First of all, a big Happy Birthday to my sister ( Read more... )

Got assigned to a new project today. Am less than happy, as I'm already booked for that time frame. But this is development work, yes? We all work all the time. Yet, things are looking up rapidly. Many of the things we couldn't get even three months ago have arrived. They are insanely expensive (ink) or extremely rare (ATM machines) or demand a ( Read more... )

We don’t have snow, two weeks before Christmas. We have Sahara dust, falling slowly and thickly. Soot from farm field fires and trash lands everywhere. That’s the Liberian smell of Christmas - warm, flinty, with hints of roasted rubber trees. But it’s still Christmas season. Street vendors sell Christmas trees and colored lights in the streets. The ( Read more... )

Worldgroove and I filmed a fundraising event for the Foundation for Women, a microlending institution. FFW operates all over Liberia, but home base is Monrovia. We caught a 5 am bus from Cuttington and arrived around 9:30. Considering the roads, that was excellent time. I’m still not used to having electricity only part of the day - I dressed by ( Read more... )

Spent last night packing for the weekend and putting together my IWP (Individual Work Plan). We have to do these for the grant, so the funder can measure what we plan to do against what we accomplish. Again, I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

( My next six months )

During IFESH training in Scottsdale, we th wanted to hit the ground running. The more experienced volunteers told us to try walking, sitting, or better yet, not hitting. Just relax, they told us ( Read more... )

As usual, I'm in over my head. Does anyone know of a good internet resource on PTSD? Target population: former child soldiers.

Last night, worldgroove and I ate at Be First, an Indian-Pakistani-Bangladeshi joint over in Sinkor. The food was wonderful, if rather unexpected. We had expected to go there. We expected the good food. We just had no way of knowing what we would eat. Liberia is 80% illiterate now, which makes drink and food ordering chancy. I ordered Chana Masala and garlic ( Read more... )

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This is the quickest and cheapest way to get around Monrovia. Probably not the safest. I've seen plenty of accidents, but few injuries.