and the anchor holds

and the anchor holds

Another Interesting Day in Liberia

I wrote this letter back in May 2006. I thought it would be interesting to put in this blog.

I went shopping today with Wanda for building materials for one of the schools we are working with. On the way out, past the first gate to get out on the main road, I saw a man walking towards our ship carrying a child. The child was maybe five years old. He must be very ill and the father was bringing him to see our doctors, I thought, as we made our way into the morning traffic. It is a good mile walk to the ship from the main road. At the store I discovered that I forgot my money, ( not a good thing in an all cash society). So we made our way back to the Anastasis. Going past the first gate towards the ship again I see the father with the chld, but this time he is running away from the ship and the child was limp in the fathers arms. I noticed a very swollen belly on the child. I am sure the child died in his fathers arms. If I could have taken a picture of that very moment, the look of despair on the fathers face it would have made the cover of News Week.
Wanda and I continued our shopping by making a stop at the lumber yard, located in the middle of the gerenal market. A very busy place with heavy traffic. We inched our car along until we were almost at the lumber yard turn in, when we saw a large crowd standing in a semi circle near the street. People were staring down at a man that was beaten to death. He layed there with a piece of cardboard covering the lower half of his body. Sometimes the body will lay for days before someone picks it up. Where does it go in a country that has no electric? I do not know. Bodies are often time not claimed because there is a burial expense for the family.
Today I thought I was 'just' going to the store. This is a non thinking event for me, I like to shop. But 'today' God showed me Liberia through the eyes of an Liberian. I saw death, a dead child, a broken father, a man laying in the dirt from a violent death. I saw hopeless, decay, crowded unsanitary conditions. I saw saddness, heartache, struggles that of the world poorest of the poor. Today was not a day to be forgotten by me. Everyday happenings? Maybe.....for Liberia