September 20th 2013 – Barnersville, Liberia
We woke up really early after a good night sleep. The room were Emmanuel hosted us had a mosquito net in place so at least there weren’t any unwanted guests at night. All night it rained heavily, but we didn’t feel a thing. We stayed all morning on the terrace and Emmanuel joined us since he didn’t go to school to teach because everything was nearly flooded in his community. We were served the breakfast of champions : African food of course meaning rice and chicken meat. Seeing this family that had 11 members and knowing their everyday struggle to earn some money so they can buy food and you getting served like some kind of special guy, makes you want to leave everything to them. Including your life. Some of the kids from the house started playing with the ball that we brought. It reminded me of my childhood when I use to stay out for hours, playing with the kids from the block, doing all sort of crazy things and of my mom picking me late in the evening. So I just couldn’t resist and I joined in. In just a few minutes I taught them a really popular game : “ducks and hunters”. Everybody joined in including my friend and Emmanuel. Something priceless when you look at these kids playing and smiling.
Later on, Emmanuel took us around the community so we can see a couple of his neighbours. Everyone was happy to see us. They were really friendly. Some of them found out that we brought a soccer ball, so they asked us permission if they could also play with it. They smiled and thanked us when we told them that they can use it the next day. On the way we found a guy that actually knew were is Romania. The old guy remembered of the official visit in 1974 of the Romanian dictator at that time, Nicolae Ceausescu. Just mind blowing, what can I say. Another guy we greeted was a German old man who was the only stranger in the community. Sadly he said “enough is enough”, meaning that this would be his last year in Liberia. We heard some kids singing on the streets and Marcus told me they were actually singing about us, the white guys.
As promised, Emmanuel took us to visit the school in the community. It was a long walk. Almost 40 minutes from his house. There we meet one of the teachers, a woman, who was also a refugee in Ghana, like Emmanuel. I asked her if I can take a picture of all the children in the classroom and she agreed. As soon as I started showing the picture that I took to a couple of kids in the front, immediately I was surrounded by all of them screaming and smiling. From were my friend and Emmanuel were standing you just couldn’t see me. There were kids everywhere around me. The teacher had to talk to the kids so I can rise from the ground. We said goodbye to the children leaving them behind in the this so called school were you could still see barb-wire from the war on the walls. We continued our tour and Emmanuel brought us to the school were he is teaching English. We talked to a couple of teacher there, told us about their everyday struggle to find strength so they can go to school to educate the youth of Liberia. For 20 minutes we attended a class were the professor was teaching the teenagers about measuring distances. Everyone seemed very focused on what the professor was saying, they didn’t even noticed our presence.
Kids in classroom
Emmanuel took us in the main market. It was really crowded. Everyone was trying to sell all that they could. A women asked me to take a picture of her and the pieces of chicken that she was selling. After seeing the photo, she was really pleased. On the way home we stopped at a little restaurant to eat. Of course, again, African dish. After our meal, Emmanuel took 2 motorcycles, one for him and a woman from the community and one for me and my friend. The ride was really enjoyable though the muddy streets of Barnersville. I knew this was an affordable and fun way of transportation here.
Woman in the market
We arrived at Emmanuel’s place and stayed for a couple of hours until he said it’s time to go out and have some beers. All the boys in the family joined us. We went again in the downtown, at a place called Marty’s 99. There we served a couple of beers while having some interesting conversations. We met Music, another refugee from Ghana who then joined our table for chat. Music said every time he saw Emmanuel he was never alone, but always with “international friend”. Like today. After having enough beers, Emmanuel simply said everything he wanted to say since we arrived in Liberia : we are really nice guys and he is blessed that we came to his community. Marcus told us that usually they can only afford going out and enjoying some beers only on Christmas time. So they were celebrating a different Christmas. In September. With 2 Romanian guys.
The bar had a pool table, so I convinced the guys to play some pool. Non of the guys knew how to play, but we encourage them and promised that we will teach them. When we arrived at the pool table, the guy there, the previous winner, said this is not for practice, but for professional players only. So I volunteered to play and kick his “professional” ass. I was a bit rusty, since I haven’t played since university. So no pool for me for at least 3 years. The guy started really good, managing to get 3 balls in the pocket, while I was still struggling. The pool table was in really poor conditions, so when he hit one of his coloured balls, it jumped of the table. I grabbed the ball from the ground and I wanted to put it on the table, but the Liberian guy said it needs to go in the pocket. Damn Liberian rules! Just then, my friend rose from the chair and started to argue with the guy, but I told him it doesn’t worth it. So we continued playing until we both reached the black ball. The guy tried one of the pockets, but failed in getting it in. So I was next. I hit the ball, the black went in the pocket. So did the white! Since I lost, I had to pay the guy 30 Liberian dollars. But the experience was priceless.
After we finished our beers, we wanted to go home, but first we needed to buy some gas so that the generator will work that night. So we went shopping. Emmanuel again brought some plastic bags and 2 gallons of gas. Because the plastic bag couldn’t resist the pressure of 2 gallons, it started licking. So after fixing it, we were really ready to go home. But not on foot, as we expected. On motorcycles again. But this time 3, me, my friend and Emmanuel plus the driver. So we were 4 on a tiny motorcycle. The ride was really good, we laughed all the way. The alcohol was starting to show. When we tried to pass a flooded portion of the road, the driver lost control and we all feel in the mud. But immediately everyone started to laugh. We were all dirty, but no one was hurt. The situation was so damn crazy and funny. Quite a ride. Just imagine 4 guys on a motorcycle falling and just after starting to laugh like they have just listened to a really good stand-up comedian. Liberia. You never know what’s next. Arriving home, Emmanuel started the generator and everybody took their seats at the round table. He took out a huge photo album and showed us a lot of pictures of the time he spent in Ghana. Mostly all of them where with people all around the world we tried to help the refugees there in Ghana. Emmanuel remembered almost everyone in the pictures even though many years have passed. But still the album was incomplete. He needed to add 2 more. Us. I don’t know how it started, but Marcus began sharing some stories that he read from a book at school. The author was a Liberian man called Wilton Sankawulo. He told us “Too mean to live” and “The boy who was wiser then his father”. Emmanuel found the stories so interesting that he fallen a sleep on the chair. But for us it was great. Marcus did a really good job sharing these stories with us.”Too mean to live” it’s about a guy that was not sharing anything with the community around him. Eventually he died with no friends and in real misery. This is how most of the world will end up if it doesn’t wake up pretty soon.
Travelling is part of life 