Crafternoon: Thanksgiving in Liberia

Happy Liberian Thanksgiving!

What a gift to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice in one month #1 up November 6th.

In honor of the day I invited a few craft-inclined ladies over to work on and share crafts using one of God's greatest gifts: the gift of creativity.

Voila pictures and the fruits of our labors:

1st attempt at an origami telescope.

Group effort papier mache.

I think this was needlepoint.

Pom-pom and my favorite easy craft: flower pen.

Lovely local fabric apron.

Ebola: Awareness-raising

Some have asked me "So what is it like living there? Do people talk about Ebola at all?"

Do people talk about it?  Here it's like talking about the weather: frequent and sometimes informative. 

On the way back from Firestone the other week I got inspired to take pictures of the posters.  We were going at a snail's pace in the towing vehicle so it provided the perfect opportunity. 

The outbreak will end and the posters and paraphernalia will be replaced by other ads.  So I memorialize this moment while I can:

Ebola awareness-raising in the heart of Monrovia. 

Road trip to Firestone Plantation

Yes, THE Firestone.  As in the tires.

Little know fact: Some of trees that Firestones taps to get rubber to make their tires are in Liberia.  Bought for a ridiculously low price, the Firestone company owns a HUGE plantation that is like a city to itself with a hospital, clubhouse, golf course and even a school.  It's one of Liberia's best kept secrets. They also did an amazing job at curbing the spread of Ebola on the plantation: Article with video Firestone Did What Governments Have Not. A briefer albeit inaccurately titled article is How Firestone Shut Ebola down in Liberia.

One Sunday I spontaneously joined three colleagues for what ended up being an eventful yet delightful day.

Fascinated by how the trees are "tapped" or cut at a were precise angle in for the rubber sap to flow correctly.  Buckets are attached to the trees to catch the slow drips for days.  For some reason looking at this gave me an appetite.

After explaining to me how the seeds of the tree drop to the ground and create new trees like weeds, Ken went off searching for seedlings. The seeds come in clips of 3, sometimes 4.  In the background are beautifully manicured rows of trees. 

Firestone golf course.  Lessons $10 an hour?!

  

Me and one of my favorite folk.

After leaving Firestone we made a stop for catfish.  We ended up taking a look at the other items for sale.  We got nothing but a few laughs with the ladies.

Friend inspecting dried fish at the side of the rod to Monrovia.

Palm oil seeds

After leaving the catfish/palm nut/dried fish stand, Ken's car refused to start.  We were still a ways outside of town so we flagged down some help.  They jumpstarted the car.  A few miles down the road the car started sputtering and slowed down to a stop again.   By this time we were already in Monrovia. 

The remnant of the 11 dudes plus an Embassy colleague.

 The way crowds gather around unusual events, especially those involving foreigners, is uncanny.  When dudes started crossing the road to the car I estimated 15 people would gather.  I was too amazed to take a picture.  We ended up with 11.  They were unable to jumpstart the car this time around.  We called the Embassy and they sent a vehicle to tow us home.

Favorite picture of the day: Damsels in distress.

Lourdes and Ken happy to be towed.

Altogether a delightful day.