We are ready for day two of training - Here I am ringing the old school bell to call the teachers to "class".
One of the activities during our Language Arts session was puppet-making. The teachers really enjoyed it. Here you see Ms. Curtis with a big smile on her face - she is always smiling!
My group of puppet makers in the back was much more serious about their work.
A lot of you have been asking me about the food here. Ms. Valerie, the home economics teacher, has been preparing lunch for all of us each day. Thurdsay we had potato greens over rice (everything is served over rice here!). Liberian potato greens are the greens from sweet potato plants. They are cooked with palm oil, peppers, cassava or butternose fish, and chicken. We had a special treat on Thursday - Liberian donuts! Ms. Valerie and her helpers are excellent cooks and very serious about teaching nutrition and proper food perparation. Some of her past students are now running the UN canteen in Monrovia. To do this, they took tests with hundreds of other Liberians and got the highest scores on nutrition and food preparation.
Brenda is pictured here with the new friends Mom made at the water pump. From left to right, they are Salle, Jebbah, and Amelia. Amelia is a 5th grader at Lott Carey. Salle is the water carrier Mom mentioned in a previous post.
Amelia took to the camera very quickly and took quite a bit of video and pictures of her cousins and friends. Here is little Jebbah with her friend's football.
More friends.
Prince Gardner is the son of one of our participants. His mother, Ms. Gardner is a 4th grade teacher at Lott Carey. Prince is a kindergarten student at a neighboring school.
Amelia handed the camera over to Mom so she could take a picture of the whole group.
Later that afternoon, we sat in the backyard to enjoy the refreshing breeze and relax a bit after training. Richman has been taking excellent care of us, keeping our water buckets filled and our laundry clean. He also introduced us to coosa (pictured here). We know this as cashew. The red fleshy part is the fruit that you can eat. The nut is at the top, and after it has been dried in the sun, it's an edible cashew nut. Personally, I was not a fan of the fruit but my nut is drying so I'll get back to you on that part.
okay, tell us about bathing? no running water I assume? how about hot water? I actually miss the refreshing cold showers/cold bucket baths at night. No way I'd do here in the USA, but I remember how wonderful it felt to take a cold bath before bed in Liberia! all that sweat and sand was NOT going in my bed!
ReplyDeleteYes, you are absolutely right - cold bucket showers are wonderful in Liberia! We are lucky that Richman keeps our big water bucket in the bathroom full of water. We have a gas stove in the kitchen where Mom and Phylis heat water sometimes, but I love to just pour the cold water over me and watch the dirt go down the drain! It is quite refreshing.
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