My Trips into the Field!

November 13, 2010

Hello everyone!  It’s Tiffany this time and I wanted to write a new blog today to update all of you on my recent trips into the field...finally!

This week was busier than the rest as the European Union Food Facility donor (our main donor) came to visit a few of our communities along with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the World Food Programme of the UN (WFP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) all of whom we work quite closely with as we are the implementing partners of these other organizations for this specific project.  So on Wednesday we had all planned to meet at the MOA office for a meeting and then we would head into the field to get to work.  Well Lamine and I arrived at the MOA office about 20 minutes early all ready to go and we hastily walked into a meeting that was going on thinking we were late!  However, it turned out we were early and we sat in the wrong meeting for about 45 minutes just observing (the County Agriculture Coordinator (CAC), Monica, told us to hang out in the meeting so it wasn’t like we crashed it or anything) but just sitting in on meetings that has nothing to do with our project was not terribly exciting so we went to sit elsewhere.  As it turned out we sat and waited for nearly 4 hours as the donors and everyone else were VERY late!  Vehicle and road problems seemed to be the culprits, putting us well behind on our itinerary straight away.

Eventually we had the meeting where the EU donor interrogated the CAC, Monica, for about an hour before we finally began the hour and a half drive on terrible roads out to Samay.  This visit really put Lamine and me on the spot as we were now the ones being interrogated for how work has been done on the site while the donor scrutinized the paperwork in the field.  We answered his questions the best we could; however, Lamine had left several of the papers we needed at the office so we were not as prepared as we should have been.  I won’t get into a lot of details as that would ensure an extremely long blog post but let’s just say this project has been a challenge from day one and there is a lot of miscommunication between WFP with us.  It seemed as though we were being blamed for things that were not our fault.  This did not sit very well with me, so I asked the donor, who I got along with quite well, to have a meeting with all of us the next morning to show that the things that were said about our supposed “misreporting” were not true.  We ended up leaving the field at 7pm once it was already pitch black and had to make our way back through the muddy, potholed roads, which was slightly unnerving, but we made it back just fine.

So Thursday morning rolled around and Lamine and I walked into our meeting, after a very late night working at the office, with our arms full of every relevant document we had, proving our point on several issues.  It felt great to have the numbers right in front of me and see the questions that had been asked of us turned around and asked to others who at times struggled with how to respond.  Ultimately the meeting went quite well and I think a lot of issues were resolved on all ends.  I don’t want to talk specifically about these issues on an internet blog but look forward to talking more about it when we are home.  So we headed out into the field again, first visiting a UNDP microfinance project in Palala, unrelated to ours, which seemed to be going very well.  I was incredibly impressed with the woman who was running the project who really knew what she was talking about and thought to myself that if I were a donor, this is the type of project and person I would want to invest in.

Unfortunately, while we were at this site, Lamine got a phone call telling him that his mother, who has been quite sick over the past week, was now in critical condition and he needed to come back urgently.  He was very upset in the jeep as we continued on to our communities but was determined to finish the day. 

Soon we arrived at Bellemu where we gave a briefing on the community and the work we had done and then walked down to the large swamp where we have rehabilitated nearly 20 hectares to produce rice.  The heat was sweltering and for some reason we decided to meet with the community members in the hot sun without any relief of the shade.  We stood out there for nearly an hour talking and then walking along the bunds into the swamp to see how they measure their work output.  Everyone was dripping with sweat and our clothes were soaked as we walked back up to the community where they presented the EU donor with a white chicken to say thank-you, apparently white was to indicate purity of heart. 

Again we were behind schedule by about 3 hours and everyone was hesitant to head on to Garmu, our last community (the EU team was continuing on to other projects but we would be finished).  However, it was a good thing we went because as soon as we pulled up women came running down a path alongside the swamp with big bowls and buckets drumming on them, singing and dancing.  Kids ran alongside them and the men walked up to greet us and show us their work.  Lamine and I showed them our newly constructed dam and again gave a briefing and then the community insisted on bringing us up to have a meeting.  We walked with the community members while the women and men continued drumming and singing until we came to a clearing under banana trees where benches were laid out for everyone to sit.  Before the meeting started the community started dancing and a few of us figured why not and we all joined in.  I am sure I looked absurd trying to dance like an African woman but I tried and they lifted my hands in the air and pulled me around with their arms around my waist trying to show me how they do it! It was a lot of fun and I wished Kevy was there to be a part of it too.  During the meeting with the community, the chairman said that their intention and goal was to help create a food secure Liberia and they felt that their swamp was surely beginning to do this.  It was so excellent to hear that goal and it really reminded me of what this project is all about, regardless of the politics behind it.  After the meeting we were served food, which consisted of the typical rice, hot pepper sauce and mystery meat.  I gazed down at my bowl and could see what looked like a bit of chicken (or some other small animal), a vertebra of some sort with very little meat on it and then a full, huge tongue!  It did not even seem like the tongue was cooked as it sat there limply in my bowl.  I ate some rice and chicken and mulled over some of the other meat before I passed my plate on to Lamine to finish.  In the first bite he took the whole tongue and ate it up with a smile on his face.  Ick!  After we finished we headed back to Gbarnga with 6 adults crammed into the jeep and Lamine and I finally felt relaxed that our part was over. 

Sadly, when we reached Gbarnga Lamine headed to the hospital and found out that his mother had died while we were away.  He said that she looked at his sister and said “I am leaving now” and then died soon thereafter.  The day really was full of joy and excitement at times but it ended very sadly as Lamine was quite distraught.  I had to really push him to make sure he didn’t come into work on Friday as he is one of the most dedicated people I have ever met and is always working.  I think he was relieved to be able to stay with his family though. 

Anyways, yesterday Kevy and I spent the morning getting our groceries for the week and then spent the afternoon lying on the concrete floor trying to stay cool.  It is getting extremely hot here and we are constantly sweating.  Last night we both lie awake for hours dripping and uncomfortable; I don’ think either of us have ever felt so hot before.  It doesn’t seem like today will be much more exciting and reading and exercise will likely be the only things we accomplish, but c’est la vie!  We hope to get to Monrovia next weekend because our visas expire next Saturday so we need to get them extended. 

We hope all is well with everyone at home and we look forward to hearing from you!

Lots of love,