Thursday, March 30, 2017
What a day! We went out into the jungle looking for villages that are too far out that
no NGO has ever gone there. We were within 5 miles of the Liberian border.
Thankfully, someone with a bulldozer just the day before broke a rugged path out to
the far reaches of the jungle. The path was so rough we we bouncing all over the place
inside the truck. One of our guides said,"we are dancing with the road". We crossed 3
make-believe bridges made of trees and that was so scary. I walked across and Don
drove the truck across. We found several villages that were either abandoned or had
one man living in it. When Ebola hit Liberia and spread into Sierra Leone, the people up
and left their villages and moved inland and have not returned. We did find one village
close to the Liberian Border that only has a small stream they use for everything and
they have no clean drinking water and no sanitation. They defecate on the ground and
don't even bother to bury it or dig a hole or anything. Their living conditions are
terrible. The people were timid. White people. Not something they have ever seen in
their village. Some of the younger people have never seen a white man. There was a
naked child about 2 years old that was covered in white cream. He looked like they
were trying to camouflage him. He has chicken pox. We had with us two natives that
were able to speak the language and translate for us. Don really wants to do well for
these people. This will be a real challenge. We will see where it goes.
(I have seen too many Tarzan movies. I actually worried that we might run into
cannibals or be bound and taken before the paramount chief and who knows what else
may happen. Oh, silly me!).