lots of rice...

So I am on to week number two now, I arrived here in Gbarnga (for those of you that are like me and don't speak any Pele, the local language other than English, the town is pronounced Ban-ga) a week ago tonight, about this time actually. I didn't know what year it was let alone where I was at... I guess I am doing slightly better now, so let me tell you what I have been up to.

So on Sunday i got to go to these amazing waterfalls a couple hours drive away. it is only accessible down an old road that was used before the war for a huge rice farm that the chinese ran and a big rubber plantation. The road is now in disrepair and looks like it took a few mortar shots itself. Lets just say that my old Geo Prizm would not have made it there... in fact i think my Ge0 Prizm would have sunk up past the roof in some of those holes we were in. They doubled as local swimming holes for the kids. The waterfalls were great though and ridiculously beautiful. If i ever figure out how to post pictures on here I will do that as well but for now you will have to look at them on facebook those of you that have face book.

So on the way back we stopped and picked up three little kids that were from about 11-8 years old. They were walking from their village to the town about 10-15 miles away where they study. They were leaving on Sunday to get there and spend the night so that they could stay there all week for school and then come back home ont he weekend... wow did i feel like an Ass when i remembered my mom having to come to the school and personally talk to each one of my teachers to make sure i turned in my assignments and how much I whined to get out of school. these kids are barely accountable and they are walking miles to go to school. I am a loser. oh well... Matt is humbled by the developing world yet again, what else is new. Still though, there has to be an easier way. There has to be something that can be done so that these kids dont have to do this.

I was thinking the other day on the world and how much wealth there is in it. How do we in the states come home to two car garages and vacation homes and think that we in anyway earned that by our hard work? We think they are blessings from God and maybe they are but does God really want the wealth of the world to be so poorly distributed. That some of us because we were born into one country get ridiculous wealth and other people because they had the misfortune of being born on the other side of an arbitrary line written in the sand will be stuck with dire poverty their whole lives. I don't think thats G0d's will at all. God made us stewards over this earth and we have done a horrible horrible job with it.

Anyway, so i essentially literally cornered the guy that is in charge of the Conflict Resolution program here ( he is about a third of my size hence the "literally cornered him", he had no where to run from the white bear, which reminds me... I told them the story about how the Indian chief in Colombia gave me the name White Bear and they love it and use it now) and am now anxiously engaged in the good cause of helping the Mandingo and the Lorma to stop hating each other. I will tell you all more about this later, but i have spent a good portion of the last three days reading up on the conflict and the sides of the narrative and what not. Its really quite fascinating but oh so very deep and complex and the list of grievances on both sides is about as long as my arm. Ill be going to help run a workshop between a few communities in about a week which should be fun. I will be gone for a week but will be sure to have plenty to tell you when i get back. It has just started to rain like crazy which means that this post will not get up tonight so i am going to hope that the rain stops soon and maybe i can post it... oh well...

So today i went for a walk after work. I got about a mile or so away from the compound and I turn around and there are two boys that live at the compound that are chasing after me to make sure that I am ok. I had to laugh. Here come these two scrawny little kids running after me, giant huge Matt to make sure that I am ok and to make sure that nothing happens to me. the entire walk people came running to the road to meet me. Little kids screamed from there houses "white man" "white man" and I of course yelled back the only culturally appropriate thing I could think of "black kids" "black kids." The people here are so kind hearted and giving, it is remarkable. I mean I thought that the Latinos had it down to a science but I think that the Liberians may just have them beat. It is truly remarkable to see people living in the most dire of circumstances and just how happy they can be. I mean I know that they have their problems and what not and maybe happy isnt the word maybe its momentary cheerfulness but I walked down a road of a million smiles today and waved so much that I thought my arm might fall off. Every new house we had to stop and meet more people who i am sure will remember me the next time i pass by, I just wish I could keepthem all straight.

Most of them left Liberia during the war but there are a lot of people here in Gbarnga that were still here for the fighting and many more that participated in the fighting which brings me to another thought I have been mulling over... how the hell did they decend to that? these are truly the most kind and wonderful people I know but this country has seen the most brutal violence I could ever imagine. How did that happen and if it happened here with them then how much faster could it happen any other place with lesser people. I mean i know that if you want to get philisophical you could go aristotilian on it and talk about the "Ring of Gyges" or you could look at "lord of the flies" or "heart of darkness" but when i think of what happened on the road that I walked down tonight just a few years ago it is unfathomable...

So yeah those are my thoughts for now, hopefully you found something in there worth while. If not, whooooops... ill try harder next time to be your dancing monkey.