Monday, June 09, 2008

Villages

Weather: After heavy rains last week, we enjoyed a weekend of no precipitation and clear air. Hot and partly cloudy in the daytime, evenings are clear with spectacular night time skies the last couple nights-- looks like night in upper Michigan with the band of the Milky Way clearly visible. This only happens a few nights of the year, so I'm taking it in.

Renita has left me again, this time gone to Cape Mount up near the border with Sierra Leone. She'll be conducting a two day small business management workshop. Me, I'm spending time visiting some local organizations as we continue to discuss future things, and preparing the final exam for the Conflict and Peacebuilding course I'm teaching. Mostly though, I'm missing Renita, and of course Hannah and Noah, who are whooping it up all over the Great Lakes region of North America. Sigh. Tonight, I'll enjoy some fish and rice with Trokon and Eastman, spray the yard for fire ants, and maybe watch "King Kong" with them on dvd. Feel free to drop in. In the meantime, enjoy these shots I took recently of life in various Liberia villages. Coupled with last week's post, it'll help round out a bit of life in much of Liberia-- and the entire region of West Africa.

More of the same-- bumpy and dusty in the dry season, bumpy and slippery-- or impassable-- in the wet season.

Ahh-- I see they fixed that bridge!

Koon Town-- a palaver hut. A community place to gather.

... and the ubiquitous cooking hut. My favorite place in the village.

Looking along the front step of a house-- another palaver hut in the back.

In Kainga Town, a house given some color. When I asked they lady who lives here what they were, she looked at me like I was from Mars and replied, "Dey flowers."

The Center of Gbaye's Town.


The quintessential shade tree.