Kissi Money

Kissi money is the name for an iron currency made in the Kissi country of Sierra Leone that circulated widely between the 1880s and the 1940s in the immediate vicinity of its production among the Gbandi, Gola, Kissi, Kpelle, Loma, Mandinka and Mende and other people of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Kissi money still features today on Liberian bank-notes:

And bizarrely, not long ago my parents bought a box of junk at an auction house in rural west of England that contained 40 pieces of Kissi money! Small world eh?

Olly

Liberia in the news: Liberian students may need to study harder

Liberian students may need to study harder

None of Liberia's nearly 25,000 school-leavers passed this year's admission exam. A University of Liberia official said they did not have a basic grasp of English.

Ten years after the end of the West African nation's civil war, many schools lack basic education material and teachers are poorly qualified.

For full article click here.

Olly

A new Mercy Ship

It looks like the deal has been done: "Mercy Ships has announced that it has reached an agreement with Asian and European shipbuilding firms to purpose-build a new 36,600-GRT hospital ship for Mercy Ships. Contracts were signed between Mr. Dong Qiang, VP of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), and Donald K. Stephens, President/ Founder of Mercy Ships, together with Jim Paterson, Senior VP of Mercy Ships Marine Operations." 

For full article click here or go to http://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/mercy-ships-build-worlds-largest-civilian-hospital-ship/ 

Happy Birthday Libby

Libby was 9 yesterday! 

Olly

Banana wagon

Thank you blk24ga for this brilliant photo s/he took recently in Monrovia.

Olly