My second official weekend was a mix between enjoyable and overstimulated. I think this weekend was the first time since I’ve been here where I felt at times overwhelmed.
Friday was a typical school day- I was up at 5:30 to sweep, showered, eat and walk to school. I was in school until 5pm and went to Kems to grab a beer and play trivia (My team won) our team name was The Mighty Ducks and consisted of- Me, Zach, Chris, Melissa, Gabe, Mike, and Joey. I got home chatted with Princess while I ate dinner, took my bath and went to bed- In all Friday was an enjoyable day.
Saturday was my overstimulated day. I woke up at 6am said good morning to everyone and swept the house. After sweeping I went to the kitchen (outdoor kitchen where they have the coal pot) and was “helping” Auntie Maya (basically watching her do things). Before I tell this next part, I will start with my family has 4 pets (might have said this in a previous blog) we have 3 dogs- Jess, Good Boy and Good Girl and 1 cat- Bush. Good boy and Jess are brothers and Good boys constantly tilts his head, as if he is confused, which is adorable. Compared to how some families treat their animals my family really goes out of their way to make sure they are all fed and safe. Resect for animals is not the same as it is in America, and you see kids hitting animals, and pulling them around all the time, the worst part for me being an animal crying is a very distinctive noise that you can hear from far away. There are people here who eat dogs/cats, much like other parts of the world, not that my family does, but it happens. Okay, anyway, down the stairs I see my little brother Jo and Eman (not sure how/if Eman is related) pulling Good Boy, and my first thought was, Oh they are going to give him a bath. Why that was my first thought is beyond me… I think its because Jo told me that sometimes Uncle D bathes the dogs? Good boy is really protesting being pulled by the leash, so I peer over along with Auntie Maya, she yells down at the boys to find a better way because they are causing him stress. A second later I see Jo holding his front paws and Eman holding his back paws (as if he is a pig roast), and they start walking away from the house. Now, I’m thinking okay, good, the dog isn’t crying, and doesn’t look stressed, so I’ve accepted the situation and ask Auntie Maya where the boys are taking him.
She starts with backstory (I can tell it’s bad already) she tells me that a bit ago there were poachers who would hide in the bushes, and hunt the animals in the area, one night they didn’t call the animals inside to sleep, and the poachers waited until everyone was sleeping, and tried to kill the dogs to eat them. Everyone heard the noise inside and ran outside to stop them, which was successful, but Good Boy got hit in the neck with a log, and that is why he constantly has a tilted head. She told me that he had not been the same since he got hit, and they have tried treating him, but yesterday he didn’t eat or drink any of his water and that they had to carry him away. Meaning, the innocent carrying away for a bath that I thought I was witnessing was his death march. Now I’m not sure if the boys did it themselves (pretty sure they didn’t) or if they gave him to the butcher/a neighbor to eat. Once Auntie Maya finished the story I moved my body so that I could not see the transaction happening in the distance. That entire situation shook me, and although I understand that there is literally one vet in all of Liberia, and that my family is very good to the animals, I just kept replaying the boys carry the poor dog away, and thinking about the methods in which he was most likely put him down. To say it was a long morning is an understatement, and I felt like I was in a slight funk after. I just wanted to get my tasks done/ not be bothered too much, so I could take time later to process and move on from that experience.
I get ready to walk into town to meet Princess because I need to try on my naming ceremony dress (Peace Corps event on Sunday). As I walk to town/ as a peace corps volunteer as we walk anywhere, I get called from all locations. The calls range from- hey peace corps, china woman, white woman, hey, and a miserable puckering noise. If you’re not specifically called out by one of the above your still expected to say hello or good morning to most everyone you pass. The reason for this being better integration to your community. More people who know or see you the more people will look out for you. About ¼ of the way left to meet Princess at the supermarket I see a mob of people coming. From where I am it looks to be a parade which was cool (in the beginning), I see uniforms, what looks like dancers/cheerleaders, and a band. This draws quite a crowd, so I have moved onto the side street away from all the people (just in case something is to break out, after the mini parade is finished I see car loads of guys/students, which is fine at first but they get increasingly rowdy as the car loads go on. The last few are shouting “Hey ah I want to fuck your daddy” ... which I thought was surprisingly not clever and lucky me I got a couple guys pointing to me/staring and shouting it as if they were specifically saying it to me... to which I thought…you could try but Alan would most likely ninja chop you. So that was…. Special? I later asked what the commotion was and I guess one or more (still unclear) of the schools were out so it was a sort of pep-rally? After all the commotion, I get to the supermarket and wait for Princess for about 30 min, and we head to the tailor to try on my dress. I was so excited to head home finally, but Princess had every errand and then some to run before we went home. As time passes my patience starts to run a little low until finally we can start our 2-mile hike home. We get home and I eat lunch which is very surprisingly rice and soup (which I’ve had consistently for 2 meals a day since I’ve been here). I finish lunch and would normally do my wash, but it is raining heavily so we clean up until the graduation parties start.
Saturday there were 3 kindergarten parties in our area. One of which was my PC friend Rachael’s little sisters. Graduating from Kindergarten in Liberia means your roughly 8 years old, which if you think about it means, to start school they are already roughly 3 years behind American schools, where you leave kindergarten at 5/6. Kindergarten parties here mean dancing/ DJ, Palm wine (sour white wine), Cane Juice (basically coconut/sweet vodka), and rice and soup. Unfortunately, it was downpouring so there wasn’t a lot of dancing until we PC members decided we would dance in the rain (Me, Rachael, Jenny, Emily and Tim). Once we started dancing more and more people came out to twerk it. Fun fact we heard from the rumor mill on Monday at school (from PC host siblings) that there were white Peace Corps members who danced in the rain -HA! After I got back from Rachael’s I took my bath and basically just went to bed. It had been quite the day and although it ended on a good note I was overstimulated to say the least.
Sunday, I woke up at 6am, swept the house, and was tasked to help cook, and do my laundry. I took out my wash bins, and went to the pump around 5 times to fill my them, as to be ready when it was time to do wash. I then went to the kitchen to help Auntie Maya with the cooking and while we are cooking it starts downpouring! Which leads me to two conclusions: 1. If I had waited 30 min I wouldn’t have had to haul my water to the house I could have collected rain water and 2. I better not have gone to the pump 5 times and not be able to even do wash today because of the rain! Walking to and from the pump alone is also funny to me. Most women carry water on their heads and some can even carry an additional water in their hands, while guys carry two bins in their hands only. While it’s much easier carrying water on your head, if I am alone, I am far too weak to lift the container to my head meaning I am forced to carry it “like a man” in my hands, which causes lots of people to makes comments as I walk that I’m a strong woman. In reality it’s not true - I am just too weak to lift it over my head.
It rains most of the morning so we sit around and play cards (yes, go fish) and around 12:30pm it clears up so Princess and I go out and do my wash. After wash, we clean up and eat lunch (consisting of rice and soup), and I read a little before Naming Ceremony. Naming ceremony is where our host family gives us a traditional African name. My family named me a Kpelle name Ne Ah La (not spelled right) which means desire, and something else that I can’t remember right now. After the ceremony, we get a ride home from Mr. Clemons (rents a room next door), and we get home just in time for another kindergarten party for Ahchi (not spelled right), the little boy next door. I had planned to go to this party but while I ate dinner (popcorn, sandwich and a beer), Uncle D and Cyrus (Auntie Maya son) joined me, and we started talking about the differences between America and Liberia.
Everyone here has a mentality that in America everything is perfect and we don’t have any issues. I tried to tell him that there are a lot of differences and benefits but America still has a fair amount of issues. I tried to explain homelessness, gay rights, debt, credit cards, how hard it is to find a job and women’s issues. He went on to say that Liberians do well in America because Liberians are not proud people (this is something that is said here often), and that are not too proud to do the jobs that are “below” everyone else. I tried to explain how hard it is for some to find jobs, and there are people who might think a job is “below them”, but in general there are lots of people who need/want these “below jobs”. I tried to explain how homelessness and sleeping on the street was an issue in certain areas of the US, and for both topics he just kept saying “yes, black people”. I had to explain that lack of jobs and homelessness affected everyone, even families. I touched on gay rights, which is a hard concept for them to understand- they kept repeating a woman/woman and a man/man as if I didn’t explain it correctly and how women’s rights are still an issue in America. The concept that I didn’t know my neighbors and didn’t say hello to every single person I pass genuinely shocked him as well. It was a very eye-opening conversation that made me realize that a transition to the states/ culture shock for a Liberian would be much harder than the transition/culture shock I had just made to Liberia.
Friday was a typical school day- I was up at 5:30 to sweep, showered, eat and walk to school. I was in school until 5pm and went to Kems to grab a beer and play trivia (My team won) our team name was The Mighty Ducks and consisted of- Me, Zach, Chris, Melissa, Gabe, Mike, and Joey. I got home chatted with Princess while I ate dinner, took my bath and went to bed- In all Friday was an enjoyable day.
Saturday was my overstimulated day. I woke up at 6am said good morning to everyone and swept the house. After sweeping I went to the kitchen (outdoor kitchen where they have the coal pot) and was “helping” Auntie Maya (basically watching her do things). Before I tell this next part, I will start with my family has 4 pets (might have said this in a previous blog) we have 3 dogs- Jess, Good Boy and Good Girl and 1 cat- Bush. Good boy and Jess are brothers and Good boys constantly tilts his head, as if he is confused, which is adorable. Compared to how some families treat their animals my family really goes out of their way to make sure they are all fed and safe. Resect for animals is not the same as it is in America, and you see kids hitting animals, and pulling them around all the time, the worst part for me being an animal crying is a very distinctive noise that you can hear from far away. There are people here who eat dogs/cats, much like other parts of the world, not that my family does, but it happens. Okay, anyway, down the stairs I see my little brother Jo and Eman (not sure how/if Eman is related) pulling Good Boy, and my first thought was, Oh they are going to give him a bath. Why that was my first thought is beyond me… I think its because Jo told me that sometimes Uncle D bathes the dogs? Good boy is really protesting being pulled by the leash, so I peer over along with Auntie Maya, she yells down at the boys to find a better way because they are causing him stress. A second later I see Jo holding his front paws and Eman holding his back paws (as if he is a pig roast), and they start walking away from the house. Now, I’m thinking okay, good, the dog isn’t crying, and doesn’t look stressed, so I’ve accepted the situation and ask Auntie Maya where the boys are taking him.
She starts with backstory (I can tell it’s bad already) she tells me that a bit ago there were poachers who would hide in the bushes, and hunt the animals in the area, one night they didn’t call the animals inside to sleep, and the poachers waited until everyone was sleeping, and tried to kill the dogs to eat them. Everyone heard the noise inside and ran outside to stop them, which was successful, but Good Boy got hit in the neck with a log, and that is why he constantly has a tilted head. She told me that he had not been the same since he got hit, and they have tried treating him, but yesterday he didn’t eat or drink any of his water and that they had to carry him away. Meaning, the innocent carrying away for a bath that I thought I was witnessing was his death march. Now I’m not sure if the boys did it themselves (pretty sure they didn’t) or if they gave him to the butcher/a neighbor to eat. Once Auntie Maya finished the story I moved my body so that I could not see the transaction happening in the distance. That entire situation shook me, and although I understand that there is literally one vet in all of Liberia, and that my family is very good to the animals, I just kept replaying the boys carry the poor dog away, and thinking about the methods in which he was most likely put him down. To say it was a long morning is an understatement, and I felt like I was in a slight funk after. I just wanted to get my tasks done/ not be bothered too much, so I could take time later to process and move on from that experience.
I get ready to walk into town to meet Princess because I need to try on my naming ceremony dress (Peace Corps event on Sunday). As I walk to town/ as a peace corps volunteer as we walk anywhere, I get called from all locations. The calls range from- hey peace corps, china woman, white woman, hey, and a miserable puckering noise. If you’re not specifically called out by one of the above your still expected to say hello or good morning to most everyone you pass. The reason for this being better integration to your community. More people who know or see you the more people will look out for you. About ¼ of the way left to meet Princess at the supermarket I see a mob of people coming. From where I am it looks to be a parade which was cool (in the beginning), I see uniforms, what looks like dancers/cheerleaders, and a band. This draws quite a crowd, so I have moved onto the side street away from all the people (just in case something is to break out, after the mini parade is finished I see car loads of guys/students, which is fine at first but they get increasingly rowdy as the car loads go on. The last few are shouting “Hey ah I want to fuck your daddy” ... which I thought was surprisingly not clever and lucky me I got a couple guys pointing to me/staring and shouting it as if they were specifically saying it to me... to which I thought…you could try but Alan would most likely ninja chop you. So that was…. Special? I later asked what the commotion was and I guess one or more (still unclear) of the schools were out so it was a sort of pep-rally? After all the commotion, I get to the supermarket and wait for Princess for about 30 min, and we head to the tailor to try on my dress. I was so excited to head home finally, but Princess had every errand and then some to run before we went home. As time passes my patience starts to run a little low until finally we can start our 2-mile hike home. We get home and I eat lunch which is very surprisingly rice and soup (which I’ve had consistently for 2 meals a day since I’ve been here). I finish lunch and would normally do my wash, but it is raining heavily so we clean up until the graduation parties start.
Saturday there were 3 kindergarten parties in our area. One of which was my PC friend Rachael’s little sisters. Graduating from Kindergarten in Liberia means your roughly 8 years old, which if you think about it means, to start school they are already roughly 3 years behind American schools, where you leave kindergarten at 5/6. Kindergarten parties here mean dancing/ DJ, Palm wine (sour white wine), Cane Juice (basically coconut/sweet vodka), and rice and soup. Unfortunately, it was downpouring so there wasn’t a lot of dancing until we PC members decided we would dance in the rain (Me, Rachael, Jenny, Emily and Tim). Once we started dancing more and more people came out to twerk it. Fun fact we heard from the rumor mill on Monday at school (from PC host siblings) that there were white Peace Corps members who danced in the rain -HA! After I got back from Rachael’s I took my bath and basically just went to bed. It had been quite the day and although it ended on a good note I was overstimulated to say the least.
Sunday, I woke up at 6am, swept the house, and was tasked to help cook, and do my laundry. I took out my wash bins, and went to the pump around 5 times to fill my them, as to be ready when it was time to do wash. I then went to the kitchen to help Auntie Maya with the cooking and while we are cooking it starts downpouring! Which leads me to two conclusions: 1. If I had waited 30 min I wouldn’t have had to haul my water to the house I could have collected rain water and 2. I better not have gone to the pump 5 times and not be able to even do wash today because of the rain! Walking to and from the pump alone is also funny to me. Most women carry water on their heads and some can even carry an additional water in their hands, while guys carry two bins in their hands only. While it’s much easier carrying water on your head, if I am alone, I am far too weak to lift the container to my head meaning I am forced to carry it “like a man” in my hands, which causes lots of people to makes comments as I walk that I’m a strong woman. In reality it’s not true - I am just too weak to lift it over my head.
It rains most of the morning so we sit around and play cards (yes, go fish) and around 12:30pm it clears up so Princess and I go out and do my wash. After wash, we clean up and eat lunch (consisting of rice and soup), and I read a little before Naming Ceremony. Naming ceremony is where our host family gives us a traditional African name. My family named me a Kpelle name Ne Ah La (not spelled right) which means desire, and something else that I can’t remember right now. After the ceremony, we get a ride home from Mr. Clemons (rents a room next door), and we get home just in time for another kindergarten party for Ahchi (not spelled right), the little boy next door. I had planned to go to this party but while I ate dinner (popcorn, sandwich and a beer), Uncle D and Cyrus (Auntie Maya son) joined me, and we started talking about the differences between America and Liberia.
Everyone here has a mentality that in America everything is perfect and we don’t have any issues. I tried to tell him that there are a lot of differences and benefits but America still has a fair amount of issues. I tried to explain homelessness, gay rights, debt, credit cards, how hard it is to find a job and women’s issues. He went on to say that Liberians do well in America because Liberians are not proud people (this is something that is said here often), and that are not too proud to do the jobs that are “below” everyone else. I tried to explain how hard it is for some to find jobs, and there are people who might think a job is “below them”, but in general there are lots of people who need/want these “below jobs”. I tried to explain how homelessness and sleeping on the street was an issue in certain areas of the US, and for both topics he just kept saying “yes, black people”. I had to explain that lack of jobs and homelessness affected everyone, even families. I touched on gay rights, which is a hard concept for them to understand- they kept repeating a woman/woman and a man/man as if I didn’t explain it correctly and how women’s rights are still an issue in America. The concept that I didn’t know my neighbors and didn’t say hello to every single person I pass genuinely shocked him as well. It was a very eye-opening conversation that made me realize that a transition to the states/ culture shock for a Liberian would be much harder than the transition/culture shock I had just made to Liberia.