Saturday, October 4, 2008

I made it!

Hello from Liberia!

I arrived friday night to the welcoming sticky wet air of Liberia. Except for an hour delay in Brussels due to a baggage handlers strike, all my flights went well. I breezed through customs and was anxious to see my team. I pushed through the crowd and out to the street looking around anxiously and saw no familiar faces. I paced the road as locals tried to convince me they could carry me to wherever I needed to go. No, I kept telling them, my friends are coming. But after 10minutes or so I started to doubt that myself so I found the MercyShips gang and asked to borrow a phone, very thankful that I had remembered to bring Cramer's phone number and praying that he would answer. He did. "Where are you he asked?" "uh- at the airport, where are you?" "At the airport." Ha! Somehow I had walked right passed him and Ashley as I broke through the crowd. They did not forget me!

When we pulled into the driveway at the ORR team house I was greeted by our very enthusiastic guards, Momo and Emmanuel, Andrew, Jen and One Love (the dog). We ate jollof rice (Liberian version of fried rice, spicey and yummy) and chatted. I slept pretty good, woke up a few times by the rain and loud orchestra of outdoor noises in the night, primarily crickets, frogs, roosters and the ocean.

I spent today resting and trying to get settled in- unpacking, organizing my stuff etc... This evening we went grocery shopping at the UN market, a very interesting and crowded experience in Liberia. Then we had dinner at an Indian place called Taaj near the store.

One more day of rest and adjusting until the craziness begins on Monday.

2 comments:

Tyrone said...

Hello Deb,

I commented once before...but I just noticed I know another member of your team.

Jennifer Gerson – Capacity building manager.

She worked with me in the Galley on the Anastasis years ago (in Benin and Liberia) and also when I came for the Africa Mercy sail down to Liberia, and she was just on the ship visiting the other night.

Small world.

Tyrone said...

Just thought I would clarify - She just spent a short time in the kitchen then went on to some part of medical.

We liked to argue a lot. But it was fun.