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The morning begins
slowly before daylight as the combination of roosters crowing and
people’s voices gradually begins picking up
volume. The low murmur of sleepy
voices is giving way to the louder voices of purpose as preparations for
today’s meals begin with earnest.
I’m lying in bed as this begins trying to decide whether to get up
and join the community in person or continue to be an eavesdropper. There are some rich visual parts to
this early morning process so I decide to get up and become a silent
observer. My decision is rewarded
with a beautiful scene of community.
A fire is going under
the small cooking stove (I used to know the name for it, it looks like a
charcoal grill on a short stand) and they are cooking the fried bread
that is popular for breakfast.
They can control the temperature of these grills as well as we can
control that of an electric stove.
Every few minutes they will get up and add a few pieces of
charcoal or take a plastic plate and fan them to bring up the
temperature. The oil that they fry
the bread in is kept at a fairly low temperature to allow the bread to
cook completely through without burning the outside. Philomena has mixed up a huge pan of
dough and uses her hand to pull out the perfect amount and drop it into
the pot of oil. She never seems to
burn herself but I would have been admitted to the Houston Burn Center by
now.
We’re obviously
having palm butter or some other derivative of the palm nut for lunch
today as they have been pounding the palm nuts into pulp. One young, but very strong, girl is
doing the pounding. They have a
tall wooden “mixing bowl” that the palm nuts are dropped into. This girl then takes a stick that’s
about 6 feet in height and 2 – 3 inches in diameter and pounds the palm
nuts over and over until they are in a pulp. I’ve watched her do this for at least
30 minutes straight so far. My
arms would have fallen off by now.
The pulp is taken out and placed in a large iron pot and a new batch of nuts are placed in it and the pounding
begins again. Once the iron pot is
full they add some water and let it soak.
Then the mixture is squeezed and the pulp is put in a different
pot to begin the process again.
The juice is dipped out and strained and put in a different
container for cooking down into palm butter. Obviously this process is for a large
group of people but it’s certainly been an all hands operation with at
least 8 different women playing a part so far.
Lynn Riley is
teaching the children some music and songs this morning at 9:00. Very few things ever happen at the
appointed time in Liberia but Lynn is an optimist and is up at the chapel
early. She starts out with about
20 children but ends up with 166 by the time the morning session is over.
A teaching session is
scheduled for 10:00am to continue yesterday’s questions about
polygamy. In Liberia it is not
unusual for a man to have several wives.
Each time one of these question and answer times is held the first
(and thus, the only) question is about men having multiple wives. This trip was no different so a special
time has been scheduled to discuss it further and to have the husbands in
attendance as well. The women,
obviously, are against this practice but the men see no problem with
continuing the tradition.
Duane was giving Lynn
several Bible verses that support the one husband, one wife position
prior to the start of the session this morning. So she leads out by reading some
scriptures. She then turns to
Carl, Fred and I and says, “you’re up now.” Carl steps up and begins by telling the
congregation that we’re not here to judge them or to condemn them, just
to teach what God’s word says to the best of our ability. Then he goes through several reasons
that he believes the Bible teaches one husband, one wife. Because you likely live in the U.S. it
may seem strange to you that this practice even exists in Liberia. But it is a strong tradition and not
one that is easily pushed aside. I
know that in my earliest recollections there were still separate
bathrooms for whites and blacks in certain locations. I also know that the cemetery that I
worked at in college had deeds from the late 50’s and early 60’s that
forbade blacks and Catholics from being buried in it. I have had my share of struggles in
areas that now seem so cut and dried.
This helps me keep perspective in the polygamy struggle that
exists today in Liberia. One of
the men mentioned the many wives that many holy men of the Bible
had. That certainly has to be
explained especially since they were not condemned for the practice
(think of Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, etc.). Others were interested in more
practical matters such as the heavy workload for farmers and the need for
much help. In his eyes a wife was
for work. Still others mentioned a
wife’s inability to bear children and the pressure from parents to have
grandchildren. Liberia is still a
culture where relatives are expected to come to the financial aid of
their family. Ultimately you have
to get to God’s plan for mankind as evidenced through Adam and Eve,
Christ’s example of dying for us and the command that we love our wives
as he loved the church (how many different wives can you die for?). Although it was alluded to, I think we
missed an opportunity to talk about what true love between and man and a
woman looks like. The devotion,
the ownership of the other, and the loving of your spouse as you love
yourself. Oh well, we’ll have the same
conversation the next time we come to the Children’s Village.
When this special
segment was over we began the actual revival meeting for the
morning. Shadrach preached and
continued the theme of faith and how God had brought the Children’s
Village this far and the assurance that He would not desert us now.
Following the service
we walked back down to the guest house for a lunch of spicy rice with
vegetables plus some pieces of fried chicken. We’re eating pretty small portions but
the flavor is very good.
The afternoon is
spent resting. Both Gayla and I
have a nice nap. After that I come
out and discuss with Shadrach the situation with the Ford truck. As you may recall, the power steering
pump went out about half way to the Children’s Village. This also affects the brakes. So Peter drove the final half of the
trip using the emergency brake to stop the truck. Getting to Greenville and finding a 4WD
vehicle to carry us back to Monrovia doesn’t seem like an option due to
poor roads and the unlikelihood that we will find something to rent even
at $500 for the trip. Shadrach
suggests that we leave the Ford truck here, take the Toyota truck back
and then send it back for everyone else.
Then when we find a part for the Ford truck (likely will have to
come from the States) we can come back to the Children’s Village, put the
part on and drive it back to Monrovia.
This would cost about $600 in fuel alone. My preference, if it can be done
without doing further damage to the truck, would be to drive the truck
back to Monrovia. I will talk with
Duane about that possibility tomorrow since he has some experience with
mechanics. I would need to help
Peter with the driving since it is very demanding to drive without the
power steering and brakes. We will
not make the final decision until at least tomorrow, maybe even
Sunday. Keeping a vehicle running
in Liberia is quite a job.
Tonight the revival
meeting is scheduled for 6:00pm sharp.
It’s 7:00pm before the musicians leave to
go up to the chapel and neither of the pastors have left by that time
either. So we hang around the
guest house until we see them commit, then make our way up.
When it comes to
music in Liberia, volume takes precedence over quality every time. So the drums and keyboard are played at
the highest decibels that the equipment will produce even though the
sound being produces is almost unrecognizable. While it’s just on the verge of
bursting my eardrums, my brother Fred is already hard of hearing and it
turns the noise to hash in his ears.
He bears it as well as possible but it gives him an instant
headache and causes quite a bit of pain in his ears.
Cathy, Gayla and Lynn
attract a crowd wherever they sit and usually end up with at least one
special friend in their laps. Fred
and I say “no” at least 10 times a day just to ward off adoption
requests.
One thing you can
pray with us about. Duane had
surgery about 4 months ago and the rough ride out has given him some
pretty sharp internal pain. He has
stayed in bed for the past couple of days without eating. We are praying that God will take care
of this for him so that he can participate in the activities and also so
that the return trip to Monrovia will not be unbearable.
The night session is
over about 9:00pm but we stay behind to meet the school’s teachers and
the 6 graduating seniors. They
have received a bit of bad news in that the government has not gotten
their testing scores returned to them as of yet and have let each school
know that it will be fined $1,000 USD if they hold graduation ceremonies
prior to the release of the testing scores. So this Sunday’s “graduation” will
actually be a “recognition” of the seniors with the actual graduation
celebration being delayed until the test scores are received. This is only the second school in Sinoe County to graduate 12th graders and
the first one in this district.
Two of the graduating seniors have walked 1.5 hours each way for a
year just so that they could attend a senior high school. So if you wonder if your support means
anything, it does.
We are introduced to
each teacher and each senior. This
gives us a chance to personally thank each of them. Carl is especially grateful and
apologizes to each of the teachers for the times their pay checks have
been delayed due to lack of funds.
Even with that, most teachers are months behind in receiving their
pay while those who work for the Children’s Village are seldom more than
a couple of weeks. The largest
church in Monrovia is 2 months behind paying its staff and the government
seems to always be behind on its workers as well.
We head back to the
guest house and have a supper of tuna/salmon, nuts and a Lara bar. We’re being fed breakfast and a late
lunch but not a night time meal.
That’s pretty typical for a Liberian but we’re used to 3 meals per
day. Plus we’re eating very small
quantities at our meals.
I’m sitting here with
Gayla as she reads a book called “An Hour on Sunday” which was given to
her by our pastor, Ron Gleaves.
It’s one that was required by his seminary professor and he was
very impressed with it. He may be
sorry that he shared it with Gayla before it’s all over as she’ll likely
want to implement its suggestions.
Well, it’s bedtime so I’ll sign off for now. I know you will not be able to read
this for 3 more days but I will continue to record my thoughts each day
anyway.
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