10th Grade - The Clark's

(Paul) Below is the house that my twin brother Palmer and I lived in when we were in 10th grade. We lived with the Clark family that year -- Uncle Bill and 

 Aunt Pat and two of their four kids - Pam and Chris (better known in Liberia as Bread-and-Butter!). Today Chris is the founder and President of Children of the Nations.

We were in this house the morning of April 12,1980, when we heard shooting break out all over the city. The night before 14 enlisted soldiers had invaded the presidential mansion and killed President William Tolbert in his bedroom. The now notorious Samuel K. Doe at age 28 with an 8th grade education was the ranking officer and became the county's new Commander in Chief. 

Mayhem reigned for almost a week in the city, so we had to abandon the house and drive out to the SIM compound on the outskirts of Monrovia. Unfortunately, within days the Clarks and everyone else at SIM (ELWA) was running low on food, so Uncle Bill sent me, Palmer and Chris back to the house to look for food. We were starving when we got there, so the three of us decided to cook up a pot of Jollif rice. We dumped a half dozen things from the pantry into a pot and boiled it. It was a mess, but we were so hungry we ate it anyway!

Paul and his twin brother Palmers bedroom - second window from the left.