The road less traveled

Monday night late -- July 8, 2013

(Paul)  Not many people travel into the Sapo bush. Its far, and the road was wet, rainy, muddy, slick and long. It took us 16 hours to reach ENI mission. It was the longest, toughest road trip our family has ever made.  

The same was true 44 years ago when my parents felt God calling them to join  Rev Gus Marwieh at ENI. My parents actually had 2 choices, though -- Liberia or South Africa, but they wanted the road less traveled. Mom, who was terrified of snakes, said she wanted to be where she would be most dependent on God's grace. 

(Laura)  During the 16 hour drive we stopped at one legitimate gas station in Tapita.  The rest of the trip we saw the "blue plate mayonnaise" gallon jars that held gasoline and diesel.  There were no toilets along the way. This was a problem for Annabelle in particular. We would stop along the side of the road and throw open the doors for privacy . I am convinced that Liberia has the reddest, stickiest, slipperiest icky mud in the world. It sticks to everything and in no time at all we had mud on our shoes, feet, legs and clothes just from getting in and out of the car. 

No one slept on the ride. It's impossible. The truck is constantly slamming into potholes, mud puddles, slipping off the road, bottoming out, fishtailing and dodging motorbike taxis. At one point Bess said, "Daddy you are shaking me up like a soda can".

I took all kinds of pictures of signs along the way. We posted them under our "road signs".  We passed Ganta were we stopped to put on better tires with more traction. Twenty minutes later we drove over a nail and had to go back to Ganta

to fix the tube. We stopped for lunch at a school yard and had egg salad and tuna sandwiches.  

We then passed through Tapita. We saw a beautiful new government hospital. The next big town was Zwedru. This was former  Liberian president Doe's home town. We saw a huge mansion that was Doe's unfinished house. We drove until six and then stopped on the side of the road to fix peanut butter and salami sandwiches. 

We then drove through Pynestown. It was dark by then and it looked like the town was enjoying music outside a local shop they turned into a thumping disco. The last big town was Jwarzon. The road was difficult in the dark and the further we drove the narrower the road became and the more the jungle closed in on us. 

We passed village after village as night wore on. Finally we came to a single building with lights. Men started whistling and we slammed on the breaks and backed up. Paul rolled down the window and asked,"Is this ENI Mission"? The man with the flashlight said, "Yes, welcome home Paul. We are waiting for you and your family."

We were greeted by Honorable Phillip Jarbar. He grew up on the mission and us now in charge of the ministry. ENI stands for Elizabeth Native Interior Mission. It was first started by Elizabeth Davis George or "mother George". Paul remembers her being on the mission and celebrating her 90th birthday. He said every evening at 6 she would take her rattan chair out onto the middle of the airfield and Paul and Palmer and dozens of the kids on the mission would gather around her chair and sing, and then sit and listen while  she told a Bible story. Mother George was born the daughter of American slaves and returned to Liberia to work with Africans.

We were ushered into the only rebuilt sleeping quarters on the mission and given dinner. It was rice and chicken -- it was delicious! We were then given two rooms in the building Paul's dad had built for a pastor's training school. They had made up seven beds with sheets and mattress' for us. They tried to make us as comfortable as possible and were very welcoming. We unloaded our bags and ice chest. We set up bug tents on the mattresses. We then found the bath house. It had no lights but it did have two toilets. A welcome site!  Paul was quick to remind the children that his family slept in a bamboo mat house and only had a bucket in a closet for a toilet. 

We fell into bed at 1:00 a.m. very excited to be at the mission and daddy's first home in Liberia!

Paul and Laura's bug tent up on a bamboo bed. Ashley and Cozz had an identical one on the other side of the room ... on the floor.

The kids tent. Annabelle, Levi, Bess, and Vanndel all slept together in room two.

The tents kept the bugs and mosquitoes out and the "blow rats". Evidently there is a rat that eats the villagers toes at night if they are not covered. How can it eat toes without a person noticing? It blows then nibbles and blows again. The africans say its witchcraft, Paul says its "areodynamics"!  Whatever -- we were not taking any chances! 

The kids are thrilled to be camping in the bush!