WELL NO NEED TO WORRY ANY MORE FOLKS. JOLLY OLLY IS BACK AND BLOGGING (I really hate the word blogging. it makes me feel way too hip, almost like nick). but yea fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a whole bunch of paragraphs about what has gone on in the past 2/3 weeks or so!!! WE EVEN HAVE PICTURES. sorry no pop ups.
Sooo anyway. I guess I have to start a ways back in Liberia. First, here is one of the most ridiculous scenes we saw as a family, who I am fairly certain were French… if that makes any difference (it kind of does). This family was sitting by the pool like they were back home in Europe. The scene of the family in Liberia alone by the pool was kind of strange, if nice. They really could have been on vacation in Nice. It was when the Chihuahua appeared that the scene became ridiculous. A Chihuahua? In Liberia? The dogs themselves are ridiculous looking enough, but seeing it walking around in a Post-Conflict Country was just absurd.
Anyway Ryan and I continued to do what we did best in Liberia- he saved lives by streamlining operations in the main public hospital. aaaaand I interviewed people at city hall... Either way I think it was a good experience and I learned a lot about the problems and general workings in the Monrovia city government.
It was also great being at city hall for the day when the president got over US$4.9 billion of Liberia's debt removed. Mayor Broh may know how to yell at people all day long for not doing their jobs. but she also knows how to throw a party. Upon hearing the news of the president's triumph, Mary promptly distributed green cloth for headbands, newspaper clippings of the story that said CELEBRATE over them and set up speakers outside city hall to start blasting music into the streets. For the rest of the day the employees of city hall danced outside to music and celebrated their presidents success.
Even when the UN guys came over, I presume to ask her to turn down the music, Mayor Broh simply kept dancing and singing. Below are two pictures of the party and the mayor leading it.
Work continued as usual, and as usual we both went to Tony Haaj’s for lunch that Thursday with Ryan’s boss at the hospital, Dr. Mcdonald and Aunty Jenny. Today the Lebanese Ambassador joined us at lunch and kept conversation going. After Lunch he offered me a ride back to city hall, but made sure to stop by his residence to show me his garden first, in which he took considerable pride. I have to admit, it was beautiful. He had a story for each plant and was especially keen on telling me which plants would be of huge benefit to Liberians if they would only start growing them. He had a good point on many of them. He even had a Lebanese Pine in the garden. A Christmas tree from years ago. He is pictured with his tree below.
The next night we watched Ghana’s heartbreaking defeat by Uruguay in the world cup which may have been the best football match (see, I’m catching on to non-american vocab!) I’ve ever seen. Before watching the match I took a tour of the new areas of the hospital with Ryan.
JFK Hospital
Like the rest of Liberia, the place has changed so much since three years ago. The new wards are clean and well managed. Patients have beds and even monitoring instruments by their beds. Many parts of it looked like a western hospital. The new Maternity hospital which the Japanese had built is also coming along nicely, and while there are problems, (as there always are in Liberia), it is sure to provide mothers with a level of care that has not been available to them since before the War.
Ryan's job was much more intense than mine. He always spent longer nights at the hospital and worked into the late hours with the Hospital Administrator until she left. While I was in many ways a little jealous of him, it was also great to see a fellow student from Georgetown diving into a situation like he had and really exemplifying what the type of graduate that Georgetown seeks to produce. Below Ryan is pictured with one of the new signs of the hospital.
The next day I left Liberia. Two weeks had gone by quickly. And were much better I think than they had been last time. I felt that I had walked around the city more, and excaped from the bubble of security, drivers, and nicer offices that had encompassed us last time. Its interesting also how going back after three years later can leave you with a totally different impression of a place. I suppose that also happens when a place changes as much as Liberia has in 3 years.
I left Liberia for Nairobi on July 3. The flight was relatively painless and I slept most of the way. The one part that was absolute torture was that Kenya Airways, in the spirit of the World Cup played 2 songs on repeat while we boarded and waited for take off. Waving Flag by K’naan and Waka Waka by Shakira, the two World Cup Songs. I never want to hear either of them ever again. They were on non-stop for hours while we waited to take off.
I arrived in Nairobi early the next morning and found my new host, George Theobald, who had stayed with me last summer in DC. George and his brother Toby and their pop are old family friends of ours from our time in Kenya. They live in Arusha, Tanzania. George had also brought along two friends of his, Ivan and Jack, both great guys.
We made the five hour drive from Nairobi to Arusha in George’s Land Rover, which he was kind enough to remind me he had flipped a year or so earlier. The road was on and off Chinese-built highway and then dirt road. As we drove close to Mt. Meru, which Arusha is located at the foot of, the landscape got greener. Arusha was a beautiful lush town at the foot of the mountain. And the Theobalds’ house was unbelievable.
It looked like a Victorian mansion that had been taken out of the French countryside and dropped at the foot of Meru. First you walk into this kind of grand hall with the dome roof above your head and a beautiful chandelier hanging from it (which, btw is apparently decorated not with crystal, but with pieces of old vodka bottles- classy, but knows how to party). And then there’s a grand staircase that moves along the wall up to the balcony that circles around the second floor. Then after you come to the top of the staircase you walk out on the veranda with couches and the dining table to one of the best views you will ever see.
You have to wait until evening. Until the sun hits it just right. But as evening approaches, the sun hits Kilimanjaro head on and you can sit on the veranda and gaze at it over the tree tops as the sun sets. Its an unbelievable image that I put below.
After a great week playing tennis, being taken on torturous high altitude jogs with George-I-am-fitness-Theobald, learning (kinda) to play field hockey and having a great time at the Theobalds’, I got on a bus on June 9 and set out for Nairobi.
I spent the night in the Muthaiga club, which was kind of interesting to see again after 5 years. Just as George said they would, they checked me up and down at the front desk to make sure I wasn’t in Jeans, sneakers or in a t shirt. Its still kind of the epitome of old school Kenya high life. I flew out to Zambia the next morning.
AAANNNDDDD
Now I’m in Zambia. I have no pictures of Lusaka unfortunately but it’s a very nice city. People here are much friendlier than many of the other African cities I’ve visited and I’ve felt extremely comfortable walking around and getting to know the place. It is actually much more developed than I had expected. There are malls, fast food points (I was actually crushed recently when someone told me there was a Wendy’s here, but it turned out to be a Blimpy’s), Blockbusters (or their version of it), and movie theaters. Its really weird actually, being here, and yet planning with kids here to go see Inception on opening day, which is July 30 here. But at the same time its comforting in a weird way too.
Anyway, I’ve started work, which is interesting and am slowly getting to know the city, which is surprisingly like a small Suburb anywhere else. I’m excited for things to start moving here, I’m still kind of in the sit and wait stage at work, reading reports and background papers. But it sounds like once things get moving it will be a great experience.
Hope everyone’s doing well at home. I’ll try to be more diligent with blogging in the future so that I don’t have to write small novels each time.
Hope to talk to everyone soon.
O
beassst. i'll take that shout out
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Oliver! Keep it up. Love Mom
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