The big event of the day was attending the memorial service of Bob Reed, who passed away suddenly on March 20. Bob Reed was the husband of Rentia Reed, and father of Hannah and Noah. The Reeds came to Liberia in 2005 and it was then that LEAD was born, and it was here that the Reed family lived for three years, and came to love. Since taking their leave from their beloved Liberia, the Reeds moved on to Accra, Ghana, where Renita took a regional position with Partners Worldwide, and Bob took a position with CRWRC.
Bob and Renita Reed
Bob had been travelling in Nigeria, doing conflict resolution workshops and returned to Liberia on Thursday, March 18. He was feeling fine, even on Friday evening, but on Saturday morning he was feeling terrible, and was rushed to the hospital by Renita. Originally diagnosed as a staph infection in the lungs, then diagnosed as a blood clot in the lungs, Bob passed away suddenly. The details are better explained in Renita's words on their blog at reedsinthewind.blogspot.com, but a final autopsy determined the cause of death to be total organ failure after an anti-biotic staph infection took over his whole body (its also a fantastic blog, as is their previous blog, reedsinliberia.blogspot.com, which is a great resource for Liberia.)
Deep sympathies go to the Renita, Hannah, Noah, and the rest of the family and all their many friends around the world. I think that the aptly named blog, 'reeds in the wind' probably best describes how they must be feeling as this new gust of wind throws them for a loop.
The event went well. Allen asked me to meet Andrew Davis in Thinker's Village, where the Reeds lived while in Liberia. That entire community has been up in arms over the loss of Bob, and although I never met him personally, I've heard so many fond memories of him from residents of that community that I can't help but be impressed by him. I met Andrew with the jeep. We finally took possession of the new LEAD Land Cruiser supplied by the USADF, which means Allen won't be driving the old jeep anymore, and that I now have access to it. Its also, as one of my passengers from Thinker's Village pointed out, the same jeep that Bob drove while in Liberia. How appropriate.
We proceeded back to Providence Baptist Church, where the memorial service was held in the old sanctuary. It was very well done, with several speakers and a few readings. I was asked to read Romans 8:31-39, which touches on how nothing can separate us from the love of God; a good reminder of how death cannot permanently separate us from the ones we love. After the service I drove a few folks home and then went home myself.
Me, with baby Renita Bob (I forget the last name), named after, you guessed it, Bob and Renita Reed. This girl is super cute, but I'd never been able to get her to smile until this morning (us white folk are scary). Now I'm going to make sure there are fried sugary donuts every time we meet.
Also, as it happens, the new LEAD Land Cruiser (the white one) in the back.
This afternoon I'm catching up on emails, blog posts, and looking around for a good used/cheep new stereo for the jeep. Cruisin' Monrovia listening to Knaan would be nicer if he came through clearly, and the tape adapter only works for about 15 minutes before it starts acting up. This evening I'm headed over to some good friends' apartment for 'Burrito Saturday', which has me very excited. I'll be making a quick stop to the supermarket to pick up ice, as requested, and since I'm already getting ice, and its a Mexican themed event, some ingredients for frozen margaritas (my GR friends will know that I wouldn't go a whole year without buying a blender, or pass up on opportunity for getting excited about a theme party).
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