2023 Trip to Liberia - Day 5
Today was an especially inspiring day for us and the Liberians we met. As part of his work on behalf of The Light of the World Academy, Don has had an ongoing email conversation with Bishop Brown, the well-connected founder of the ‘New Waters in the Desert Assembly’ church in the same town as The Light of the World Academy. Through some serendipitous steps Don was able to persuade the Starkey Foundation (originally connected to Starkey hearing aids in Minneapolis) to invite four nurses, the first ever from Liberia, to train for ten months at The Starkey Hearing Institute in Zambia. An added hurdle was each nurse had to have a laptop….Don somehow found the laptops through a ministry in Houston. In just a couple of days, for free, laptops arrived in Minnesota to be carried over to Liberia. Truly an amazing result. This is a big deal, and today we met Bishop Brown, his wife and staff, Senator Taylor, a member of the Liberian Senate, and the 4 nurses who were chosen to receive this specialized training.
Don did a super job of explaining the opportunity using a PowerPoint presentation from the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which seemed to convince Senator Taylor that it would be worthwhile for him to commit to trying to get funding for hearing health, something it appeared Bishop Brown had hoped would happen. Don and his visiting team (who had nothing to do with this effort!) received traditional shirts from, and praise by, Bishop Brown and the Senator – the real stars will be the nurses who will return after their training to go out into communities to diagnose and treat hearing issues. In the first African country to be studied (Zambia), 40% of hearing issues were due to ear infections, something that can be treated if properly diagnosed, so the impact could be immediate and direct.
In the afternoon we returned to The Light of the World Academy, spending some time investigating solar battery issues the school has experienced. Pastor Sylvester also shared some medium-term and ‘blue sky’ possible plans.
Then our helpful driver, Sam, took us back to the hotel, always a bit harrowing due to the amount of traffic and the loose, or perhaps non-existent, driving rules.
Today our route included going through the Waterside Market, the largest market in Monrovia, which involved driving through jam-packed traffic and market stalls. We eventually got through with help from locals, although not until after a particularly emphatic argument between one of our helpers and a taxi driver.
Sam took us on a brief tour of Mamba Point where the US Embassy is located, and we stopped at a sea-side bar/restaurant to look at the ocean and enjoy a Coke. It was a beautiful spot and nice to get out of the car and share some stories. Our commute each way is about 1.5 hours, then there is always more time in the car depending upon the places we are visiting – meaning a minimum of 3 hours in the car each day but it has been as long as 6 hours, and on some very rough roads.
Another night of loud music from the poolside DJ, time to put in the earplugs!
Robin