Evening walk 🚶🏾‍♀️🚶🏽‍♂️

Evening walk 👣

After a weekend of incessant rains, we enjoyed a sunny evening walk. 

There's a new little shop on the corner of Benson Street when you are walking up from Mamba Point.

The newly renovated Masonic Lodge gleams in its brightness. 

There are so many people working out on top of the hill with many many familiar faces. A few trainers are helping groups to exercise. There's this one fellow who helps me out to do sit ups. I managed almost 50 yesterday. 

A few weeks ago, I noticed Kavita was making her own video and chatting to an 'audience' using my phone. So, I have started to help her make videos. See a few I posted on my YouTube. See this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP7ppGj6SK8.

First Impressions of Being Back in Liberia

I got back to Liberia after being away for 4 and a half months.

Haresh and I had met up in Ethiopia for a week-long holiday. I've always wanted to visit Ethiopia and am glad I finally did in 2018. The flight back was smooth although a passenger dropped my bag of clay figurines and pots when he opened the overhead compartment. The bag which I had carefully been carrying all the way from Lalibela crashed to the floor and, all my pieces cracked. I was in an extremely grumpy mood all the way back. I watched Wonder Wheel on the flight. 

Spriggs Paynes Airport

We landed with the Ethiopia Air flight at Accra Airport for a few hours and, then took the Arik Air flight to Monrovia which lands at Spriggs Payne Airport. 

As we descended, I saw the familiar terrain: shapes of green separated by water. Being the rainy season, it was grey and green. 

It was raining on the tarmac. The passengers walked across to the small terminal. Drizzling a little heavily on our heads, we rushed towards the doors. Was the terminal big enough for all of us, I wondered. Staff stood at the gate trying to check our temperatures and, asking us to wash our hands - a protocol still lingering from the ebola days. After finishing up the formalities with immigration, we came out into the baggage hall. We had a lot of suit cases and, eventually all were identified and collected on a trolley. I took a seat with Kavita on one of the 2 lone sofas. The hall is otherwise empty. Not seats. Actual leather sofas, the cheap types. Another gentleman was sitting on the other sofa, his phone connected to a charger by an electrical outlet in the wall. One of those ugly plastic paper waste baskets was next to the sofa. I looked across the empty hall, past the conveyer belt and at the metal desks at the end where 2 staff were checking suitcases. 

Apparently, the customs lady asked Haresh for "something" but when we refused, she made him wait until the very end, he told me later. I went up several times to see what was taking so long and, saw she was shouting and screaming at everyone, including the porter who was handling our trolley. She would open some boxes and suitcases and fling everything out and, with others, she would only open the luggage to take a cursory peek inside. 

I was tired and livid by this time because we were literally the last passengers. Every single suitcase had been opened. The shrink wrap we had done came off and, it was still raining outside. The lady checked 3 of our 4 suitcases and then waved us off. 

Our staff had informed us by now that the office car had broken so we didn't have anyone to pick us up. A few hours later, one of the guys at the airport found us a pickup. It was pouring by this time and, we got home at around 7:30 PM. 

Our suitcases became thoroughly wet by this time. While driving, Haresh kept telling the driver to keep a lookout and see if no one steals our bags from the bag since they weren't secured with any ropes. 

Randall Street

We arrived at our apartment building when it was already dark. Our staff Farman and Musu and Angie were downstairs at the street level, waiting with umbrellas. It was pouring, the type of rain when you have to jump across a small gushing stream to reach the sidewalk. We exchanged greetings with the staff I had not seen in months and we went upstairs.

Luckily, we had light at home. Musu and Angie stayed over to help me unpack the wet suitcases and bags. Afterwards, they went to get some sandwiches for dinner for me. 

Next day was 26 July, Independence Day. We didn't have any plans so we went to have a scrumptious lunch at Mama Susu's who complained that business was worse than ever.

There was also a high-tension LEC wire hanging outside her restaurant. Haresh took a picture and sent it to all his LEC contacts. No response or even acknowledgement. 

LEC 

While I have been away, Haresh became so frustrated with LEC that he has started buying power from our next door neighbours GESCO. Apparently, a power surge destroyed a couple of light bulbs, our DSTV decoder, DVD  player and some small kitchen appliances. The voltage stayed at more than 300 volts. Haresh even had to sleep at a friend's house one night because even the back-up generator had failed. He then started getting current from our neighbours, GESCO. We have 5 AMPS in the day and 20 in the night 7 days a week for US $ 600.00. The light goes off for only 1 hour in the morning from 6 to 7 AM. There's been no outages until now. 

With LEC, we were spending about US $ 400 or US $ 500 per month. In case there was an outage, we would spend more on fuel on the back up generator. 

Weather

The weather has been cool with all this rain. One does not really need an Air Conditioner. Although there is a lot of water damage on the walls and ceiling. Our office was devastated. The landlord doesn't care about the damage because he did not put it in any agreement and, not that we had any official agreement between us from the beginning. 

Gangsterism 

Every morning when I open our building door to walk to the office, there's a scuffle. We live above Auto Run, an auto spare parts shop. Their iron front gate opens up every day and, it is always blocking our door. I have to push it back to be able to come out. The other day I pushed it back again, and the Auto Run workers came out to quarrel with me. Again. Annoyed, I asked why they keep blocking our door. Pretty soon, the Auto Run boss also came out and started scolding me. He said I should come to him. And, he said, the other day I came out of the vehicle and removed his metal 'No Parking Sign' in his parking space. It was pouring that day and, I had stepped out of the car so Haresh could park. I was livid at his gangster style and, apologised for being out of order. Maaf karo!

There's a certain gangster style here which - depending on your mood - can really piss you off. Everyone seems to be eager to pick a fight or give you a long lecture.

While I walk down Randall Street with Kavita there's a throng of "Gronah Boys" everywhere in front of the shop fronts. They are constantly teasing Kavita about Bijli or her bag (can I have your bag) or something. They don't talk to me but only when Kavita is walking with me. A few other familiar faces I am eager to smile at or say hello but these "Gronah Boys" get under my skin. I just stay quiet and pass by. Until a few years ago, they would say "the South African man wife."

Once we put on our generator on a Sunday because we needed more amps and, GESCO boss telephoned Haresh to say our generator is making too much noise. He said he wanted to break down our building wall to break the generator. I think he said it as a joke but last thing I want to hear these days in Monrovia is jokes about breaking things or threatening to break things. Did he not get bugged by our generator before we starting taking current from him?

Haresh said he asked the LEC to reconnect our meter as a back up but they haven't showed up yet.

Big Wedding

At Mama Susu's, a young Liberian man was showing pictures and videos of a big wedding he had attending in Lebanon. It was Mr. Ezzat Eid's son's wedding. From the pictures and videos, it looked like a celebrity wedding.

New government 

I haven't got a sense of how things are from anyone per se about the new Pro-Poor regime. But from here and there, I get snippets like

- "Government salaries have not been paid for 2-3 months."
- "Government is not paying Sirleaf government's debts."
- "The private loan George Weah was going to get from East Asia was a scam."
- "Business is bad."

Whispers and rumours

Apparently, Kaldis Coffee has sent some of its expatriate staff back because because business is slow. And, Royal Hotel has hiked up rent.

Some Pakistanis are soon going to open a quality medical lab that will have an MRI scan and other medical equipment.

Happy to be back? 

I'm tired of Liberia and want to move on, now. Where, though? 

Evening walk and soup 🍲☔

It is raining in Liberia. The rain has been relentless, it pours and pours and then rains some more. Just like the stupidity, idiocy, injustice and cruelty in this world.

Kavita, Bijli and I got thoroughly drenched.

I bought potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and cabbage towards the end of the walk from my favourite market ladies on Benson Street, opposite Saksouk Supermarket. Made a soup for a rainy rainy evening.

Chocolate brownies for a rainy night.

Chocolate brownies for a rainy night. Recipe from Joy of Cooking.

I have a lot of plants and a lot of tea kettles. ☕🌱

Avocado

Avocado is very abundant and luxurious here in Liberia. So, an easy dish to make is guacamole, "an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed by the Aztecs in what is now Mexico."

Dividers and book markers ☕📚

I love saving the dividers in tea bag boxes and saving them for book markers. From the love of tea comes the love of reading books. 

Evening walk