Liberian Reflections Part II: Yekepa

Looking back at when I first seriously considered going on the trip to ABC I had a completely different perception of the locale than what Yekepa turned out to be. Hearing the town was in the middle of a rain forest and a seven-hour drive from Monrovia, the big city and capital of Liberia, I was expecting a bunch of thatched or mud huts under a canopy of 40-foot trees. That was not the case. Granted, the town buildings weren't much better than mud huts (we actually did see some), what we did see was a community trying to eke by amongst the remains of a once thriving mining community.



Back in the 70s and 80s I guess Yekepa was a vacation destination. There was even a country club and olympic-sized swimming pool, all courtesy of the Lamco Mining Company. I guess it was a gorgeous place. Most of the housing, constructed by the company, was simple by our standards but luxurious there, mostly consisting of four concrete walls and a roof.

As the country spiraled into civil war Lamco and ABC pulled out, as did most western companies and organizations. Now, 15 years later all that's left of most of the structures are the concrete walls and whatever else looters couldn't run off with and weather couldn't wear away. Most of the locals who reside there now have made their own modifications to these existing structures, while the remaining abandoned structures are slowly reabsorbed by the jungle. It was rather surreal to see all the abandoned stuructures and equipment. I felt like I was in a Mad Max, or some other post-appocalyptic movie.



Three years ago Arcelor Mittal, a major steel company from Europe, moved into Yekepa with the intention of reopening the mine. With them came a new hope of a revived Yekepa, followed by more excitement when they chose to rebuild the school. However with the global recession and decline in demand of steel there is growing concern Arcelor Mittal might have to pull out, or at least scale back their operations in Yekepa. You could sense the uncertainty in the air. The Sunday we went into town to attend church the pastor even spoke about all the gossip of the company's potential exit.



The community as a whole was a lot bigger than I thought it would have been. I never heard any actual population numbers, but we saw a fair share of people when we went into town. Brad, James and I had the honor of watching a local soccer (football) match which was a big deal in the town. There had to be several hundred watching the game. As I mentioned before we also went to church in town, which was quite an experience. Coming from a rather reserved Baptist, and now Friends, background, the worship style in Liberia was completely out of my norm. Meeting all the locals was very easy. They were very friendly and eager to meet visitors. I never once felt unsafe wandering the area (except always keeping an eye open for snakes).

You can see more of my Yekepa photos on my Flickr page here.

Liberian Reflections Part I: The Library

Setting aside time to blog about my trip to Liberia has been a challenge of late. The sudden need to search for new employment and get ready for a baby seems to consume any free time I have. So I am setting aside the time now.

As I start these reflection posts I felt the best place to start was the whole reason we went in the first place, the Library. If you are just stumbling across this blog for the first time I'll quickly recap... My wife's grandma, Lois Lindley, passed away last summer. Her grandpa, Verl Lindley, along with the help of family, friends, and all the people Lois impacted throughout her lifetime of ministry, was able to raise the funds to rebuild the ABC University library in her honor. The University itself was destroyed 16 years ago by civil war in Liberia and is currently being rebuilt by close family friends of the Lindleys, Del and Becky Chinchen.



All that being said none of us were quite sure what state the Library was going to be in when we got there. And I was wondering how much a team of six could really do to get a library fully functional in less than two weeks. We were all pleasantly surprised to see the library building itself was very far along when we arrived. Most of the heavy construction was finished, the tile was mostly laid out, and electrical lines were run. We were able to focus more on setting up the furniture and computers, and deciding how the books were to be arranged. Of course that ended up no small task. We had a few unexpected setbacks, like losing 28 computers on campus due to a faulty voltage regulator on the university generator and discovering we didn't have all the necessary equipment to set up the library software. However, it was satisfying to be able to say we finished what we came to do in the 10 days we were on campus.



Beyond the library itself meeting all the people tied to the school was enriching as well. Meeting the students, faculty, and the workers was so great and humbling at the same time. Hearing the stories of what many of them went through during the war and just to get to ABC made me realize how much we, as Americans, take for granted. Many of the students didn't even own a book before they started classes at ABC. Listening to the countless heartbreaking stories was sobering. And yet seeing the gratitude and joy on their faces as the campus, and their country, is progressively being rebuilt was so energizing. Just walking through the campus during the day we would continually have passersby say "Thank You."



Getting past all the technical issues of my job at the school and meeting the locals and students helped put a face to a struggle I had only a passing knowledge of. I have seen countless photos and video of people suffering and in need, but nothing really captures your attention as much as truly seeing what these people go through on a daily basis. I know I had it easy as far as mission trips, I had a nice bed, four walls, and three somewhat substantial meals, but seeing the state of the rest of the country was an eye-opener.

That's all for now. Later I plan to post more on my experiences in Yekepa, the orphanage, and Monrovia.

To see more photos of the Library and the complete trip visit my Flickr page. I have broken them into four sets: my favorite photos, photos of ABC and the library, photos of Yekepa (including the abandoned mine, trainyard), and the orphanage.

Rolling Out the Liberia Photos

Kids At Play At the Orphanage, originally uploaded by dubland.

Here's the first batch of Liberia photos. Several more to follow, as well as some more in-depth posts on my trip. I apologize that they have taken so long to get up but the past month has been so crazy. With losing my job (at least half of it), having to move dubland to a new server, revamping dubland to be more of a job search tool, and starting the whole job hunting process life has been a blur.

For now these will all be on Flickr until I decide where to house the complete set. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Finished Liberia Photos

I was able to finish some of the photos I took on my trip to Liberia, and they are now on Flickr. I'll slowly move them over to Dubland after I finish some maintenance issue with the site. In the meantime enjoy these photos. Tonight I am supposed to meet with the Liberia team to share our photos and video. More to come!

Say What??

Sorry for the lack of posts of late but the last two weeks have been quite a roller coaster. I found out last Tuesday, only three days after getting home from Liberia that my hours and pay were being cut in half effective April 1st due to slow business. And potentially I could be let go altogether if work doesn't pick up in the next couple of months. Quite a jolt! Especially with a baby on the way and Heidi going to part-time work afterwards. Thankfully my boss did give me a sizable bonus to help offset the reduced pay but that only goes so far.

I have gone through the whole gamut of emotions. Multitudes of questions are creeping in my mind. Can I make my mortgage payment? Will be able to find a comparable job? You get the picture. On top of that I have been spending most my days of late rapidly working on the new web site for my work during the day, and my own site/resume in the evenings as well. So much to do in what seems to be very little time. I think the whole situation has really worn me out.

But then I remember how I have been through far worse (maybe not financially) and God didn't abandon me then. And part of me is eager to see where He leads me. Heidi and I are doing some serious praying and searching to see where we go now.

So it might be awhile longer before I can post my Liberia pictures and some of my thoughts and stories from the trip. But I do intend to post them.

Back Home

Well I am back in the States after a very taxing trip back. We left the ABC campus Thursday morning and didn't reach home til Saturday night. We did spent most of Friday seeing the sights in Monrovia which was quite fascinating and sobering. Then we took off from Monrovia around 9:30 PM and landing in Brussels around 4AM. Then a seven hour layover there, followed by flight to DC, and finally our last connecting flight to LA which touched down just before 7PM.

In the midst of the mental haze I can say for sure it was a great and enriching trip. One, I am sure, I remember the rest of my life. It was so rewarding to see the library finished and seeing the beaming smile on Grandpa's (Verl's) face as the library was getting dedicated was great to see. I know it was a very satisfying and emotional trip for him. And to top it off he was made a chief of the county by the ABC professors (more on that in a later blog entry).


It was quite humbling and eye-opening to see what the Liberians have gone through and are still going through as a result of the 20 years of civil war. Seeing how excited the students, and professors were to have books to read and a place to read, you realize how much we as Americans take for granted. Most of the current students at ABC have had little to no access to books up to now. For the whole two weeks we had students and workers saying, "Thank you" as we passed.


I will post more later this week as get more time to work through my thoughts and reflections on the trip and a little more coherent. With more photos and hopefully video in the near future.

Finishing Touches

Well believe it or not we are almost done with the library. We are putting in the last shelves and books, and I am double-checking all the network lines to make sure they work. After that we clean up and make everything look good. So hard to believe we are almost done. And with time to spare. Not a whole lot,we leave Thursday morning, but it's nice not to have to hurry things through.

As for the lost computers, it looks like the school lost 31 computers. Thankfully we have 18 to help absorb some of that loss. Still working on recovering some of the data on a few of the key computers.

Tomorrow I should have photos to post of the finished library. Back to work.

Out Exploring

This entry was supposed to go out Saturday, but time just slipped away.



Moving past the computer fiasco (looks like about 20 or so are gone) we finally went out and explored the area a bit. Joni, our Samaritan's Purse leader, took us out to see a few sights in Yekepa.

We first stopped at a nearby orphanage. Man, talk about humbling, seeing what little these kids had. The orphanage was a collection of all the orphans in the county, from toddler age to 16 years old. As soon as we got out of the car the kids instantly ran up and started shaking our hands and hugging us. They then took us on a tour of their facilities, including a newly built living area, the local school building, and the church where they worship. Our hearts break seeing these kids bantering for our attention. The most heartbreaking was the older kids who, you could tell, don't get the attention that the younger kids get from visitors. We could almost see the tension in their eyes how they so wanted love and affection, but at the same time were so guarded, as though they'd been hardened over all the years in the orphanage.



Afterwards, we went to a plot of land the contractor who had helped with the rebuilding of ABC last year had purchased for all the workers that had worked with him. He bought it with the expectation that the workers would use the skills they had learned working on ABC to build their own little town, start their own shops, and start practicing their trades. Pretty amazing. I never met the guy but everyone here has high praise for him.

We then went to an abandoned train yard that the mining company had used before the civil war. Man it was incredible. I could have spent a month there taking pictures. It was so surreal seeing all those locomotives stripped down and abandoned. I guess they were all only a year old when the civil war broke out. Once I get back I will have a whole series of shots from this place, I am sure.

Ummmm...

Well we have had our first technical difficulty. Yesterday afternoon right before dinner the voltage of the generator on campus went rapidly up and knocked all the power out. After restoring it we found that almost all of the computers that were plugged in, even those powered off, were gone (as far as we can tell right now). Talking to Bryan, our on call electritian (Thanks Bryan) we are trying to figure out what happened and how best to prevent it from happening again. Thankfully I had only plugged in two of the library computers at the time, and all the rest of the computers will be behind UPS backups which should help protect the computers from future incidents.

So today I am trying to assess the damage and figure out how many functioning computers we have on campus. We're praying for the best. I was able to take some good pictures, but not sure when I will get a chance to look at them. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to post, since we won't be working tomorrow.

We Have Lights!

Well the lights are now working in the Library. Thanks to James and Brad they cranked though the remaining lights and even installed all the blinds. We were also able to set up the network in the library as well. Next step is to set up the computer room and finish up the network inputs in all the other rooms. Things are starting to take shape. Doug and Judi are still trying to get all the library software squared away. It's always fun trying to contact customer service from a remote place like this. And Grandpa furiously put on all the switch plate covers. So furious in fact he broke some glass doing so (you'll have to ask him about his phenomenal strength).


Interestingly, we didn't have the local workers today because it was a national holiday, Decoration Day. It's a day to go the grave sites of you family members who had died in the wars over the past 20 years. It is quite interesting working with the locals. I could spend a whole post on that.


As we were wrapping up this afternoon we got bombarded by a major rain storm. In fact as I write this I have lost my internet connection so I am going to have to wait to post this. Quite dramatic rain here. We now have some little ponds around the campus, not sure how long they will stay. As the rain started to come down, James took on one of the students in a game of 21 (basketball) at the gym. They wagered James' T-shirt, which he lost. The student was so happy to win a T-Shirt and James had to retreat back to the house shirtless. Now he doesn't need a shower tonight.

That's all for now. Hopefully we can post photos of some completed rooms soon.

First Day at ABC

Well we made it. After 3 days of travel we made it to the campus. Quite a grueling trip though. Seven hours in Brussels seemed to be an eternity. And the 3 hour technical stop in Ivory Coast en route to Monrovia was a bit tiring but we made it. And were greeted by muggy muggy weather. The city is right on the beach, in fact our night in the guest house in Monrovia was about 30 yards from the beach. We fell asleep to breakers which was nice (the A/C was even nicer). Yesterday was a 7 hour drive up to Yekepa, which wasn't bad, but man it felt good to be finished with the travel for awhile.

Today we start off running. Quite a bit of the library was already done which was nice. The drop ceiling, most of the tile work, and all the walls were already done. I was busy working on the network lines for the computers. James spent the day putting in all the lights, Doug and Judi spent the day conversing with customer service for the software company that made the library system. Brad went in between both James and I helping whoever needed the help at the time. And Grandpa (Verl) had the most important job of the day, supervising all of us to make sure we did it all right.

That's all for now as it is starting to rain. Hopefully it will remove all this muggy weather. Next time I am aiming to include a picture if time permits.

First Leg Down

Well we made it to Washington DC. Now we have a 5 hour layover before heading out to Brussells. The above picture is light-mural-thingee (that's the technical name) that is just across from our terminal. My next chance to post will probably be Monday night or Tuesday when we get to the school.

Now we have to find something to fill the 5 hours.

One Day Away

Just over 24 hours away from embarking on our journey to Liberia. I doubled checked my list and I think I am set. I am all packed. And belive it or not I actually have some space to spare. That never happens. Course going minimalistic I am only taking the bare essentials.

Saturday is going to be quite a day. First we leave for LAX at 3AM for a 6AM flight. Then we should touch down in Washington DC with a four hour layover. After that we head to Brussels where we have an eight hour layover (yes I said eight). Then on to Monrovia where I believe we're suppose to arrive in the 10PM Monday, and crash at a guest house. Then the final leg is a 7 hour car drive into the jungle on a completely neglected road. Figured this would be the perfect time finally sit down and read Brothers K. I just hope I don't get too stir crazy in those two days.

Here are some before photos of the library. Hopefully I can take some more once we get to the school.

Ramping Up

In little over a week I will be boarding a plane for the long trip to Liberia, and all of a sudden I have a sudden rush of concern, "Am I ready?" Have I thought through everything I need for this trip? Heck no! Course being how this is my first real experience doing a trip like this I am not sure there is a way to truly prepare for an adventure like this, no matter how much you talk through it with others.

Am I excited? Definitely. But part of me wonders what am I doing going on a trip like this. Traveling thousands of miles to a very remote jungle to rebuild a library in a country I know nothing about (other than it was founded by freed American slaves.) Wondering how am I going to solve the IT issues for this building, since I am not an IT guy.

But then I realize how this whole process has been an incredible blessing. How six months ago Heidi's grandpa first brought up the idea of raising the money for rebuilding a library for the college in honor of Heidi's grandma. How all the funds came in, and then some, in the midst of a worldwide economic collapse. How originally I wasn't going to be able to go because of timing, and now I am. It has helped reinforce in me that God is truly sovereign, and He allows us to be part of the process for our own transformation. I just pray I can be open to being the vessel of change God wants me to be, as well as be sensitive to the change he is doing in me.

I also pray I don't forget something important when I pack this week.

Trip Starting to Take Shape

Well, things are starting to fall into place for our Liberia trip. Above is a picture of the team going to Liberia. They are from left to right: James Domingo, husband of Heidi's cousin Joy; Judy Hammer, my mother-in-law; me; Verl Lindley, Heidi's grandpa; Brad Fielder, family friend of the Lindleys; Doug Hammer, my father-in-law. We have plane tickets, and we're about to send off our visa applications. This trip is slowly becoming more tangible. I also found out a couple of weeks ago I might be the resident IT when I am there. Which should be interesting since I am primarily a design guy who works on Macs. I am sure I'll be able to set it what they need but it might be messy for awhile. Thank goodness I'll have internet access over there.

Library Container Arrives at ABC

Well the first phase of building the Lois Lindley Memorial Library at ABC is done, the container of materials for project that was sent from Southern California just before Christmas has arrived on the campus. Now we just have to put everything together. A funny aside, I guess all the shipping containers that have been sent to ABC, end up staying there, since no one wants to pay to have them sent back. So now they have several of these containers laying around campus, and they're not exactly sure what to do with them. As for what needs to be done next for the library, my understanding is they will actually start fixing the library before we arrive, and we'll join in the work when we get there. But we'll see what actually happens. Exciting stuff though.

Liberia

Well the year is starting out with a bang. I have volunteered to go on a trip, organized by Heidi's Grandpa, to the country of Liberia to help rebuild a library at the African Bible College in Yekepa, Liberia. The library is being named the Lois Lindley Memorial Library after Heidi's grandma, who passed away last summer.

Del and Becky Chinchen, family friends of my in-laws and the school founders, are in the process of rebuilding the whole college after fleeing the country almost 20 years ago in the midst of a civil war. They were asked by the new Liberian President to come back to Liberia and rebuild the college, and have been organizing the rebuilding process with churches and various ministries.


It is quite amazing to see what has been accomplished already as they are reclaiming the college from the jungle building by building. The photos included in this post were taken by my father-in-law on his trip last summer, when he went with a team from Granada Heights Friends Church to build a computer lab on the campus. On an aside you should check out his web site if you've never seen it, he's quite the photographer.


I am excited and a bit overwhelmed by the potential of this trip. I know I am being trendy (going to Africa and all), but I have always wanted to do a trip like this. To have a chance to get out of my comfort zone and my culture for a bit, to see how I can help and change someone else's circumstances and be changed myself as well. I also wonder what can I truly do to help out, but I am open to see what I can do.

Right now all I can think about though is how there is so much I still need to do before March and how am I going to get it all done. I will post more on this as the weeks unfold. In the meantime please prayfully remember Heidi and I as we prepare for this upcoming trip. Especially since she will be home two weeks without myself, her parents, or her grandpa; and 7 months pregnant.