Hello From Ganta!!!

Dear Friends,

I am sitting in Ganta, Liberia which is a nine hour drive from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. I am using a computer that was donated to a pastor of a local church. No one here could get the computer to connect to the internet. The pastor was amazed that I was able to get it up and running. I so much wanted for him to leave the computer here where we are staying so that I could update the blog. I did not want to ask but was delighted when he offered to let all of us from America use it this evening.

The days here have been amazing!! The teaching of the teachers has been incredible. There are over 90 teachers that have come from 54 schools. The teachers are going to take the training we are offering and share it with all of the teachers in their school. One skill we are teaching is how to write a lesson plan, and we are using the Calvert template that I use with my students at school. I teach in the morning from 9:00 to 1:00, and then grab a quick bite for lunch. I head over to the Liberian International Christian College where I am teaching Rick Warren’s 12 Ways to Study the Bible from 1:30 – 4:00. Our conversations at the college have been amazing. They do not have many materials here and were ecstatic to see that we had brought a suitcase full of brand new resource materials like Topical Bibles, exhaustive concordances, study Bibles, and other books.

The internet connection here is very slow (think dial-up) so I cannot add any pictures. I wish I could because the children and the countryside here are both so beautiful. In a land of such poverty and hardship it is heart-wrenching to see such kind generous people who have such beautiful spirits. Like my trip to the Philippines I have been struck by the fact that they do so much with so little, and I have so much and do so little when I am back home.
The pastor has not used the internet much and has never had a computer that could connect to it, so tomorrow night I am going to show him the ropes. I strongly suspect the lesson will continue in every free moment until I leave on Friday. It is wonderful to be able to help spread my love for technology in a country so far away.

The living conditions in Ganta are very sad to see. The houses, which are usually more like what we would consider a shack only have electricity if they have a generator. The house where I am staying is very nice has a generator that is turned on from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM on some nights and 7:00 PM – 6:00 AM on others. My headlamp has come in very handy. We do have running water from a gravity fed tank but the water pressure is non-existent. A shower is only really possible by dumping cold water over you, soaping up, and then rinsing with more water. It is actually very refreshing since it is very hot here. I sleep under mosquito netting which makes it even warmer. I have been exhausted at the end of each day and sleep has not been a problem. I have not had any sickness at all which I am very thankful. Since there are nine others who can’t wait to use the computer I will sign off. I may be able to do a short post when I am helping the pastor learn how to navigate the computer.

I am so happy to be here!!!!!!!!!!!