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Day’s Journal
Today seemed to start off poorly. I hadn’t heard back from Robert last
night about the status of the Ford truck and I was afraid the day would be
wasted. At breakfast, however, a
friend of Christine and Laurence’s named Rameses
Bright (owner of a new business called T. R. Enterprises, Inc.) was
visiting. He’s opened a business to
import hand and very basic powered mills for farmers. Rice threshers, cassava grinders,
etc. He was looking for Christine to
use her influence to help him promote the business (aren’t we all). He was a well spoken and very friendly
man. He was one of those people who
is easy to be around. Anyway, we
talked about his business, how he could obtain financing for inventory, how
to help his clientele find a way to afford the products, how the
maintenance training would be handled, etc.
After breakfast the generator
was on so I decided to upload some new information and a lot of
pictures. With a 20k internet connection
it really takes a while to upload photos.
Finally I called Robert to
find out that the Ford truck was still not working. I brought fuel filters over with me on
this trip and he had hoped that it would solve the problem but it seems
that, again, the glow plugs were a problem.
So, rather than lose the day, I asked Robert to catch a taxi over so
that we could work on the Ice Business and Trucking Business plans.
In order to ensure that we
get one of the ice businesses going I asked Robert to select the spot
(Equip lot or Cato property) for the first ice business. Based upon a walled location (security)
ease of digging a well (sandy soil vs. rock) and a few other reasons,
Robert chose the Equip Lot. He then
called his construction friend, Jerry, and the well will start
tomorrow. Making the concrete lining
(culverts) will cost $650 and it will cost $350 for the guys to actually
dig the well and install the linings.
They expect to go down 24 feet to be in good, clear water. Since this lot is very near the coast,
you do not want to go down any further for fear of getting into a layer of
salt water seepage. Jerry will also
build the generator shed. Shadrach
Saywon is putting us into contact with someone to pick up the container at
ELWA and bring it to the Equip lot (not very far away). I don’t know yet what the cost of that
will be. Hopefully we can get that
squared away (at least finding the hauler) tomorrow.
Robert and I spent the rest
of the time working through the business projections for the ice business
and the trucking business.
The truck is out of the port
but at a shop being painted white.
The government of Liberia had an issue with us driving around in a
military truck still painted in military colors (go figure). They have sanded the paint down as of
today, tomorrow they will tape all the windows and light and then,
hopefully we’ll get it painted. We’ve
paid all the port costs but still have to pay to register, license and
insure the truck. After that, it
starts to earn money (we hope).
Just before Robert arrived,
two lady friends of Christine’s arrived for
lunch. One was named Louise Brown
and she was VERY impressive. She had
taught at the University of Liberian and left due to not agreeing with the “pass
without competency” practice that was in place. She “teaches teachers to teach” she explained. Known to fail an entire class if they
couldn’t meet her standards, she was likely not the favorite teacher on the
campus. She now works training the
teachers at the Firestone Plantation.
She was articulate, smart and cultured. She’s the kind of individual that Liberia
is fortunate to have.
I’ll probably write more later but am going for a nap. It’s 5pm here and I didn’t sleep much
last night due to 1) my body still being on Central time and 2) it being
very hot last night. So see, I
really am suffering in spite of what the pictures show.
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Day’s Journal
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