Where in the World is Liberia?

I bet you probably never learned about Liberia in your US History class.

At least I don’t remember anyone ever telling me about the country where Americans took over other people’s land  in order to give it to freed slaves and free African-Americans who then enslaved the indigenous peoples of the land they’d took… do you?

Liberia’s government is modeled after the US; the people speak English, use Liberian and US dollars interchangeably, and know American R&B music better than I do. My sister said that it’s how one would imagine the US if it were in Africa…  and was being rebuilt after a very long civil war. Liberia views itself as America’s baby, but if that’s true it’s a child we are mostly ignorant of and/or have seriously neglected.

To learn more about the country that I just visited, read this brief article: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/liberia/p/LiberiaHist1.htm

In case you’re wondering… Liberia looks like this (a shoe)

And my trip went like this (village, Ouaga, Accra, flight to Monrovia... and back)

LIBERIA PICS

 Some pictures from MY TRIP TO LIBERIA

Water pump in the middle of the city (Monrovia)

A perplexing billboard
(also please note that all of the people in the car are clear?!)

Kate working

On the way to a market (downhill!)

Kate and Carri at the beach playing with their food

Malaria Month

     Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite carried by a particular type of mosquito (the female anopheles). If a mosquito with the parasite bites you, it gives you the parasite. The parasite lives mainly in the liver, blood, and placenta, and it causes a whole host of problems. If another mosquito bites an infected person, the person can give the parasite to it. It then goes on to bite someone else… thus creating the vicious cycle that is malaria.

     Malaria is often called “palu” (pah-loo) in Burkina, short for its French name paludism. Though malaria is active year round, like everything else here, it has its own season. When the conditions are best for mosquitos to breed is after rainy season. August- November there are more mosquitos, and thus more malaria.

     Simple malaria has signs of fever, chills, body aches, diarrhea, and vomiting. It’s not at all fun, but usually very treatable with simple drugs. If left untreated, however, it can turn into complicated malaria, which includes symptoms like seizures, loss of consciousness, jaundice, anemia, dehydration, and difficulty breathing. Also, death.

     People can develop an acquired resistance to malaria, but it is especially dangerous for children under 5, who have not acquired a resistance yet, and pregnant women, whose resistance doesn’t have the same affect while pregnant.

     Despite clear need, there is no vaccine for malaria yet. Efforts to produce one are ongoing, but much of the world that can afford to fund trials is unaffected by the disease, so they ignore (or remain ignorant of) the need.

Frustrating Rambles

I’ve spent the last few months on and off trying to get an AIDS mural in my community. I spent January running the idea by my Major (numerous times), getting a wall approved, buying primary materials in other villages, and doing research and sketches of what HIV prevention methods I thought would be appropriate to portray. I spent most of February begging the Major to find someone to cement the wall.

The one part of the project I couldn’t do myself was the cementing, and the wall is a stucco type thing that you just can’t paint. Well, the guy who did the cement did a terrible job. My Major paid him anyway, but since his payment was the only contribution I asked from my CSPS, I figured it was up to them to decide what he deserved. Besides that, the guy tried to rip me off by saying he needed more cement. Instead of just handing him money (I have learned a thing or two) I went and bought the cement itself and had it sent over. It was sent back. “He didn’t really need it, he said” the kid told me. Great. So here I am with another half a bag of cement no one needs.

Whatever. The guy did a bad job, but I can paint it and try to fix the cement drips and it’ll work out, I thought. I did the first white coat with my nurses. I was excited they wanted to help though they are still asking me for payment… which is getting old. I spent the end of February drawing out all of the grids on the wall and on my sketches.  Last week I finished the pencil drawings on the grids and was decently satisfied. There was one place the cement had fallen off but I was sure my nurse could fix it if he decided to.

I started the painting today. I walked to the CSPS with the paint in my backpack. As I laid out all the supplies I’d gathered  I realized I’d forgotten the pop bottles to mix paints in. I didn’t feel like walking all the way back to my house to get them so I decided but that I could bring them tomorrow. I looked at the penciled in drawings and sighed. I suppose, I thought, I can just do the outlines today.

So I went to get water. Of course, we were out. My CSPS never has water because none of the nurses go get it. I made a similar comment to the Pharmacist. This isn’t America, she replied. No, I said, my friend works at a CSPS here and they have water. It’s just because none of the nurses wants to get it. I was getting in a bad mood. I took a breath.
Is that pump working? I asked.  I’d  noticed no one was using it today. Nope, she replied. You should fix it for us. That’s your job, to help us. So you should give us money to fix the pump. No, I replied. you know that’s not my job. I’ve explained my job to you before. It is not my job to fix your pump and it’s not my job to give out money. She laughed at me.
Go to robinet (a kind of pump you pay for) right behind the CSPS then. Yeah, and who’s gonna pay for that? You can, she tells me. No, I think, I really can’t. I really don’t have money to spare this month. I don’t have the money, I say.  She laughs again. If you’re going to be like that go away from me. I’m tired. I’m just joking she said. Am I laughing? I say. She leaves.
I walk the 10 minutes to another pump, wait my turn,pump the water and carry it back 10 minutes on my head. All of this to wash some brushes.

I get all set with the paint and realize I can’t see the picture I’m painting if I’m painting. Tape, I think. I can tape it to the wall. I ask my new Major for tape. Nope. Don’t have any. Well, what do you put the posters and papers on the wall up with? I reply. We’re out, he says, ask at the Pharmacy. I go ask. I’m out, she says, ask the Major. Are you kidding me? I just asked the Major, I tell her. Oh, well I have some, but tell him he’s got to pay me back. I take the tape back to the Major’s office. She gave me some, but says you’ll have to pay her back, I say. What? he says. Whatever, I think, I’m tired. I just need a little bit, I say. Do you have any scissors to cut it with? No. he says. You should buy me some.

Our Stories

" 'The World isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?' " -Pi Patel, Life of Pi,Yann Martel

Yay Women Day

Some photos from March 8th, International Women's Day, celebrated in my village. Sadly no photos from the women's verse men's soccer game... because I played in it :) Women won.

Jillian at my door

My friend Bibata just had her first baby!

Matching outfits are big here for holidays