Chapter 9: Crazy Flumo Shakes My Hand… and Ankles

by on September 10, 2012 in Welcome to Liberia and tagged , , , , ,

A new day did manage to happen, as they always do. Jo Ann and I promised to make it a good one. Her job was to mount a ferocious counter offensive on the bug-a-bugs and cockroaches. Sam was coming early with a broom. My job was to walk the quarter mile to town, buy five […]

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Chapter 7: Armies of the Night

by on August 14, 2012 in Welcome to Liberia and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bob and Gerry Branch, friends from training in San Francisco, generously agreed to host our stay in Monrovia. They lived in a second floor apartment that overlooked a busy Monrovia street. It provided a birds-eye view of life in the city. Monrovia was bursting at the seams with young people escaping from rural areas. The […]

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Chapter 6: Liberia… A Nation Born and Nurtured in Paranoia

by on August 6, 2012 in Welcome to Liberia and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Liberia was born and nurtured in paranoia. Its birth took place in the United States during the early 1800’s. The number of free black people was growing rapidly in the North. To Yankees, the population explosion was an issue of assimilation and competition. To Southerners it was a dangerous threat. The existence of free blacks encouraged […]

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Chapter 5: Dr. Livingston, I Presume… Roberts Field Liberia

by on August 1, 2012 in Welcome to Liberia and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We made it to the right terminal on the right day and at the right time. In fact, our fear of missing the plane insisted we be four hours early. We watched lots of planes take off and land. Finally, we found ourselves flying over a rough Atlantic. To quote Snoopy, “it was a dark […]

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Chapter 3: The Dead Chicken Dance and Peace Corps Training

by on July 3, 2012 in Peace Corps recruitment and training and tagged , , , , , , ,

Graduation from Berkeley, marriage in Auburn, a three-day honeymoon in Monterey and reporting for Liberia VI Peace Corps training at San Francisco State College transpired in one whirlwind week. Jo was beautiful as a bride and my best man, Frank Martin, played his role superbly… from hosting the bachelor party at the Diamond Springs Hotel […]

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