Ping Ping!

This is our family traveling to "P" Market on the local transport called "Ping Ping" - motorcycle taxis.

Heading Home

We loaded the Tundra with our luggage and left the ABC beach house for the airport on Wednesday.  We were all a little sad to be leaving.  I believe a new generation of Chinchens - our children - have fallen in love with the country of Liberia and her people.  From the beach at ELWA, to the mountains and iron mines of Nimba and home of the first ABC, into the bush and jungle of the Sapo rainforest, to forgotten Baffu Bay, and finally exploring the rising city of Monrovia we have experienced all that is Liberia.  With love -- from Liberia,

The Chinchens 

We flew all night from Lliberia stopping in Ghana and finally to Kenya.  We then took our final plane to Malawi.

Ducor Palace at Mamba Point

(Paul) DUCOR PALACE HOTEL was not only the nicest hotel in Liberia - it was a national landmark perched at the peak of Mamba Point with ships sailing into port on one side, the US embassy compound down below on another, and the whole of downtown Monrovia spread out for miles, a hundred feet below.

Ducor Palace was always a shangrala of peaceful poolside drinks and cold air conditioned modern restaurants in the middle of mad, loud and bustling Monrovia. Sharp dressed businessmen and diplomats filled the lobby with its beautiful Art Deco spiral staircase silloetted againtst  huge plate glass windows.  Sky-blue-suited Pan Am stewardess would clatter across marble floors, and the view from the 5-star restaurant on the top floor was absolutely stunning.

Yes, an era truly gone with the wind. Only the shell is left ... along with a rusty, faded signboard out front with the presidents picture on  it promising to rebuild.

The view coming up the driveway.

A promise for the future.

The inside staircase.   There is no glass in the windows.

The swimming pool.

What a view.  We are standing on the pool deck overlooking the ocean.

DUCOR Palace is also where my high school, ACS (American Cooperative School) had our Senior prom in 1982. Beautiful ballroom. That evening was my first time to sit next to and have dinner with a US Ambassador - Ambassador Sharp - a perk of being the Senior Class President.

Matilda Newport and the cannon

Liberians, for the most part, have historically been proud of two things: 1) the fact that they were they only country in Africa (out of 52 countries) that was never colonized, (yes, despite resent claims by Ethiopia that they were also never colonized, that is not correct. Ethiopia was briefly colonized by Italy in the 1930s, and King Victor Emmanuel was even referred to as the "Emperor of Ethiopia").  

2) The second thing Liberians appreciate (again, for the most part) is their long, and somewhat close relationship with America - at least MUCH closer than any other country in Africa. You would be hard pressed to find a Liberuan who does not have a close relative in the States, and almost everyone who has a graduate or a post graduate degree has done at least part of their studies in the U.S.

Both of these things are the result of Liberia being founded by both free and former slaves retuning to Africa to found their own country.  But the returning American-Africans were not warmly received by the Bassa people native to the area.  The returning settlers built a fort on Crown Hill, which over looks modern day Monrovia and Mamba point, (sounds like the snakes they discovered weren't friendly either!).

From their fort they had to defend Crown Hill from the local people who assumed they were raiders from the Congo, (Americo-Liberians are still called "Congo People" by Liberians today). A famous battle ensued where the now famous  heroian Matilda Newport fired a cannon at the natives at close range killing a number of them. 

As kids we used to celebrate Matilda Newport Day every December first until the insecure Samuel Doe took office via a military coup and abolished the holiday.

Bessie by the statue and monument of J. J. Roberts - the first president of Liberia.  The monuments base has murals in stone of the history of Liberia.

Welcome to ABC University - Homecoming

Friday June 28, 2013

(Paul) THE WELCOME AT THE GATE

Liberians are probably the best people in the world at making you feel WELCOME! It was a wonderful sight after 10 hours of getting beat on the road from Monrovia to Yekepa to see a couple dozen people standing and singing outside the ABC University gate as we drove up. One of my boys asked, "Are they really all out there waiting for us?" Yes, that's how good friends are welcomed in Liberia!

The bus driver stopped 20-30 yards back and asked us to get out and walk, "They want to welcome you properly!"  There were little girls waiting to give bundles of African flowers to our three girls.  The group of staff, students and workers then walked us to the ABC chapel where the President of the college, Dr Miamen address our family and officially welcomed them to the ABC campus, and  then thanked The Lord for a safe journey before we walked up to my parents old home where we would be staying.

Beautiful bouquets of flowers presented by beautiful children.

Welcome always comes with a handshake and hugs.

LAMCO Railbus

(Paul) The actual Railbus station is gone, but the front steps we climbed every time we left our home in Yekepa for boarding school in Monrovia were still there. It was a 2-hr train ride down to the coastal town of Buchanan, and then a 2-hr taxi ride into Monrovia.

The Railbus today.

The Swedish mining company ran a great train service. Right on time, twice a day to the coast.

Sushi in Africa!

Happy Birthday Cozz!  We all went out for dinner last night at the Mamba Point Hotel.  We had sushi!  That's right sushi in Liberia.  Monrovia is right on the Atlantic Ocean and the seafood is excellent.  Cozz loves sushi so we scouted out what we think is one if the best restaurants in the city.

Ashley and Cozz at dinner.

Cozz enjoying his food.

The sushi was presented in a boat.  We all agreed the best sushi we have ever had!

The manager brought Cozz strawberry cheesecake and orange chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Cozz with his birthday gifts.  A Liverpool jersey and a Liberia jersey along with hot sauces from around the world.  Ashley gave him a shotgun (waiting for him in Tenessee) - what every good southern boy needs.

Lutheran Mission

(Paul) LUTHERN MK YOUTH HOSTEL is where my twin brother Palmer and I lived our senior year of high school. Yes, the beach being only a hundred yards from our front door was a bit of a distraction, but we loved being with a great group of a dozen MKs who had all grown up in the bush like we did, and were totally excited to be in the big city.

The front of the house.

Our bedroom window was the back left facing the ocean. The wall and apartments were not there 30 years ago. Just a plantation if palm tress between our room and the beach.

We stayed at this part of the compound as a family from time to time when visiting Monrovia.

The American International School of Monrovia

(Paul) My old high school, ACS, has reopened after the war as an American elementary school - The American International School of Monrovia - reason being there are no international high school kids in Liberia!  For that matter we've been here for three weeks and besides our 6 we've only seen 3 expat children the whole time in the country.

Durectly behind me is the entrance to ACS that Palmer and I entered every morning, and further back is the gym where I played point for the Sun Devils. George Gervin (aka The Iceman) was my hero at the time, so as you can imagine there was a lot of funky dribbling and passing going on. Palmer and I were co-captains of the varsity team our Senior year -- not necessarily because of our great skills, but more because the pool of talent had shrunk significantly ater the 1980 coup d'ete (yes, that means 'off with their heads'), when a number of our Americo-Liberian high school friends Dads were executed on the beach by the People's Redemption Council ("In The Cause of the People the Struggle Continues!") - an extremely gorey ocean-front firing squad scene with drunk soldiers firing wildly at elderly statesmen tied to telephone poles buried in the sand - an event captured and made public by an award-winning Life Magizine photographer.

The gym.

Beautiful gym facilities.

Paul's old math class.

Sections of the school are still war-torn and abandoned, including the Library below.

Overloaded pick up truck and a monkey?

The road from Baffu Bay to Monrovia was brutal.  It's 206 miles - I looked it up online but it took 12 hours!  The road was horrible and its rainy season.  Paul drove the Toyota Tundra and lost both lower floodlights in mud puddles.  The Land Cruiser with Cozz, Ashley and Levi fished one out of the muck. Logging trucks have torn up the road.  There were many bridges and swamps along the way as well. We suspect this is why there was not a road this route when Paul was younger.   I will add that the road from Bucannon to Monrovia was beautifully paved - by the Chinese.  We were thankful when we hit that part.

As we were driving along we came across several of these overloaded pick up taxis.  This one I tried to get while leaning to the right navigating a mud puddle.  I was shocked one man was on the side of the truck trying to push the side to balance it.  I have no idea what his plan was if the truck tipped over.  I doubt he could have jumped out of the way fast enough.

As we passed the truck I spotted a monkey on top.  We flagged down the driver and told him he had a hitch hiker.  It was a pet!

The owner put the monkey down for the kids to see.  He wouldn't take food but enjoyed a drink of water.

Liberian monkey.  Sadly we saw another one if these monkeys being sold as bush meat (to eat) in a village further along the trail.

Deforestation - the road to Baffu Bay

Paul and his family never drove to Baffu Bay because there was no road.  They had to fly in on a small plane and land at Tournata (named after RG LeTourneau founder of LeTourneau College in Longview, TX).  Tournata was a mission station built by LeTourneau.  It was supposed to be a tent making venture mixing logging with evangelism.   The mission had housing and missionaries, a school, a church, a hospital and an airfield -- all on Baffu Bay.  Liberia National Airline even landed there.  It was suddenly and unexplainably abandoned.  The locals say that one day ships and boats pulled up and the missionaries walked on board and left.  They left everything behind.  It's a mystery.  Paul says as a young boy his family used to stay in the houses - complete with furnishings.  Evidently the missionary pilots that flew the Chinchen plane knew the missionaries that had been there.  They had left before Paul's family ever arrived in 1970.  They took Paul's father to see the old mission.  It fascinated him.

There is a road from Sino to Tournata now making it possible for us to visit (the best dirt road we were on this whole trip).  It was built by a Malasian company who has stripped the Forrest and cut it all down to plant miles of Palm tress for palm oil.  It was sad to see the jungle gone but we did see the palm trees now about 2 feet high in some areas.  This area once so rural may change now.

We visited this area because Paul's father had built a house on Baffu Bay for his "vacangelize" program.  That is vacation plus evangelization put together.

You can see a new palm tree up close and the jungle line off in the distance.  It was shocking to see so much Forrest cut down.

VACANGELIZE House at Baffu Bay

(Paul) VACANGELIZE

Few people know this, but Dad started one of Africa's very first Short-term missions programs called VACANGELIZE - Vacation and Evangelization. Dad needed help training pastors in rural parts of Liberia so he developed the VACANGELIZE program to get couples and families to Africa for the summer - part pastor-training and teaching, part family holiday. Some of our family's long-time relationships (Boersmas and Yelvertons) began at this remote stretch of beach, where no car had ever been, accessible only by plane, BAFFU BAY. 

The Baffu Bay house was completely looted and destroyed during the war.

Baffu Bay beach.  Very secluded and private.  The waves are rough and big but we had the whole beach to ourselves.

The Indian Almond tree where Paul's father sat and planned for African Bible Colleges, Inc.  There are several of these trees in front if the house offering shade.

Someone has built another house next to ours on the beach.  They were very welcoming. It's the custom in this area to 

welcome guests with cassava and coconut as a refreshment.  They say the cassava in this area is the best because it grows on the sand.

Paul and Bess standing in the doorway to Paul and Palmers room at the Baffu Bay house.

All that remains of the stripped house is moms pink tile in her bathroom shower.

Paul's father put seashells in the cement door frame to help the concrete because no stones were available on the secluded coast.

The road next to the house back towards the mission of Tournata.  All the houses are gone now.  All that remains of this mission is an overgrown airstrip, a hospital (it looks renovated) and an old abandoned church building.

This was the church at Tournata.  It was once the largest church building in Liberia.  We were told it is abandoned and no longer in use.