Picture 1 is our cook, Alice, who is very sweet and works very very hard. The next photo is in Gbarnga, it’s the new bank that was prepared for the Independence day celebration, you can’t really see it but in there is a “wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube man” that made many many people […]

I have been slack to keep up with my days here, mostly because things started to blend together in workshops and work but today was different. Today was Liberia’s Independence Day. Technically July 26th is the date but because it fell on a Sunday the festivities were today (Monday). I’ll start with today and work […]

Was the second week of the adult literacy facilitators workshop. We talked about female circumcision and I learned more about the Poro and the Sande (they aren’t as secretive as other anthropologists suggest, outsiders just aren’t welcome to the ceremonies or compound, and even then, I think I could attend the graduation ceremonies if I […]

I have been helping to facilitate and write the report of the adult literacy facilitators workshop. I talked about human rights today and bored and confused my audience. Many of the participants live in rural communities and all of them are from the interior. I’ve found that the longer a Liberian lives in the interior, […]

When talking about advocacy, I get serious. In fact, I’ve been getting a little too serious in general these past few days. It doesn’t help that last week I got sick and had a feverish feeling that part of my body had become the LURD fighters and was invading another part. Yeah. I’ve been reading […]

A foray into peacebuilding. Which is sadly not my expertise. The meeting reminded me of my organizing days, except there was more attendance and enthusiasm. But the discussion winded around a celebration of the now peaceful relationship between the two groups. The disagreement was over history and land. The two groups fought bitterly during the […]

My parents are becoming a bit concerned. Mom, Dad, don’t worry… I have phone numbers for about a dozen DEN-L staff. Now, I’m not going to sugar coat this, all of them are male and several may have an unnecessary interest in me. However, I’ve learned from organizing and over the years how to push […]

Saturday is a work day for most of DEN-L staff. Like organizers in the US, DEN-L staff, trainers and trainees work 6 day weeks (Saturday is “optional”). For my part, I did a little more reading, found a little bit more out about the war days and the rebuilding efforts. A quote from the first […]