Liberia, October 31

Hello All,

Let's see, where to start.

This morning I taught some basic yoga poses to 8 young kids from the neighborhood. Some of them were really good - able to hold tree pose forever, seemingly, and enjoying doing the difficult downward dog pushups with one leg in the air...more and more kids kept coming wanting to join, it may end up being a big Sunday class.

Yesterday Timmy and I walked to the beach to find Nik and three of the Fellows joining in with the local fishermen to pull in a giant net from a canoe out in the sea. It was like a giant tug of war game with the fish in the net...and the fish lost. Lots of small fish, and several large ones (called in the local dialect "sea chickens"), a tuna, some barracuda. People on the line were putting the smaller live fish in to their pockets to take home as bait or for their afternoon soup. Since he had helped, Nik was given a barracuda, and he sold it for 75 Liberian dollars, which is about $1.25. He will use it to buy drink mixes to put in water or bread in the market when he gets hungry and our meal isn't ready.

Yesterday morning, a couple in their 20s from the community came up for a private yoga class, which they really seemed to enjoy. People here are not used to sitting cross legged, so even just basic stretching poses are challenging. But the woman had good balance, and the man's strength served him well in the difficult poses. Hopefully they will bring some friends next time. I felt proud of them for being willing to try something new.

It has been getting hot here, and the rain is coming less and less to cool things off.

There has been a major upset in the elections, and the election commissioner admitted that differing results were reported, and in fact the opposition party, CDC, won the first election. Ellen's party came in second, so it won't change the run-off election parties on Nov 8, but psychologically it definitely changes things. Apparently, the election commissioner sent his family to the US before he made the announcement (in fear for them) but the US wouldn't allow them to stay. Now the CDC will participate in the run-off election, since they feel like the first election was fairly reported now.

Please see the new Strongheart website: http://flavors.me/stronghearthouse

We need donations!!! there is a spot on the website on which you can donate. We need groceries and money to pay the local staff (cook, housekeeper, someone to bring the water from the stream for bathing and drinking, etc.). Thank you!!

The crescent moon appeared last evening, so beautiful over the ocean, with Venus sparkling brightly near by.

We went to a wake for the neighborhood "governor" Friday night. The coffin was draped with a Liberian flag, in the City Hall, and women were dancing and singing all around it. What amazing energy surrounding him, a good way to go. The dancing and singing went on all night apparently.

We have a pet monitor lizard tied to a tree. Nik brings it dead fish to eat. They say that it will become tame and not need to be tied at some point.

Classes have been going well, there is good positive energy in the house, and things are running smoothly. There was a lot of publicity for Strongheart because of Evelyn Apoko, one of the Fellows, speaking out about the situation in Uganda and Rush Limbaugh's comments about the LRA, by whom she was abducted as a child. Brave woman - interviews on CNN, going to Capitol Hill, etc.

Speaking her truth.

Next Friday the Fellows and I plan on performing MC Yogi's "Be the Change" rap about Gandhi, which is the house favorite song.

Thanks for following!

love,

Rachel

Liberia, October 23

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted. Partly because I need to conserve laptop battery, partly because I have gotten busy taking on the financial budgeting and accounting here at the house. Which has been teaching me a lot about the behind the scenes workings of running an establishment here in Liberia. And also I think bringing me closer to people here since I am becoming a more integral part of the House.

Have had many lovely daily adventures here recently, and am really really happy. Feeling connected to people, swimming in the warm and calm sea, feeling like I am being of use, teaching yoga every day. Nik is taking on more of a sense of being a part of the house, and is becoming more and more willing to help out and "be useful" as I say (and as the Fellows make fun of me for saying). Had an American visitor stay here last night, it was interesting to be in the position of getting to be the tour guide and seeing this amazing place through another's eyes. It is becoming more like home, like a place that I belong to and that I am happy to share with others. We all (Fellows and Staff) worked hard yesterday to get the house ready, and everyone worked together to make sure there was delicious food available and clean water in the house, etc., and I think we all felt that sense of accomplishment from working together and creating something successful. Our visitors made a generous donation to the house, and gave our dear cook a ride in to Monrovia on their way back so she could attend her brother's funeral.

Above is a picture of me and Timmy and Gabriel carting broken chairs to the chair doctor in their wheelbarrow ambulance. With a book on my head, carrying things in the African style.

Nik goes out fishing with friends every afternoon, coming home just before dinner and darkfall. He is making good progress in Math, we are working on long division and he has mastered multiplication and math facts are rolling off his tongue now. I think one on one instruction has been very beneficial for him. I am also having he and a Fellow do a survey on a particular virus of interest - Nik chose AIDS and has been asking several people in and out of the house what they know about it. We will compile results this week in graphed and written ways. I've been enjoying keeping my hand in being a "school teacher" but glad to have just a few students, and mostly getting to teach yoga and from the amazing book Wired for Joy.

We hope to start a small pepper garden in the yard this week, and will be inventorying the house to get ready to start opening it up as a guest house. So lots of projects! Yay!

Love to you all. If you are moved, please consider donating to this amazing organization: http://flavors.me/stronghearthouse

Rachel

Liberia, October 15

Swimming every day in the beautiful sea. And here's a poem I wrote sitting on the beach. First poem I've written in years and years...using inspiration from my life here of sugar cane and wells and fishing nets and fish.

The Poem Fish

The poetry juice has dried up, she thought, like a

sucked out

sugar cane.

Writing poetry about a lack of poems seems futile

but it’s possible that

deep in the well

maybe

something

liquid awaits.

Waits to be re-membered and

drawn up – hand-over-hand, strenuously.

Inspiration won’t bubble up, unasked for.

Like any grail, it will sit out the ages until

it is

sought.

no hurry

no inner compulsion to advertise its wares to uninterested parties.

but

when a

light

is shone

down into the depths

something stirs and

waves begin to lap the edges of awareness

until a net might be cast down and a

fish-poem

gets dragged into the light.

Liberia, October 13

Today, I was inspired to start a Science class for Nik and some of the Fellows. Will start by studying viruses and bacteria, partly because they are interesting and partly because they are such a large part of our reality here and good to be well informed about. Nik is currently recovering from some kind of intestinal parasite…

As a former Agricultural Peace Corps Volunteer, and a current vegetarian, it is appalling how few fruits and vegetables are available in the local market here. I’ve had thoughts about starting a community garden or some kind of gardening project here, and on election day on the way back from observing the voting we passed a large parcel of land growing sugar canes. I said to Timmy that maybe that would be a good place to start a community garden.

Today, we went to visit the former Robertsport mayor, and lo and behold, she is a gardener and actually owns the parcel of land growing the sugar canes. She was very open to the idea of gathering some women together who might be interested in a community garden. One of the main problems here is that the young people do not want to do work (according to the former mayor)…so we are brainstorming ways to overcome that obstacle…like maybe somehow coercing the local soccer team to help us. A work in progress, but it was an exciting contact. The former mayor reminds me of my recently deceased grandmother…wise and willing to be quite frank about her critique of the current culture. And also, she’s a gardener like my grandmother and seems to derive a lot of pleasure from growing her peppers and eggplant and bananas. And sugar cane. Which Nik and I are sucking on this very moment. Delicious.

Liberia, October 12

Hello dear ones,
So far so good on the Liberian election. Went as an unofficial observer and things were quite peaceful and cheerful. People came out in their best clothes. It was nice to see middle aged and elderly Liberians, since on the street you mostly see young people and children. So far it looks like "Ma Ellen" will win, but no official results yet. We make prayers every day at the end of yoga class for a peaceful result, and have lots of conversations about why some people/countries learn lessons from tragedy and others tend to repeat it. Hopefully Liberia went through enough pain and is ready to keep moving in the direction of peace and recovery. The three Fellows in the house who voted all have the dark ink stain on their index finger indicated that they did so. This was the first time they were able to vote in their own country, since during the 2005 election they were in a refugee camp in Ghana. I learned today that their family went to the US Embassy in Monrovia seeking help and were flown out of Liberia, to that camp where they then all grew up. The oldest child was 5 when they fled Liberia.

Had an early dinner tonight and Nik and I went for an evening stroll on the beach. The sky was pink and grey and both colors were reflected in the water. The Strongheart dogs, Bingo and Blackie, chased the crabs running in to the water. There was a light rain, and bait fisherman were pushing off in their canoes for some night time fishing.

Until next time,

Rachel

Liberia, October 10

The Liberian Presidential election is tomorrow!!

So far, no word of anything untoward.

Today was a holiday (to celebrate the day before election day, I suppose) so Timmy and I organized the staff and Fellows and some of the local kids who spend a lot of time here with Nik to clean the yard. We then celebrated our productivity with a lovely swim in the sea. Tomorrow, (another holiday, for voting) after the of-age Fellows vote, we will re-paint the interior walls white to cover over all the grimy fingerprints.

Had a very interesting talk with one of the staff about the history of this house we are staying in and what happened in Robertsport during the civil war. Some notes: it was built in 1973 (the year before I was born). It is owned by a Liberian woman who currently lives in Georgia. Her mother, who passed away this past summer, was a nurse both here in Robertsport and in Georgia. When it was first built, it was a motel and the yard was full of coconut palms. The house was used by Charles Taylor’s forces until 1992, then was partially destroyed by rebel factions after they left.

He peppered his explanations with several inflammatory remarks about the current political situation and the war, that I will not repeat here. There is such a sense of how recent history is here. When we think of civil war, the American imagination places it at a safe distance (at least for me, a Northerner); here it was just a few years ago. Nik’s 12 year old friend Samuel was born during the war and his family fled by dug-out canoe on the sea.

Samuel and several other friends of Nik’s, and Timmy and I, and the two Strongheart dogs, took a march down the beach yesterday to a beach where sea turtles come to lay their eggs. Samuel then disappeared into the forest and emerged with a fruit called a monkey apple, which was quite delicious. One of Nik’s aspirations is to try as many exotic tropical fruits as he can, so he was well satisfied. There are also many wild almond trees here, you can eat the fruit and then once the pit dries you crack it open between two rocks and eat the nut inside.

On Saturday, I took a trip in to Monrovia to do the shopping. It is a 12 hour excursion on bad roads, quite exhausting and overwhelming. But so good to have a stocked house and everyone was quite grateful. The Fellow who came with me has come down with malaria, so he is slowly recovering from that. People here get malaria countless times so it tends not to be as seriously debilitating for adults as it is for Westerners.

Everyone has returned from the soccer tournament, the team that one of the Fellows is on made it to the Finals and came in second. Yay! He was approached by a coach in Monrovia who invited him to pursue joining a higher ranking team. We’ll see, but it was an honor in any case, since only 2 other players from all the teams were approached.

Lots more, of course, but thanks for reading and being a part of this experience with me!

Love,

Rachel

October 6

Finally managed to go to the local business district (one muddy road with tiny tin shack shops) and buy some West African cloth to make into a skirt. I chose orange, my favorite color. Then had an unfortunate adventure trying to support a local women's sewing co-operative...they wanted to charge me $75 to hem it...I should have left then and there, but instead stayed to bargain it down to $5, which was still way overpriced and when I told the Strongheart cook about it she was scandalized and I wished that I could give her $5 to hem it for me. But I had to learn my lesson the hard way I suppose. One of the women had alcohol on her breath. Part of me would have liked to go back and take my cloth back, but I don't want to start conflict for Strongheart here in town, so I shall swallow my pride and hope for the best.

The photos: the Cotton Tree here in Robertsport where the original former slaves landed when they first arrived on the west coast of Africa. The tree is enormous, powerful, ancient feeling. The other photo is from a walk to where the Atlantic meets Lake Piso. The Fellows, and Timmy my fellow Program Guide, walking hand in hand.

Last night, we had "electronic games" night, which meant a giant image of Wii tennis projected on to the wall. The Fellows and Nik had quite a work out. What an odd juxtaposition of technology/leisure/wealth with the facts of poverty and no electricity all around us.

Still no propane in the country, so we are cooking on coal in the outside kitchen. Which makes things like a cup of tea or warm water for a bath too much work to ask for. So Nik is getting used to cold bucket baths.

Another jigger removed from Nik's toe this morning, by one of the Fellows. This time, no tears.

Some of the Fellows left today to play soccer at a tournament that the President of Liberia will be attending. May they represent Strongheart House well! The elections occur next week...may they pass peacefully and may the best person win.

love,

Rachel

Liberia October 4

OK, couple of notes.

Nik got a jigger in his toe. A painful surgery with a sharpened stick (unapproved by me) followed. Hopefully all the antibiotic stuff I put on after will save the situation. A few tears, but all the love and laughter around him helped.

Nik has joined a local club of three, they are called the Veggie Boys, poking fun at my vegetarianism. They have a dance and a handshake.

The moon is waxing, at night the sand shines brightly all around the house and the palm trees frame the stars burning above.

Nik and some some local boys have invented a new game, a combination of football and soccer. You throw a football as hard as you can at the goal, which is being guarded by your opponent.

A few days ago, a young boy shimmied up a 60 foot coconut palm and threw coconuts at our feet. Tasty.

Boogie boarding in the surf on the weekends.

Starting to offer a public yoga class on Sundays.

Saw a monkey tied to a tree. It did flips and posed for the camera.

Stories from one of the Fellows about his father being shot during the civil war.

Kundalini Yoga and Meditation is being very well received here amongst the Fellows.

The puppies are growing, but still with eyes and ears closed. Bingo is an attentive and sweet mother.

Lots more I'm sure, but it's all piling up and going the way of the past.

see new photos at the link.

love,

Rachel