Travel
Our pump is out of water. Not all pumps, but the one closest to our house. And the one in front of the nursing school has bad water. The next pump I’m familiar with is on the other side of the school and I’m not- I can’t – haul water that far. Well, I suppose […]
The first time I saw an apple beyond Monrovia‘s city limits, it was nestled beside un-refrigerated yogurt cups and foster clark’s *packages. They, along with a myriad of other random and unrelated objects – crackers, soap- bumped along the rutted dirt path in front of the nursing school. The apple was 70LD ($1) and I […]
This morning I woke up with a start. Bleary eyed and wondering what time it was since I, once again, fell asleep with the light on. Half an hour more of sleep but the bathroom was screaming at me so I attended to that and then turned off my light. A few moments later, after […]
One match to light the coal pot. You’d think I’d discovered fire but no…I simply lit our coal stove with one match. Yesterday we went to Gutz’s house to fry potatoes and plantains on his coal pot. We gathered around to watch how to light it properly since for us it usually involves copious amounts […]
We were the United Colors of Benetton. Indian, Korea, Malaysian, Black…Christian, Sikh, Heathen…the comfort was in the differences that somehow made us the same. And that was my reality through high school – until I made a conscious decision to go to an HBCU (Historically Black College/University). Other than family, I’d never been in an […]
“whi wom…whi wom…” they followed me for a ways down the path., as much a greeting as a declaration. To the throng of excited children assembled, I am a “whi wom” – white woman. Some Liberians have explained it as my foreignness, white woman as a catchall for not being Liberian; others, that I am […]
Everything takes longer. Sick. Feeling it slink in after the giddy feeling of dodging it over breakfast…boiled casava and plaintains in sardine sauce that gagged me just so after a few bites. But I spit it out and smiled smugly believing triumph over heaving. But the day marched on. Longer than usual. And the feeling […]
The low hanging sun danced hazy off the morning fog. Moisture, draped temporarily over cotton and rubber trees, softening the edges of cassava leaves and muting popo (papaya) trees in the distance. From a distance, in a blink, behind the cool mist, it looked like the Africa of storybooks, of every old movie and cliché. […]
“some people hear me and think that I’m in constant support of everything that Firestone does, Firestone thinks I’m one of their biggest critics. The truth is I’m practical and I don’t blame any outside person for the condition of Liberia.” I was fidgeting some in my seat, staring at Dad Brightspot as he quietly […]
war weapons
“they held me and gang raped me for three weeks.” It hung there, with no more weight from her voice than when she’d talked about the differences between Nigerian and Liberian palm nuts. She pointed to the jagged gash on her arm where they broke a bottle over her arm. “I almost died,” she said […]
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