Banking and car repair

As dangerous as this looks it's actually worse. These motorcycles will dart in and out of traffic and often go on the wrong side of the road.  This is not an uncommon photo.

 This is Brother Jensen. He asked if he could get a ride with us as we went home from church.  We asked him about his family. He has two sons and one daughter who are still alive. Two of his other children died in the civil war.  One of his remaining sons was so changed by the war that all he could say was that now he is a bad person.  The Civil War ended in 2003.  People don't talk about the Civil War much. It may be because they are so consumed with their current needs of finding food and employment.

We had another get together dinner for Cinco de Mayo, with all the senior couples and the mission president and his wife. They are an amazing group of people. I want to be like them.

The paperwork is trying. We do project proposals, funding proposals, contracts, budgets, PowerPoint presentations and expense accounts. Luckily we have two computers.  Cheryl has become really good at the contracts.

The banking system here is so slow. In order to get money out of our own checking account first we have to email the person assigned to our account. Then at the appointed time we show up at the bank and the bank teller has us sign the check on the top in addition to signing it on the signature line. We need to bring copies of our check and our identification documents. After that we go to a second waiting area and wait for the Banker assigned to our account. She looks at our check and does some things on the computer. Then she has one of the runners assigned to her bring the check somewhere else in the bank and get authorizations. Then the check comes back and she sends it out for more authorizations. And then after 1 hour we leave the bank with our cash. Then to leave the parking lot the security guard has to call the person who was parked behind us and get them to leave so we can back out.

Our tire had a slow leak. We brought it to a tire repair business. The worker sprays soapy water on the tire and where the bubbles come out he puts a plug in. The hole we had was more complicated and it required removing the tire and putting a patch on the inside. The entire process cost $10.  After 3 days our tires still holds air.

We returned to one of the schools we are trying to repair to get more contractor bids. This is the cafeteria lunch line. At this school you have to pay for your lunch. A week's worth of lunches cost $0.60 or 100 Liberian dollars. We saw a little boy be refused lunch because he did not have a lunch ticket. Many kids don't get lunch because their parents can't afford it.  I wish I could pay for everyone who went hungry that day. I bet I could have done it for $5. Next time I am there I'm going to make arrangements to do that.