Banga!

Hello All,

Tiffany and I are now in Bong County.  The four hour drive from Monrovia was interesting.  We first had to drive through Red Light – a section on the highway which had a massive number of people and stalls all lining the sides of the road, selling everything from coconuts to wheelbarrows.  It took us about 45 minutes to drive maybe 1 km. There were people navigating in between cars, motorbikes weaving through the people and traffic, and so much more.  We were a bit concerned as we had our stuff packed into the bed of the truck which was easily accessible to the people walking by.  But we got through OK and with all of our stuff.  Also on the way we saw a huge amount of rainforest, several small villages, Sector 2 (whatever that is, it sounds badass!), and a massive amount of land that was cleared by Firestone (Tire Company).  Firestone has a significant impact on Liberia’s economy as they have Rubber Tree plantations across the country.  We drove past several of them and it was very cool to see great expanses of forest all neatly lined up and ready for harvesting.  To be honest, I didn’t know that rubber was tapped from trees like maple syrup; you could even see the small buckets hanging on the trees.  Until then, I had never given rubber a second thought as to how it was made or where, even though we use it every day in Canada.

                Just as we were getting into Gbarnga, pronounced Banga, we had to cross one last check point.  We had been through several of them during the drive and had no problem.  However, we got stuck at the last one.  It seemed as though these guys pulled people over at random, because we were the only ones who got stopped (I wonder why???).  They wanted to see our passports, but Christy the girl taking us up there did not want to show them and she didn’t have hers.  Christy and Tiffany’s boss (Bossman as they’re called here) came and helped us get across the check point after waiting for about half an hour.  We have to go back there today to register ourselves as residents of the region.  I am hoping this goes OK.

                Once we arrived at our compound, things continued to become more interesting.  The compound is surrounded by a partially finished bamboo fence which I am hoping to help complete it in the next few weeks or so.  Our house, while normal looking from the outside, is only a shell of a house from the inside.  We walked into the living room and found a few plastic patio chairs and nothing else.  We walked into the kitchen and found nothing but a broken fridge, a broken stove and a sink built into a concrete counter.  The fridge, I have since fixed and the stove we are waiting on.  We have been doing our cooking on a coal stove outside which is hard to get going when you have no fuel to light it.  Our bedroom luckily has a bed and a small nightstand which we have been using as a dining table.  Getting furniture for the place has so far been unsuccessful, but we are working on it.  We, me in particular, have been having troubles adjusting to this type of living.  We knew there was going to be no running water and no 24 hour electricity, but neither of us expected this.  I have killed quite a few cockroaches in the last 2 days.  On top of it all, I have been having vivid nightmares most nights and have not had a full night’s sleep since we left Vancouver.  Tiffany thinks they are developing from our malaria medication so we have started to take it much earlier in the day.

                But not everything is tough.  The people working here with the company are very nice, helpful and friendly.  Our neighbour`s children have provided us with good entertainment on quiet days while sitting on our porch outside.  I have been trying to keep house by cleaning, but have also done a fair amount of reading.  Tiffany is getting more involved with her work, but has been delayed in seeing the dams and rice patties because the gas stations in Banga have run out of fuel!  However she has been getting down to it and is looking forward to getting more into the job!