Follow Up, More Progress, More Pictures

Nine Days Since Returning to the States

Unbelievably, amazingly, our two-week project that ended on April 11, keeps on growing today. 

The excitement for Study Tech has now reached Liberia's neighbor to the northwest, Sierra Leone. As readers of this blog know, during our time in West Africa, we crossed into Sierra Leone on one of our road trips. 

Here we are on the bridge over the river border of the two countries.

The welcome to Sierra Leone sign.

And me driving in Sierra Leone...

As you'll see below in this message from Jay, the leaders of the Youth for Human Rights West Africa are preparing to make their way to Sierra Leone to deliver still more presentations.  

The kids are mobilized and excited for this training in Sierra Leone. We should get Sierra Leone in motion. The kids are even excited about going out and teaching "Study Tech", in teams, at no cost to Youth for Human Right International (YHRI). They are super excited for the opportunity. YHRI still resonates with them after all these years. The wrong thing to do right now is nothing.

Sierra Leone could eventually have potential for self-funding as well. The guys are expecting me end-of-month. Let me go in and make this happen.

Best, 

Jay

Epilogue

First Day Home

Children outside of Jay's house pumping water.

As I type this I am sitting on my bedroom floor, surrounded by suitcases opened and unpacked. I am home in Clearwater, Florida. It is Tuesday, April 12, 9:18 am Florida time, 1:18 pm Liberia time.

As noted in my last post, we spent Sunday morning at Jay's church. What a wonderful experience!

Church was the debut of our new African shirts!

Photo with the choir before they sang.

Beautiful in every way!

Congregation.

Monday, while Xane and I flew, Tim stayed back two extra days so they could meet with the Minister of Education for Liberia. It was a productive and successful meeting. 

That brings to a close my daily blog...for this trip! Everything accomplished in the last two weeks exceeded everyone's expectations. The stage is set now for future projects in this wonderful country fighting for change. 

Lastly, before getting ahead of ourselves, we must complete the funding for this trip. The successes and demands of this initial project definitely out-paced our cost projections. Please go to our GoFundMe site and contribute whatever amount moves you. 

Thank you for following us.

Until next time...

Sign at Robert's International Airport on the outskirts of Monrovia.

Our Last Full Day in Liberia: Final Presentation and a Summary

Day 13

Today began with a "private" workshop for the members of the Youth for Human Rights International - Liberia Chapter. As you'll see, this was a poolside presentation for a small group and quite a bit more informal and interactive. Xane contributed a great deal. In addition to chiming in on the presentation, he led the drilling at the end of the session. 

Colin speaking, presenting.

Jamus and Calvin drilling.

Xane leads the way.

Xane drilling with Eustace and Jefferson

Xane and Jefferson working it out.

Tim and Jay conferencing, planning, plotting.

Final conference with everybody.

Final words from Jay.

YHRI - Liberia!

With the workshop complete we headed to the city for some errands. But before I present the travelogue, I ask that you visit our GoFundMe page. One last push is needed to complete the funding of the project. The golden opportunity for Tim to stay a few extra days in order to meet the Minister of Education on Monday needs to be supported. Please do. Everything helps.

On to the day's highlights...  

A typical three-wheel, open cab that is all over town. 

Most every day we pass the Dubai Club which features this statue out front. We never figured out what the sculpture is depicting. Is he reading her belly button? Is he ducking a punch? I think the sculptor used the wrong photo to model his work after. He should have used the one right AFTER this one. That would be the one where he is lifting her in the air. aloft by the belly. This is the before shot.

A roadside barber at work. They're quite common.

Tailors inside the tailor shop. Note the foot treadles they pump to power their machines. This is the shop from which Jay ordered three custom-made garments for Xane, his sister and me. (Surprise LouElla!) 

One of the custom-made, African shirts. A gift from Jay. 

And here is one of Xane's friends he met on the beach tonight. He was very friendly and helpful. 

~~

Likely, this will be my last post from Africa. Tomorrow afternoon Xane and I begin our return trip home. We depart the airport tomorrow (Sunday) in Monrovia at 3:10 pm. We land in Tampa Monday at 10:34 pm: thirty-one hours of travel time. This includes an overnight stay in Accra Sunday night.

Our final destination before climbing aboard that plane tomorrow afternoon will be a visit to Jay's church first thing tomorrow morning. We are very much looking forward to it. Our first chance to wear our African shirts!

That's a look ahead. But how about a summary of the last two weeks or so. The last twelve life-changing, eye-opening, exhilarating, unreal days we have experienced.

Workshops and presentations:

• Mar 31 and Apr 1: Two-day event in Monrovia for about 70 youth group leaders and students from across Liberia.
• Apr 4: About 80 high school students and faculty In Ganta.
• Apr 4: About 30 staff and faculty of the Nimba County Community College in Senniquellie.
• Apr 6: About 40 college students and faculty from AME College in Monrovia.
• Apr 9: Six YHRI leaders in Monrovia.

Private presentations and meet and greets:

• Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism for Liberia
• Principal of Cathedral Catholic School
• Former Miss Liberia
• Assistant Minister of Labor for Liberia    
• Assistant Minister of State for Liberia
• Associate Vice-President AME University
• Head of the Institute of Innovation for AME University
• Immigration Commander, Bo Waterside Port of Entry
• President Nimba County Community College
• Chief of Staff for the Vice-President of Liberia
• Senior Senator   
• West African Human Rights Hero
• Nominee for President of Liberia and former Ambassador to the United States and U.N.
• And, scheduled for Monday, after Xane and I leave, Tim will meet with the Minister of Education and Assistant.

New friends

• Every child, student, teacher, faculty, opinion leader and politician we met. Liberia is full of good people facing unfathomable obstacles and hardships who want to make this country great in every respect.

New Heroes

• Tim Bowles: Undeniably, the driving force behind everything accomplished in the last two weeks. Someone to emulate. A beautiful blend of optimism, insouciance and top-notch professionalism. A great sense of humor and he's a music lover! All our drives were filled with funk, blues, rock and gospel.
• Jay Yarsiah: The kind of person everyone needs to meet and get to know. His passion for his people, country and mankind is true and without limit. Competent. Fearless. Strong. And he shares Tim's love of a good story and a hearty laugh. 

My life has been enriched a thousand-fold by working with and getting to know Tim and Jay. My son's life will never be the same. Without a doubt, I will cross paths will both these fine gentlemen in the years to come. I will make sure. 

Thank you, Tim and Jay! Thank you, Liberia!

An Unexpected Day

Day 12

Today began early. We arrived at the hotel restaurant for breakfast ready to head downtown for a 9:00 with the Minister of Education. Unfortunately, this meeting did not come to pass. Tim and Jay spent the bulk of the morning trying to figure out a way to make it happen. One of the biggest problems being the fact that today is a national holiday. In any event, Tim is bound and determined to get in front of the Minister. He may even stay an extra day or two to make it happen. We'll see how this plays out. In any event, Xane and I will be coming home as scheduled.

However, that doesn't mean the day was without more interesting experiences and activity. To begin, we ended up spending the morning in the hotel. I used the time to catch up on emails, getting gradually reacquainted with my American life that awaits my return. I spoke to my wife Maudi on the phone and wished her a happy birthday and a happy 21st anniversary. And my daughter LouElla and I Facetimed. Very nice!

We ate lunch and headed to town.

Stopped at a tiny shop full of hand-crafted art pieces. My favorite was this rhino businessman ($125!). We came away with a bagful of bracelets and necklaces. 

The shop was across the street from this fence with message painted on it. There are many "do not pepe here" signs around the city.

These girls were playing nearby in a dirt playground with a little swing set. They saw me, climbed under the fence and followed me. I videoed them dancing and showed them the video. They LOVED it. New friends.

Entrance to a seamstress shop. Jay stopped here to check in on an order and place another. Had to photograph it for my wife who loves purple.

This is the bamboo-walled wood carving shop I spoke of in yesterday's post. We returned here today for some purchases. Inside there were a few long tables by which stood a four or five craftsmen selling their wares. It was full of amazing art. Again, the Liberian salesman is top notch in terms of persistence and unyielding pressure. A single glance at an item at the back of the table causes the seller to pounce on your interest with vigor. The strategy became choosing the items we wanted, placing them in a pile and having Jay haggle with the sellers until he got the price down to a reasonable amount.  

Work area in the back of the shop. The handmade carving tool on the stump was ingenious.  

Xane and a salesman. (Good luck, Xane!)

Wall art

Jay haggles with every salesman at once. (Good luck, salesmen!)

This is Joseph. He insisted I take a picture of him and his number. I agreed. You can order from him directly. 

On the street just in front of the wood carvers' shop there were dozens of sellers selling everything from eggs to vegetables to crabs to lobsters. Like their carving brethren, a glance in their direction was enough for them to rush to you and begin their pitch. Xane lit up when he saw this 50lb grouper. We paid this guy $1 to take the picture. The crab guy photobombed them and wanted money too. A few minutes after this a police truck pulled up and the sellers ran every which way to get away. Turns out it is illegal to sell in front of another's shop and if they get caught the police will take your goods. The poor egg seller dropped his eggs in the mad scramble to get away. Not all of them broke, but I felt bad for him.

We stopped at this orphanage. Tim and Jay come here every time Tim's in town.

Tim with his friends Titus and Prince.

Fist bumps before leaving.

The picture at the top was taken outside Jay's friend's house. His name is Cromwell. He is a banker. As Jay and Cromwell chatted outside, about fifteen neighborhood kids ran over to us. I got some good photos and videos of them. This one was the best. 

Finally, late last night a good friend of Tim and Jay's, Nat Barnes, came to the hotel to have dinner with us. Like every other person we've met here, he was amazing. A passionate Liberian who is working to help his homeland. He is a former Liberian ambassador to the United States and the U.N. Xane and I very much enjoyed his company. We learned a great deal about Liberia's history and present political scene. Mr. Barnes has applied to be a nominee in the upcoming 2017 Liberian presidential elections. (Wow!) He's got my vote. 

Until tomorrow...

A Senator and Museum

Day 11

Greetings from Liberia. I'll start today's post with a picture of the best event of the day. This is Senior Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor receiving her Results and Learning How to Learn books. 

If you've read this blog from the beginning you've gotten to know Jay pretty well. I hope you all get to meet Jay some day. I've already invited him to Florida. He is a special person, a combination of bright, competent, bold, funny, helpful and perserverant. But I urge you, when you have a chance, to learn Jay's FULL story. You can read the story here. It's a long read, but very much worth it. Ths story you'll read frames the insane backstory of this nation's past and present perfectly, from a very personal perspective.

As for the rest of the day, we ended up doing a few errands, stopping here and there. 

This is a bat-filled tree just outside the US Embassy. We had a noon appointment with someone from the embassy, but for unknown reasons, it didn't happen. Tim makes a point to pay a visit to the embassy every time he's here. We felt it odd that the only time we experience a "failed" meeting it involved the US, not Liberia. As for the tree in the photo, all the dark moss-looking things on the branches are giant bats, wing tip to wing tip probably measured about 2 1/2 feet. In the middle of the day they were chirping, screeching, and wiggling about.

Mid-day pit-stop: a non-alcoholic beer mixed with Red Bull Lite. 

We visited the Liberian National Museum. Tribal mask.

Mask used for improving fertility in a man or woman, obviously.

Carving.

The tile on the second floor of the museum had a number of these markings on it. If you stepped on the "FRAGILE" the floor sank a few inches and the boards beneath creaked. It was unsettling, unsafe and imprudent. Africa!

Was the museum air-conditioned? 

The third floor is devoted to modern art that commemorates the ebola crisis in Liberia.

Took a brief stop at a bamboo-walled wood carving art shop. There were a number of sellers selling all sorts of great pieces in beautiful wood. This is a shot of a carver behind the displays. We didn't stay long. As soon as we got out of the car we were surrounded by sellers. All Tim wanted was a small giraffe. The seller wanted $6 US, Jay said it was worth $2. We'll return with a different strategy. 

Not a perfect photo. The boy carrying the roll of corrugated steel was probably nine years old. He was carrying it balanced on his head while walking down the hot, dusty street. Amazing.

Finally, a series of pictures highlighting some of the public service messages on billboards about town.

Until tomorrow...