First time to Monrovia

It.s the middle of the night, you know the routine, so here goes. I went with Rusty to work. I met some of the men he supervises. He oversees the facilities here at ELWA. That includes the hospital, dental clinic, school, radio studio, office buildings, warehouse, generators, water system and houses, I probably left a few things out. Some of the projects that we visited were an addition to the hospital, some work on the hospital's sewer system and a house being remodeled for Sammaritan's Purse. Sammeritan's Purse has a big presence here in Liberia, they have their main office and a number of their people here on the ELWA campus. Rusty's day seems to consist mostly of asigning duties, problem solving, getting parts and materials, resolving disputes and counseling disgrunted workers. The inefficiency of the system here would drive me nuts, but Rusty has always been pretty unflappable, he handles it well.
While at the hospital Rusty gave me a tour, including the dental clinic, which is connected to the hospital. Of all the facilities on campus the dental clinic is the nicest. It would meet the standards back home. The waiting room was not very big but it was full. We went in and caught Dr. Keith Chapman between patients and talked with him briefly. I asked him about his practise, he said he has never had a slow day, all his patience are on a first come first served basis. He and Dr Freada are two of 4 dentists in all of Liberia, a country of over 3 million people. He said most of his work is extractions, his patience usually don't come to him untill it is too late to save the tooth. In fact he usualy has to remove adjoining teeth as well. He does do fillings and root canals, but it is rare. He is one of the people I had labeled as remarkable and my visit with him moved him up the list. I would have no problem going to him for dental work. I know the flight is long and you would have to wait in the waiting room for quite a while, but a root canal is only $50. US and an extraction is only $3. Dr. Chapman is self supported, meaning he has to raise his own support for his work. He does get some perks though, he is an avid surfer and there are some good surfing spots close by. He came in second in a national surfing competition recently.
In Liberian culture parents are looked on as responcible for their children as long as they are alive, so if you have a complaint about someone you take it to their parents. That works the other way too, as a parent you are complimented if you child does well. So far I haven't had any complaints and almost everyone I meet has thanked me for my son. His workers were no exception, all telling me he was a good boss.
About 11:00 Rusty had to run to Monrovia to pick up a pump for one of the wells, so we picked up D'Linda, Jamie and the kids and took the short drive to Monrovia. It is a city of over 1 million, before the war the population was just over 100,000. The liberian government is trying to force people out of the city back to their villages, but has been pretty unsuccesful. There are shacks built on any unocupied piece of ground. In an effort to move people out the Mayor periodically sends workers out to knock down some of these shantees, making her unpopular and not appearing to do any good. There is no working public water system in Monrovia! All the water is trucked or carried, there is a sewer system that Rusty says works sometimes, always needing repair, espesially in the rainy season. The sewer system dumps directly into the ocean at what they call poopoo point, as it turns out is one of Dr. Chapman's favorite surfing spots.
Monrovia is a bustling city with bad traffic and roads, although they were repaving some roads in downtown. We went to a pretty well stocked hardware store to get the pump. Next door was a grocery store that Jamie liked to shop at so we picked up some stuff there. It wasn't as big or well stocked as we are used to, but it had a good selection and prices were higher than home, but not outrageous.
When we returned the boys went to their Tae Kuando class and D'linda and I took a nap. Time to go see if I can get some sleep. Please comment or email me if you have any questions