Christmas in September

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.