Election Day!!!

Today is election day in Liberia!  The day that Liberians cast their vote for who should lead their country for the next 4 years.  This is the first nationally led elections since the war ended in 2003.  I was able to visit a polling station near my house today to check out the process!

I awoke to a large thunderstorm this morning, and my first thought was, "Oh no!  If it is raining out, no one will want to go out to vote!"  But I was wrong. Regardless of the weather, citizens came out and waited in the pouring rain to cast their vote.  We were advised to stay home until lunch, when we knew it would be safe to travel about, so the sun was shining by then.

After filling out ballots for president, senators and representatives, each person got their finger "inked" to indicate that they had voted.  From the inking station they deposited their ballots in the ballot boxes.

The lines were long, but everyone was in good spirits, excited to vote!  One man said to me, "eh.. Liberians were saying so many different different things about today, but everything has gone on fine!" 

Each polling station had various lines, depending on your voter registration number.  If you had a baby you were brought to the front of the line, the same with the disabled.  All in all it was a very peaceful day, praise God!

But then the Liberian Riot police showed up in full uniform.... but only to cast their vote too!

The United Nations continued to fly overhead all day long as a constant reminder of their presence in case of trouble.

The riot police were all business, but Justin didn't hesitate to ask if we could have a photo with them.  They were all smiles when we showed them the photos on the back of the camera!

The Liberian Riot Police

The UN continued to keep their presence at the forefront of everyone's mind today, making sure no one started anything.

It was a good day to be in Liberia.  Everyone I talked to at the poll was full of excitement.  There were no arguments or breakouts of fights- in any County that I heard, anyways.  Today was a day to be proud of how far Liberia has come.  Eight short years ago atrocities were happening every where you turned in this country. Brother against brother, tribe against tribe. Things that you and I can't even imagine.  Yet Liberians have been able to move forward, take steps in the reconciliation process and forgive each other.  Today, those same victims and perpetrators made a statement by putting aside their differences and cast their vote- their peaceful mark on a paper ballot- to have a say in the future of Liberia.

In two weeks time they will announce the result of the vote from today.  Please continue to pray for October 26 and the days surrounding it. Pray for humility for the losing party and that any violence would be silenced.

I know  many of you have been praying for this election process.  Today I was talking to a man who had just finished voting. He was asking how I saw the situation.  I told him how excited I was to see this day for Liberia.  So happy that there is peace and smiles on faces again.  I told him how there were many people in America and Canada praying for Liberia today, and he lit up like a kid at Christmas!  "Yes! Thank you! It is a new day in Liberia!"

It is a new day in Liberia, and I echo his thanks for praying for this nation.

a week in Foya

We are implementing a women's integrated agriculture program from USAID right now in Lofa County.  I haven't been able to see the project yet this year and was finally able to stop by when I was in Lofa last week!  Part of the program is swamp rice, piggeries and fishponds for the women to operate.  These women are coming with the rice seedlings to transplant into the swamp.

It's a lot of work, but a great project! 

I was able to see a few of my adult literacy classes that week also.  This beginner class was learning the letter "c".

Here is an image of one of our beautiful fishponds!

We had a team visiting from the UK, here to work with our WASH (water and sanitation) projects.  I really just felt led to hand the camera off to Bev and get my hands dirty in building a water filter for the first time!  I have photographed and used these filters for 4 years now and have never built one myself. Well, the time finally came and I had a blast doing it!

While we waited for our filters to cure, we moved on to another important aspect of sanitation- latrines! Think about how many times you use the bathroom in your house or at your work place.  Now think about what it would be like if you didn't have a toilet to use... where would you go?  Do you realize how much "stuff" flies can transport and land on your food?  Gross, hey?  Well we also help communities build their own latrines, so they have a place they can go and can also become healthier.  I was able to help the team construct a latrine for a family in Yengbemi-- well at least the first half of the construction!  I had a blast chucking the 'country plaster' between mud bricks!

Here is our structure!

The UK team with our WASH staff and their completed, brand new filters!  Thanks team, for all of your hard work!

the hard stuff

One particular event happened this week that I cannot forget.  A seventeen-year-old beautiful girl named Faith.*  Faith is in the final stages of life as a result of suffering from HIV-AIDS.  Unfortunately this is a common occurrence in Liberia, but not for reasons that you may think.

When the Liberian civil crisis was going on, rebels felt the freedom to rape and gang rape women of all ages in Liberia.  The result of that has been a huge increase of HIV-AIDS.  With little or no education on HIV-AIDS, it continued to spread to all ages.

But Faith's story is a bit different.

Faith was also a victim.  Not a victim of rape, thankfully, like so many Liberian women are, but a victim of a poor health system.

Faith's mom passed away in 2005 from a common disease in Liberia.  A few short years later, Faith came down with malaria.  She went to the hospital for treatment, where the health staff told her she was short of blood (a common problem in Liberia- I've never heard of this problem before, but I'm not a medical person.. still makes no sense to me at all).  As a result, she needed to have a blood transfusion.

The blood that she received was HIV positive.

This beautiful 17 year old was completely innocent.  And now she is toothpick thin, giving all of her energy to staying healthy and continuing to go to school.  Yet, she still has a big, toothy grin on her face.

What can we do at this point for Faith? Our staff continue to visit her weekly, making sure that she is taking her meds, and getting the nutrients she needs.  When I was visiting with her, our HIV/AIDS program manager asked her what her favorite meal was.  "Fufu!" was her excited answer.  Love reached into his pocket and handed over enough money for her to enjoy fufu every day for the next week.  We can't take away the disease that she has contracted, but we can do little things like making sure she is eating well with the proper nutrients.  We can continue to be Jesus to her.

Please pray for our HIV/AIDS staff who deal with difficult situations like this daily.  Please pray for Faith as she fights this awful disease.  Pray also that she can continue to be a light to the other children she encounters who are also sick.


*Name has been changed to protect her identity.

Nimba County Adventures

The first week of September I traveled to Nimba County to see the work that SP has been doing with WASH (water and sanitation) and also with the host communities who have taken in refugees from the Ivory Coast situation.

Rainy season roads are not easy-o.  This particular day was no different.  The recent rains made the roads muddy and slimy.  It is the equivelant of driving on ice covered roads in Iowa!  Our first encounter at 7 AM was a truck that had jack knifed itself across the entire road, leaving only 8 feet on the side for other trucks and vehicles to pass. What resulted was many, many stuck vehicles in the rut that continued to deepen on the side of the road.  Here is Justin observing our stuck land cruiser.  It took us about an hour and a half before we were able to make it through!

This is the water source from one of the communities we are working in along the Ivory Coast border.  It is an unprotected spring with stagnant, dirty water.

This is their water now after we dug a hand dug well and installed a hand pump!

These kids couldn't get enough of the camera!

Clean water.  Something we take for granted in the western world. Just a simple tap to turn on and there it is.  For this little girl, she has been sick most of her life from diarrhea because of her lack of clean water access.  Not anymore!  SP is able to service her entire community with this new hand dug well!

Besides muddy/slippery roads, we also encountered a massive tree that had fallen during the storm the night before, blocking the road to our last community to visit that day.  We encountered this tree after driving through 4-5 feet of water- over the hood of our land cruiser!  We were not going to turn around without delivering clothes for the refugees, so we parked the car, and carried the clothes by foot until we reached the village. I love taking pictures, but sometimes its more important to give the extra hand in accomplishing the job.

Justin and his new little friend.

Clothes and non-food items for the refugees!  These clothes were all donated by Liberian churches in the area.  The members of these churches were once refugees in Ivory Coast merely ten years ago.  Now with the opportunity to return the favor, they are helping meet the physical and spiritual needs of these hurting refugees with Samaritan's Purse's assistance.

Election fever!

**the views on this post do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer**

It is election season in Liberia!  Tuesday, October 11th will mark the first nationally led elections in Liberia in over 20 years.  Six years ago,  elections were held, but were lead by the United Nations.

It is definitely an exciting time to be in the country, as campaigns are being made and political debates are everywhere!  

Most of you probably know that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the current president of Liberia, and is the recent co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize!  One of her fellow recipients, Leymah Gbowee, is also a Liberian woman, known for mobilizing the women of this country to stand for peace.  They prayed (and are still praying)  daily for peace and also blocked the doors of the peace talks in Ghana before the war ended, to insure that the violence was going to stop.  I am proud to be working in this country where these two women are making a difference!

With elections early next week, the country is inundated with billboards campaigning for the SIXTEEN- yes sixteen, different political parties for Liberia's next president.  It definitely makes driving through Monrovia more entertaining! 

Here are a good number of them-  I'll let you guess who has more funds for campaigning!

 I love the use of Liberian English in a lot of the sayings-

Unfortunately, this still happens quite often.  Traveling through-out the country the last weeks I heard many conversations about how certain parties will offer cash for votes.

"Monkey still working let baboon wait small" has become one of Ellen's slogan for 2011- meaning, she is still working hard for Liberia- let the others candidates wait until she has finished what she set out to do!  As you can imagine, this has also created much stir for the "baboons"...

And my absolute favorite-- I'm not sure if its the Liberian saying or the photoshop job of putting captain hats on Ellen and Joe!

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, Leymah Gbowee mobilized the women of Liberia to stand for peace.  Prior to the end of the war in 2003, these women could be found praying for peace- rain or shine, on the football field in Monrovia.  Some of them were able to travel to Ghana to barricade the doors of the peace talks that were happening there- pushing the warlords who were enjoying a nice vacation to actually end the war and the atrocities that were happening back in Liberia. (If you want to know more about these amazing women, check out the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell.)

In the past few months, the women have been back on the football field daily praying for peaceful elections.  They have been praying in the form of the cross, with the Liberian flag in the center, asking God to hear their pleas.

"The Daily Talk" is a news board found on the main road heading into Monrovia.  This was today's headline:

It is my prayer that Liberians do think before they vote- and vote for the rightful candidate.  It is also my prayer (and the prayer of my co-workers) that no matter what the results are, they will be accepted.  The last thing this country needs is to go back to violence.

As far as my safety and security are concerned, SP has been planning out our evacuation plan in case of  violence for weeks now.  In fact, I have packed my first "go bag" to be ready at any time in the next 6 weeks.  It is not something I intend to use.  We are prepared, but we are not anticipating anything out of the ordinary to happen.

These are exciting times in Liberia!  It is a great time to be here and to watch history unfold around us.  Will the first woman president of Africa be voted for a second term?  Will the former Liberia football star be the next Vice President?

So, as of today, three more days until elections.  Please pray with me and the women of Liberia that peace will reign over all.

photos from east africa

If you would like to see the photos I took in Kenya with the famine, and also in South Sudan with the refugees from the Nuba mountains, the links are below!

Kenya- Horn of Africa Famine

South Sudan- Nuba Mountain refugees