Life has finally granted me enough time in one physical location (aka the traveling around the world thing is over now) and I am finally rolling up my sleeves and getting to work on all my Liberia projects! This includes: a photo book of both my experience and photos and the children’s photo work, a short documentary on the model village project and an updated BLOG (aka new images as the process goes on)!! Thanks to an “Independent Study” with my advisor I am quite literally forced to stay on track with this project, which is a wonderful blessing given how easy it is to get sidetracked while a senior in college! 

As I have been going through these photos I am falling in love again with the whole of my experience! This photo above is just a quick snap from our visit to the “Model Village” where we donated chickens and seeds to a village in the bush in hopes of spurring on development there! 

I will try and post photos more frequently as I edit the book (and maybe even post some book previews)! 

teaser photo

It seems barely ironic that I should want to share this video with you when Texas is in one of the worst droughts to date.  Being back home in this humid summer heat has pulled my heart all the way back to the thick, sticky air of Liberia and the cool, powerful rains that temporarily washed that overbearing air away. 

Thanks for letting me share this shaky little video clip with you! :] 

Still having a hard time writing a final Liberia post. I think I’ll take my time..there is so much to process. 

Today we jumped into the Atlantic Ocean and it was the most liberating and awakening experience this trip. I feel like I came alive in the violent, powerful waves (we probably shouldn’t have been swimming there). The warmth of the water, the never-ending laughter, the cloudy, moody skies, the rough layer of salt and sand on our skin; it was truly an experience! Time and time again I have felt a deep, spiritual connection to the immense and beautiful power and movement of the ocean. To share that with the group I have now spent the last 2 weeks with was amazing! To see Carl, my new friend, be the first to run into the ocean for the second time in his life was so exciting! I felt genuine joy for myself and the group as a whole today! I am grateful for this!

On a very different note, tonight we were talking about the realities that are slowly sinking into our sheltered minds. Liberia has been a beautiful, loving, accepting country and I have enjoyed experiencing so much beauty in the people and landscape. But with that we have also discovered the harsh, harsh realities of a country surviving, recovering from a devastating war. I have heard the stories of children and adults alike that have survived the horrors; seen far too many scars, missing limps and mangled bodies, of ANY and EVERY age (we met a little boy name Sam on Wednesday who is missing a leg because he was shot and left for dead during the war…but that day he told us his dream of becoming an astronaut! Life goes on!); and now, now I am beginning to see the deeper wounds.  Besides extreme poverty there is something more…in the daily character that is slowly unveiled before innocent eyes. These people have so much soul and hope, but the trauma of war will always be with them. There are times I have been greatly challenged by the dishonesty I have seen in some of the people I have met here, but then as I learn more I start to understand better. Tonight Jessie told us that she heard from one of our Liberian friends why we had to pay $25 to get onto the beach today! “ABSURD!” in our American minds, but they did it so that the men on the beach would not “bother us.” As Dolly, one of the Liberians, told us, a lot of people in this country still carry around very long knives. She also talked about how they can spot thieves in the market and how men on motorcycles are usually the ex-children soldiers. I don’t say these things to be dramatic, because I have felt very safe this entire trip. But I am saying this because it is such an education discovering what scars fall on the hearts of these people. After a war, I can imagine it is hard to pull the self defense, “every man for himself” mentality out of you, especially after years and years of this lifestyle during a long and grueling war. I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like for all of these people to have experienced this. And still, their hope, their love, lives on! The human heart is extraordinary. 

All and all, it has been incredible to have gotten to see SO much of this amazing country; an experience I believe to be unique to this service trip. We have talked about how this is more a “cultural immersion” in getting to experience so much of this country. We have been in the bush, visited villages that have never seen white people, drove through the crazy red light, saw the capital Monrovia, jumped in the sea, visited orphanages and lived at a children’s school. And so much more. So much more that I can’t even explain, can’t even capture with photos. We have had an education. And as Hailey quoted tonight: “The source of all knowledge is experience.”

I just genuinely hope that everyone takes some time in their life to get out of their comfort zone and experience something completely unique to your life!

The adorably addicting Princess Saba! This girl has a wayyy with her charm and cuteness and she sure does put it to use!! Haha! Started the photo project with the kids 2 days ago and thus far it has been successful! :] The kids LOVE the cameras and are so excited to get to keep them for the “Photo Club” next year! A gracious thanks, once again, to all who have donated! Your gifts have been greatly appreciated!

Once I go through all the kids’ work I will make a site to show the images and start making the book!! :] Thanks again for the support!!!

I just want to leave a quick blurb on how much I am in love with simple living! Every single simple thing becomes joyous when you go with less! I just got out of my cold (thank goodness..I’m melting here) shower and put on a fresh pair of undergarments and I swear, best combination EVER! Such a simple, hilariously silly thing, but SO amazing! Clean underwear, fresh handwashed clothes straight off the clothes line, hand washing dishes, power only being on for 5 hours a day, a plate of food..ANY kind of food, fresh fruit straight from the street vender outside the mission…these are the BEAUTIFUL little bitty details that get lost in all the crazy adventure stories and special moments with important people, so I am writing them down now.  I am so much more grateful for what I have at home, but I am also so content with living life without air conditioning and with heart.  Definitely not “roughing it” completely because, well, here I am on the internet in Liberia, but cutting down on materials and really working for and with what you have is so nice! Filling the slop bucket in the kitchen for the pigs, sweatin’ over a pot of food, scrubbing my clothes outside in the sun…these are all my country girl, simple life dreams coming true!! :]

Be grateful for what you have, consider those that go with so much less, and consider being a little more simple minded in your daily actions! God bless and gooddddnight my loves!

EDIT: So the morning after I posted this the water pump broke and we have been without running water for 2 days! I didn’t realize how nice we had it at the mission (compared to the majority of the country) until today. But, in joy of simplicity, it has been a lot of fun pulling water from the well and washing dishes (and ourselves) with buckets of well water! :] Today two girls went into town and used a hotel bathroom with air conditioning, running water and…well, they were clean. They said it was such an amazing experience! It made us all laugh, considering we will be returning to this in a few days! I have enjoyed, truly, living simply and using my hands more, but I will have a greater appreciation for dishwashers, washing machines and air conditioning (especially air conditioning)! 

This is Clarence…perhaps one of the most heart-meltingly precious young guys I’ve met here! He left for summer vacation yesterday and pushed my heart over the edge to tears! I’ve already connected soo deeply with my brothers and sisters here…I have NO idea how I’m gonna make it through goodbye’s on Sunday! 

Anyways…Clarence and I bonded when I taught him “You are my Sunshine” (a song that will forever remind me of him)! He is shy but oh so sweet and his eyes always seem to have an unrealll little twinkle to them!  

Some of my beautiful lil friends and I at the Rehab Center school! :]

P.s. The beautiful little girl on my left is named Diamond and she graduated from K-2 (two year kindergarden) today and was Valedictorian! It was ADORABLE! She was in a robe and cap and all! :]