Creating Something from m-o-t-s-h-e-n-i-g

In Liberia, “tomorrow” is the perfect day for nearly everything and “later” the hour at which it should get done. I am sorry for the delay in this post, I have been in country for almost a month now, and as all those tomorrows were passing I was thinking about what I might write to you all. You see I have been struggling, as many people who come to this place often do- how do I explain what it is that I am seeing, when I don’t fully understand what is going on around me. But mostly I am afraid that whatever I do choose to say might only serve to uphold our preconceived notions about this far away continent.

I don’t want to write about the girl who carries boiled eggs in cartons on her head, and sits for long stretches staring at me as I read on my porch, asking for a piece of bread, or money, or for me to buy more eggs from her. When I don’t entertain her need, she walks right into the guest house where I am staying, finds a broom and begins cleaning the floor with furious obsession. I try to tell her no, that there is someone whose job it is to come and clean the guesthouse. She either doesn’t understand my flat English, or chooses not to. In the end I cave and give her some small bills for her service. She comes back, always watching me, and waiting for me to offer her something.

Swollen bellies and orange tinted hair; the stains of childhood malnutrition, I was hoping that those TV images were only that, some glorified misguided manifestation of what this place truly encompasses. But every day their tiny beautiful hands reach out to touch me, as if they need to feel the contrast. They scream “WHITE WOMAN”, which when slurred together in their lilting Liberian English ends up sounding like “WHYYYY WOOOMmmm”. As English is most peoples second language sometimes the kids get a little mixed up and call me “WHITE MAN!” which all of the adults in earshot find hysterical.

Every morning as I leave the guesthouse to wander in search of coffee and bread, there is one little girl who seems to love me more then all the others. As I walk by the water pump where she always seems to be sitting, she jumps up and runs toward me as fast as her four-year-old legs can carry her. I don’t know her name, or who she belongs to, and I have never been able to have a conversation with her. But she runs at me as only I have seen a child dive into the arms of a loving grandparent. I get a wonderful little hug from her every time I see her, she holds my hand as I walk for a small stretch, then she lets go, no longer amused, and makes her way back to the water pump.

This town isn’t big, there is one main intersection- where the road that comes from Monrovia makes a fork, one way goes to Guinea, the other to the county seat of Vonjama. Most of the shops are within eyeshot of this intersection. There are tea shops run by French speaking families who are mostly Muslim, there are small dry good stores that sell soap, rice, oil, crackers, sugary drink mixes, and cans of dry milk, there are a few stores selling hardware type items, locks, chains, shovels and spades. Then there are all of the random kiosks some have generators and will charge up a cell phone for 50 cents, there are women selling fried plantains, and fish, if I am lucky they might have an avocado or cucumber sitting out.

I guess that bring me to food. As you all know, I love food, I love eating it and cooking it, and here I get to do very little of both. Even for me, earning a decent salary in this part of the country, I still find very little food. If you don’t want to eat the typical Liberian food then you are going to have to get along with crackers, peanuts, and maybe one piece of fresh veg or fruit.

Most Liberians eat one main meal a day. A bowl of rice topped with what they call soup. This soup is what we would call a sauce; it is a thick spicy mash of whatever is around that is edible. Sometimes its cassava leaves, or sweet potato greens, mashed then fried then boiled with lots of hot peppers. There is also the palm nut, which is a small reddish nut that comes from a palm tree, they boil these then grind or mash them, then boil them again add lots of peppers and you have another soup. Most soups have either meat or fish. The fish comes from small rivers and streams nearby, and the meat is just wild meat people trap or hunt in the jungle. Its called bush meat, and you never know what kind of animal you are eating. It could be a bird someone hit with a car, it could be monkey, or a small squirrel, there are some large rodents (like a cross between a hamster and a porcupine), and small deer. Since there is no refrigeration and this is one of the most humid places on earth you can imagine what happens to the meat. People tend to burn the outside of the carcass (sorry if this is getting graphic) I guess the crust then acts as a barrier to some of the bacteria and critters, I have also seen it cut up and crudely smoked or dried.

Since most formal agriculture was destroyed during the war there is little to no animal husbandry, and the only food cash crop is rice, with some cassava. Not only did the war years destroy the physical infrastructure of the country, but the loss of human capital through immigration, death, and lack of formalized education or apprenticeships has wreaked havoc on the industry. Additionally low agricultural productivity is due in part to the 53% of rural farms being small (1-5 acres), additionally about 45 % of rural households do not own land.

Liberia is one of the most food insecure countries in the world. Over 70% of their food is imported and the majority of a family’s income is spent on food items. Real GDP from agriculture has declined over 50% since 1987, and rice the staple of west African cooking has declined over 75% (also from 1987 levels). 11% of household in rural/semi urban areas are considered food insecure, that number increases to 28% in areas more heavily affected by the war and whose populations were displaced (including Lofa county where I live). Also 40% of the population as a whole was found to be either highly or moderately vulnerable to food insecurity. Over 2/3rds of household report that they cannot afford three meals a day. (These statistics were complied from the Poverty Reduction Strategy of Liberia published by the Liberian National Gov 2005-2007)

That’s enough statistics for one day.
I have a big meeting tomorrow, it is our first PTA elections and meeting. Im hoping there will be a good turn out, and we will have enough people to elect a committee. Once that body is established the real work begins. However I am guessing that I’m going to be spending most of my service just educating people about the role of PTAs and drumming up interest. I will leave the projects to the next volunteer.

Fotos First

WELCOME TO LIBERIA
What an amazing country I have stepped into.
Liberia is a lot of things,
and I hope that these photos can begin to do justice
to this amazing country.

Here is a typical road and at typical little town, with the requisite children staring and frantically yelling WHITE WOMAN (lots of pointing and waving) WHITE WOMAN.
They yell lots and lots just in case I didn't here them the first time.
Its pretty darn cute.

He is a student at one of the schools I visited with the World Food Programme's food monitoring group. We visited around a dozen schools each day last week recording how much food they had used and auditing their accounts. There wasn't a whole lot for me to do, so I made friends with the kids and let them play with my camera.

Big eyes stare.

This kid is roasting peanuts to sell

I didn't mean to scare you, but I saw a guy carrying this by the tail the other day and asked if I could look at it and take a picture. He clearly didn't want to be in the picture, but he set up this nice little pose and let me snap away. As I was taking a shot some kid snuck up and grabbed the tail and yanked it really hard, making the whole animal jump. The crowed that had gathered had quite a laugh at my expence, after I screemed and jumped around for a bit.

Hey sitemates! Im so glad these guys are here to keep me company. Soon Russ and I will be living in a nice little house just ouside of town. (Russ and I also served in Bolivia together, and somehow ended up here in the boondocks of West Africa, small world?)

Liberian food. Many have been asking "What's it like?" - Its mostly rice with "soup" on top- thats the red greasy stuff. Its way to spicy for me so I try to find a hunk of fish and pick through that for a while. Russ and Kelly (my other sitemate) are champs and sweat out all the spice.

more kids

joining in on a little game of kickball

Every bus or car ride usually involved a little bit of this. ie cussing, rain, and more people watching then helping. I was one of the former.

Leafy Greens

Im spending the next few weeks working on my personal statements and applications for grad school, so I wont be posting much until I get to Liberia. I however wanted to share this article and link to those interested in food, nutrition, and development in agriculture.

Africa has hundreds of indigenous vegetables, which have been grown, gathered and eaten for centuries. But in the past half century 'exotic' imports have started to displace them; the likes of cabbage, kale and carrots were associated with being more developed, and cosmopolitan, while the traditional foods became food for the poor.

So does it matter? Aren't all vegetables healthy? Sheila Dillon looks at a project run by Bioversity International in Kenya to increase the availability and consumption of Africa's indigenous green leafy vegetables. She finds out what role many people believe they can play in solving some of the continent's most pressing problems, including malnutrition and crop failures due to global warming.

Heres the link to the BBC radio interview