March 11, 2020 Wednesday

Greetings on Day 2 - March 11th - Wednesday.

Finally, a great night sleeping and slept through 3 alarms to awake to son Jeff tapping on the door.
Grandma Annie's fever went very high in the night and they had taken her to the hospital for treatment.  She was diagnosed with malaria and the medicine I had given her had helped that she was not even sicker.  She received and injection and sent home to more medicine and ORS (oral hydrating solution to drink).  When we arrived later in the day, she was sound asleep on the sofa and with all the noise around her, she didn't rouse until about 5 pm.

Breakfast again of French toast, water melon, fried plantain and Gold Coast coffee.  I have taken some pictures but they are still downloading from my camera.  Maybe they will be ready to post tomorrow.

Traffic was so very light we were able to get to the house in about 30 minutes.  Today is a National Holiday so most people were at home or tending to their family gravesites for cleanup.  I did get some pictures for you to see.  At one location a band was playing a concert for the families.

Daughter Chris' children, Kojo, Faith, Sarah and I went to her gravesite to clean the brush and wash the grave.  It is a tile covered mausoleum as are most of the graves in Liberia due to the sandy soil and the heavy rains during the rainy season.  Four Liberian young men introduced themselves to us and proceeded to do the cleaning and brushing.  It was a way for them to earn some small money and to show off how strong they were to the girls.

Returning to the house, Timothy and I had our dinner of Potato Greens with fish and chicken and served with rice.  Granddaughter Sarah's little boy (Adolphus) sat on my lap and loved eating with Grandma.  He is quite and eater and very active.  He is a year old, walking, talking in sentences and calling people by name.  He had great fun today throwing a piece of charcoal in the air and trying to kick it like a soccor ball.  He has also learned to jump and was practicing his skills at that as well.

Friends are beginning to learn that we have arrived and are stopping by to greet us and talk to Timothy to catch up.  I am sure in a couple of days the men will be gathering on the porch to talk politics and whatever else Liberian men talk about.  Today Granddaughters Geraldine and Manashi (Annie) came to visit for the day.  Annie has grown up so and loved sitting with Grandpa Timothy and talking and touching him on the head and arms.  Up til now she has been very shy and would rarely talk to us.

Another visitor today was one of Sawsee's playmates and neighbors while we lived in the big house.  Newsboy was always so small in stature and very slight.  While he has grown maybe a foot since we last saw him, he is still very small.  How delightful to see him and hear that he is living nearby and going to school.  It was an interesting mix with several of the grandsons, Sawsee, Newsboy, Riley and Georgie fussing at each other.  They range in age from about 8 - 10 years and are suffering from growing pains like boys often do.

On our return back to the motel tonight we met Shiekie Dah Dah on the street.  Shiekie Dah Dah worked on the roads filling in holes with rock and sand until the goverment could make repairs.  I first met him in 2000 and would often see him working hard to improve the roads.  People would pass him tips as they traveled by to help support him.  One time I was able to stop and hear part of his story.  He had been in the US living in New York.  He has a son still in the US.  Unfortunately he was into drugs and was arrested.  He was given the choice of serving time or being deported back to Liberia.  He chose deportation, which was probably to his benefit due to the lack of drugs here.  That was the time he began repairing roads.    At one time, he was offered a job with the government of Liberia in the Transportation Area.  He turned it down and still today is repairing the roads with rock and sand to make it safer for the Liberian drivers.

Evening has come, the sky has darkened and sleep will be soon.  It is cool and quiet and a delightful ending to another day.  Good night!