Monday, August 18, 2008

Me Back in Liberia, Bob Still in Nigeria

As you know we arrived in Jos, Nigeria on the 9th of August. Unfortunately, the internet did not allow us to upload photos, but we had a great week in a very pleasant city. Compared to Monrovia, which is slightly larger than Jos, life appears much more organized and the streets appear much cleaner. Because it sits on the Jos plateau, the temperatures are cool and even though it is in the rainy season, there are comfortably dry days.

Our primary purpose for being there was to learn about the work being done in Nigeria and share with our friends there what we are doing in Liberia, with a view toward considering whether Nigeria might figure into our next steps. We were treated exceptionally well by David Tyokighir and John & Esther Orkar.

I needed to return to Liberia early in order to meet a guest from Grand Rapids, Robert Shane, who arrived to work with LEAD on its books. Bob remains in Nigeria for an additional week to attend a conference, eat pounded yams, and take more pictures.

Here are some of the pictures that we have so far.

Landing in Lagos, a small slice of a city of 16 million.
Driving was basically like driving in a giant city anywhere.

Landing in Jos - see any difference?
The road into Jos was lovely.


The area is like Michigan with mountains.
CRWRC Headquarters, Jos, Nigeria.
Bob and I had a week filled with meetings.
We visited the local highschool; here is Beadie preparing lunch for the kids. She is frying potatoes on the left and small donut-type morsels on the right.
A shot of the city.

A couple of views of the scenery on the outskirts of Jos. The entire area was very rocky...

...and moo-ey.