Feeling uninspired, I took a few weeks off from the blog, but after catching flack from too many readers I suppose its time to get back into it. I just spent $5 on the 'fast' internet over at Royal Hotel because I needed to update the LEAD website with info for our upcoming conference, so I'm currently multitasking like its going out out of style: don't expect anything to analytical, but I'll be sure to provide you all with some photo art.
So lets see, what have I been up to? Christmas break was uneventful, but very relaxing. A camping trip up to Mount Nimba was cancelled due to the political conflict in nearby Cote d'Ivoire ('President' Gbagbo ruined more than just my Christmas plans), so I spent several days over Christmas break at a few friends' house which is located on the St. Paul river. I was mostly just happy to be out of central Monrovia, where the mood becomes frantic as everyone stretches December and January's (forwarded) wages as far as they can go to meet the social pressure to buy impressive things for their family and friends. Instead of dodging pedestrians and asks for money, I did a little fishing, played darts and corn hole, and played 9 on the golf course across the river. Not a bad deal. We had a bunch of friends over for Christmas Eve, and had a big Christmas day dinner.
Drive up shopping for Christmas dinner bush meat: groundhogs and duiker
Boxing day was spent making a day trip to Blue Lake - an abandoned iron ore pit - which is a trip I've made before, but was well worth making again. We packed my cooler and brought a picnic lunch. We even played some Sequence - a Hoogland/Prinzen Christmastime tradition - and it made me wish I was spending the day in Niagara Falls, so Isaac and I could raid Opa's liquor cupboard for the Crown Royal; another Christmastime tradition of sorts.
Jo, Rebecca and I at Blue Lake on Boxing Day
NYE was spent in Robertsport, where me and six other friends camped out on the beach. It was a relaxed weekend, with not too many others around, but we had a great time on the beach, playing more corn hole and bringing in the new year around a bonfire.
I also celebrated my birthday/had a housewarming party by inviting hosting 20 something folks over for burritos. Now, before anyone looks at the new apt. photos and gives me a hard time for living in some kind of 'posh' flat, let me make two qualifications. First, I should mention that the apartment is actually being rented by another NGO called Visions in Action, with some of the space being used as an office, and some of it for living. The apartment is also located aboveMonrovia Christian Fellowship, which is within a compound also containing a k-5 or so school. All three are great institutions, but living in such close proximity presents challenges. Second, I'll mention that this is in fact the sixth place I've stayed since first coming to Liberia in September of '09. I've living in a lot of different places, and I've privately complained about some of them to many of you, so to finally have a great place to live has been a big relief.
Well equipped kitchen, complete with popcorn maker, waffle iron and crock pot.
The living room. No photos of the room yet because I hadn't folded my laundry this morning...
Views of the schoolyard where the kids show up at 7am, and the church sanctuary
(through the window, not the benches in the sand).
As I alluded earlier, we are hard at work planning this year's conference on February 18 & 19. This year we are focusing on the value chain in Liberia, from crop production, food processing, and then retail. We have a great lineup of speakers (including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf), a number of great workshops, and a visible venue (Monrovia City Hall) where we can get some good publicity for LEAD. There are 50-60 folks coming in from the US, Canada, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, etc. so we are determined to make it the best conference yet. I'm just adding a few last things to the LEAD site now, but you should really check it out. (click on the logo)
