Quiet Afternoon

I think its amazing. This morning I slept it. I was very happy to. Normally the goats start bleating and chickens start their cock-a-doodle-doo far too early for my likings. Anyhow. This morning, there was no noise, except for the pouding of rain on the rooftop. Ah, the rain that drowns out all other noise, the rain that keeps the pesky goats and chickens inside their pens, the rain that keeps it nice and cool, so we can sleep at night. Now, this afternoon, the sun is shining, the birds cheep softly, and the house is beautifully quiet. Yes, the family is all out. It is nice to have a few minutes of sun, solitude and silence.This morning as I walked out to the car, with my umbrella, ankle deep in water (from all the rain) I was not feeling as amiable towards the rain. It is tricky, to get in the car, and shut the umbrella and to close the door, without getting absolutely drenched. I think perhaps there is a trick that I am not familiar with. We had a meeting this morning downtown, with Group of 77 in regards to resettlement. We parked on the road instead of driving into the yard. We walked across the road, and of course the road was flooded, thankfully I was wearing flippy flops, and so waded through the garbage strewn water and prayed that I didn’t step into anything yucky. Kathleen was wearing nice shoes, and so she had to walk half a block down the road to find somewhere she could ford the stream. Point one for flippyflops. After our meeting, Kathleen had another meeting, so I just sat quietly in the corner. The next business of the day, going to the Ministry of Finance to see if the form that needs to be signed by some person, was signed yet. We arrive, it is now drizzling, but I have forgotten the umbrella at Group of 77. Oh well. Our destination is the 7th floor. We walk in, and for the first time, I notice people entering the elevator. I say, the elevators work, Kathleen says yes. This is my third time, and we have never taken the elevator. Apparently, all this time, it has been functioning. OH well, I guess the excersize is good for us, so we hoof it to the 7th floor. We arrive. Security tells some man to move so I can sit down, and Kathleen goes into the office. Minutes later she is out, following some man with our file. Down we go to the third floor. To some other man in another office. Apparently he can’t do anything, there are documents that they need. Kathleen says, this is the first I have heard of these documents. She has been going to Minister of Finance for at least a month now, chasing after documents for the release of our container. Ah, beaurocratic innefficiency. I sit and wonder how any work gets down in this place. It is a mystery. (remember, this is just an outsiders thinking). We leave. We are parked on a hill, one way. The traffic is moving very slowly. Kathleen decides to back up the road to the next intersection. I tell her, the last thing we need is to get pulled over by the police. She says, this is Liberia. Hm. I am definatley not Kathleen. We make it, after a little manouvering around a big tree root.
So. We are still waiting on documents to clear the container. We have a “duty free” waiver, but they want to charge about 1500 or so to clear it. So much for free.
I have started my Adult Reading/Writing class. Thus far I have one student. We have put advertisment on the radio, but the best way is by word of mouth. I am hoping for a few more student. My student is actually from Ivory Coast, and is hoping to improve his English skills, to improve his chances of getting gainful employement. Kathleen will start teaching, as soon as we recieve our container. Until then she is a bit tied up.
I am now half way through my trip here. In some ways it feels I have been here forever, but I am only here 12 more weeks. That doesn’t seem long at all. Tomorrow morning I will be going to my kids club up the road. We are doing stories about Jesus. They love to sing and to colour. I think we will have popcorn again for snack. I will try and remember the salt this time.
Last night, we had a bit of an accident. Joshy and I (my 13 year old nephew) were doing our evening dishes. He had boiled water to warm the rinse water (normally we wash in cold), and was about it add it when I turned around, and elbowed the kettle, he dropped it, splashing boiling water on himself, me and all over the floor. He also managed to get a giant gash on his big toe. There we were, him sitting on a chair with his feet in a bowl of cold water, me sitting on the floor with my feet in the same bowl when he says he doesn’t feel well. I say “the last thing I need on me is projectile vomit”. Thanks to Joy, he got a bucket just in time. I guess he can’t stand the sight of blood, much like his mother and father. Needless to say, neither of us were in any shape to do dishes, so we spent the rest of the evening with our feet in bowls of cold water, and with cold compresses on various body parts. We had some chocolate, which really helped the situation. The burns are really not bad, with me, one on my elbow and ankle, and him, one on his foot. It could have been so much worse, so we are very grateful it isn’t.
In some happy news, I have got a 2 month stamp in my passport. I can stay. Yay. I gave it to a lawyer we know, and he took it to immigration, and I am not sure what he did, but he came back with it stamped. What a relief. Thank you God.
Well I am sure, there is some kids club planning I need to look after, and I believe this is a bit long, so I will end here. Happy Thursday. BEC