We can now report that all FUEL Youth team members have made it home to Washington, DC, safely (Edward stayed a couple weeks longer), but we’ve got even better news… FUEL Youth has officially been granted 501c3 status from the IRS!!! Needless to say, the FUEL Youth team is absolutely thrilled with this news, as the 501c3 process has been a long and sometimes tedious one for our group of non-lawyers. We are very excited to see what the future has in store for our young nonprofit.  In the immediate future, FUEL Youth will be pulling together all of the photos, videos, information and stories from our recent trip to Liberia for an event with our friends and supporters here in the Washington DC area, so stay tuned for more information on that….

Let’s update you on our last day in Liberia!  It was definitely a bittersweet day.  We headed out to Gardnersville for one last hurrah at UCA.  When we got there, all of the kids and teachers had gathered in the auditorium.  We began to get a little suspicious of what they had planned for our last day at school.  Songs commenced, and shortly thereafter, FUEL Youth was presented with certificates of appreciation for our work at UCA.  The gifts did not stop there though!  One by one, each member of the team was gowned with Liberian outfits…bright tie-dyed orange, green, and brown fabrics made into two piece outfits- very becoming!  We’re hoping there will be an opportunity to sport our new threads in the DC area in the near future.  After being gowned in these spectacular outfits, Bendu- Eddie’s wife- presented us with yet another gorgeous outfit she had sewn for each of us.  We were incredibly touched by everyone’s love and kindness.  The kids ended the program in song, one class singing, “we hope to see you in January 2009!”  And they very well might

After the program ended, we had to start the difficult process of saying good-bye to the wonderful community of UCA and Gardnersville.  Our hearts absolutely sank as we climbed in the car and waved good-bye to our new family and friends.  We headed back to Vivien’s to pack up all of our belongings, then began the caravan to the airport.  It was getting dark by the time we got there, but we still had an hour or two to spare, so Mansour (The lovely Lebanese man Ali stayed with on her last journey to Liberia) took us on a driving tour of the Firestone rubber factory and park, which was located right next to the airport.  We then headed to the airport and did our last round of incredibly difficult good-byes to everyone.  We definitely had to wipe some tears from our eyes as we waved and headed inside, but we also were leaving with a new-found sense of inspiration and excitement of the work and plans we have ahead of us for FUEL Youth!

We couldn’t quite remember where we left off, but we think it was yesterday morning. We headed downtown to Broad Street to take care of some business, including a special pick up from Western Union from a special man, Mr. Daniel Musisi. He wrote a message with the money transfer which the Western Union agent is supposed to read, which read, “How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck would”. Disappointingly, the agent only handed us a paper with the message written on it.

We had some time to kill downtown, so we stopped by the National Museum to have a look. Liberia has a very interesting history, so if you don’t know much about it, give the Wikipedia page a read (at least). Among other things, we saw some Vai script (Vai is Eddie’s native tongue). It’s not really a written language, the script come much later than the language, and it’s not widely circulated. But people do study it at the University of Liberia. Our favorite piece at the museum was the fertility mask, for which we do not have a picture, as they were not allowed. The museum was torn up pretty badly during the civil war, so it was nice to come support it as it moves forward.

The next stop was the University of Liberia for a meeting with the Cape Mount Students University Association, which is a group of students from Grand Cape Mount County, where we are building the new school, and where Robertsport is. We were a bit delayed, because a water line in the engine kept busting, so we did a little street-side mechanical work. Once at the University, we had a meeting under a tree. There was a group of about 25+ students who welcomed us. (**It’s interesting to note that the average age of the college student is probably closer to 30 than 20). The point was really to welcome us and talk about the activities that FUEL Youth supported in Cape Mount last year, namely, the tutoring program to help students pass their high school exam. We’re really glad this meeting happened, as we learned a lot and it helped pave a positive way forward. All the Cape Mountonians had really thoughtful and insightful things to say and suggestions about how to make a tutoring program like ours work better.

After the meeting, some friends gave us a campus tour. The campus is bursting with students and energy. It has a law school and teachers college. But again, it was torn up badly during the war and is on a long road to recovery. They don’t even have a computer center for students to complete assignments, yet many professors require typed assignments, which leave students scrambling for facilities, and having to pay at Internet cafes. They NEED a computer facility for students. We hope they can make the right partnerships and the right moves to get themselves there.

We headed home next to shower and freshen up for our first evening out “on the town.” Our first stop was the Heartbreak Hotel, a fusion restaurant that serves Lebanese, Liberian, and Western food (and has AC!!) for a meeting with the man who heads up the administrative section of the Peace Corps here in Liberia. A friend of one of Sean’s friends, he was quite helpful in discussing the realities of Liberia’s development situation. Peace Corps itself withdrew all of its volunteers in 1990 when Liberia’s Civil Wars began and only just recently started placing volunteers in Liberia this past October 2008. Even still, Peace Corps has only sent 13 education focused volunteers, all of whom have previously served successful tours in Peace Corps , to help contribute to Liberia’s redevelopment. Liberia has quite a road ahead of her, though it seems like the majority of strong international development organizations like the Peace Corps are ready to step back up to the plate. And the majority of Liberians seem willing to accept the help.

Next, Kula took us to a place very near the beach in Sinkor called The Garden Cafe.  On Wednesday and Friday nights they have live bands there, so we were very anxious to hear some great Liberian music.  It was a beautiful evening, so it was perfect that the seating and music was out on the patio.  We ordered a round of Clubs (Monrovian brewed beer) and sat back and enjoyed.  So many surprises surfaced over the next few hours.  It began when three american men entered and they can really only be described as…..well, rednecks.  Incredibly unexpected.  The band started up shortly after and to our amazement, their first song was Enrique Iglasias’s “Hero.”  Songs that followed include: Red Red Wine, Sexy Thing, and other delightful surprises.  They also played some great Liberian and Ghanaian songs as well.  At one point, a song was dedicated to our table so Christine danced up to add some money to the tip jar, only to be coaxed into dancing with the lead singer.  No worries, we’ve got great pictures of this.  Later, the two back up dancers got the table (sans Sean and Vivien) up dancing.  The last and final surprise of the evening might just have been the best.  Never ever in our lives would we think we’d come across a MULLET in Liberia, but nonetheless we did.  It was exciting to be able to teach Vivien and Kula a new vocabulary word.  Mullet: noun. Business in the front. Party in the back.  They caught on quickly.  The group was pretty wiped after that, so we headed back to Vivien’s.  Vivien managed to convince Ali to check out a couple of the night clubs Liberia has to offer (as if it was that difficult), so they headed out for a little while more.

The next morning (Thursday), we visited Love International Elementary School, which was built by and is overseen by a really great couple. The wife serves as Principal to the School, while the husband serves as District Representative to Grand Cape Mount county (which encompasses Messima and Robertsport where we visited last weekend). It was an incredibly informative meeting - to hear their story of opening the school in 1997 (as so many children had no school to attend), their successes and challenges, etc.  The school itself was a great example of what we want UCA to be (self-sustaining, meal program, appropriate class curriculums, and an internet cafe!), so it was a productive visit. Not to mention that we were able to establish contact with an elected official from Cape Mount, which will prove to be helpful in future efforts.

From the school, we headed to P.A.’s Ribhouse to get a few cokes and biscuits and say goodbye to Fatumata, our favorite server.  From P.A.’s, we headed into the chaos and thick smog of central Monrovia to the Brussels Airline’s office where we checked into tomorrow evening’s flight, and then we decided a final trip to the beach was in order. Have we told you how beautiful the beaches in Liberia are? They’re pretty amazing - the water is warm, the waves are strong, and the UN guys in speedos are slightly out of control.  We enjoyed our final swim and documented the occasion with some poses by a very picturesque palm tree.

We’re closing the evening out with some delicious -though rather expensive- food and drink at a Lebanese-owned restaurant around the corner from where we’re staying.

Its unbelievable that tomorrow is our final day here in Liberia.  We can’t even begin to articulate how amazing this journey has been - so I won’t try to here.  But I cannot wait to get back stateside and go through our photos, update our website with everything we’ve documented and learned on this trip, and do what we can to move the vision of FUEL Youth forward.

Hey all!  Lucky us- our new place at Vivien’s has internet in the evening hours, which means more frequent blog updates.  We feel so spoiled!  We had a great day at UCA today.  We’d hoped to get to the school right as it opened this morning, but unfortunately there was another miscommunication about our ride and we ended up getting there around recess time.  Also unfortunately Christine has come down with some sort of bug, so she ended up sleeping in and joining us a little later (only to sleep on Pastor John’s hard floor because she still felt sick…but luckily staff said a prayer over her stomach).  She went to bed early tonight and we’re all hoping she’ll wake up feeling 100% tomorrow. (Update: she got up and is munching on some PanPan…or, the Lebenese version of Pringles….and an orange, so things are looking up for her

We were all looking forward to becoming honorary UCA teachers for the day!  Katie and Ali started in the seventh grade classroom, which has only 9 students.  Ali’s 5th grade class in DC had made cards for the UCA students with surveys on the inside so the students could learn fun information about one another.  They handed those out, then had those students fill out the same surveys to take back to Ali’s class.  We’re hoping this can be the start of a great relationship between the two schools.  They did the same thing in the 6th grade classroom, then made their way to the 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms for spelling and math games and of course songs.  Meanwhile, Sean took his National Geographic donated maps to other uppergrade classrooms for some really great lessons and geography related games.  The students were incredibly engaged and were very thankful for the new additions to their classroom walls (thanks National Geographic!). 

After spending some quality time in each of the classrooms, it was time to meet with the administration of United Christian Academy.  We were really looking forward to hearing both the successes and challenges of UCA straight from the teachers.  It was a very productive meeting, as we were able to learn about and prioritize the needs of UCA teachers.  One of the main priorities we discussed was the need for professional development.  We’re greatful to have a full teaching staff at UCA who stepped up to the plate to educate the children of Swaggart Island, but they are currently lacking official teacher training.  Classes are offered at universities around Liberia and the teachers are incredibly anxious to get the proper training to better serve the UCA population.  FUEL Youth is currently brainstorming ways to help pay for this, as it is often expensive and unaffordable for teachers.  Other concerns addressed at the meeting that we hope to tackle include:

• Electricity and a generator for the school.  Once this is accomplished, we can put lights, air-conditioning, computers, and other appliances to use.  It will also allow for an adult night school at UCA in the evenings.
• Bridge construction.  In order to get to Swaggart Island, many students have to cross a bridge across a small waterway.  During rainy season, this is nearly impossible due to current bridge conditions.
• Water well. Currently, there is no clean drinking water at the school.  Students have to walk 25 minutes to the nearest well to obtain the necessary drinking water. A chlorination system and pump need to be put in place to make the current well suitable for drinking.
• Textbooks for older children and a library for the school and community.  Lack of appropriate books is a serious issue facing UCA and Gardnersville in general.  Students in the older grades have no textbooks to use, while students in the younger grades find it difficult to develop a love of reading without fun and engaging books in their hands.
• Lunch program.  Because UCA doesn’t currently have the funds to provide lunch for the students, school dismisses at 12:45 so they can eat.  This cuts off a solid few hours more that students could be spending learning in school. 
• School nurse.  Lack of sufficient medical care is another issue faced by the Gardnersville community.  Often times, kids are sent to school ill, only to be sent home by the staff because they’re so sick.  Unfortunately, there’s no one home to meet them because parents have left for the day.

We also met with members of the community and parents of students, who echoed the needs the teachers laid out.

As Edward mentioned at the meeting, his dream for UCA was a 5-year plan. So far the school has enjoyed 2 successful years. But there’s a lot more work to go in the remaining three, and in 2010 we’d like to have a big blow-out dedication for the school. FUEL Youth will be looking at the ways and means that we can best support the development of UCA. We’ll be updating our project page on the school from our home website in the coming weeks.

The UCA staff, administration, students, and parents feel like one big extended family and are so very warm and welcome to us all. We’ve really enjoyed our time at the school, and some of us have enjoyed it so much, we’d like to spend some extended time teaching there. We will see what the future brings.

Happy Monday!  We had a great futbol-filled Sunday evening last night.  We were walking home from our go-to restaurant P.A.’s when we noticed a futbol game getting started right outside our home.  It was a really nice evening- not too hot- so we decided to pull up a seat and check it out.  This greatly excited the children playing and more kids came out to join us to cheer the teams on.  We then decided to get a full on soccer tournament going, so we ran inside to get Ali’s old soccer trophies she brought along to give to the winners.  The boys were incredibly talented with their futbol skills and it was a blast to watch.  There were 4 teams, and each of them ended up getting either a trophy or medal, which thrilled them to no end.  We’ve got some great shots of the kids’ victory dances and celebrations.  This evening we got to check out the neighborhood girls’ kickball tournament, which was equally as entertaining.

This morning we woke up and made our way to UCA to visit each of the classrooms.  We’d planned to start obtaining all of our video footage, but ended up just visiting with the teachers and students and pretty much just getting an idea of life at United Christian Academy.  After spending time at the school, we made our way back to Broad Street, the heart of Monrovia. We took care of a few tasks downtown and had some free time, so we made our way up the hill at the top of Broad Street to the STAR Radio Headquarters. STAR Radio  (starradio.org/lr) is a GREAT community radio station broadcast in Liberia and available over the Internet. I think it’s the only Liberian station broadcasting over the Internet. The team at STAR Radio produces a number of great segments that air every week, often engaging youth alongside government ministers, and discussing issues like women’s rights, youth problems, etc. Community radio in Liberia is really the main media that gets out to rural areas of the country that don’t really do newspapers. Every household seems to have a radio monitor, and it’s often on community radio–STAR Radio, UNMIL Radio, Radio Veritas…

Kula also works at Population Services International (we decided her nickname today would be Little Ellen, since she’s such a dynamic young woman, we wouldn’t be surprised if she one day becomes president, like current leader Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf). She and a few other correspondents host a radio show on UNMIL radio that focuses on HIV and teen pregnancy prevention and engages panels of youth each week. We know from the statistics that while females are well represented in elementary school, high school graduation rates are terribly low, and teen pregnancy–along with financial constraints and other issues–are one of the most pressing issues.

After the tour of the radio station–for which Sean and Eddie were lucky enough to do a quick impromptu interview with a correspondent–we headed back to P.A.’s for a Coca Cola. We did a move this evening to Eddie’s niece’s apartment, off of Tubman Avenue–Vivian, not Kula, another daughter of Ciatta, Eddie’s siser and another UCA teacher. We’re having a comfortable night here, with a lot ahead in our last few days. Bedtime in Monrovia.

Phew!  It’s been a long and exhausting weekend.  We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, as we were told that a car would be picking us up at 6:30 am to commence the journey to Messima, a village very near the Sierra Leone border.  We’d fallen for this “be ready early, the car will be on time” business many times before…only to have the car arrive a good hour or two later than expected.  But silly old us really believed it this time! …We should have known.  We sat waiting, frustrated, wanting to be on time to MEssima, as the ground breaking program was supposed to begin at 10 AM.  It must have been fate that we had to wait, though, because we experienced a true laugh outloud moment that we shall call “The Pepe Parade.”  We were in the living room waiting for the car, when all of a sudden we heard kids shouting and banging on buckets in a parade like manner.  We walked outside, thinking there must be some celebration walking by.  There was one girl in the middle, dressed in banana leaves, a headdress, and mud covering her face.  We clapped, laughed, and took pictures.  Then we asked Mike, our host’s nephew, why the parade was taking place.  He said it was because….she wet the bed.  Then we found out what they were shouting was, “Chicken go peepee!  Dog go peepee!” over and over again.  It was unexpectedly hilarious, though we couldn’t help feeling sorry for the poor little bed wetter.  Supposedly this is very common in Liberia because even Eddie knew why the parade was taking place.

The ride to Messima was beautiful, heading through the lush Liberian countryside right outside Monrovia. Messima is in Grand Cape Mount County, which borders Sierra Leone. When we finally arrived, we jumped right into the festivities…let’s see, those involed….

A parade from the village to the school site with lots of dancing and singing, remarks from town officials, FUEL Youth team members, singing and dancing from the people of Messima, and the presentation of 2 white chickes to Eddie and Sean. The chickens are a sign of appreciation and a tradition uniqe to the Vai people. The chickens then joined us for the next 24 hours, basically becomming part of our family in the car with us. Edward and his wife Bendu will be preparing them this week. We also broke ground on the Messima school and the whole project just became a lot more real. Last year, a high-powered business man/retired army general worked through Eddie to get in touch with the people of Messima and promised them a school. The school site has already been named in his honor. But he fell off the radar. So now we step in, so we really need to show the people of Messima some progress in this next year. THey’ve already started some of the brick-making on site, and will continue to do so. We will be raising some more money to keep the brick making process going, and other funds to support other school infrastrucutre, including a water system for the school, educational materials, etc. We also will be thinking about how we can work with the government and others to recruit qualified teachers to the school and work on professional development with the existing teachers, whom we were honored to meet at the festivities.

Because we were so late (due to circumstances unforseen by us), we had to rush out of the program with lots of great footage, pictures, and relationnships established. We got shots of Sean with the shovel and Ali with the local boys football team. We walked a 1/2 mile through the forest to get to the river that leads to Robertsport, the county capital that sits on the ocean, where the river drains into Lake Piso. We enjoyed a boat ride with friends, and picked up some passengers delivering goods along the way. When we got into Lake Piso, we could see Gahaian and Sirrea Leonian fishing boats at work. Liberians are only equipped with canoe outrigs for fishing, and only neighboring countries come in with larger skiffs for fishing. Lake Piso is gorgeous, and on the beach by where the Lake drains into the ocean, President Johnson-Sirelaf was recently given a vacation home from the people of Cape Mount.

We were accompanied by a recent high-school graduate, Vinnie (first name spelling definitely not right) Fahnbulleh, who worked with the FUEL Youth tutors that we sponsored this past year. Mr. Fahnbulleh was one of 7 students from the Episcopal High School students in Robertsport to pass his high school exit exam–the first students to do this for almost 20 years. He plans to study agriculture at the University of Liberia next year, hopefully on scholarship.

We basically had no plans in Robertsport…we thought we did…but some miscommunication left us there scratching our heads. But that was OK, as there was much to see and experience. Among other things, we strolled the beach with the FUEL Youth USA gang, Eddie’s neice Kula and our local tourguide (Mr. Fahbulleh), to take in the scene. It’s a mountainous area, hence the name “Cape Mount”. With dusk appraoching, and bellies hungering, we made our way back towards the center of this small city. There is not much in the way of facilities or modern infrastrucutre here, but we found some accomodations in the form of a few matresses in an empty house. Kula procured some eggs and other goods, and we enjoyed a hot meal with fresh fish from Lake Piso in a small restaurant hut. The fish is prepared with palm oil, pepper, and potato and cassava greens…delicious, for sure. We settled back in to the house by candlelight and called it a night.

Up early, we wanted to get back to Monrovia, as our dirver Salif had been away from his family overnight unexpectedly. So we packed in the SUV with our chickens and had a sleepy drive back, catching the sunrise along the way. Since it is Sunday today, we’ve had a low key day with a lot of preparing for this week’s activities, which include some time spent at United Christian Academy, working with the Cape Mount Students University Association, meeting with Peace Corps program officers (hopefully!) and more.

Greetings friends. We’ve just had another two days of action filled adventure in and around Monrovia. Early in the morning on Wednesday, January 31, we had the opportunity to stretch our legs a visit a bit of Monrovia. We started by heading to Mamba point, which is section of Monrovia, located on a hill, that juts out over the Atlantic Ocean. After our driver and guide - Rolland Perry - talked to some guards at the bottom of the hill, we were allowed to proceed to see Ducor Palace, which was once a five star intercontinental hotel. Now, after mmm about two decades of war, the hotel is only the skeleton of what it once was. Luckily the guards in front of the hotel itself were kind enough to give us a full on tour of the space, allowing us to walk to the roof, where we were able to take in beautiful views of Monrovia. As all the native Liberians, who accompanied us explained, in 2 years time, Ducor Palace will be restored to it’s 5 star rating. Apparently some Libyan investors have stepped in and leased the hotel and surronding property from the Liberian government. The Libyans will then make all the necessary renovations and manage the hotel until some unknown point in the future.

Now to New Years Eve. Even thye Lonley Planet guide will tell you that New years is a big, religious holiday in Liberia. And it did not disappoint. We went to UCA to hear Eddie preach at the church held in the schol’s auditorium. It was a Pentecostal mass, which meant some people got the holy spirit in them and went a little crazy. Sister Alison was asked to do a solo, which she wowed us all with…highly enteraining, and she really stepped up to the plate. At 12 we headed out into the night for a crazy dance party in the school yard, where we got down as everyone chanted in Vai…Happy New Years, we no die!!!…..Vai is Eddie’s native language…one of 12 here in Liberia. It was a pretty amazing New YEar’s celebration. Christine was in full form, really breaking it down with the LIberian women.

We got home late that night, only to wake up early the next morning to prepare for our New Year’s party for the students of UCA.  We were super excited for this party, as were the kids.  After the car arrived an hour or so late for us (Oh Africa time) we arrived at Swaggart Island, and of course quickly had a parade of children following the “white people in the car!”  We had to keep them out of the auditorium so we could decorate the area with streamers, balloons, etc.  We were trying our best to get a generator to get electricity to get our awesome playlist on sean’s ipod going.  Finally we got one, but unfortunately the speakers weren’t loud enough and the kids weren’t able to enjoy James Brown’s “I Feel Good.”  Oh well- maybe next time.  Anywho, the kids filed in and took their seats.  We then started handing out bags and bags and bags of popcorn.  After awhile, the kids started coming back for more- pretending that they hadn’t gotten any yet.  Officer Katie took charge though, frisking the children while looking for hidden bags in clothing, haha. 

  After the popcorn, we all headed outside for a Limbo tournament!  Let me tell you- it was quite the sight to see.  These kids could dip it low!  It was then time to whip out Bill the Burro, our beloved pinata that came with us all the way from target in columbia heights.  It actually only took 3 tries for the kids to break him open, and soon candy was flying everywhere.  Eddie’s sister, Ciatta, used her handbag to try to shoo the kids away while I (Ali) went to go look for the rest of our candy.  I looked to Eddie for advice on how to hand out the candy to the kids, and I took his advice of just throwing it out in handfuls for the kids to pick up.  Needless to say, mass chaos ensued.  Katie, Sean, and Christine immediately went on child control- scooping up small children who’d fallen in the sand amidst the chaos.  This didn’t keep me from taking my job of candy throwing seriously though.  There was candy to be given out!  We have this unbelievably hilarious picture that perfeclty depicts this situation- my hand high in the air..a joyous look on my face..candy flying through the air, all while christine is on all fours in the sand scooping up children.  Yes, it was priceless.

After the fun-filled and ultra-sweaty party with the children at UCA, there was only one thing we really wanted to do (other than check into an air-conditioned hotel room and order up some cosmopolitans):  jump into the ocean. So thats exactly what we did. We asked our awesome driver Salif to take us to the nearest beach, and we ran with our clothes on straight into the ocean.  The salty warm water felt amazing!  At one point, Alison found that her skirt pockets were full of sand, so Christine decided to help out by empyting her pockets. Unfortunately the waves were strong and Christine ended up grabbing Alison by her underpants, pulling her under multiple times, which resulted in  very sandy underpants.  The futbol team that was having practice got a kick out of our clothed swimming session, and we, in turn, got a kick out of the Europeans from the UN who strutted by in their teeny tiny speedos.  We made sure to get a not-so-inconspicuous photo of the speedos.

Today, we made sure to stop by the Monrovia Rotary Club gathering at La Pointe restaurant in Mamba Pointe (the comfort zone for white people - where the US embassy, UN and nice hotels are). It was a great meeting, and they were generous in the time they offered us to speak and take questions. We were surprised that some of the members didn’t really seem to be aware of the lack of educational facilities outside of Monrovia, but they insisted that they would be eager to  partner with the Peoria Rotary Club (of which me and Alison’s father is a part) to help in our effort.

We are heading to Messima village first thing in the morning where we will dedicate the Messima school. After the dedication, we will head to Robertsport via a 2 hour boat ride and spend the night in Robertsport. We plan to meet with some folks there and return to Monrovia on Sunday afternoon.