Thursday, 3/18
Early at the office, we called John Kollie because were scheduled for the TV show at 10:30. A few moments later, he picked us up and we drove to the station. It was hectic inside was many were scurrying around preparing for the live show. With almost no show prep John was introducing us on air and turned to me to describe our proposed work here. He seemed provocative, challenging well known statistics and almost accusing us of coming to Liberia to make money. He was stuck on the financing issue, asking the same question repeatedly, “How much money do you have?” Isela came to the rescue and flatly told him we were not here to talk about our (non existent) finances, but about mothers and babies dying by the thousands in Liberia. It was a great segue and John backed of completely, though began another series of provoking questions. All in all, the show was a great success and later at the capitol building, many recognized us from the TV show earlier.
The presentation at MOEducation was looming at 1pm and there were still loose ends for the trip to Nimba County, such as finding a 4wd pickup, figuring who was going to buy the 50 gallons of fuel, finding out where we were going and why, etc. This was not on our schedule and there was considerable pressure to go. Maybe that should have been our first clue…So reluctantly I called Josiah, Dr. Kortu’s admin person, to see if a reschedule would be better. He immediately agreed and said we should wait till Monday and he would set it up. Relieved, we headed to the capitol to see the Representatives and Senators from Nimba County for some fuel assistance. The Honorable Blamoh, our host, was provided with coupons each month, for fuel at the most popular gas stations. Senator Devine had provided the fuel for the trip to Bomi the previous Saturday and Senator Jewell Howard Taylor had provided car and driver for the trip to Bong County. So we assumed that one of the elected officials would help since we were willing to go to their county and meet with their constituents. Just a thought… But the excuses we were greeted with were completely ridiculous. All we were asking for was fuel coupons and you would have thought we were holding them up. We felt hosed. So we dejectedly walked back to our office to share the news with the rest of the team. Browne had promised the vehicle and fuel from Lands and Mines and that our lodging was all set. Plus, he said the trip would be 4 hours to Ganta and then a little more. When we returned only the vehicle was being provided and suddenly I was required to buy fuel or the entire trip was in jeopardy. We were already close to the edge, having spent all we had to make the trip and had just given up the MOE presentation for this. Browne’s boss Tingban, who had given the vehicle, a Nissan Hardbody Xcab 4wd, kicked in $50 and that convinced me to pay the rest but it made Browne look a little ragged in his communication to us about the whole trip and made us wonder what other surprises awaited us.
We set off excitedly and there was a lot to talk about on the way. We had to take a driver, Browne and Osundo. Because it was an overnighter we packed some clothes and took all of Isela’s teaching stuff. Since we had intended to present Moe we had all that baggage. It was threatening rain and our laptop and projector were endangered in the bed of the pickup so we had to stop, buy visquine, rope, etc. Then we had to buy big bottles of water and extra jugs of fuel (no filling stations in the jungle) and finally, around 3 we managed to get out of town. We lamented postponing MOE but prayed for God to work it out.
The journey was one of the worst trips either of us had ever experienced. The back seat of the truck was cramped with no head room and the roads were horrible. We could not even call them roads; they were ditches we had to straddle. And the bridges were frightening. Many bridges none of you would drive over but Sam, our driver was undaunted. Though he went too fast and thrashed us about (my neck is still jammed from bouncing off the ceiling of the Nissan), he was a very good ditch driver. We went through mud holes country boys would avoid at a tractor pull for hours on end until we finally arrived in Tzekepa at 2am. Oh, and there was no place to stay. Osundo had promised us we would stay with the District Commissioner at his home, but no. They finally stirred a poor man named Nelson who woke up his entire family of kids and grandkids. They eventually moved kids around and gave us a room. Both of us would have rather slept in the truck but all insisted we sleep in the ‘house’. We were so exhausted we could barely keep our eyes open but we could not sleep. And frankly, I was angry at the lack of truthful reporting as to our entire journey. Not that it was so bad for me, and it was, but they had put my precious wife through this; and that was unacceptable to me. As I was figuring a way to exact revenge from Browne for all of this, God finally got my attention to remind me that He had miraculously protected us this far and that we should trust Him. Well, at least I could doze off for a few minutes since He was going to keep an eye out for us, and I would get revenge later, zzzz.

Early the next morning was a relief from the hot night and hardness of the board with a sheet on it we half slept on. About the time we made it outside the midwives came dancing down the road to greet us. They sang and circled us on the front porch. Isela could not help herself and jumped in the line as they howled with delight. I was camera boy and followed them around the circle they shuffled around in rhythmic display. Then they headed back down the road as we followed. We had heard that a camera team with the Presidents media man, David Kortie, had followed us in to the village and that the entire event would be televised in the future. We didn’t even have time to wonder about this because the women all led us to a hillside where the men and school children had already gathered. The meeting with the Tzepeka folks was tremendous and far more than we could enter here. This was deep in the bush in Lower Nimba County; a very remote village with little civilization. Isela and I took turns speaking and inspiring them. The presence of the children was very enjoyable to me. Their bright faces and snickers at the goofy, big, white man just stole my heart. Somehow, they knew how much I loved them and they squeezed in to get closer to me, while Isela spoke to the midwives. Many of the kids just wanted to rub the hair on my arms to see how it felt. Maybe some of them had never been that close to white people, though I can hear Isela saying, “Who you calling white?” Some of the adults tried to shoo away these uniformed primary schoolers but I wouldn’t let them, much to the joy of the kids. After the meeting they all hung on to us trying to get closer, as we walked us back to the place we spent the night.
Before leaving the meeting the truth became very apparent. Tingban (pronounced Timba). Browne’s boss, who gave the $50 for fuel, is running for representative in that district and his friends, (Friends of Tingban) took over at the end of our meeting for a rally of their own. As it turns out, Tingban is from that village and district and will need their votes to prevail in the next election. That cleared up the TV crew and their purpose for making this arduous journey. David Kortie was especially angry about the distance, bad roads and poor communication. He was driving his own vehicle and would not cross the last few bridges in the dark. He spent the night in a village 20 kilometers short of our location at Tzekepa, and had to be retrieved by our vehicle the next morning.
There seems to be significant resistance to any kind of progress in many parts of rural Liberia. A huge loader was repairing part of the road between Saclepea and Tzekepa and each night the machine would be vandalized by unknown rebels so that it would have to be repaired each morning before work could proceed. The villagers were paying hundreds of US dollars to repair the roads, which is the key to any rural improvements. In a nationwide survey, condition of the roads was the #1 problem in Liberia, ahead of malaria, infant mortality and pervasive poverty. Some people feel like progress and advancement is what lead to the last 30 years of devastation and therefore resist any effort to bring Liberians out of the ‘stone age’. Some things are going to be difficult to change here. The UN has spent billions here with little permanent change to show for it. Isela and I have actually discussed ‘who do we think we are to come and encourage such massive changes’. Our only hope is that God will do what the UN could not. So many of the people seem so ready to lift their sight and embrace a better way. We better pray hard!!
Overall, Tzekepa was a great success. Though we did not meet with the Chiefs to have them set aside a large portion of arable land (the starting point for our local involvement), the people responded so overwhelmingly, and the chiefs were in attendance to see it, we are sure the word will get to them and they will make the offer. We have never asked for any land but God just seems to move them in that direction as a means of guiding us to the appropriate communities. Though Tingban did not accompany us on this journey, he has since assured me that he will approach the chiefs and that together, they will set aside the portion we need there.
We were not anxious to leave, remembering the 13 hour marathon from yesterday, but we could not wait any longer. The ride home was worse than before and though the little Nissan made it, it will never be the same again. We also made time for a stop in Ganta, at the Methodist compound there. They have a fine hospital and a great organization on the ground there. Plus, Brother Joseph Theoway, the first man we met at the Monrovia Methodist center had just been transferred to Ganta to head up operations there and they were growing Moringa. We met with Joseph and David Vulu and they toured us around the compound, including their airstrip, new hospital facility under construction, eye center and even the Moringa farm. They have agreed to add the Doula Program to their nursing training and they have even offered to supply our farm with Moringa seeds. We wanted to stay longer but we had to leave with the better half of the trip ahead of us. By the time we arrived back at the Blamoh’s, the truck was ‘shakin and bakin’, and caked with red mud/clay. We put less than 600 km on it but it was much worse for that wear. Arriving around 2 am (again) we had to wake up Yvonne to let us in. We had an early trip to Bomi and a 10 am meeting with all Bomi chiefs in Tubmanburg, but on the way home we found out that we would not have a ride. That meant we would have to arrange transportation early so we tried to sleep quick