And finally from Liberia

Yesterday we left Liberia on the Africa Mercy, along with 294 other crew. It goes without saying that we will miss the country, and all the friends we made there. We will return one day, to see Libby's birth place, and what progress has been made. Olly

Above: the empty dock (the scene of so much activity over the past ten months), minutes before we sailed, with a few friends to wave us off.

INTERPOL to help in Liberia's prison break

INTERPOL is to deploy its Incident Response Team (IRT) to Liberia to support the national law enforcement authorities in a chase and capture of some more than 100 fugitives following the escape of 202 prisoners from the capital's South Beach prison. The team which will also beef up the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Monrovia, will help in capturing the 151 prisoners said to be still at large. 51 of the fugitives have already been arrested following quick action by Liberian authorities. The fugitives, who have been convicted of a range of crimes including murder and attempted murder, armed robbery, theft, burglary and rape, are said to be posing a clear threat to public safety. For full article click here.

Nepalese Medal Parade -v- At Sea Emergency Drills

Yesterday Sally and I (and several others) were honoured to receive an invitation to the neighbouring Nepalese Armed Police base for their annual Medal Parade Ceremony. The invitation was delivered to Sally buy one of our own Nepalese Ghurkas; the ceremony will be quite grand, with a guest appearance by the UN's Special Representative to the Secretary General and other dignified guests...Sadly, we can't go, which is a big shame as the Nepalese have been our close friends for the last 3 Field Services here, and have allowed us to use their parade ground for games and sports events. Instead, we will be enjoying more drills and a stowaway search before we sail out of Liberia (sometime)...Olly

Drill, drill, drills!

Two days before we sail! Plenty of drills to enjoy! Olly

Gateway Kids

Here's the latest photo of the Peet/Chapman/Eveleens kids, who first met over 5 years ago on (in September 2003) in Texas, where we all were attending our Mercy Ships Gateway course.
How they've grown! Olly

Top row (left to right): Anna Peet, Lauren Chapman, Joyce Eveleens.

Bottom row: Noah Peet, Taylor Chapman.

Last dance in Liberia

Last night Anna and her friends danced for the last time in Liberia. They performed to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in the Africa Mercy's Mid Ships Lounge, directed by Chenel & Carys (two big girls!). Soon many of the dancers will be going in separate directions - Lauren and Kaitlyn will remain in Liberia, and Joyce will be going home to Holland.

Left to right: Lauren (USA), Joyce (Holland), Josie (Ghana), Jana (Germany), Anna (UK), Fride (Norway) and Kaitlyn (USA)

Loading

This week loading of the Africa Mercy began in earnest in preparation for our departure from Liberia at the weekend. Amongst the things going onto Deck 8 are 26 vehicles, 4 shipping-containers, a drilling rig, 4 trailers, and tons of scaffolding used by the construction teams. Photo taken from our cabin window of a Land Rover mid-flight. Olly

State Funeral

Today I witnessed the procession of the State Funeral of Senator Isaac Johnson of River Gee County. It was headed by a police pick-up with flashing lights & sirens, followed by an empty hearse, and then a big flat-bed truck, draped in purple, displaying the Senator's coffin covered in the Liberian flag. This was follwed by dozens and dozens of mourners lead by many brand news Republic of Liberia cars and pick-ups, and then some of his more distant friends, relatives and business associates (judging by the increasing age of the cars at the back of the line)...The whole procession took ages to pass, and was quite a spectacle. Olly

School photos again

Here are the kids latest school photos:

Libby...

...and her class.

Anna...

...and her class.

Noah...

...and his class.

And the whole Academy (nearly 50 children and a dozen teachers). Olly

Jail-break

On Monday afternoon 202 prisoners broke out of Monrovia's Central Prison, leaving another 600 behind. A jail-break of such proportions is of no surprise to me - I only visited the prison once over a year ago, but thought that security was poor and a coordinated rush by a large number of prisoners would be successful. The guys that are left behind will be grateful for the space provided by those escaping, before it is filled up following the orgy of looting that happens every year around Christmas as desperate men steel things to buy food for their families. Currently, 32 of the 202 escapees have been re-captured. The city is in a high state of alert, with road blocks at frequent intervals and all available Police and UN personnel involved in searching for the escapees. Meanwhile, the Africa Mercy's Prison Ministry team was called upon to deliver emergency food supplies to the prison, as the escapees raided the food stores on their way to freedom, leaving the remaining 600 inmates hungry. Our Prison Ministry delivered 6 sacks of rice to the prison yesterday via the Prison Fellowship.Olly

Farewells begin

Yesterday our kids said goodbye to their good friends, the Dunseath kids. Here they are after their showers before we headed back to the ship. Noah was trying very hard to hold back the tears...Back row, left to right: Anna, Micah, Jedediah, Noah. Front row, left to right: Matea, Libby, Hadassah.

Last day for surgery

Today, Friday 28th November, is the last day of surgery aboard the Africa Mercy in this Field Service. On Sunday the exodus begins, as dozens of surgeons, anaethatists and OR nurses start to go home. By the time we sail the number of crew will have gone down by 100 from the height of the Field Service, leaving only 297 people to sail to Tenerife. What a Field Service! I hope to publish some stats soon. Olly

Anna & The President Part II

Some more photos of Anna's 15 seconds of fame on Wednesday during the President of Liberia's final visit to the Mercy Ship Africa Mercy:

Anna shows the lovely bunch of flowers...

The Presient arrives and shakes hand with Ken, our MD...

Anna gives her the flowers...

The President passes the flowers to her aid...

...and waves at Africa Mercy crew standing on Deck 7 (including Libby & me). Olly

A baby with no face

The baby in the photo below is five month old Eddie, who suffered massive burns in August when the mosquito net he was sleeping under caught fire from a candle. Against all odds he survived, and his parents brought him to the Africa Mercy, where he had surgery to release his eyelids to stop him from going blind, and skin grafts to the back of his head. He will need many more surgeries to replace his nose and lips, and even after surgery may never gain his skin pigment. He will remain on the ship as long as possible so our nurses can change his dressings twice daily. Please pray for him. Olly

Mary's Meals

I often see an overloaded white pick-up around town with "Mary's Meals" written on the side, with a white women in the front passenger seat, but until now had no idea what Mary's Meals is, or who Mary is (was it the white lady?). www.telegraph.co.uk has a big article about Mary's Meals in it today - it is a charity set up by a Scottish Catholic guy (hence the name Mary, I guess), which aims to provide food for some of the worlds poorest people...Mary's Meals feeds 15000 children in Liberia today. Fascinating reading - click here for more. The Telegraph has included Mary's Meals in their Christmas Charity Appeal this year. Olly

Anna and the President

Yesterday, the President of Liberia attended a reception aboard the Africa Mercy to mark the end of Mercy Ships' fourth Field Service in Liberia. Anna was chose to present her with a bunch of flowers as she climbed out of her car, and escorted her up the gangway and into the ship. I managed to get only one photo of the two together - so here it is, of Anna in pink, and the President in the brown & gold dress and headdress, surrounded by bodyguards. More photos to come. Olly

Marcel Eveleens

Many of you will remember our good friend Marcel & Annette Eveleens from Holland - we did our Gateway with them (and their daughter Joyce) in 2003. Marcel was with us on the Anastasis as head plumber, and later as an agriculturalist, and now is on the Africa Mercy teaching agriculture to the community of Tenegar. Here's a couple of photos of him ...

...shaking hands with the President of Liberia last Friday at the Tenegar Clinic opening ceremony... ...and in the chicken house he recently helped the Tenegar Community build.

His agriculture project in partnership with the Tenegar community has hopefully inspired the locals to continue growing food for their own consumption and for the market, after the ship sails away in a couple of weeks. Olly

Cool Liberian house

Here's a photo of one of Liberia's rare old colonial houses. It would originally have been clad in wood, which was replaced with corrugated iron sheets as they started to rot. The whole building was designed for coolness - it stands off the ground to allow cool air to circulate underneath; the many windows provide good ventilation and drafts, and the original wooden walls would have kept the heat out too. Nowadays of course, the iron walls have the opposite effect and the house is unbearably hot most of the time. Each year, the remaining number of these houses grows less as they are pulled down in favour of longer-lasting low maintenance concrete-block alternatives. Such a shame. Olly

Tenegar Town Celebrates Dedication Of New Clinic As Beacon Of Hope

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf received a traditional gift of two roosters along with the keys to a new health clinic built with Mercy Ships funds and oversight. It was constructed by workers from 10 villages and has been handed over to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The new clinic will serve the needs of the residents of Tenegar and surrounding villages for many years to come. For full article click here.

Liberia’s Thanksgiving for Mercy Ships

Friday 21st November 2008 - Hundreds of residents and community leaders in the Liberian town of Tenegar, gave thanks for the vital support of Mercy Ships, as Her Excellency Madame President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf cut the ribbon to the area's long-awaited health clinic. During the past 10 months while Mercy Ships surgeons provided free

surgeries in the Port of Monrovia, the ship's Community Development volunteers also provided management and expertise to the Tenegar site. Day workers from 10 different villages contributed 12,000 hours to clear and construct the clinic. For full article click here.

Monrovia Gets Additional Ten 75-Seater Transport Buses

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has urged the management of the Monrovia Transit Authority to work towards extending the activities of the Authority to other parts of the country. Speaking Saturday in Gardnersville when Government introduced recently acquired transport buses, the President said the authority must embark on plans that would lead to an extension of its activities throughout the country. She lauded the Canadian charity, the McCall McBain Foundation for supporting Government efforts to ease the transportation burden of citizens. For full article click here.

Noah update

Noah is emotionally a lot stronger this weekend, I am sure because of the prayers for him from people all over the world in response to my blog entry. Thanks for the emails of encouraragement too. God bless. Olly

Noah needs prayer

Our nine year old son Noah is spending many evenings in tears as he contemplates our departure from Liberia, and the separation from his good friends ashore. Please pray for him. Olly

Ward Cleaning

With less than 2 weeks of surgery left, the number of patients on the Africa Mercy are getting less each day, and our wards are closing one by one in preparation for our sail to Tenerife. Each ward (and Operating Room) is being scrubbed thoroughly from top to bottom with disinfectant, by the same dedicated ladies who were nursing patients only days ago. No super-bugs here, guaranteed! Olly

I can see my face in that!

Monrovia's rainfall statistics

London has 25 inches of rainfall per year; Monrovia has 205 inches. It is the wettest capital city in the world, and the second wettest inhabited place in the world, after a small town in North East India. Olly

World Toilet Day?

With just one in 25 Liberians having access to a toilet, most use the nearest bush or beach, unwittingly committing what the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) calls "the riskiest sanitation practice". Liberia's 3.5 million people share just 19,690 toilets, according to a government water and sanitation sector assessment from October 2008, and fewer than one in three Liberians have access to safe drinking water, according to the head of Liberia's Water and Sewer Corporation, Hun-Bu Tulay. For full article click here.

A Liberian toilet. No wonder people prefer to use the bush or the beach.

Emmanuel

Ten year old Emmanuel has got to be the luckiest boy in West Africa. Last Thursday he swallowed the little thing that makes a whizzing noise from the end of one of those things you blow to make an irritating noise at parties, and it went deep into one of his lungs. When he breathed out, he made a whizzing sound. Without a procedure to remove the thing, it would fester and cause infection, and he would most probably die after a long sickness. His parents carried him around Monrovia's hospitals for 3 days, but there was no-one able to remove the device. And then a miracle happened - they brought him to the Africa Mercy's dockside clinic late on Sunday afternoon, when it should have been closed - but my friend Rosie, an Admissions Nurse, just happened to be finishing off her work late for the day. She listened to Emmanuel's chest, and then went and found Paediatric Surgeon Dr Hose from Gran Canaria, who was the only guy in Liberia with the knowledge and tools to remove the whizzer. Emmanuel was admitted on Sunday night and a one-hour procedure removed the thing on Monday. Today he is going home, slightly bruised but none the worst for the accident. Praise God! Olly

4 weeks from now...

4 weeks from now we will be at sea, having left Liberia for the final time (for a long time anyway) en route to Tenerife, before sailing to the Republic of Benin for the next ten month Field Service. Olly

Mercy Ships ensures that Liberian technicians can "fix it"

Monrovia, Liberia November 12, 2008 - One of the biggest challenges to providing increased access to health care for Liberia's citizens is the availability of functional medical equipment. Although Liberia is in the process of rebuilding, much of the country's infrastructure is still in ruins, including many health care facilities. Medical and support personnel are severely lacking. Many who lived in the country before the war were displaced and most have not returned. In addition, donor organizations have supplied new or used medical equipment, but often no one is trained to repair or install it. Add the difficulty in getting spare parts, separation of service manuals from equipment and instability of a power supply that causes frequent equipment failure, and you have an African hospital's biggest headache. In an effort to address this issue and at the request of the Liberian Ministry of Health & Social Welfare, six Liberian hospital technicians have recently completed Mercy Ships' first Mentoring Biomedical Technicians program. The technicians were chosen by five of the nation's hospitals and equipped with additional skills to install, maintain, and repair various complex medical equipment. The training will ensure that donations of essential equipment will be well used when the ship departs in December. Developed and led by Africa Mercy crew member Carlos Amaral of Brazil who recently completed his PhD in biomedical engineering in Germany, the program ran from March through October. It included courses in computer training, electricity, electronics and medical equipment. Funding was provided by German foundation PRANA-Stiftung and matched by Mercy Ships volunteer hours. For full article click here.

UN troops in Liberia step up patrols on Ivory Coast border

MONROVIA, Nov 7, 2008 (AFP) - UN peacekeeping troops in Liberia said Friday that they have stepped up patrols on the border with Ivory Coast after media reports of rebel incursions. "As a precaution we have increased our vigilance to intensive foot patrol, dismounted patrol and air patrol in the area," the new commander of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Lieutenant General Abu Tayeb Muhammad Zahirul Alam told AFP. A newspaper reported in late October that Liberian rebels who want to overthrow the government, had crossed into the country from Ivory Coast and caused unrest. The reports did not specify who the rebels were. Many Liberians are still traumatized by the 14 year civil war up to 2003 which left more than 250,000 people dead. That war started when rebels led by Charles Taylor crossed into Liberia from Ivory Coast. UNMIL took the reports and the population's concern seriously, Alam said, but had not yet found "anything substantial" to back up the reports. UNMIL maintains security in Liberia. Set up in 2003, it was for several years was the largest UN force in Africa with more than 13,000 peacekeepers. Last year the UN started reducing troop numbers as disarmament was completed and security improved. There are now about 11,000 peacekeepers and it will be further reduced to 10,000 next year, the commander said. The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has 16,000 soldiers while the missions in Ivory Coast and Darfur have about 8,000 peacekeepers each. For original article click here.

Utterly Insane

Whilst Charles Taylor* stands trial for war crimes in The Hague, his misguided supporters** continue to maintain his innocence. This is their latest advertising poster - "God willing, I will be back". Their previous poster "Charles Taylor is innocent" was defaced surprisingly quickly. These are the same people that recently had a three hour long prayer vigil in Congo Town Baptist Church praying for Taylor's release (and their own freedom, I suspect). Olly

* the world's second most evil person after Osama Bin Laden, in my opinion!

** many of whom are also guilty of war crimes and theft of Liberian funds on a massive scale, and are terrified of eventual prosecution also.

A nice taxi-biker

Here in Liberia there are more and more young men offering rides on their motorbikes for money, as an alternative to waiting for a hot and cramped taxi. Many of these young men are ex-combatants, and often charge a white man like me far too much for a ride...so imagine my surprise today when a young man said "I can't charge you" as he dropped me off at the Mercy Ships gate in the port. I was so surprised I nearly fell off the bike. Bless him! Olly

Happy Libby Day

Three years ago today (11th November 2005), we brought the baby girl we were hoping to adopt onto the Anastasis for blood tests...and she never left us again! Rioting in the city meant that shore leave was cancelled, so she had to stay with us prematurely instead of waiting for the adoption paperwork to come through (which did, one month later). So 11th November is LIBBY DAY! Praise God for our beautiful Liberian girl. Olly

General Butt Naked

Joshua Milton Blahyi spoke at our Sunday evening service tonight. He spoke about being a "priest" for the Krahn tribe since he was young, and regularly making human sacrifices. During the war he fought naked - hence the name he was given, "General Butt Naked". He sacrificed a child before every battle and distributed pieces of its heart to be eaten by him and the child soldiers he had recruited. In 1996, whilst his Krahn tribe were surrounded by Charles Taylor's army, he had just sacrificed another child when a voice coming from a bright light told him to come out of slavery. It was the voice of Jesus, telling him to stop being a slave to the Devil - and he did just that! He turned his back on his evil ways and terrible practices. Since then he has become an evangelist, and is working with ex-combatants, and has brought over 50 to the Lord. He is a very powerful speaker, and is a perfect example of how God can use someone who was utterly evil, for good. Olly

Africa Mercy's Climbing Frame Opens

Yesterday we opened the Africa Mercy's children's climbing frame on Deck 8. It will give joy to thousands of children over the expected 30 years life of the ship. The whole project was financed by the good folk of Silencio Christian Fellowship, Tenerife, and South Tenerife Christian Fellowship. Thanks guys. We will be back with you before Christmas. Olly

Private Richard Pabai

I first met Liberian refugee Richard Pabai in Benin in 2004, when he worked on the Anastasis as a day-worker in the Deck Department. He sailed with us to Liberia in 2005, and left the ship's employment in early 2006, when I tried to help him set up in business selling firstly tools and then clothes from a wheelbarrow. In 2007 he got quite sick with typhoid, and then I didn't hear from him for over a year...until this week when he visited the ship in army uniform. Yes, Richard Pabai is now one of the American trained new Armed Forces of Liberia! I am very happy for him! He has five sets of uniform, three meals a day, clean water to drink, enough current to charge his mobile phone, and a doctor to treat his malaria and reoccurring typhoid...what more can a young Liberian need? Olly

Libby, me and Private Pabai.

Liberian Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Liberia's Thanksgiving Day (a tradition we really like, and will try to continue once we return to the UK). As an international crew from 33 different nations, we celebrated the day with the Liberians instead of waiting for the American Thanksgiving Day (like we used to on the Anastasis), and the event also included aspects of the traditional Harvest Festival we celebrate in the UK at this time of year. The Academy's school kids were dressed as fruit or vegetables...

...Libby came dressed as a tomato...

...Noah as a bunch of grapes...

...and Anna (left) as a bunch of bananas with her friends Fride (centre) and Joyce (right).

And there was a lovely display of fruit and veg from Liberia and beyond.

Crew from all 33 countries took it in turns to pray in their mother tongue, and then we finished with ice cream and chocolate cake! Olly

Security

Our security has always been an issue in Liberia,much so than in any other West African country I have ever visited. There are many desperate young ex-combatants who will do literally anything to earn a few dollars, even if it means swimming through the filthy waters of the port and dodging UN soldiers and Freeport Police, just to climb onto our dock to try to steal things. Mostly they get disturbed by our patrols and end up swimming away empty handed into the darkness. But in the small hours of Monday morning, swimmers managed to get onto our ship! And so "Swimmer Watch" starts once again, until we leave Liberia in December - crew will sign-up to man the decks all night long equipped with searchlights and two-way radios to ensure swimmers get no-where near our dock or our ship. Please pray for our safety and security, and for these desperate young men who are just trying to survive. Olly

Water shortage

For unknown reasons, the water currently leaving Monrovia's water plant isn't reaching the ship in the quantity we require. We have been under strict water rationing for nearly 2 weeks now, which involves 2 minute showers, closed laundry and even eating off disposable plates. And since we can't use the ship's water for cleaning our Land Rovers and Nissans, we are buying swamp water from down Somalia Drive ($10 US for 1000 litres)...Please pray that water starts to flow freely soon, so that we can build up our non-existent reserves before we sail in just over a months time. Olly

Black Gold

The dredger Orwell is pumping two or three loads of thick black river silt into the processing ponds near our ship, where it solidifies into piles of mud almost as soon as it leaves the pipe. How Subsea Resources are going to process the hundreds of tons of mud to find the diamonds is a mystery to me. Today a new security company arrived to manage the site, in preparation for the unearthing of diamonds - the men in red t-shirts were replaced by a more alert looking bunch of men in smart blue uniforms. Olly

Hole in One

Last weekend near ELWA, a car drove right into a hole recently dug in the road for new drains. Ironically, it was probably the best signposted and most visible roadworks hole I have ever seen in Liberia. My Mum took these photos as they drove past. Olly

Whoops!

The Transport Men

Here's a photo of the men of the Africa Mercy's Transportation Department:

From left to right:
Back row: Arthur Brown (Liberia), Moses Turay (Sierra Leone), Olly Peet (UK), Odecious Johns (Liberia), Abdulai Conteh (Sierra Leone)
Front row: Momo Zwannah (Liberia), Lamin Turay (Sierra Leone), John Davis (Liberia), and Tash Myers (South Africa)

Postles new baby

Many past Anastasis and Africa Mercy crew will remember Richard & Jo Postles - Richard was Chief Engineer of both ships, and Jo was a wonderful nurse. They were married in the summer of 2006...and yesterday Jo gave birth to baby James (8lb 14oz/4kg). Here's a photo of baby James and proud father Richard. Olly

Slow internet

The last couple of days the ship's internet has been painfully slow, due to a big storm over Florida where our internet provider is located. Today the internet is a little faster - I guess the storm is passing. Try as I might, I can't see the clouds from here...Olly

Happy Birthday Noah

Noah is 9 today. Thanks Aunty Claire & Uncle Ben for the Star Wars watch! Olly

Diamond Dredger Arrives

Earlier this week the Dredger Orwell arrived in the Freeport of Monrovia to prepare to dredge up the millions of dollars worth of diamonds that have been washed over the millenia into the mouth of the St Pauls River. The river silt will be pumped ashore via an ingenious floating pipe, into ponds for processing. Good luck guys! Olly

Temporary repairs to the Freeport of Monrovia

During the heavy fighting of July 2003, a mortar shell fired by the LURD Rebel Army on Charles Taylor's Government fell short of it's target and destroyed part of the dock in Monrovia's Freeport. Since then ships have had to moor next to the damaged dock, and in some cases crew have even had to crawl over the broken concrete to access their gangway...until this week. The UN's Department of Programs (UNDP) is paying for a temporary steel bridge to be installed over the damaged concrete, to allow the free-movement of vehicles and people, which will make life a lot easier for everyone. Olly

Above, the pier facing North, before the repairs.

Above and below, pier after bridge installed.

Liberia ex-leader's son convicted

A Miami jury has convicted the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for torture and conspiracy. "Chuckie" Taylor - who was born in the United States as Charles McArthur Emmanuel - faces a possible life sentence for the crimes. They were committed between 1999 and 2003, a period when he was in charge of a notorious Liberian military unit. The case was the first test of a 1994 US law allowing the prosecution of citizens who commit torture overseas. Charles Taylor is awaiting his fate at a court in The Hague - he denies 11 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Chuckie Taylor is due to be sentenced on 9 January. For full article click here.

Two years in Liberia

A little over two years ago, I left the UK and flew into Liberia on my own. Sally and the kids joined me three weeks later. This is the longest we have ever been away from the UK, and over the past 24 months we have only spent 6 weeks in a developed nation (the Canary Isles). Do we miss the UK? Overpriced petrol, bad weather and expensive houses? Not one bit. But do we miss the folk back home? Absolutely - its been 2 years since I saw my brother, and our friends, and our church...We miss you all terribly! Olly

Happy Birthday Madam President

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, is 70 today. May God bless her! Olly

M/V Torm Alexandra Update #987

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who returned from the United States yesterday disclosed that U.S Defense Department, through the Afro Command, has agreed to clear the sunken vessel at the Free Port of Monrovia. unmil.org

The difference between life and death

As our time in Liberia comes to a close, it seems that more and more people are contacting us for help. This weekend I took two calls on my cellphone: one from our local fuel station manager, asking if we could do a CT scan on one of his pump attendants who has just had a stroke; and one from a Catholic Sister who works up-country, where a boy has come for medical care with a big tumour in his neck that is pressing on his spinal cord and now he can't walk...Sally also met an ex-pat aid worker in town yesterday needing medical attention too...tomorrow will be busy for me as I ask our Hospital Manager if we can help in any of these cases. In this instance, my cellphone holds the answer of life or death, especially for the boy with the tumour on his neck - I very much expect I will be telling the Catholic Sister that we can't help, and thus sentence the boy to a slow, frightening and painful death...Olly

Monrovia at night

Last night I was very pleasantly surprised as I drove to the airport and back, about how much of Monrovia's main streets are now covered by street-lights. They cover a big patch of down-town (including Board Street, Randall Street etc) and stretch along UN Drive all the way from Sinkor to Congo Town. Great progress, LEC! It makes driving in the dark so much easier. (And thank you, MPW, for filling some of the pot-holes with cruched rock to make them a little easier to pass over). Olly

My parents are here

Last night my parents flew in for 2 weeks. They will be spending a week staying with our friends Gary & Tammy at ELWA, and then a week with us on the ship. They have been looking forward to spending time in Liberia on land instead of on the ship, and will be visiting some of Gary & Tammy's projects and seeing how people manage to live ashore with all the stresses and strains of irregular water & electricity supply etc. Olly

Blue Atlantic update

Yesterday, a Deck Crew from the Port moved on to the Blue Atlantic, and started bringing out the garbage onto the decks to be thrown away later. The ship was ransacked by the French Navy when they were looking for drugs, and so pretty much everything must be thrown out before the ship can be put back into use again, including bags of half eaten flour, rice, beans and wheat, and the personal effects of the Ghanaian crew who are now in prison, plus nearly all the contents of the ship's clinic. I toured the ship again with a bright flashlight, and saw both white and brown mice running through the galley and food stores. The massive cockroaches I saw last time seemed to have disappeared - maybe they were eaten by the mice. Today I hope to run a power cable from our ship to the Blue Atlantic so their Deckies can have some light to work in the foul lower decks, which are inches deep in water in some places that leaked in through open portholes during heavy rainstorms. Olly

Sea turtles

One of the advantages of Monrovia having such a messed-up port is that traffic and pollution from ships is minimal, so there are plenty of brightly-coloured fish, and even small sharks and sea turtles (which are beautiful creatures). Noah and I watched one from our cabin window, basking in the sunshine, on Saturday morning - he had a smile on his face, and didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. So I was very sad to find that the men on the Blue Atlantic had caught a big turtle with a hook yesterday, and were leaving it to die slowly in the sun on the scalding hot deck. They were looking forward to turtle soup and rice that evening. It's such a shame that just about everything beautiful in Liberia gets killed and eaten. Olly

UN Troops seize 440,000 marijuna plants in Liberia

UN Police in Liberia have seized hundreds of thousands of marijuana plants and almost a tonne of dried cannabis in a clampdown on drug abuse in the country. The UN said the clampdown was launched as part of the fight against rising crime in Liberia. The West African nation is trying to get back on its feet after a devastating 14 year civil war which killed over 250,000 people. "Drugs are linked to armed robbery and other acts of criminality in a way that criminals mostly consume these products," a UN spokesman explained. During the civil war the smoking of marijuana was widespread among fighters who were often young, who now find it hard to kick the habit. "Before going to the front we used to smoke grass (marijuana). It makes you brave," an ex-combatant, who would not give his name, told AFP. "I have been trying to stop smoking grass after the war but I have not been able until now," another former fighter said. Observers say many of the armed robbers who have been terrorising the capital Monrovia are drugged former fighters. For original article click here. I went to a church once in Monrovia which had a poster stuck to the wall by the pulpit, showing a massive marijuana leaf and the caption "shine the light". I don't think the church was on drugs though - I just think they were a wee bit niave. Olly

Rainy season is over!

Rainy Season ended at 11.59pm last night. We are now in Dry Season. So, on a technicality, if it rains, it'll be wet Dry Season, not a wet Rainy Season...Olly

Bulgar Wheat

Bulgar Wheat is brilliant stuff. Its higher nutritional value makes it a good substitute for rice, hence the UN's World Food Program imports it into Liberia and other countries way down on the Human Development Index, to feed the hungry. But most Liberians hate it, because it's not rice. The guys in the prison, who are fed bulgar wheat once a day, refer to it as pap wheat. I think they imagine it is fed to them as part of their punishment, and don't realise its better for them than rice (although it is rather bland, I agree). Olly

Sally in scrubs

Sally started her job as Speech & Language Therapist in earnest last week, and started wearing medical scrubs in earnest too. Now she's joined the huge number of people walking around the ship saying "they're SO comfortable" and "I never want to wear anything else again". Sound comfy, don't they? Olly

Coca Cola Factory

As far as I know, only two decent manufacturing plants survived the war - the Club Beer factory, and the Coca Cola Factory. Here's a photo of the Coca Cola Factory (which is coincidentally next to the Coca Cola Community) with it's immaculate lawns and bright paintwork. Fascinating. Olly

Blue Atlantic update

Remember the Blue Atlantic? She was seized in Liberian territorial waters by the French Navy at the beginning of the year carrying half a billion dollars worth of cocaine, and has since been moored across the dock from us with a police guard. Today one of the policeman on duty told me that the ship, now owned by the Government of Liberia, will soon be going into dry-dock in Senegal for a $1m refit, and will then be sailing as the first ship in Liberia's new merchant navy, and will probably spend the rest of her days carrying supplies up and down Liberia's coast. Meanwhile, rumour has it that the US Government is in the process of donating three or four of their old coastguard boats to Liberia's currently dormant Coastguard, so the country's waters can be patrolled for revenue protection against foreign fishing fleets, and to try to prevent this scale of drugs smuggling again. Olly

Photo of the Blue Atlantic in the Freeport of Monrovia after she was seized in January 2008, with UN Nepalese Police on guard duty.

Musu's New House

You will no doubt remember that our attempts to build a house for our dear old friend Musu (and her twelve dependents) earlier this year were in vain - a man claiming to be the owner of the land chopped down the half-built house, and ended up in prison. Well, today we went with Musu and some friends who are helping us with this revised project, to Musu's family's land in Bensonville, half an hours drive outside Monrovia (6° 26' 06.91" N, 10° 35'56.72 W). Her family has owned the land ever since Liberia's records began, and we met Musu's cousins, nieces and nephews, and other distant but close relatives and friends, and saw the remains of the house which was built by her father in the 1930s or 40s, but which was torn down during the 1990 war. Musu's hope is that we will rebuild the house, and one of her son's has already started cutting back the thick undergrowth in preparation. She will then grow fruit and vegetables and rice on the property to support her and her huge family. Next stop - quotes for the building supplies and labour. More later. Olly

Worldwide Recession

Will the current world-wide recession affect the price of a sack of rice in Liberia? That's the bottom line as far as I am concerned - its a matter of life or death for many Liberians and the hungry of countless other poor countries. Olly

Mercy Ship Restores Eye-Sight to 33

Statistics provided by doctors and County officials have confirmed that at least 33 persons from various localities in Bomi County have regained their eye-sight through a voluntary optical surgery service provided by Mercy Ship. The 33 persons attributed their visual impairment to communicable diseases in their environments. At a thanksgiving program in appreciation to Mercy Ships, the city mayor of Tubmanburg, Mr Gballey Karnley said the restoration of sight to anyone is a glorious opportunity. For full article click here.

I feel terrible!

I feel terrible. Today we had to let two of my Liberian drivers go, and I can't get the image of their sad faces out of my mind as they left the ship. They both very matter-of-factly put their trust in God, and wandered back into the 85% under-employment that plagues Liberia. I guess it will be months before they find a regular job again, and in the meantime they will be scraping around for every cent they can find to feed their extended families. This is the first time I've really come across this issue - in the past I have managed to get most of my day-workers onto the ship as crew members, or we've been able to promise them employment when the ship returns to Liberia...but not this time - there are no plans for the ship to return to Liberia in the forseable future. I expect we will experience today's sadness again and again over the next 2 months as we prepare to leave Liberia and continue laying-off our Liberian staff. Olly

Liberia Ranked Fastest Improving African Nation

The island of Mauritius is the best-run country in Africa, Somalia the worst, and Liberia the fastest-improving, according to a comprehensive index of governance standards in the region. It showed that 31 out of 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa had recorded better scores than last year. The index measures governance by assessing political participation, human rights and the rule of law, transparency, corruption, development and economic opportunity. For full article click here.

139 Graduates for Police Emergency Response Unit

In an attempt to weed out the high waves of criminality in Monrovia and its environs, the Liberia National Police will graduate 139 personnel of its newly-formed Emergency Response Unit (ERU) at the Police Academy in Paynesville City, near Monrovia. The ERU will deal specifically with crime situations which may require the use of fire-arms and to arrest armed criminals who are involved in hostage-taking, violent crimes and other acts of terrorism in and around the country. The ERU will also be charged with the responsibility of dealing with riot control and provide assistance in major disaster situations. For full story click here.

28 New Officers for the Liberian Army

October 3, 2008, was set aside by Liberia's Ministry of National Defense to commission 28 of its trained and professional soldiers as Officers of over 2000 men and women of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL). The 28 officer candidates include two female and 26 male, and all are college graduates who completed the Officer Candidate School. For full story click here. Photo of new AFL soldiers saluting President Bush and President Johnson Sirleaf earlier this year during Bush's visit to Liberia. The American State Department paid for the recruiting, vetting and training of the new army, and the renovation of barracks and army bases. Olly

More UN checkpoints removed

Five years after the UN arrived in Liberia, the last armed UN checkpoint on Bushrod Island (Vai Town, by the bridge) has, at last, been removed. The few remaining UN checkpoints in the city have been pushed back onto the pavements to encourage the untroubled flow of traffic. The Swedes, Irish, Namibians, Eritreans, Senegalese and Ghanaians have all left, leaving the Nigerians in charge of Monrovia and the Bangladeshis patrolling the rest of the country, with Jordanians (Medical), Pakistanis (Quick Reaction Force), Chinese (Transportation), Indians (Armed Police), Ukrainians (Airforce) and Nepalese (Armed Police) in their specific roles around the country. Olly

Question & answer

Q: click here.

A: Processors of sand & shiny gravel ;)

Olly

Liberia's President Praises Australian Prelate

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has lauded the Life Without Limbs Ministries for its interest in Liberia as the country continues on the path of development and renewal. The President spoke Tuesday at the Foreign Ministry when she met with Australian Pastor Nick Vujicic of Life Without Limbs International. Pastor Vujicic is regarded as an icon worldwide. He was born without limbs, but preaches the word of God and draws attention to the plight of the underprivileged. He has been sharing the word of God at various crusades in Monrovia under the theme "Liberia Awake". According to an Executive Mansion release, the Liberian leader commended Pastor Vujicic for his visit and described it as timely as Liberia works to overcome the adversities of the past. President Johnson Sirleaf applauded the Australian prelate for 'bringing consciousness to Liberia,' noting that his presence in Liberia could help strengthen young people in Liberia as they strive for success in their future endeavors. For his part, Pastor Vujicic said he looks forward to developing a relationship with Liberia and assured the President that Life Without Limbs will continue to pray for Liberia's continuous progress. For full article click here.
Nick stayed on the Africa Mercy and spoke at our Community Meeting on Thursday night. Not only is he an inspiration to us all, but he is a very funny man. He told us many funny stories, one of which was about him hiding in the overhead luggage lockers on airplanes to give other passengers a fright. Olly