Thursday, March 13th, 2020

As promised yesterday here are some pictures taken.  I finally discovered how to download them and we are off and running.

Below is Newsboy, Sawsee and Riley

Sawsee and Riley are grandchildren and Newsboy who is the same age as Sawsee was a next door neighbor and playmate to Sawsee/

This is the cemetary and mausileum of daughter Christina.  Pictured are 3 of her children Sarah, Faith and Kojo.  The 4th is a young woman (Mary) that Chris took in to live with her.

Shiekie Dah Dah who spends his days repairing roads in Monrovia City.  What a delight to be able to see him again.

Greens and rice - Yum! Yum!

Today we were a little later getting started.  While I woke up early and was all ready, Jeff called to tell us they were doing inspections along the road.  He was able to arrive about noon.

We went down the road and around the corner to see Jackson.  He was my mechanic when I was a missionary and after 9/11 he chased me down the street to make sure my family was safe.

He was delighted to see me and we exchanged greetings and asked after the family.

Then we made our way to Mamba Point where the American Embassy is located.  There are a group of artisns in that location due to its proximity the the Embassy and American tourists who don't want to venture into Waterside to shop.  We were able to purchase a nice African (Liberian made) drum for Riley to use with his bands in his teaching career.

On down to Waterside to purchase a Sasa.  It is a large dried goard with the seeds removed.  Bead work is woven around it and loose enough that you can hold on the  handle of the goard with one hand and pull the strings attached with the beading with the other.  It makes a very interesting percussion sound.

Then off to Bardnersville to the family home.  We spent some time with Annie.  She was feeling much better.  Timothy talked with her in dialect and they had quite a long conversation about family on either side.  She shared some of her boiled casava with us.  I love the flavor although it is not one of her favorites.  The girls fixed Timothy and I some fufu and soup.  There was plenty of pepper in it and I did get my sinus cleaned out by the time we were finished.

Several of the neighborhood children came by to sit and talk with the white woman.  We  had a conversation for about 15 minutes before they became restless so we sent them out to play.

By this time, our grandchildren were returning from school so we have an opportunity to visit with them about their day.  I purchased a soccor ball for them to use in the yard to keep them busy.  They felt I should buy them each one but settled on one to share.

Today I finally got our phones working and contacted several of our friends for phone numbers.  One in particular was Burphy Wheaton who was a classmate of Timothys at the AME University.  He is now director of the Archives for the country.  We picked him up on our way back to the Hotel .  He and Timothy had such a wonderful time visiting.  It did them both well.

On the other hand, I connected with one of my "daughters", Anna.  She and her husband were at the hotel when we arrived and we also had a wonderful visit.  She is principal for one of the Methodist Schools and James is the Dean for the United Methodist Seminary.

Another busy but intesting day in life of Liberia.  Rest easy, Good night.