Our Many (Secret) Lives

So I have had a couple of very interesting days, both over the weekend and at work. Every department is working overtime as we prepare to sail from Liberia to dry dock (more on that later).

One of the things that has been bouncing around my brain for the past few weeks has been a question I asked myself "how well do we know the people around us?". I started thinking about this as I realized how often we call people our friends - why do we do this? I catch myself calling people I've only known for a few weeks or a couple of months my friends. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing - it's just interesting to think about.

And living here makes it even more interesting. I live with 380 people who I really do not know outside of this ship. We have never seen each other "in our natural habitat". Sometimes I look around and wonder if they are the same way back home. It's amazing how many lives we live each day: at home, at work, at church, with our family, with our friends, and with our real friends. Living here each of these separate lives are seen by everyone because we live with our coworkers and eat with our neighbors and go to church with our boss, etc. We really get to see behind the scenes to how people act all the time - like being in a real world case study.

I had a surprise view into one person's "past life" this weekend. Mama Young is an 80 year old Liberian woman who founded and still runs Fatima Orphanage, which we visit every weekend. She loves her children and maintains a well run very nice orphanage (for a non-government supported African orphanage). She is fun and sassy and we all love her. At the end of every visit she gives us prophetic advice, which is always a little funny, a little serious, a little awkward but always filled with truth. She will point at one person and say you need to forgive and then point at the next person and say they are beautiful and need to be happy (in case you are waiting I am not going into what she told me). And then she'll go on a tangent about her younger days and how we are to young to want to get married or be in a serious relationship.

Mama Young truly is amazing! But this weekend I found out that Mama Young was once an advisor to Charles Taylor. The same Charles Taylor who became the president of Liberia after beginning the 14 year Liberian civil war that ripped this country apart and still has it crippled. She actually advised this man as he formed his infamous rebel army, led a coup against the government and set up his own government. She explained to me that he even would come to the orphanage to tape many of his messages to the Liberian people. It is amazing and scary to think how the same person, in this case Mama Young, can influence so many lives through good and through evil. So, how different are you between your many lives? And how are you influencing the lives around you?

Jesse

So there was a new four months old baby at Fatima Orphanage this weekend named Jesse. But, thank God, he was not there to stay! Jesse was only visiting his dad at work; his father is one of a group of Liberian men who are working with us to remodel a few of the buildings within the orphanage.

Sidebar: Mercy Ships works to partner with local groups for projects. We would like to work with the people and, often, educate them on better ways of doing things (whether it is construction, agriculture or medical) rather than just coming in and doing everything for them.

So I watched Jesse for the day while his father worked. It was so much fun playing with a little baby again. And it really made me miss Khotso, who was the baby at the orphanage that I "adopted" while in Lesotho. As my friend Jay stated over dinner "you really love children". Which is true...I love children! But while it was fun watching Jesse for the day it was also a reminder of how blessed we all are simply because of where we live, the medical treatment that is available and all the other blesssings that are easy to take for granted.


Jesse's story: Jesse is actually the only surviving baby out of the triplets that his parents had; there was a second baby boy and a baby girl. The mother had a very difficult delivery and the baby girl died at the hospital. The mother and both boys were very sick and after a month the baby boy died. Sadly, the mother never recovered from childbirth complications and she died a week after the little boy. Hearing this made me ask myself "when was the last time I heard of a woman dying from childbirth complications?". Children are delivered so often that, I know for myself anyway, I forget how amazing and dangerous childbirth is. But I also forget how much is available through Western medicine in case there are complications, which were not available to this little family in Liberia.

Jesse and his father are doing fine. Jesse is a beautiful, healthy baby boy with plenty to say! And I hope to see him again over our last few weekends in Liberia.

Laughing at some of the ladies who say I look "comfortable" with Jesse. I love children and Africa but am not ready to become a Liberian wife and mother!

Getting some help from Josephine (one of the orphans) and Vern (a fellow crew member) as Jesse spits up on me!

And They Call This Place a Mine!

At the Bong Mine town lake

So I took a trip to an old mine city called Bong Mines and the adventure there was more fun than the actual town! It is approximately 2 hours "up country" so instead of driving a Rover (land rover that is) and wasting gas we road the train. But since you do need a vehicle once you get to the end of the track (quite literally) we tied the truck onto one of the "flat bed" cars of the train! It was awesome to say the least.


Our truck strapped to the train

First, we left the ship and drove to the train tracks, which are filled with run down, rusty train cars. Finally, after almost 2 hours of waiting, the train arrives on schedule (African time is something I will never be able to explain or get use to). We are the first truck in line to load onto the train and once we secure the vehicle we wait for all the other passengers to load. The train yard is full of Liberians, selling their food and items, but most are not going to ride the train. Instead, they load the rice, wood and gas that they are sending to people in villages along the way. Once the train is ready we are off.

On top of our truck, which is on top of a train, with some of the gang!

The country is so green and every couple of miles a little village comes to life yelling at the passing train. Instead of riding in a passenger car, which was occupied with UN soldiers, we rotate between standing and walking around our truck and riding on top of it. It is something that would never happen in a Western country: passengers responsible for securing their vehicle to a train! And we were completely free to walk around the moving train with no guard rails or rules other than the obvious one: do not fall off! This rule was almost broken a few times by members of my group, including myself, once it began to rain. I know it was dangerous but how many times in a person's life will they get to ride in the rain, on top of a Land Rover, that is strapped to a moving train! So minus the scary moments, when I almost dropped my camera and slipped trying to get something out of the truck, it was perfectly safe and so much fun.

Don't worry, I held on tightly!

Our train also made a few stops, some planned, along the way. We had food and goods to deliver and the children would attempt to talk to the "white man", which is a common phrase they continually screamed. After saying hello to me they quickly recognized me as a "black American", which was surprisingly more interesting than the 20+ white people. The best was at one stop when 7 children came running naked from their communal bath. We all enjoyed a good laugh at that stop: them because everything we said was pronounced funny and us because there were 7 naked children running at the train and their moms shouting at them to come back.

Bong Mine Town's train depot

By noon we reached the Bong Mines which was a booming mine town up until the 1980's. Now it is full of dilapidated buildings and rusted equipment that the miners and foreign managers left behind since they were evacuated so quickly at the start of the war. We have to be careful and stay together as we travel towards the lake because this is one of the towns where rebel forces fled to once peace keepers took over 4 years ago. Throughout the day I thought about the war and how much of Liberia was affected by it. The mine, which along with the port, made Liberia the richest African country in its prime and is now run down town full of ex-soldiers and poor villagers. I imagined the forest as our train rode through it and thought of how terrifying it must have been for the hundreds of Liberians who fled there to hide from the rebel forces for years. And I know that there is so much that still needs to be done within this, and so many other African countries, but I will continue to press on.

Make an update already!

So I am finally making an update - sorry for the delay. I have been staying pretty busy but it's funny how I don't feel like I have done much. Monday through Friday I am at work (for those of you still in school enjoy it! Even working in different countries does not change it from still being work). What I live for is the weekends: those magical two days when I get to fully decide what I will do and where I will go. Which is also funny because I pretty much go to the same places (after all it is Monrovia, Liberia, so there aren't to many options available).

So the next few blog updates will be dedicated to updating you all on what I have been busy doing. Hope you enjoy!