Into The Jungle

The Sapo National rainforest is a protected Forrest.  It's huge.  I say this because I spent four hours walking in it.  

We drove about two hours from ENI to the Forest.  We took a packed lunch and a liter of water for each of us.  Eight bottles of water in one backpack that we designated Levi to carry.  We also took a first aid kit and all the boys had knives.  Cozz got the prize for the biggest hunting knife I've ever seen.  I forgot one thing though - the snake bite kit!  We did however get a blessing from the paramount chief in the village that marks the beginning of the trail.  We are all African enough to figure that was worth enough for the journey.  If we did this again I would camp in the village and hike early the next morning.

Ashley was thrilled to see the canoe walking down the path in front of us.  She really wanted to ride in a canoe like her Grammy down the many rivers in Liberia.

We walked for an hour through the buffer zone across many creeks and swamps.

At the Sinoe river we stopped for lunch before the canoe ride to the "Sapo Jungle".

Annabelle, Levi and Bess were the first in the canoe.  We had two Forrest rangers with us for our hike.

I felt like Hepburn in the Movie "African Queen" crossing the river.

My bush babies.  Notice Ashley, Annabelle and I all wore white shirts.  They wanted us to change but it was all we had.  They claim there is no white in the forest and the animals are afraid of the color.  Oooops.

We hiked another hour over roots and through swamps to "Vera camp".  The camp is named after a German  lady who studied chimps for two years living here in the Sapo rainforest. I fell badly once but so did Bess and Vanndel who smacked his temple on a huge knotted root when he went down. 

We were hot and sweaty and stinky. Levi sat on the bench above with Cozz and we heard a crack and looked up to see both of them crashing to the ground. 

The guides were very knowledgable about the chimps in the area.  That particular area had six chimp families.  Next to the camp they showed the children where the chimps  cracked their nuts using stones as tools.  Chimps are very social animals and polite.  They crack the nuts and pass them to their leader who keeps them until they are done and distributes them equally so they can all eat together.  The movie "Chimpanzee" was filmed in this Forest that extends into Ivory Coast.  I strongly  suggest you rent the Disney movie and watch it.  It's fascinating and you will see the Forest as we did.

Paul with our ranger guides Kollie Borlay and Augustine Nimely (beside Paul) and Annabelle.

A chimp nest high in the tree tops.  Chimps never sleep in the same place two nights in a row.

Huge trees with mammoth roots we had to climb over.

Plandabalabo Village

(Paul) In Africa there are always very nice nice villages and villages that were clearly under the control of dark and evil powers. Plandabalabo was definitely one of the latter. Their drums beat all night while the young men got hammered on Cane Juice (sugarcane whisky). The people were uncharacteristically cruel and deceptive -- often at odds with ENI Mission over the oddest things, like accusing dad of poisoning their sickly cows and a short term missionary lady of being a white witch.

It was interesting walking thru the village once again - this time with my family. Things had changed, the mission and the witness of Christ had definitely had an influence on these people over time. There were two prominent new churches, brightly painted right in the middle of the village. The town's Clam Chief was our former cook, Robert Chaie, and the town Mayor was a former Cub Scout buddy of me and Palmer, Junior.

Bess with her favorite village pet - a goat.

Paul with Robert Chaie holding a Cocoa pod that chocolate comes from and what the unique Coke bottle was designed from. No. There's not any chocolate in Coke, but the artist commissioned to design the CocaCola bottle looked up the wrong picture. True story from the Coke museum in Atlanta!

The huts in this area are unique with the bamboo mat sides.

The road through the village is covered in animal dung. They let the pigs, goats, ducks, sheep and dogs roam free. Vanndel was a poop magnet. He kept stepping in the waste wherever we went.

The trail back to ENI mission.  The children followed us everywhere we went.

Levi next to a rubber tree.  We used to make rubber bouncy balls from the sap.

The little girl in red is holding a Liberian bush baby doll.  It's made from bamboo with hair to braid at the top.

The children love to see themselves on a camera.

The Paramount Chiefs Blessing

(Paul) Africans are afraid and superstitious about going deep into the forest, so before the Park Rangers took us on the 2-hr trek from their station into the Sapo Rainforest they took us by to meet the village's Paramount chief, Myer Jasbeh. He sat us down and after hearing my story about growing up in the Sapo forest and bringing my kids back to see my old home, he said he wanted to give our family a special blessing. He sent a young lady scurrying to his hut and she retuned a few minutes later with a bowl of white chalky powder. He then asked each of the kids to stand as he dipped three fingers into the chalk and pressed a white mark on each of our foreheads. "Now," he said, "when the elephants see you in the forest they will not run away or hurt you, because they will know you are my friend!"

Paramount Chief Jasbeh

Paul & Palmer with another Paramount chief in Totopleh (Ivory Coast) 40 years ago.

PC Jasbeh's blessing on the kid's foreheads.

Sunday July 14, 2013

CHURCH WITH ABC GRADUATE REV BEN TOMAH

(Paul) Ben's a great example of what sets an ABC graduate apart. After the war he found a beautiful piece of property on a hill overlooking the massive township of Paynesville and built an absolutely beautiful church called THE INTERNATIONAL BIBLE CHURCH INC. (yes, the Inc.thing is a bit odd, but that's a part of the ABC influence .... as in African Bible Colleges Inc.).

But Ben didn't stop with a church. He also started not one, but TWO schools, K thru 9th grade, with almost 200 kids enrolled.  ABC graduates are not afraid to put their FAITH INTO ACTION!

The blue bow over my head, and the red bow over Laura's is coincidental, but the decorated Christmas tree to the right of podium is not!  And yes, it's mid-July!

A mouse jumped put of that podium and scurried away just minutes before Laura was to speak. No one even thought twice about the incident. 

The guy to my left is Jerry, he doesn't look it here, but he was screaming excited to see me.  He used to be a good friend of mine. When we were in high school he drove a huge WAPCO truck for the Swedish mining company, LAMCO.  His truck no. was 588.  When we would go camping in the Nimba mountains we used to sneak into the iron ore mine at night and wait until we saw his truck and would run out to flag him down. It was an absolute unexpected miracle and thrill to find him at Ben Tomah's church.

Wapco truck.

Bessie and Cozz washing up before lunch at Ben's daughter Leah's house.

Leah had lunch ready and on the table when church was let out (after 2 1/2 hours).

One of my favorite Liberian dishes, Jollif Rice with chicken meat.

Lisa still lives at ENI

Paul's older sister Lisa was a big influence in his life.  She is eight years older than the twins and Paul naturally adored ..... and feared her.  According to Paul she considered it her job to make sure the boys "treated girls right".  Lisa helped raise her younger siblings and was with the family when they moved to Liberia.  Lisa would help his mother run a "back door" clinic off their back porch.  He remembers her cleaning infected wounds and then running to a bucket to vomit -- the stench was horrible -- but would always return to help her mother finish.  

Lisa loved animals and is pictured here with one of the family chimps, Tarzan!

After 37 years and a civil war there are not many people left that remember the Chinchens under the age of 50 at the mission and neighboring village. We did meet the mayor of Plandabalabo that was also in the cub scouts with Paul.  His name is Junior.  Robert Chaie is still around and is now the clan chief for the area.  He used to help Paul's mother in the kitchen.  Imagine our surprise as Robert walked us through the village and stopped at his daughters hut.  Her name was Lisa!  I looked at Paul and he looked at me.  Robert laughed as he said, "I named her after your sister.  She was born in 1976". We didn't have Lisa there to share our excitement but we did have her look alike - our daughter Annabelle.  Lisa (the Liberian) gave her a big hug and we promised to share the picture with the first Lisa.  There is no greater honor in Africa then to have a child "named" for you.  Lisa still lives at ENI.

Paradise.... I never thought I would call Liberia this!

What could be better than an empty beach, car tire tubes, sunshine and the green Atlantic ocean?

We made it back to the capital city of Monrovia!  We are so thankful for the ABC guest house located on the beach at ELWA where the mission receives teams and missionaries that fly in and out from the international airport 45 minutes away. 

After being "up country" at Yekepa and in the "bush" at ENI this is paradise!  We are enjoying the beach and exploring the city.  Paul is also showing us some of his favorite sites and telling stories about his high school days at the U.S. Embassy High School, ACS (American Cooperative School).

Annabelle, Ashley and Cozz enjoying the sunshine.

The waves are big and rough. Body surfing is out of the question. You just get slammed into the sand.

We figure that there are about 200 waves an hour, and Vanndel gets knocked down  by every single one.  He was totally exhausted tonight.

Life in Africa does have its good and surprising blessings!

Coal Iron

The ABC guest house in Monrovia has generator power supplied 24 hours a day curtesy of SIM & Samaritans Purse.  It's awesome after being in Yekepa where we only had power 9 hours a day, and ENI where we had two light bulbs from 7 to 10 p.m. 

The only restrictions are that we do not have electric dryers - ABC rules to keep cost and consumption down.  We have to line dry our wash. The other is no electric irons.  We use an antique coal iron, which the people here still use in almost every home.  You literally take hot coals and place them inside the iron. The only way to increase the temperature is to wave the iron back and forth to fan the coals and keep the coals glowing hot. 

Mrs Sallor keeps the guest house clean and welcomes guests when they arrive.  Sara's husband, Marcy, is an ABC graduate, and both of her daughters, Rita and Nikki, attended and graduated from our ABC campus in Malawi when our Liberia campus was closed during the war.

An old-school coal iron. The top flips open to put in hot coals.