Another Fascinating Week

You can never predict how your week is going to go while living here in Liberia. Granted, many of you can probably say the same about life in Canada, but yet, there is something particularly unpredictable about living in a developing country. While I have a calendar on my wall that highlights some of the places that I want to visit in a month, or the key tasks that I need to accomplish, I'm always amazed when I look back on a week and see how drastically that has changed, and in the end how amazing it is that is all worked out for the better.

Take this last week as an example. It began last Saturday, with a scheduled "First Aid" workshop that was to take place at the office. I arrived at the schedule time to start, because as is the case with almost all meetings in Liberia, the scheduled time and time it starts is a minimum of 30 minutes difference. I was not shocked when I discovered that two people had arrived, but I was a bit concerned that our guest presenter had not yet shown her face. After tracking down a phone number, and now 20 minutes after start time, I was able to learn that in fact she would not be coming at all. Rather than get totally discouraged, the hidden blessing came in being able to work with our Special Projects Team in delivering school supplies. I was able to spend the afternoon with over 100 kids, snotty nosed, raggidly clothed, and deeply in need. The "I'm blessed to experience this moment" came as 12 small children gathered around a table, and started chanting together, "MANPOWER...MANPOWER...MANPOWER", and carried this table a hundred feet or so into the school. After finishing one task, they quickly moved on to the other and in the end had moved at least a half of dozen pieces of furniture into the building.

There were many other things that happened this week that from the outset looked like disaster or discouraging things, but none stands out as much as the event on Friday. I drove up to visit one of our project sites on Friday, after having learned of staff conflict. You know me and my desire to deal with conflict, it stands out as one of my least favourite things to do, following closely with my desire and ability to make decisive decisions. So, you know that I was not in the best of spaces as I left Monrovia. Anyways, I arrived, and was to have a brief meeting with the staff before having a community meeting. Moments after arriving in the village, I was barreling down a dirt road to pick up "Frank the Father" and a midwife so that we could get them to a VERY pregnant lady about to deliver her baby. Within 15 minutes of arriving at the expectant mother's house with all people in hand, we heard the cries of a newborn baby, and within a half an hour I was holding a beautiful newborn in my arms.

So again, it has been another memorable week and in that fact a memorable month. As I look into September, I realize all that has to be done in the next two and half months before the end of internship, before we hopefully get funding for a new HIV/AIDS education program, before we hopefully expand our Adult Literacy classes, before we host 20 coaches from the UK for a 10 day soccer camp throughout the country, that I could get overwhelmed by it all. (And that of course is without considering all of those unpredictable things that will come up!!!) So instead, I have resolved myself to the fact that yes, the month will be busy, but more than that, I look forward to it with anticipation as I know that there are many more unpredictable moments that will turn into, "I can't believe I get to experience this" moments.