Drop the mic, shit is going down in Gbartala. Friday I went to school like any other day. The plan was to teach and leave straight from Gbartala to Suakoko to meet Rachel in the market by 12:30. I taught my classes and even had a whopping 3 students in each grade (really showing up for 5th period). We finished early so I decided I would go home first and get a car from my house to Suakoko. While I was teaching I could see our VPA creeping in on my class, although I thought it was strange I decided that he was most likely waiting for his turn to teach, so I dismissed it. Well shit was I wrong! I finished teaching, was walking off campus when he came up to me and asked when I was last home. Strange question but, I told him I left this morning at 7:30am and hadn’t been home since, he told me something happened at the house. My first thought was someone broke in, which would be strange to do in the light of day, but I mean, that was my first thought. He then said he got a call from his friend saying that there were bricks stacked in front of my doors. He said that he didn’t want to jump to conclusions until he could see it for himself, so we walked to my house with two of my female students to check it all out. I had plenty thoughts crossing my mind, ranging from this is a joke, to this is something my landlord did. We see the house from the top of the hill and I don’t see anything on or around the house, which made me feel slightly better…the slight relief I felt was short lived.
Upon reaching the house I see that the back-iron door had two massive locks on it and the front door had 30 bricks stacked against it. I instantly knew this was not a joke and was something the landlord did. The first thought I had was oh FU**, followed by... all my shit is inside, this dude still has a copy of my key, I have no idea if he entered the house, and now all my shit is locked inside. My VPA went into instant action, he called the PTA head to inform him what happened and while he did that I took pictures to send to Becky and Ernlee. Ernlee (and VPA) informed me that the principle and the DEO was coming to assess the situation. My VPA also informed the commissioner and town chief of the situation and they were coming to assess as well. To get everyone to the house took about 2 hours.
While waiting outside we drew quite the crowd (as you can assume) and before we knew it I had students/ community members surrounding the house talking about what was happening. I want to say that this made me feel good, being surrounded by people who were appalled at the situation, talking about how upset it made them, and how wrong the landlord was for doing it, should have made me feel better. What it actually did was cause me massive stress. This shit was beyond embarrassing/stressful and to have everyone staring at me only added to that. What I was thinking (that no one else was) was this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back and PC would move my house after this (nothing had been officially decided yet). This is technically the correct next step, being this isn’t the first issue we have had with this guy and this current action was a very bold way of telling me he didn’t want me in the house any longer, but that doesn’t mean the idea of moving houses wasn’t traumatic to me. Traumatic might seem dramatic, but I have spent the last 10 months making my house and community feel like home, now because of this shit I knew I was going to be taken from this community and placed into a different one. Between the commotion of everything I cried twice, not my shining moment, I walked away from the crowd when I did, not that everyone didn’t know. I got lots of comments like please don’t be sad, please don’t cry, and Surprise told me I looked like young baby when I cry ha-ha.
In-between all the chaos I got a call from Becky telling me that Zayzay was in Kataka and was going to come pick me up to take me to Monrovia for a few days while they figure everything out. I told my VPA and the crowd around me what she said and that I needed to go pack a bag, my students were instantly worried. They pulled me aside and asked me if I would be returning to Gbartala, I told them I wasn’t entirely sure, but felt confident once this got settled I would return. They kept saying I was the only reason they went to school, that if I wasn’t there then they would boycott (with attendance lately felt like that was already happening ha-ha). Zayzay arrived and went around the corner to chat with all the Gbartala officials/administration. While they did that I went inside with my porch boys to pack my things. I finished packing, said goodbye to everyone, got into the PC car and drove away.
The tension outside must have been intense, Zayzay told me my students/admin were all freaking out thinking I wouldn’t be coming back to Gbartala and that my students were crying because they didn’t think I would return. Zayzay assured everyone that there had been no decisions made and that they would be posted. My administration and community officials knew I needed a new house, they told me that there was a house they initially wanted but decided against it because they thought it was too big. After talking to Zayzay they decided to show him the potential new house, apparently this new house is by the school and has its own palava hut. That palava hut was exciting news, Zayzay kept talking about it as if it was the selling point of the entire house ha-ha. He took pictures of the hut and the house and showed them to me in the car. The volunteers have a running joke that the only houses PC puts us in are green and this new house is the PC green that we all know and love.
I arrived in Monrovia on Friday and spent most of the weekend at the hotel moping about the fact that I’ll have to switch houses/communities. After successfully sulking, doing absolutely nothing, I went to the office Monday in attempts for socialization. There I saw Rockey (another LR7 volunteer) and a group of LR6’es. The rest of the week has been boring, I’ve gone to the office every day, done some computer work, chilled with some of the volunteers, and just sort of sat around. I told Becky I didn’t really have much to do so she put me to work helping laminate LRL’s for the incoming group, boy is that a boring job. Thankfully (using that loosely ha) it’s perfect for Netflix and laminating ha-ha. The highlight of the week has been all the Netflix shows I’ve been able to watch for sureeee. My counterpart called me the other day and said they were trying to get the iron doors on the new house. That’s basically all the information I have on the situation. Yesterday (Wednesday 16th) a team of PC went to my site to assess the situation, I’m still waiting to hear back on how all of that went.
Upon reaching the house I see that the back-iron door had two massive locks on it and the front door had 30 bricks stacked against it. I instantly knew this was not a joke and was something the landlord did. The first thought I had was oh FU**, followed by... all my shit is inside, this dude still has a copy of my key, I have no idea if he entered the house, and now all my shit is locked inside. My VPA went into instant action, he called the PTA head to inform him what happened and while he did that I took pictures to send to Becky and Ernlee. Ernlee (and VPA) informed me that the principle and the DEO was coming to assess the situation. My VPA also informed the commissioner and town chief of the situation and they were coming to assess as well. To get everyone to the house took about 2 hours.
While waiting outside we drew quite the crowd (as you can assume) and before we knew it I had students/ community members surrounding the house talking about what was happening. I want to say that this made me feel good, being surrounded by people who were appalled at the situation, talking about how upset it made them, and how wrong the landlord was for doing it, should have made me feel better. What it actually did was cause me massive stress. This shit was beyond embarrassing/stressful and to have everyone staring at me only added to that. What I was thinking (that no one else was) was this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back and PC would move my house after this (nothing had been officially decided yet). This is technically the correct next step, being this isn’t the first issue we have had with this guy and this current action was a very bold way of telling me he didn’t want me in the house any longer, but that doesn’t mean the idea of moving houses wasn’t traumatic to me. Traumatic might seem dramatic, but I have spent the last 10 months making my house and community feel like home, now because of this shit I knew I was going to be taken from this community and placed into a different one. Between the commotion of everything I cried twice, not my shining moment, I walked away from the crowd when I did, not that everyone didn’t know. I got lots of comments like please don’t be sad, please don’t cry, and Surprise told me I looked like young baby when I cry ha-ha.
In-between all the chaos I got a call from Becky telling me that Zayzay was in Kataka and was going to come pick me up to take me to Monrovia for a few days while they figure everything out. I told my VPA and the crowd around me what she said and that I needed to go pack a bag, my students were instantly worried. They pulled me aside and asked me if I would be returning to Gbartala, I told them I wasn’t entirely sure, but felt confident once this got settled I would return. They kept saying I was the only reason they went to school, that if I wasn’t there then they would boycott (with attendance lately felt like that was already happening ha-ha). Zayzay arrived and went around the corner to chat with all the Gbartala officials/administration. While they did that I went inside with my porch boys to pack my things. I finished packing, said goodbye to everyone, got into the PC car and drove away.
The tension outside must have been intense, Zayzay told me my students/admin were all freaking out thinking I wouldn’t be coming back to Gbartala and that my students were crying because they didn’t think I would return. Zayzay assured everyone that there had been no decisions made and that they would be posted. My administration and community officials knew I needed a new house, they told me that there was a house they initially wanted but decided against it because they thought it was too big. After talking to Zayzay they decided to show him the potential new house, apparently this new house is by the school and has its own palava hut. That palava hut was exciting news, Zayzay kept talking about it as if it was the selling point of the entire house ha-ha. He took pictures of the hut and the house and showed them to me in the car. The volunteers have a running joke that the only houses PC puts us in are green and this new house is the PC green that we all know and love.
I arrived in Monrovia on Friday and spent most of the weekend at the hotel moping about the fact that I’ll have to switch houses/communities. After successfully sulking, doing absolutely nothing, I went to the office Monday in attempts for socialization. There I saw Rockey (another LR7 volunteer) and a group of LR6’es. The rest of the week has been boring, I’ve gone to the office every day, done some computer work, chilled with some of the volunteers, and just sort of sat around. I told Becky I didn’t really have much to do so she put me to work helping laminate LRL’s for the incoming group, boy is that a boring job. Thankfully (using that loosely ha) it’s perfect for Netflix and laminating ha-ha. The highlight of the week has been all the Netflix shows I’ve been able to watch for sureeee. My counterpart called me the other day and said they were trying to get the iron doors on the new house. That’s basically all the information I have on the situation. Yesterday (Wednesday 16th) a team of PC went to my site to assess the situation, I’m still waiting to hear back on how all of that went.