A Project for Literacy in Liberia Africa: A Daily Blog: Road Trip to the City of Ganta and the Country of Guinea

Day 7

Right now I am sitting in room R - 8 of the Kuku's Net Guest House in Ganta, Liberia. It is 8:19 pm local time, 4:19 Florida time.

Ganta is a four-hour drive from Monrovia, in the northeast corner of the country, near the border of Sierra Leone.

Before I recount today's adventures, there is one more thing I want to say about the two-day workshop. I wrote this last night before going to sleep:

Saturday night, 11:50:53 pm (7:50:53 pm Florida time), sitting on my bed at Jay’s house. A few words about yesterday’s workshop. The final, rousing acts of the workshop were talks given by Jay and Tim. Both were passionate and honest. Both were so emotional and powerful, tears welled in my eyes. Xane felt the same way.

Jay spoke of the young leaders being responsible, of finding no excuses for failure, of success being theirs for the taking if they act with integrity, professionalism and honesty. If they put Study Tech to use and see how it works for themselves. He assured them that many future leaders of Liberia were in the conference room. The opportunity was in front of them.

Tim saw this event as a milestone in the history of YFHRI in West Africa. A moment when a group of hopeful, young leaders were poised to make a significant impact on their embattled country. He wanted them to be able to know that when all is said and done they could say they helped.

Their speeches were followed by certificates being passed out and the group photos being taken. These acts complete, Xane and I considered our work done. We figured the group would start dispersing and find their ways home. What actually happened is they were not ready to go home. They wanted more, much more.

As was seen by their successes, what they experienced was not just a two-day talk about study. They had been energized, their selfless purposes invigorated. Many of them wanted to talk to the two of us, one on one. They wanted to take individual pictures, exchange email and Facebook addresses and take business cards. I sat at my computer for thirty-minutes as attendee after attendee asked that I too email them links to the downloadable barriers to study workbook, the learner’s dictionary and the available study tech videos I knew of. They typed in address after address onto a prepared email for them.

Each one of them looked me in the eye and spoke with clarity of purpose, great dignity, and conviction. Their worlds had been opened, the paths to their goals made easier, because they knew they could now study and achieve real competency.

They wanted to tell me their stories of what they were proud of, what inspired them. I offered to help any way I could. They wanted to get degrees. They wanted to help their teachers and classmates. They wanted to teach their schools Study Tech. They wanted to help the very under-privleged Liberians who live outside of the cities. They wanted to be part of the movement that will lead their country and West Africa to a brighter future. They wanted to help.

~~

Photo from today in Ganta

Here's the recap of today's travels. The day started when I woke up roasting hot in my blanket around sunrise. First, I wondered if I was fevered (Uh oh!), but quickly figured that the room's AC was off. I spent the next fifteen minutes figuring out the system's remote control and display panel. AC's here are indoor units mounted to interior walls. I finally got it going by unplugging it and plugging it back in. The room started to cool. I dozed off...until 15 minutes later when it turned off again. I got it going the same way and almost fell asleep when it turned off again. This time I couldn't get it going so I just gave up, tore the covers off and pretended I was sleeping on the beach in the sun.

I got out of bed a bit later and figured perhaps the neighborhood power was out (which happens often) and Jay's generator wasn't on. I paid a visit to Xane's room and found him, much to my chagrin, cozily wrapped in his blanket, snoozing away in a cool room. How unfair.

After breakfast, we piled in the Land Cruiser with two days of luggage and presentation supplies and we were off. The truck was pretty packed. We were going to go to Jay's church and attend their services, but got stuck in a bad traffic jam by the port. We gave up on the idea of church. This meant Xane and I could change out of our Sunday best and slip into shorts and t-shirts. We did this in the car.

Getting out of the city included stops at a few banks (mostly unsuccesful) and picking up two passengers and their luggage. We picked up Jay's friend Calvin, who is one of the leaders of YFHRI here, and an elderly gentleman by the name of Wilson. A very packed Land Cruiser now. Calvin helped set up the Ganta trip. Wilson was a handyman hired by Jay.

In the city, we needed to get enough cash to pay for the incidentals in Ganta. Jay and Tim spent much of the day's face time, phone time and text time trying to solve this problem. Banking in Africa is still a young industry and banks are not very common. Thus, trying to find a way to get a bunch of cash on a Sunday is indeed a challenge. A few ATMs are in Monrovia, but they aren't always in operation and cash withdrawals are limited. Wiring money from the States is difficult with the seven hour time change in Southern California, where Tim's bank is. Ganta is pretty much a cash-only town. Long story short, as I write this, Tim and Jay don't have the cash to hand to pay for the hotel we're leaving early Tuesday morning. That'll have to get resolved in the next 24 hours.

We expected the road from Monrovia to Ganta to be rough, unpaved for long stretches and bumpy. Turns out, the route between these two parts of the country have been recently paved and widened and well marked with lines and signage. It was a brand new road. With the exception of a handful of construction zones, the trip was smooth.

A word about these construction zones. They're pretty much what you'd see in America, except the detours around the zones are not what you'd see in the USA. These paths around the zones were most of the time bumpy, uneven dirt roads and usually just one lane. They're pretty crude.

Highlights from today's road trip:

The picture of me with the kids was taken outside the venue where tomorrow's presentation will be. If you read to the end of the blog you will be rewarded with a video of these children. (No skipping ahead.)
We drove to the border of Liberia and Guinea. Saw the bridge and turned around.
At a market in Monrovia Jay stopped and bought a coconut for Xane. It was awesome. Once you buy it, the seller hacks off the husk with a small machete and hands you a peeled white coconut ready to eat and drink. You bite off one end of it and have a cup of juice to drink. Xane and I ate and drank the entire thing. Very good.

Entrance to Bong County. Counties here are like states.

We made two amazing unscheduled stops along the way. The first was at a market. We passed by it, Jay turned around and headed back. It was a simple, small market next to a few houses. There were a variety of people, all ages, selling, chatting and playing soccer. The best items for sell were GIANT snails and GIANT grubs. (We didn't buy either.) We got a bag of mangoes from here and we ate them in a similar way: bite off one end and suck out the pulp, juice and eventually seed. It was the best mango I've ever had. The snails are in the first yellow and red bowl below.

Jay with two bags of (giant) grubs.

Bags of charcoal ready to sell.

Here's the next unscheduled destination. Women sifting rice in Gbatala (I think).

After we checked into our hotel guest house (hotel) we dined here. Xane ate palm butter soup with cow meat. I ate chicken and rice. Very cheap, especially after the haggling between Jay and the waitress. By the way, The Miss Ganta beauty and talent show is being held there tonight.

Our hotel. There is nothing to compare it to in America. Xane said it's like a hotel from a movie. The door openings are all around my head height or lower. Tim banged his head pretty hard on the door to his room.

The rooms are small.

Step outside and you're in a dirt road neighborhood, actually a dirt everything neighborhood.

Like most buildings here, it is all block and cement. Everything looks to be handmade, no long straight exact lines anywhere. Everything has little dips and bulges to it. The bathrooms are bucket operated. The furnishings are a mish-mash of colors and patterns and designs. The table I am typing on rocks back and forth on its uneven legs and is covered with a cloth that looks like my grandma made it. The window is covered by pretty ornate drapes made of a gold cloth. This window treatment's best feature is the Apple logos running across it width-wise at the top, bottom and middle. iCurtains.