"This, too, is Liberia"

Ok, so I admit I am terrible at blogging. I often think “I should write this in the blog”, but then getting around to it is another deal…the time just continues to fly. Ryan and I are now in our 5th month of living in Liberia. We feel that the time has gone so fast, yet it feels like we’ve been here for a long time! Sometimes it’s hard to remember what life is like back in the US…you just get so used to the culture here.

So, Happy Easter to everyone! We went to church at our compound this morning and really enjoyed the time of worship. Today I have been thinking a lot about God’s provision for Ryan and me since we have been here. There is not one need He has not met. It’s easy to let this go unnoticed in the busyness of our daily lives, but we really are blessed. Ryan and I have both had good health since coming here, which is pretty amazing considering how much disease goes around. God has protected us and kept us from harm…we have not even been pulled over one time by a police asking for a bribe…which is very unusual for a foreigner! The Lord has given us a wonderful place to live and good people to surround us. We’re very thankful. It was a bit of a wake-up call when we found out this week that the pastor of our church was attacked in his home by 7 armed robbers, who wounded him pretty badly with machetes. He is doing ok now…and we praise God that He is ultimately in control…even when Satan tries to bring us down.

Life in Liberia is definitely interesting! I’m trying to think of things I can share with you that might tell you more about our daily lives. We live in an apartment that is right in the middle of the city. The whole place has windows that give great ventilation and keep the place pretty cool without air conditioning. However, they also let us hear everything going on in the neighborhood around us! We’ve heard lots of different noises while living here…loud roosters, random preachers, puppies wailing, lots of music (they like Jordan Sparks)…mangos falling off the trees onto a metal roof (in the middle of the night sounds like a gunshot!)…and then there are other sad sounds such as people crying and screaming. I often wonder what these people are going through, and pray that they know Jesus.

We’ve picked up a saying here…“This, too is Liberia.” This quote is actually the title of a section you can find in the Liberia newspaper. This section just shows a big picture of a typical scene in Liberia, which is usually hilarious or crazy and just makes you say “oh Liberia”. So we say this lot when we see things that you wouldn’t see anywhere else…or just seem crazy. We also use it a lot while driving…when you can either get quite frustrated at the insanity…or try to laugh about it and say “This too is Liberia."

Ryan has picked up Liberian English really well! It’s pretty funny to catch him right in the middle of it. You’ll often hear him say things like “Morning-o!” or “That plenty rice-o!” or “Hey my man.” I catch myself using “o” on the end of sentences more and more…and making my sentences as short as possible…

During the month of March Ryan officially became the Program Manager for his program, the LIAP. Currently he’s working on his first quarterly report as I write, which takes many hours. Because his program is a grant from the government, there are a lot of strict reporting guidelines. His program alone has around 60 employees, so you can imagine how much work goes on! We’re both getting a lot of great experience that’s for sure. I just finished a couple weeks of interviewing and hiring a couple new staff, which was new for me. I also had a visitor come for a week during March. She is one of the Field Accounting Managers who works at Samaritan’s Purse in Boone, and the person that I report to and send all of my finance information too. It was great to have her out here to see Liberia and get a feel for how things run at our office.

There are a lot of great projects going on here with SP Liberia and it is neat to see how God is working. We now have a SP helicopter that we can use to assist the projects. The pilot and his family arrived last month and the chopper has been used a lot already! One of our main projects here is Water and Sanitation…which involves building water filters, latrines, wells…as well as hygiene education. There are so many villages here in the Liberia in the middle of the jungle that can only be reached by foot, so these places generally do not receive help from aid organizations. With the helicopter here now, SP has been able to begin working in some of these villages. The helicopter will carry big loads of cement, construction materials, etc. into the villages for the projects. I’ve been able to ride on it a couple times to get to our upcountry offices which is fun.

We have something exciting coming up next month…Ryan and I both have birthdays the first week in May …and we’ll get to celebrate them in Ethiopia! There is a workshop going on for USAID (which is the donor for Ryan’s grant). The point of the workshop is for both Program staff and Finance staff to learn USAID rules and regulations, which works out great as Ryan is the manager for the project and I deal with the finances. So, we’re going for a week to Ethiopia and will spend 3 days at the workshop. It is also a way for me to obtain CPE hours for my CPA, since I have not done any since we have moved here! We’re really looking forward to seeing East Africa. There is also an SP office in Ethiopia and they also have staff attending the workshop…so it should be fun!

I’m trying to think of any pictures I want to put up here from this month. Let’s see…we had our first “karaoke night” with the SP staff last month a couple weeks ago, which was fun! This is Ryan and I trying to sing Spice Girls, which turned out terrible…

This picture below is of Ryan and Eric, one of our friends who hangs out around the compound. He is 15 years old and his parents died several years ago. Right now he sells cookies (which they call biscuits) during the day to earn money. He sells them out of a wheel barrow which says “Eric, Minister of Biscuits.” He asked Ryan if we would pay his school fees (all schools charge these fees in order for the kids to attend). So, we paid this small amount and now he always wants to help us with something! Last Saturday he came up to clean the apartment, but instead we told him he could help Ryan wash the dishes…so here they are. Then he just kept cleaning and cleaning and eventually we had to tell him to leave ha. :)

Well, this is getting very long so I think I’ll stop. But I’ll try to update again if I think of something interesting later on. :) We miss all of you! I’ll leave with these words that were an encouragement to me today.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives

One more thing....

I just posted the long blog below, but thought I would add one more interesting thing about Liberian culture. As I've mentioned before, we live above a church compound, so we often see different events going on. Today there was a Liberian wedding and I watched part of it from above. The whole event is very lively and pretty laid back. The bridesmaids sort of dance down the aisle...they actually rock back and forth to the music so it takes a while for everyone to get down the aisle. Even the little flower girls and ring bearers "rock" which is pretty cute. For the wedding today the 9 bridesmaids rocked down the aisle to the worship song "Ancient of Days", which was sung by a worship band at the front. Once they got to the front they continued dancing while the worship band played. Then, when the bride came in, she also rocked down the aisle....but she also sang a solo at the same time! She sang the song "Give Thanks" the whole time she went down the aisle...pretty impressive I think. Once she reached the front, she sat down in a chair while the groom was sitting down in another row across the aisle. Then the congregation sang another song and afterwards a sermon was given. I left at that point so that's all I saw, but I've been listening to the reception outside our apartment all afternoon. Very lively with lots of loud music! Sounds like they had fun! :)

February is gone??

Oh my goodness has it already been a month since I last wrote on here? I’ll be surprised if anyone is still reading. :) As they say in Liberia….sorry-oh! One thing that keeps me from updating is the slow internet…but I am going to try to do better! And the time is flying too!
So, since it has been a month, I’ll have to try to let you know what’s been going on without making this too long. Here’s what we’ve been up to in February:

-Work, of course. It keeps us very busy! I was able to travel to both of our upcountry bases this month. Even though the trips were short, it was great to be able to see the rural communities and meet some of our staff working in the field. When you walk down the street the kids yell “Pum-wee!!”(which means white person in the Mende language) and they all want to shake your hand. Quite different than Monrovia! Ryan has officially taken over as Program Manager for his food program, so he’s continuing to learn and settle into his role. I am also continuing to learn new things every day in my job, and am thankful for God’s provision and mercy.

-Some fun, too. :) One weekend we went golfing. I have never been golfing before…who would have thought the first time would be in Liberia! It’s neat though because they place we went is at a rubber plantation called Firestone….yes, the rubber made here is used to make the Firestone tires. It is a huge plantation and the golf course is somewhere in the middle of it. One of our good friends here actually grew up on the plantation. The golf was a lot of fun…I’m not sure how I did for a first time…but I managed to get bruises on my wrists, which must be a sign I did something wrong. :) Ryan, on the other hand, was quite good for not having golfed much!

-Valentines Day. We got to get away for the weekend which was wonderful. We went with another couple to a beach a couple hours away called Robertsport (or Robert's Port)…and it was beautiful! We stayed in what they call “luxury tents”, which are basically these big tents up on stilts that have 2 double beds. It was great for a relaxing weekend and we had a lot of fun. Here’s one picture where you can see the tents in the background:

-Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoebox distribution. A lot of you know Samaritan’s Purse because of the OCC program. People in the states and other countries pack shoeboxes full of different toys, toiletries, etc..…and these are sent all over the world to kids living in poverty...and given to them in the name of Jesus Christ. Because the shoeboxes must be shipped by ocean to Liberia, they aren’t actually distributed at Christmas time. In February and March we have several distributions going on in different location. Ryan and I went to one distribution in a small village called Varney Boone. The neat thing is that the village was after named after our SP Liberia Country Director…who they affectionately call “Old Man Varney Boone.” The event took place at a school and it was fun to be able to see the kids receive the boxes. Some of them weren’t really sure what to do with the gifts, and some of the kids started using everything right away. The mothers, too, were quite interested in the boxes…which can sometimes be a problem…but we tried to make a point that the gifts were for the children. You know we’re in Africa when the kids carry the boxes on their heads! Here are some pictures:


Thanks again for your continued prayers. Please pray that Ryan and I will seek the Lord first in our daily lives, so that He can accomplish His will through us…

Overdue Update

Well, I'm finally getting around to updating the blog. The craziness of the past few weeks combined with the uncertainty of the internet here has made it hard to update lately. I've wanted to write more about what Ryan and I are doing here with SP....so here we go...


Samaritan's Purse
Many of you know that Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational evangelistic organization that does relief work all over the world. SP's mission is to "meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.." SP came to work in Liberia in 2003 after the country had been devastated by civil war.



Liberia
Liberia was formed in 1822 as a settlement of freed slaves that came from the US. If you'd like to read more about Liberia and its history here are a few links you can go to: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/lr.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/liberia/taylor-bio.html
http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/charles_taylor.htm
As you see in these links, Liberia has suffered periods of civil war since 1989 and lasting until 2003, which has destroyed the country in many ways. Ryan and I live in the capitol city of Monrovia, and the destruction is evident as you drive down the streets. There are many large buildings that were torn apart during the war, some which only have the outside structure standing. Squatters have taken up residence in many of these buildings.


SP in Liberia
Samaritan's Purse came to Liberia and 2003 and began implementing programs to help the people recover after the war. Since 2003 the SP office here has grown substantially and the number of programs and staff continues to increase. Right now we have around 30 projects running, which fall under the following areas: water and sanitation, food distribution, HIV/AIDS, ministry, church construction, livestock, livelihood, health programs, infrastructure rehabilitation, building wells and latrines, children's programs and more. There are many specific projects within these categories. We have around 280 national staff and around 15 expat staff. SP receives funding from both donors in the states, as well as a lot of grant funding (such as USAID).


What Ryan does
Ryan is helping to manage the largest grant project SP Liberia has right now. It is a 3 year food program which encompasses distribution of commodities, food for work, infrastructure rehabilitation and health. The actual project is implemented in what we call the "upcountry”, which includes the rural areas of Liberia to the north of Monrovia. Ryan has actually been traveling for the past week and a half, visiting one of our sub-offices which is at the very top of Liberia. By car it can take 9 hours to drive there because the roads are so bad, but we can also take UN helicopters which take about an hour and a half. Ryan has been visiting communities there every day that are the beneficiaries of the food distribution program. I haven't been able to travel yet, but it is interesting to hear his stories and about how different it is there than here in the city. People are much more poor and live simpler lives. They are also not nearly as used to seeing white people as they are here in Monrovia. There are so many NGO's (non-governmental organizations) here in the city that is pretty common to see foreigners around. The current manager of this program will be leaving SP in a few months, and Ryan will take over the program at that time.


What I do
I am the Finance Manager for SP Liberia. Basically, I am responsible for managing the money that flows in and out of our office. We receive much of our funding from the international headquarters in Boone, North Carolina, so I work closely with the field accounting department there. We also receive money from SP affiliate offices (such as SP Canada) and from grantors (such as USAID). I have 5 finance staff also helping me here in Liberia. We are responsible to track and report how all of the money is spent on the different projects. I then report all of our accounting transactions here in Boone back to the US headquarters, where they are uploaded into their system and eventually end up in the financials and the annual report. Overall, we need to be excellent stewards of the money God has provided, and to ensure that the money is correctly spent on the programs that the donors intended for it to be.


A little more about our life here...
Like I mentioned at the beginning, life has been a bit crazy the past few weeks. It was an extremely busy month for me at work, but I enjoy the work and know I will learn so much while I am here. Ryan of course has been busy as well since he has been traveling the past couple of weeks. He learned to ride a motorbike while he has been upcountry, which I hear can wear you out! :) I also learned to drive a stick shift this past month. I learned on a land cruiser because those are the most common vehicles used here. The driving here is pretty crazy. I've seen crazy driving in other countries, but Liberia is different just because there are absolutely no rules. There are no stop signs or red lights. People go whichever way they want (even if it's coming into head on traffic). The good thing is you can't really go fast because the roads are crowded. There are people everywhere and walking all over the road so you have to make sure not to hit them! That is the hardest thing for me to get used to. I'm posting a picture of a traffic jam we got in a couple weeks ago. As you can see, the people driving the opposite direction from us decided to take up most of the road, so we were forced to drive on the shoulder. It's very interesting. :)
We are really enjoying the place we’re living at. Some people have asked if we have electricity, hot water, etc. We do have power (by generator and battery) most of the time, and we do have hot water for showers. These two things in themselves are a luxury for most of Liberia! So we are very grateful. We attend the church in our compound, which makes it nice on Sundays. : ) It’s a fairly large church with many Liberians as well as expats, and I enjoy the worship there. Liberians are very animated when they sing! This is our view above the church... Well, this blog has become extremely long. Sorry! I hope this gives you a better idea of what’s going on with us. Please continue to pray for us and that we will serve with God’s strength and not our own. Thank you! We miss you!

Happy New Year

Hi ya'll! Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2009. Ryan and I spent New Years Eve with some friends and had a good time (see picture below). You can tell it was pretty crazy. :)

I'm trying to think of any more news. We officially start back to work Monday. I've been working quite a bit over the break, but we did get to get away for a day last weekend. We went to a lake called Blue Lake about an hour away, and it was beautiful! The water was perfect temperature and really clear, so we did some swimming and kayaking. Ryan also has been kayaking on a river and on the ocean which he really enjoyed.

We're getting more and more settled in everyday. The culture is incredibly different as you can imagine, so we're continuing to learn more and adjust. Even though the language is English, I often have a hard time understanding people because they talk very fast! They also have some different sayings....
For example, to ask "How are you?" someone might say: "How da body?"
Then to answer you can say: "Thank God" (Meaning things are great)
"The body fine" (Doing alright)
"Trying" (Not so good)
"Trying small small" (Terrible)
They also will add "oh" to the end of words/sentences for accentuate a point. I'm sorry-oh! I'm tired-oh! There's also special handshakes...Ryan seems to be better at those than me...
A few people have asked me about the weather... It's hot-oh! :) ...mainly because of the humidity. It's great being so near the ocean though. I'm sure we'll be going to the beach a lot this year!

Liberian Christmas

Hey everyone-Ryan and I want to wish everyone a late Merry Christmas! We are doing well here. Our office closed down for this week and the next, so we've been able to relax some which has been nice. And I am trying to catch up on some work too! :)
The Liberians love Christmas! When the office closed last Friday we all sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and everyone left so happy...kind of like kids on the last day of school. We then continued to celebrate with a Christmas party on the beach. Something else kind of funny is one of the sayings you hear at Christmastime here...."Give me my Christmas." Strangers will say this to you, meaning they want something (money) from you. Interesting for sure!
A lot of the international SP staff went home for Christmas, but the few of us here on Christmas day got together for a potluck. We went to a home on the beach and enjoyed a great meal with all types of food. Afterward we sat on the porch and listened to the ocean while one of the guys played guitar and we sang worship songs. It was really a special time....I know for me personally it was a good time to reflect on why we are here and to be encouraged by the Lord and by our co-workers who are here for the same purpose.
It was definitely a different Christmas for us. It didn't necessarily "feel" like the Christmas we know, but it was a great memory that we'll always have. And for the first time I think I realized that we didn't have to have Christmas decorations, presents, or even relatives around for it to be Christmas. :) The focus really was on Christ, and that was an amazing feeling.
So, now we're looking forward to 2009 and all God wants to do! Thanks so much for your prayers as we continue to settle in and adjust. We need them and can feel them. :)

Arrival!

Hey everyone this is Ryan! Dayna is busy working on a Saturday so being the sweet and caring guy I am I decided to help her out with this whole blogging thing.

We arrived here in Liberia last Sunday and have been here for our first week. Liberia is very different from the other country I've been in mostly because of the poverty level. All of my other travels had nice places where you could find an escape, but Liberia really has none. It is amazing to see the way people live throughout the city and the way the war has affected the country. There is still a lot of war damage and displaced peoples as the country gets itself off the ground and there is a lot of work to be done. I went on a tour through the downtown Monrovia area and was amazed how crowded and congested it was. People just mill around, walking everywhere. There are buildings which were destroyed in the war and are now filled with people who have no home but now live in the bombed out buildings. People just live wherever they can find shelter it seems. Liberia is truly an amazing place thus far.

I have not started working with my project but will on Monday and I am really looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to my first trips "upcountry" to the smaller villages where SP is working.

Dayna has hit the ground running from when we got here. She only had a few days with the finance director who she is replacing, so it was a mad dash to get her caught up to speed. It is very overwhelming at times so I am staying out of her way, I mean supporting her the best I can.

Our living arrangements are very good. We have a generator that is on a few hours a day and then battery power the rest of the day. The battery's do not last all night sometimes and then our fans wont work and it gets hot, but I think we'll get used to that. We live above a church with security and a fence and the whole bit so it is very safe. Right beneath us people are living in their shacks so it is a very strange feeling to be living so closely to such poverty. But I can say that the roosters that they own start crowing at 6 am and dont stop all day. Hopefully I can get used to that, but I don't know. Those roosters are loud.

Well that's it for now! We are working on taking some pictures and will post them as soon as we do.