at least he, takes their chances. One of JSI's projects (not through this project but through one of our global projects called DELIVER) involves stocking and distribution of drugs throughout countries (warehousing and supply chain management). It is working in Liberia to make sure there are drugs, especially malaria drugs because malaria is the biggest killer here, from the big city out to the rural provinces. But there is a ton of money going into the production and distribution of bed nets and if our driver is any sort of example, they're not being used deliberately by people who have information about their effectiveness AND the consequences of malaria.
Here's one last picture. I will forever love this picture because I took a picture of these women the last time I was here but they are so elderly and I didn't want to be intrusive so I took it and moved too fast last time to hide in the car. I took an extra second this time. What I love about it is 1) the colors; 2)these are older women here and the average lifespan for women is like 45 so these women have SURVIVED; and 3)it's just so Liberia altogether. But they looked so hot and so tired, I wish there was something I could do for them.
We have gotten dozens and dozens of job applications, especially for the driver position. It will make it hard to choose who to short list next week.
We ended our day at Bamboo bar, which sounds exactly like its title where we talked over wine and dinner. The woman who joined us is a Fellow at the Ministry of Gender where there is big news this week about the Gender Minister being highly visible and involved in the trial of a man accused of raping a 2 year old. **Warning** More disturbing story to follow. Scroll down to pictures if this is too disturbing.
Rape is one of the many really bad problems still facing Liberia. Because there is no data on its prevalence it has been hard to track. Emily, the woman who works at the Ministry of Gender, told us that in a poll 58% of women said that they were raped during the war. I won't go into the details but there are multiple horrible scenarios that soldiers would force women and their children into to exert their power. There are multiple factors attributing to the continuance of women and especially children being raped even though the government has imposed a life sentence for those convicted. There are culture, gender and power, and paradigm issues about what's right and wrong that are intertwined. While there is some money for communication campaigns - radio ads and billboards - changing behavior given all of the variables is a huge task. Add into the pot that there is likely a high rate of mental health problems in the general population due, in part, to the atrocities of the war. In the meantime, there is still a huge stigma involved for women who have been raped. Emily said that very often husbands will not go back to their wives because the rape is looked at as being her fault and now she is dirty.
At the same time thousands of rapes are being reported a year. Last year, the justice system convicted FOUR men of the crime. Corruption and padding the pockets of those in the system is typical. The systems needed to prosecute and convict often are just not strong enough and the justice system is so overloaded. The jails don't have the money to feed prisoners more than once a day even if they do get convicted. Can you imagine being the leaders of this country trying to figure out how to make all of these changes?
So the long and short of the story is that the Minister of Gender has had it and she said she is going to be involved in this case to make sure justice is served. Unfortunately, because it's been so high-profile it risks the chance of getting thrown out of court because the defendent has not had a fair trial. Sadly, this man was a daycare provider and may be back in the schools with other defenseless children. Hopefully, this Minister, playing the unpopular role and probably getting herself into a lot of hot water and even danger, will emerge the victor and the risks she is taking speaking her mind for important change in the justice system will be the catalyst that the country needs to move forward on this issue.
Phew, tough topic. There are so many stories here all the time. Here are some pictures:
This is a pretty typical side of the street view. People drying their clothes and selling their wares amongst the rubble of what was once a habitable building.
Here is a little field I've seen soccer matches in. This was in the early afternoon when the kids had all streamed out of their schools in their colorful uniforms. It's pretty cool about 2 oclock when there are hundreds of kids in uniforms of every color out on the street.
And along with the theme of my fascination of all the myriad things people can carry on their heads, this woman was selling fish! We had the opportunity to meet with a caterer who will be catering our event today and she brought us a traditional
Liberian dish with fish, crawfish, beef (mmm, maybe beef skin?) and chicken with seasoned rice. The fish looked like what is on this woman's head. I stuck to the chicken and rice because as daring as I like to think I am, beef skin did not look appealing.
We also spent time talking to our driver about the use of mosquito nets. I feel like most people around the world know that the distribution of mosquito nets is a task development organizations have taken on en force in the past few years. There are a ton of issues involved in not only the delivery of them, especially to remote areas, but the use of them once they have been delivered.
Our driver was telling us that he has a bed net for his newborn, but he and his wife and their toddler son do no use the nets. The nets are insecticide treated to prevent mosquitos who may be infected with malaria from landing on someone while they sleep. What I didn't know and what he told us was that they are heavy and hot and don't allow air in. They have an insecticide smell and make sleeping harder. He said if you have electricity (not so common here) then you can have a fan and that makes it hard for the mosquitos to land. It seemed from what he said that most people, or at least he, takes their chances. One of JSI's projects (not through this project but through one of our global projects called DELIVER) involves stocking and distribution of drugs throughout countries (warehousing and supply chain management). It is working in Liberia to make sure there are drugs, especially malaria drugs because malaria is the biggest killer here, from the big city out to the rural provinces. But there is a ton of money going into the production and distribution of bed nets and if our driver is any sort of example, they're not being used deliberately by people who have information about their effectiveness AND the consequences of malaria.
Here's one last picture. I will forever love this picture because I took a picture of these women the last time I was here but they are so elderly and I didn't want to be intrusive so I took it and moved too fast last time to hide in the car. I took an extra second this time. What I love about it is 1) the colors; 2)these are older women here and the average lifespan for women is like 45 so these women have SURVIVED; and 3)it's just so Liberia altogether. But they looked so hot and so tired, I wish there was something I could do for them.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sticky Wednedsay
Hi Friends! It was a day of slow email downloading but fast and furious email chains between us and the governments and our partners here. There is a huge need for us to get a lot of paperwork completed and signed by the government before the Thanksgiving holiday so that people here can get paid with the money we have in our contract and health clinics can continue operating come the beginning of December. It's a lot of pressure, a lot of grey area that needs to be navigated, and a lot of decisions that need to be made.
We didn't do a lot of running around today but did look at some spaces that we are thinking of renting for our new office. The space we are in now is a converted garage. It is small but serves our purposes perfectly. It's on a quieter street and though it doesn't have um, a flushing toilet, it meets the needs of an office in all other categories. Upstairs there is unrenovated space. And by unrenovated I mean what you seriously would visualize as a crack house (without the paraphrenalia I guess) that has been abandoned in the States. There were no windows, the paint was 25% percent on at best, the floors were torn up, there were random pieces of clothing around, and certainly no windows. It however needs no help with the view - you can see the ocean out all of the west facing holes (where there might someday be windows!). It is a huge space but we would obviously have to put a lot of money into the renovations. Given that we need a place for our staff by the end of January, we have some quick decisions to make!
We also went to another place that needs to be renovated but it actually in the construction phase and isn't just abandoned space. It was also huge and we would have the chance to say where the walls would be constructed and what the floor plan should be like. It was in a busier neighborhood and might be more costly.
The last place we looked at was in a compound which means its a house behind a locked gate that would have security at it. So we think no one is there but then this like 15 year old boy answers the gate and leads us in. The place is deserted and in what is considered 'ok' shape. To the unaccustomed eye, it was a disaster. There were clearly at least 2 people squatting there. Its benefits included a hot water tank that was already connected and plumbing with toilets. It would need a bit of 'help' to get it up to shape to be used on a daily basis. Some wall knocking down, some plastering, a lot of painting, a lot of cleaning - but the bones are there and this may be a cheaper and faster option than working with contracting companies whose timelines we can never be sure of. There are a lot of questions to ask and think about in terms of how much space we'll really need, will the project grow over 5 years?, is one neighborhood preferable?, do we have time and personnel resources to manage a renovation?, do we have time and personnel resources to come up with architectural floor plans, plumbing and electrical plans, and decorating plans? How will this renovation money affect our rent for these places? Can we justify these costs in our contract? These are the questions we think about that we need fast answers to.
Our job ads posted in 3 papers this morning and look great. We have had dozens of applications come in which is rewarding. We need to think about when we need to really hire people and have them on board and what unsupervised staff can do until the project leaders are on the ground. The beginning of this project falling around the holidays further complicates a lot of things.
We are trying our best to have a pow wow in the morning before we get on email. Even though the three of us are sitting in the same room, if we start emailing, we can easily lose track of strategizing and using our time most efficiently. Tomorrow we deal with money and bank accounts again and start looking at the candidates who have applied. We have some important meetings and are getting ready for our press event on Friday.
I leave you with some pictures and no philosophical rant tonight:
These are a couple of typical street scenes. Pretty much EVERYONE here is selling something. We don't understand where the stuff comes from because it's always in bulk: washcloths, sunglasses, bras, jeans, you name it. If it's not carried on your head, it's carried in a wheelbarrow.
This is charcoal. People use it to start fires to cook at their homes. It is not sold in bags that big I don't think - I think this was a delivery.
We didn't do a lot of running around today but did look at some spaces that we are thinking of renting for our new office. The space we are in now is a converted garage. It is small but serves our purposes perfectly. It's on a quieter street and though it doesn't have um, a flushing toilet, it meets the needs of an office in all other categories. Upstairs there is unrenovated space. And by unrenovated I mean what you seriously would visualize as a crack house (without the paraphrenalia I guess) that has been abandoned in the States. There were no windows, the paint was 25% percent on at best, the floors were torn up, there were random pieces of clothing around, and certainly no windows. It however needs no help with the view - you can see the ocean out all of the west facing holes (where there might someday be windows!). It is a huge space but we would obviously have to put a lot of money into the renovations. Given that we need a place for our staff by the end of January, we have some quick decisions to make!
We also went to another place that needs to be renovated but it actually in the construction phase and isn't just abandoned space. It was also huge and we would have the chance to say where the walls would be constructed and what the floor plan should be like. It was in a busier neighborhood and might be more costly.
The last place we looked at was in a compound which means its a house behind a locked gate that would have security at it. So we think no one is there but then this like 15 year old boy answers the gate and leads us in. The place is deserted and in what is considered 'ok' shape. To the unaccustomed eye, it was a disaster. There were clearly at least 2 people squatting there. Its benefits included a hot water tank that was already connected and plumbing with toilets. It would need a bit of 'help' to get it up to shape to be used on a daily basis. Some wall knocking down, some plastering, a lot of painting, a lot of cleaning - but the bones are there and this may be a cheaper and faster option than working with contracting companies whose timelines we can never be sure of. There are a lot of questions to ask and think about in terms of how much space we'll really need, will the project grow over 5 years?, is one neighborhood preferable?, do we have time and personnel resources to manage a renovation?, do we have time and personnel resources to come up with architectural floor plans, plumbing and electrical plans, and decorating plans? How will this renovation money affect our rent for these places? Can we justify these costs in our contract? These are the questions we think about that we need fast answers to.
Our job ads posted in 3 papers this morning and look great. We have had dozens of applications come in which is rewarding. We need to think about when we need to really hire people and have them on board and what unsupervised staff can do until the project leaders are on the ground. The beginning of this project falling around the holidays further complicates a lot of things.
We are trying our best to have a pow wow in the morning before we get on email. Even though the three of us are sitting in the same room, if we start emailing, we can easily lose track of strategizing and using our time most efficiently. Tomorrow we deal with money and bank accounts again and start looking at the candidates who have applied. We have some important meetings and are getting ready for our press event on Friday.
I leave you with some pictures and no philosophical rant tonight:
These are a couple of typical street scenes. Pretty much EVERYONE here is selling something. We don't understand where the stuff comes from because it's always in bulk: washcloths, sunglasses, bras, jeans, you name it. If it's not carried on your head, it's carried in a wheelbarrow.
This is charcoal. People use it to start fires to cook at their homes. It is not sold in bags that big I don't think - I think this was a delivery.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Ok, here's a real update
I write you from my desk in the office where I am trying to compose a document to ask the US government to allow JSI to buy essential drugs in Liberia. Unfortunately the internet has decided to konk out and I am left only to the devices of a Word document and *gasp* hard copy references of things. What did we do before internet?
Things like this really slow things down in terms of getting work done. Sometimes it’s good though, it forces you to slow down and not click and send click and send. Sometimes it’s just frustrating because you were in the middle of a train of thought, or a thread of emails with a lot of other people…and when it takes 30 seconds just to open each email on a good internet day and you need to finish a conversation or close a loop of emails…it can be frustrating to say the least.
We’re actually now out of the office and out on the porch of the hotel. We are staying at the nicest hotel in Monrovia where at night all of the white aid workers gather to type more on their laptops, watch UN trucks roll in, and talk about the difficulties of the projects they are trying to implement. Just like last time, there are a handful of real young people (I’d throw myself in that group) who were sent I guess to do equally as important work as Kara and me, probably in other industries. I wonder who they are and where they came from and more interestingly, what they’re doing here. Too bad everyone doesn’t wear pins with their name and industry on them. It is, tonight, similar to having a cocktail on the beach in Florida. There is a breeze, the ocean is rolling in, and it's warm enough to be comfortable but not too sweaty. Alas, it is Liberia and not Orlando.
View from off the balcony tonight
Kara and I took a lot of pictures out the car window today. We had to visit the three newspapers to submit job opening ads. It was really a trip. All of the offices were just holes in the wall along busy streets. There was no indication anywhere that these places were newspaper offices – just dark with a table and chairs. When we said we’d like to place ads at one place, the woman said to us, “In the newspaper?”, no on Craigslist. Very weird. At the last place the generator had stopped and it was hot and sticky and they had to pull out a laptop that was charged to take our files. We argued about the prices for a while during which time the electricity came back on and we were given copies of the paper from the day Obama won the election. It was pretty cool. There was even a paper with a story about Boston State Rep. Diane Wilkerson in there and her money laundering schemes! Amazing! I wonder if she knows that she made it all the way to Liberia!
This is a pretty typical shop. Get your cell phone minutes and your hair done at the same time!
This is Kara with copies of the New Democrat from the morning following the election.
Another typical store which line the streets side to side. Looks like they're selling, among other things here, wigs for the proper woman!
We also went and visited at the Ministry of Health today meeting Liberia’s Minister of Health along with another Minister and the operations core of the ministry who will help us launch our press event for our project which should be on Friday. It was another adventure to see how much people have to posture with government officials and how we have to transform our words to always be politically correct. I could never do the diplomatic job that our country rep, Betsy does. She’s a pro at saying the right thing at the right time in any kind of company. I have great faith that I can charm the pants off anyone in the street, but negotiations and verbal finesse are not my strong suit.
In general, I am still somewhat overwhelmed with wondering what these masses of people who fill the streets in throngs do all day and think all day. Am I making too much of it? Do I just want them to have practical lives like mine? Do they accept that this is their day to day for the unforeseen future? I think we don’t realize often that we have the ability to script our lives and make decisions that will substantially make a difference for us. I don’t feel that people really have that choice here. They may hustle extra hard one day and make an extra buck, but really, until infrastructures improve and money is being put in the hands of working people (which would mean they would have to have jobs first; Liberia’s unemployment rate is 85%) their lives are pretty much going to stay the way they are. I wonder what they talk about all day and think about all day? They probably do not have illusions of inadequacy like I would if I were idle. Maybe they don’t consider themselves idle. I do assume that making it through the day is a struggle and lots of work. I don’t want to trivialize what a person’s life is. They probably do not wonder what the next step in their vocational career is or who they should be setting an example for or impressing that day. Their needs are so much more basic and their thoughts probably just not as complex and layered. I wonder if they wonder if life is worth it. This is something that I continually struggle with but for different reasons. Our lives are SO multi-layered and come with so many decisions everyday. I wonder if it’s all worth it and I have time to do this even though I have little idle time. I’m not making a full circle of my thoughts here but these are thoughts that are constantly on my mind and there is no way to explore them. Instead, I continue to marvel at the movement and the busy-ness of the city and how so many people are trying so hard just to get by. It constantly reframes my perspective.
Things like this really slow things down in terms of getting work done. Sometimes it’s good though, it forces you to slow down and not click and send click and send. Sometimes it’s just frustrating because you were in the middle of a train of thought, or a thread of emails with a lot of other people…and when it takes 30 seconds just to open each email on a good internet day and you need to finish a conversation or close a loop of emails…it can be frustrating to say the least.
We’re actually now out of the office and out on the porch of the hotel. We are staying at the nicest hotel in Monrovia where at night all of the white aid workers gather to type more on their laptops, watch UN trucks roll in, and talk about the difficulties of the projects they are trying to implement. Just like last time, there are a handful of real young people (I’d throw myself in that group) who were sent I guess to do equally as important work as Kara and me, probably in other industries. I wonder who they are and where they came from and more interestingly, what they’re doing here. Too bad everyone doesn’t wear pins with their name and industry on them. It is, tonight, similar to having a cocktail on the beach in Florida. There is a breeze, the ocean is rolling in, and it's warm enough to be comfortable but not too sweaty. Alas, it is Liberia and not Orlando.
View from off the balcony tonight
Kara and I took a lot of pictures out the car window today. We had to visit the three newspapers to submit job opening ads. It was really a trip. All of the offices were just holes in the wall along busy streets. There was no indication anywhere that these places were newspaper offices – just dark with a table and chairs. When we said we’d like to place ads at one place, the woman said to us, “In the newspaper?”, no on Craigslist. Very weird. At the last place the generator had stopped and it was hot and sticky and they had to pull out a laptop that was charged to take our files. We argued about the prices for a while during which time the electricity came back on and we were given copies of the paper from the day Obama won the election. It was pretty cool. There was even a paper with a story about Boston State Rep. Diane Wilkerson in there and her money laundering schemes! Amazing! I wonder if she knows that she made it all the way to Liberia!
This is a pretty typical shop. Get your cell phone minutes and your hair done at the same time!
This is Kara with copies of the New Democrat from the morning following the election.
Another typical store which line the streets side to side. Looks like they're selling, among other things here, wigs for the proper woman!
We also went and visited at the Ministry of Health today meeting Liberia’s Minister of Health along with another Minister and the operations core of the ministry who will help us launch our press event for our project which should be on Friday. It was another adventure to see how much people have to posture with government officials and how we have to transform our words to always be politically correct. I could never do the diplomatic job that our country rep, Betsy does. She’s a pro at saying the right thing at the right time in any kind of company. I have great faith that I can charm the pants off anyone in the street, but negotiations and verbal finesse are not my strong suit.
In general, I am still somewhat overwhelmed with wondering what these masses of people who fill the streets in throngs do all day and think all day. Am I making too much of it? Do I just want them to have practical lives like mine? Do they accept that this is their day to day for the unforeseen future? I think we don’t realize often that we have the ability to script our lives and make decisions that will substantially make a difference for us. I don’t feel that people really have that choice here. They may hustle extra hard one day and make an extra buck, but really, until infrastructures improve and money is being put in the hands of working people (which would mean they would have to have jobs first; Liberia’s unemployment rate is 85%) their lives are pretty much going to stay the way they are. I wonder what they talk about all day and think about all day? They probably do not have illusions of inadequacy like I would if I were idle. Maybe they don’t consider themselves idle. I do assume that making it through the day is a struggle and lots of work. I don’t want to trivialize what a person’s life is. They probably do not wonder what the next step in their vocational career is or who they should be setting an example for or impressing that day. Their needs are so much more basic and their thoughts probably just not as complex and layered. I wonder if they wonder if life is worth it. This is something that I continually struggle with but for different reasons. Our lives are SO multi-layered and come with so many decisions everyday. I wonder if it’s all worth it and I have time to do this even though I have little idle time. I’m not making a full circle of my thoughts here but these are thoughts that are constantly on my mind and there is no way to explore them. Instead, I continue to marvel at the movement and the busy-ness of the city and how so many people are trying so hard just to get by. It constantly reframes my perspective.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Greetings from my bed
I'm writing from my stomach which is about what I can muster right now. Sorry there are no pictures for today as we were flat out all day getting a huge jump on immediate pieces of this huge puzzle that needs to be put together.
I'm here again because we won the $52 million project for which I was preparing for the last time I was here. I am now meeting with partners, and the government of both the US and Liberia to discuss how we will publicize the great work that will happen to rebuild the public health infrastructure here and how we will get this thing off the ground.
Our initial steps are many and take a lot of work both in Boston and here in Monrovia at the same time. It's not a lot of work for a person to go into a bank and set up a bank account but setting up a bank account in a developing country and moving it through internal organizational systems in a matter of days is not an easy task. We need money right away to pay for gas and drivers, put job ads in newspapers, and start to buy equipment including laptops and internet access. Without operating bank accounts that wires can be sent to, our time here will be fruitless.
There is also a launch event with the US Ambassador and the Minister of Public Health from Liberia. We will be the oh-so-official representatives at the launch. We will say something profound and public-healthy I'm sure. Hopefully there will be cheese cubes.
In the next two weeks we need to place ads, do interviews, find space for an office for 15, write up waivers for drug procurement and salary incentives, meet with partners, give out lots of money to NGOs so they can keep running the health clinics they're running, and turn this into its own little business.
I had a yummy sag paneer for dinner. My hotel room smells like sewage but I get used to it after a while. Things here haven't changed too much though...I'm still overwhelmed by the disparity between me and most Liberians and am trying to keep my exestentialism at bay. It's hot, muggy, and people are selling ice on the streets now which they weren't the last time I was here. The one long, long, long road to and from the airport is getting paved though. It's partly done...and that's big progress.
I'm here again because we won the $52 million project for which I was preparing for the last time I was here. I am now meeting with partners, and the government of both the US and Liberia to discuss how we will publicize the great work that will happen to rebuild the public health infrastructure here and how we will get this thing off the ground.
Our initial steps are many and take a lot of work both in Boston and here in Monrovia at the same time. It's not a lot of work for a person to go into a bank and set up a bank account but setting up a bank account in a developing country and moving it through internal organizational systems in a matter of days is not an easy task. We need money right away to pay for gas and drivers, put job ads in newspapers, and start to buy equipment including laptops and internet access. Without operating bank accounts that wires can be sent to, our time here will be fruitless.
There is also a launch event with the US Ambassador and the Minister of Public Health from Liberia. We will be the oh-so-official representatives at the launch. We will say something profound and public-healthy I'm sure. Hopefully there will be cheese cubes.
In the next two weeks we need to place ads, do interviews, find space for an office for 15, write up waivers for drug procurement and salary incentives, meet with partners, give out lots of money to NGOs so they can keep running the health clinics they're running, and turn this into its own little business.
I had a yummy sag paneer for dinner. My hotel room smells like sewage but I get used to it after a while. Things here haven't changed too much though...I'm still overwhelmed by the disparity between me and most Liberians and am trying to keep my exestentialism at bay. It's hot, muggy, and people are selling ice on the streets now which they weren't the last time I was here. The one long, long, long road to and from the airport is getting paved though. It's partly done...and that's big progress.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
See My Tree
There is this huge tree outside my house. I think I've shown it to you before? No? It has lost a lot of leaves this week but the leaves that are left and those that have fallen and made a yellow carpet under the tree are bright and eye-catching. I wanted to share it with you before I left because I'm pretty sure when I come back, the yellow leaves will all be on the ground waiting to be raked up in the spring.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Election Night Highlights
Clearly nothing was really a highlight in comparison to the end results of this momentous election which I hope we'll be talking about and saying, "That was the year things turned around. That was the year the divisiveness ended and the mud-slinging stopped." I hope.
Anyhow, I had some good friends and colleagues over for some eats and drinks and results watching. As you all know it got to be pretty dull at times. We thought the best part was how CNN could 'call' states when 0% of the returns seemed to be in. I'm ready for an explanation about how those projections work if anyone out there understands and can pass on the science behind it.
We had great decorations and a map to show when each candidate won his states. There was a clear chronological progression to the evening. At the pinnacle, I just took all of the Obama faces and just went crazy on the map. I think Canada and Mexico even ended up with an Obama!
This is Savory Man flexing his Democratic muscles
This was the McCain side of the room
Don't judge Katie, she just ended up on a stool on the Republican side.
This was the map, pre-festivities
We gave Obama Massachusetts before the party even started.
Brian was projected to win in Louisiana
Ali took that state that is west of Texas.
As the night wore on friends from Indiana were waiting for a black and white decision on their heavily bipartisan state, and the munchies were dwindling down.
hello friends!
My parents took pictures when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969. I thought that this was a similarly momentous occasion.
I went on a frenzy of Obama sticking as soon as it was called.
Sorry if your guy didn't win. America is calling though.
Anyhow, I had some good friends and colleagues over for some eats and drinks and results watching. As you all know it got to be pretty dull at times. We thought the best part was how CNN could 'call' states when 0% of the returns seemed to be in. I'm ready for an explanation about how those projections work if anyone out there understands and can pass on the science behind it.
We had great decorations and a map to show when each candidate won his states. There was a clear chronological progression to the evening. At the pinnacle, I just took all of the Obama faces and just went crazy on the map. I think Canada and Mexico even ended up with an Obama!
This is Savory Man flexing his Democratic muscles
This was the McCain side of the room
Don't judge Katie, she just ended up on a stool on the Republican side.
This was the map, pre-festivities
We gave Obama Massachusetts before the party even started.
Brian was projected to win in Louisiana
Ali took that state that is west of Texas.
As the night wore on friends from Indiana were waiting for a black and white decision on their heavily bipartisan state, and the munchies were dwindling down.
hello friends!
My parents took pictures when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969. I thought that this was a similarly momentous occasion.
I went on a frenzy of Obama sticking as soon as it was called.
Sorry if your guy didn't win. America is calling though.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Couple of Things to Tell You
I'm making pasta with roasted butternut squash and chicken for dinner. Be very jealous.
I have realized after being an idiot more than once with stuffed chicken recipes that I really need to pound the chicken if I'm going to stuff it. As my mother always said, ah! light shines on donder head...(donder?)
I'm reading a great book called The Condition. It might rank up there as one of my favorites with The Time Traveler's Wife.
We saw a good movie last night with a great 80's soundtrack. It's called Peter's Friends. I recommend it for an easy watch, some laughs, some nostalgia, and lots of good 80s throwbacks.
I spent some time reading my book in the sun this afternoon. My definition of the perfect Sunday afternoon. How could I resist this setting?
I am preparing for the Election Night Soiree. I think the decorations will be the best. Promise to take pictures. What are you doing for Election night?
I have realized after being an idiot more than once with stuffed chicken recipes that I really need to pound the chicken if I'm going to stuff it. As my mother always said, ah! light shines on donder head...(donder?)
I'm reading a great book called The Condition. It might rank up there as one of my favorites with The Time Traveler's Wife.
We saw a good movie last night with a great 80's soundtrack. It's called Peter's Friends. I recommend it for an easy watch, some laughs, some nostalgia, and lots of good 80s throwbacks.
I spent some time reading my book in the sun this afternoon. My definition of the perfect Sunday afternoon. How could I resist this setting?
I am preparing for the Election Night Soiree. I think the decorations will be the best. Promise to take pictures. What are you doing for Election night?
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