Staff Meeting, Camping in Buchanan!

On the first Tuesday of each month the Program Managers from each county as well as the national staff meet to discuss business training class recruitment/progress, loan disbursement dates, upcoming events, disburse the monthly prayer calendar, and the infamous 'Any Other Business', among other things. The meetings are full of eloquence and protocol and tend to last about three long hours, but are actually quite beneficial for the organization.

Today Allen decided to invite not only the Program Managers from each county, but also the Education Coordinators and Office Assistants. It was the first time that this group has met as a whole and it was inspiring to see how far the organization has come since it started with just Renita and James using the back of a Nissan Pathfinder as an office. LEAD now operates in six counties and employs 23.

The LEAD staff, minus a few folks who were sick or otherwise unable to make it to Monrovia.

Today started a bit rough - with yet another flat tire (the 5th in four days) - but left me feeling a bit giddy. I love the folks I work with, and we're doing some pretty sweet stuff. The few weeks I've been back have been busy but things are really beginning to take shape for some of the things we've been working on. The children's book has been published, and the LEAD staff had a chance to look at it. Daniel Nya Kona, Program Manager for Nimba County was given a copy of 'My Name is Emmanuel' to give to Ernestson Wondan, the main character of the book, and I'm excited to hear his response.

PLUG: Buy your copy for only $15 by emailing Dick Ammons at dickammons@comcast.net.The photography was done by yours truly and all proceeds go to LEAD. Its a great Christmas gift for the youngins or your friends with youngins.

During the meeting we also discussed the peer mentoring program model that we are hoping to adopt from Ghana's Hopeline Institute. The staff seemed keen to the idea, and I'm looking forward to Thursday's meeting with Allen, Andrew and Matthew when we will be discussing it further and deciding how to move forward. At that same meeting, we will also be discussing how to further connect with the Liberian business community to use as a source of mentors for our clients; a project Andrew and I will be working closely on.

We also discussed LEAD's February conference. As it stands, we have A LOT of work to do yet, but the staff was also excited about the progress and I think we will have a lot of valuable content for the entrepreneurs in attendance from Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. I'm particularly interested in our workshop list. Check it out:

Three themes with four options:

1. Agriculture

a. Workshop A: Appropriate technology

b. Workshop B: Increasing your yield through simple affordable methods.

c. Workshop C: Animal Husbandry

d. Workshop D: Bringing your goods to Market – storage and working with the middleman.

2. Food Processing

a. Workshop A: How to meet standard boards for drying foods

b. Workshop B: How to process fruit juice

c. Workshop C: How to process nuts

d. Workshop D: Sanitation, packaging, etc.

3. Service Industries and Retailers

a. Workshop A: Business Ethics – how it can shape your business

b. Workshop B: Personnel – Employees can make or break your business

c. Workshop C: Micro insurance – Necessary for all business owners

d. Workshop D: Marketing and Sales Techniques

As you can see we're focusing on promoting value-add businesses in Liberia; something not prominent right now where the vast majority of goods are imported, even a major portion of agriculture products which could be grown locally.

We ended our meeting by mentioning LEAD's upcoming agriculture intern, Brett Pfister, a farm boy from Indiana who will be joining LEAD for a year beginning early January, and will be a major asset as LEAD hammers down on promoting local agriculture. I'm looking forward to showing him around to my favorite spots in Funrovia during his first two months before he heads up to Nimba County.

After the meeting we all headed over to a new restaurant called The Office, serving great Liberian dishes. Hanging out with the colleauges, watching football and sharing food and drinks is always good times.

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Now, a few photos from this past weekend's camping trip to the beach out past Buchanan. Yes, life here is pretty sweet. Come visit, yea?

Postcard worthy beaches

Our campsite

White folks love taking photos

Hangin' out, doin' some fishin'

A real keeper

French toast anyone?

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Posted from my new favorite internet location Dona Maria's where you can get great pizza, the beer is served in chilled glasses, the internet is fast and the customer service is absolutely fantastic; something especially noteworthy in LIB.