Our plane left one hour early for Monrovia this morning - good thing we got to the airport hours ahead. Out here, when the plane is ready to leave, it leaves! We arrived in Monrovia with sweltering heat. The lady at Customs checked our luggage and saw all the donated item plus the HFA pillows, and claims we need to pay money to Customs. I dug out the HFA letter stating we're here with a mission and these are all donated items. However, she still insists we need to pay. We said "NO! These are donated items." "OK , OK, OK," she says, "I need some pillows" (bribe). "Ok, fine, take one." She takes one, and then another, then some toothbrushes, then some toothpaste, the some paper and pens. Marsha said in a very authoratative manner, "NO! you can't have those, they are personal items." "Ok, Ok, Ok, Ok," she says and she let us finally go!
Our ride hadn't arrived and were just leaving town when we called them. We couldn't get our cellphone to work and we were frantically trying to protect our luggage from those so willing to help. Foreigners really stand out! We found some shade and met some other foreigners from Canada. They're leaving for home after spending a month up country with medical missions with Canadian Baptist Mission. They gave us their SIM card so we could work the cell phone again.
Chris finally arrived with the driver from the guest house. He was SOOOOOOO excited to see us!!! He kept saying. "Thank God!" over and over again. He hasn't been well, he has a bad cold and dealing with malaria.
We stopped in at Chris's property on the way to Monrovia. We've helped him purchase a small piece of land while another Canadian donated funds for him to build his house. We handed out candy to the kids in his community and the group grew large very quickly!! As one of the children opened his little hand out for a candy, we quickly noticed that the flesh on the palm of his hand and between his tiny fingers was burnt badly. It seemed as though his layers of skin were separated and it looked just awful! We quickly found one of our bandages and put polysporin on it. We knew it wouldn't fix the problem but we hoped it would help at least a bit. There is lots of scabies among the children. Chris's land is being cleared. These guys do it for no charge because they need the wood and soon they will just burn the stumps and brush and it will be ready for building.
When we were in the field where Chris's land is, we found 3 girls digging in the stump of a tree. They were digging for worms (looks like maggots!!) for their African food. The older lady suggested we try "real African food". We nicely replied "another time". She said, "it is good food." We smiled :) (see picture below)
On the way back to the main road, some part of the rear end of the van fell down. No big deal, just take the tire off, tie up the loose part, tire back on and away we go... TIA! We kept reminding the driver to go slower as the van was wobbling. At 7- miles per hours and a part off and only being held together by a piece of twine found in the field, we were quick to remind the driver to "slow down"!
We had to pull over on the main road since there was a VP convoy, with sirens, police, UN vehicles and the Vice President.
There are so many new things being built in the city, but the effects of war are still seen through so much poverty and bullet holes in fences and abandoned buildings.
We arrived at the guest house with friendly familiar faces - a very nice place to stay! We feel safe here, with guards, dogs, high fences, and barbed wire. Chris ate dinner with us, prayed before he left with tears streaming down his face with his gratefulness to God for His faithfulness!!!!
Love Marsha, Jackie, and Ariel
In Chris's village.
Fixing the van ... African style!
Girls removing worms from the stumps to eat!!
Jackie and Marsha with Chris on his uncleared property.
People actually live in these types of homes!
Marsha handing out candy to children.
Ariel with some of the children in Chris's village.
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