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Day’s Journal
The last few hours of the
flight into Brussels were tough. Not
sure why but nothing I did brought any comfort. I felt boxed in and really needed to
stretch out somewhere and get the kinks out of my body. With a completely full flight that was
simply not to be. Finally daylight
arrived and it was time for a croissant and orange juice breakfast. When they serve breakfast on this flight
you know you’re within an hour of landing.
Upon arrival you have to
deplane and go back through security.
Although there were an extraordinarily large number of people going
through security, it was smooth and simple.
It’s a little easier to go through screening here than in the U.S.
This is the first trip where they’ve had the requirement to have liquids in
a plastic baggie like in the U.S.
This is also the first time that I haven’t had to check in for the
Monrovia part of the flight and get a separate boarding pass. I was booked completely through to
Monrovia along with my luggage. This
is an significant improvement.
The gate personnel are
calling for boarding now (I slept on the floor for the first couple of
hours of the layover). So this seems
like a quick turnaround.
We’re off for Monrovia. As it turns out this flight also goes to
Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It seems like
they are going to Monrovia first so that means 6.5 hours rather than the 8+
I originally thought.
The constantly feed you on
these flights so that you’re full and sleepy (and less trouble to the
staff). So I’ve eaten chicken and
mashed potatoes with some type of vegetables (kind of a baked zucchini
looking mixture). Then they showed
“The Bucket List” for a movie. I
enjoyed it but because of my father’s recent death from cancer it also made
me sad as well. Strangely enough,
the last 7 months of my father’s life were among the most meaningful of my
life. So I’m emotionally upside down
right now. Probably it’s also due to
getting close to Liberia. I’ve heard
way too many people use the word “call” to believe most of them. Yet God calls me to Liberia and each time
I come it seems more comfortable.
This flight has been more
comfortable. We’re in an Airbus 330
and the seating is configured better than in the
767 from last night. More leg room
mainly. Plus we are flying during
the daytime (although it’s just 7:55am back home) which seems to help. Flying at night your body wants to sleep
and there’s just no comfortable way to sleep in a completely full
plane. Today’s flight is only ½
full, if that much. That makes it
good for comfort but isn’t good for the airline’s profitability. It would be tough to lose this flight
into Monrovia and have to go back through Accra.
I arrive and, for those of
you who have been to Liberia, the airport was greatly improved. The customs clearing and baggage areas
are larger and air conditioned! The
process was very simple and straight forward. Wow, I’m very happy for the Liberian
people that visitors now get such a pleasant experience upon arrival.
Robert, Emma and Peter (our
driver) were there waiting on me. We
loaded up and drove back to Monrovia on a NEWLY PAVED ROAD. If you haven’t been here before you
really won’t get the significance of this.
The Cuppah family are doing well. Much is going on. On the way in we saw our three containers
stored at ELWA and also the broken down dump truck that we may be taking
management over. We also looked
quickly at the Equip compound on the Airport Road. So work begins almost immediately.
Robert takes me by the Norman’s
where I unload. I give Robert the
Ford truck filters that I brought over and they are glad to have them. I also give Robert and Emma the pictures
that Gayla had printed and framed for them.
They were excited to receive them.
I also gave Shadrach and his family their pictures. The entire family came over and the kids
took about 2 seconds to get over their shyness. It feels like home here already.
There are a couple of
graduates from Michigan who have been here assisting Christine in her REAP
work. They are leaving tomorrow so
our time together (Tyler and Noel) will be short.
Robert will pick me up about
10am tomorrow and the work begins.
First up is to get at least one of the sites set up for the ice
business. This will take a few days
but we have to get started asap. Two weeks will pass before I know it.
So, for tonight I will sign
off. I have some pictures up but
will try to put many more up tomorrow.
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Day’s Journal
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