How did we get here? 2/16-17
Let’s backtrack to fill in some details.
When we arrived at the Tampa airport 2/16 early in the morning we had not slept. The United attendants were the least helpful of any US airlines and delayed the checking of our baggage until they said it was too late to make the flight. Suddenly, we were faced with the suspension of our tickets and the cancellation of our trip, so we prayed. They offered to put us on standby for the next flight to Dulles which we immediately accepted. It was the only way to catch up with our itinerary and keep from losing our tickets. Then they offered to confirm the flight for $150. How could we refuse? Thousands of dollars were at stake and we could not take the chance of missing the flight to Brussels, so we paid the extortion. We could have made our first flight but because of the delay, we were now short of very precious resources. The rest of the flight was uneventful except that we saw Steve Hicks, an old friend from earlier ministry days, in the airport as we were all getting searched. We exchanged info and promised to keep in touch.
It takes almost 40 hours to arrive in Monrovia via Europe. Leaving at dawn one day you arrive late the next night. With so many layovers, stops and starts, we would have been better off on Delta to Ghana to Monrovia. That was our original reservation but the Africa leg was on Ethiopia Air, which was fine until they crashed a plane into the Mediterranean several weeks before. This caused them to scramble some of their flights and cancel the Monrovia stop. Unfortunately, our airfare jumped $1,000 immediately and now it was even more. Lord, we really need your help. Upon our arrival. Yvonne Blamoh and Patrick Broh were there to pick us up but the line was long and somehow I ended up last so the Monrovian guard seized his opportunity to extort more money. He began delaying and asking for “small small”. Welcome to Africa, Freddy. You spend nearly $10,000 to make the 6 week trip and the minute you land a guard wants his hand in your pocket. After nearly 40 hours of flying I was weary and I had a few euros from the long layover in Brussels, so I reluctantly slipped him the money to keep our hosts from waiting any longer and to get our baggage before someone else did. With the guard and baggage handler and parking attendants poking at us, before we could get out of the airport, we were out at least $25 more. Whew, Lord help us. I have been coming to Liberia for 22 years and it is always a surprise. They see the big white dude and assume we’re rich and to them, I guess we are. All in all, $25 is not that much. I would tip baggage helpers anyway and 10 bucks worth of euros to avoid the backroom search of Liberian Customs is small small indeed. I am just grateful it wasn’t Isela.
The Blamohs have a compound with 3 homes in Paynesville, a community in SE Monrovia just off the main road. We sat around and ate, praising the Lord for his protection. Exhausted, we crashed into bed having slept sparingly over the last few days. 40 days and 40 nights in Liberia has begun…Fred and Isela