The Trapani's in Liberia

We completed and enclosed our first project. It is a health center that does medical services including delivering babies. This is a picture of the closing ceremony they organized. We opened and closed with prayer. We sang hymns and the speakers expressed their thanks to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints charities for the improvements.  Since Cheryl and I are the only members of the charity they will ever see we receive all the thanks. We feel humbled and uncomfortable in that position. Some of the things we did for them were repairing their benches for the waiting areas. We put in an all new electrical system and all new light fixtures. We installed a new roof and new ceiling panels. And we painted the interior and exterior of the building. The roof leaks so bad that it used to get the mothers in delivery wet during a rainstorm. We installed new toilets and sinks inside of the several restrooms. We refurbish the drainage system so that water would not accumulate arou...

As we were driving home from church through the Firestone rubber Plantation our car sunk in the mud. We were stuck. Some men from the town saw us and about 10 of them walk down the road and wanted to help get us out. After they tried pushing it became apparent that digging and lifting would be involved. After over 2 hours of digging, putting rocks and Boards under the tires, and jacking the car up to get the tires higher we finally got out. This is the group that helped us. They demanded compensation. Luckily the man who's in charge of the church fleet vehicles negotiated with them over the phone so I did not have to handle it. I'm not quite sure how much he gave them but it was probably around $50. Actually that wasn't too bad for all these guys working for over 2 hours. Some of them had quite a bit of mud on them before this picture. We are making progress at a project for Gloria children's home. It is a home for Orphans and abandoned children. This is the new kitchen...

 Our project at JFK hospital has begun. Here they are putting in a new ceiling and walls in the natal Intensive Care Unit. We went out and checked on a past project where members of the church were given Coco and pineapple plants in order to raise cash crops. This is a picture of a cocoa pod which eventually is made into chocolate. It takes the trees about 3 years to bare fruit. They have to be started in an area with partial shade and then once the cocoa trees grow up you cut down the shading trees Here is a pineapple field. It has just been harvested. The big challenge here is keeping the weeds and vegetation low. This field has just been cleaned. Both of these projects were moderately successful. The challenge is fertilizer. It is really expensive here. Natural fertilizer from cow and horse droppings is not very abundant because there aren't very many larger animals here. We kept picking up passengers as we visited the different farms. I think we had eight people in the cab and ...

We will try almost any new restaurant that opens up as long as it's not Liberian food. This restaurant was for Turkish food. This is the owner and the chef. He does not speak english.  We ordered the pita mix for $14. Part of it was cheese, part egg, part lamb and part beef. It was delicious. On the way home from church today a member took us to a refuge home. They take in abandoned children, children who parents cannot support them and some mentally handicapped adults. They have about 20 children and 10 adults. This is where they sleep. The floor is dirt. They spread out those foam mattresses to cover the entire floor and then sleep on them. They have no bathroom or running water. Sad sad sad. Here's a close-up of one of the sleeping spaces. The problem with this whole organization is that they have no funding. They rely on donations for food. Donations in Liberia are pretty modest. Here is the couple that run all this. They manage all 30 people that stay here with no other he...

This is another of the handful of government-run hospitals that service the entire country. This is the operating room. The picture is of the operating table lights turned fully on. They have asked us to provide new ones that work. This is one of the above average hospital beds. None of them have any bedding because they don't have any and the washer and dryer are broken.  We will be getting them a new washer and dryer.  This is a picture of the autoclave that doesn't work all the time. As you can see they had a fire in it. The problem is the government doesn't have any money to give them for new equipment. They accept patients here free of charge. They just make do with what they have and each year the quality of care deteriorates. They are prioritizing the equipment they need the most and we will try and purchase it for them. We only have about $100,000 to spend on them but in this case it will make a huge difference. I do not want to get sick here. I think the policy for...