Wyoming

Historical materialism & the end of history and the last man

First, came nature and its rubber trees.


Then, came man and the greed of man.



Voila! The multinational corporation is birthed and continues to endure in all its glory.

In response to child labor practices, the president of Firestone Natural Rubber told a CNN interviewer that "each tapper will tap about 650 trees a day, where they spend perhaps a couple of minutes at each tree." This equals more than 21 hours of labor per day.
(source: Wikipedia)

Walking and working

Long road ahead: man and young boy reconstruct a piece of the road between Buchanan and Monrovia.


B.Y.O.C(hair): children walk back from a day at school.


The Birth of Cool: this kid just looked so at ease with the eye of a camera and a hulking white Land Cruiser in front of him.


The classic steel bridge with rust, missing bridge panels, and wonderful thick overgrowth welcomes the woman to cross with her market goods.

Life aquatic II

When this happens...

Call or walk to your local Triple AAA office for assistance. Nothing like the mysterious pitter-patter of ten pairs of feet walking through wet mud to lend a helping hand and pull your car out of the mud.


Continue to your destination. Have a nice day.

Life aquatic I

Waves control sailboats


Rubber bricks pull men down (river)


War moves people: over various conflicts, displaced populations walked this route for safe passage towards Grand Kru.


Sun moves people: in about 25 minutes, the town will be pitch black with productivity coming to a near standstill. The nonfunctioning power line reminds people of a different time.

Alphabet soup

"G" is for golf course. My guess is it's a palm plantation
with not a lot of plantation remaining.

"H" is for Americo-Liberian house (in the back).

The history of Liberia as a political entity begins with the arrival of the Americo-Liberian settlers, or African American settlers, who established a colony of “free men of color” on its shore in 1822 under the auspices of the American Colonization Society.

The majority of present-day Liberians, however, derive their historical roots in the varied traditions of several ethnicities of indigenous West Africa. The Americo-Liberians confronted various indigenous groups in their struggle to gain a foothold in Africa and, later, extend their control into the interior.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia)

"Z" is for zinc roof. You're not living large until you get some shiny or rusted zinc to cover the dome of you and your loved ones. This is a part of Monrovia where zinc is "plenty."


"H" is for health. "H" is for hope.

Destination: Monrovia to Greenville, Sinoe County

Hershey's dark chocolate photo shoot: dark brown river waters run into, over, and around a mangrove swamp forest.
















Yay! We're landing. Or, so I thought. This stopover in River Gee allows other UN peacekeepers to board and the pilot to orchestrate a photo. Girl with bananas atop her head assumes an elegantly natural position while kids look on.
















Fear of one's own self



















Docking station

How to become a smooth cultural chameleon

Easily conversing with strangers either in a Monrovian squatter house or in a NYC elevator has never been my ace card. It’s more like my three of clubs. Most people earn rapport with the community in which they live with bright smiles, inviting gestures, and excessive cordiality. I do it with sheer presence and persistence. I’ll be the one buying eggs and an orange Fanta from you every week. I’ll be the one earning blank stares for being the ever-perspiring “Chinaman” in sub-Saharan Africa clad in shorts and sandals every afternoon. Sometime between my first walk in Monrovia and my last walk to get groceries, I will become an alien fixture. Whether it’s the teenage auto mechanic who watches me upside down on his trolley or the same group of ex-combatants (called “ex-coms” here) turned petty thieves hanging around, they will come to recognize and accept me as if I were scripted a small part in their daily performed play. At least, this is my faint hope.

To accelerate social acceptance, I have been playing basketball with the neighborhood kids. Down the street from where I live, there is a fully functional basketball court. Actually, it’s surrounded by 1.5 walls. There is one complete wall. On the other wall, half of a wall is broken down with long sticks in its stead. The other two directions consist of shacks and a field of mostly grass, some broken glass, human waste, and trash.

Naturally, you have your army of “show boaters.” Some seem to think they have more talent in their right toe than all of AI’s talent combined. The “passing the ball” phenomenon which has taken America and Europe by storm hasn’t really reached here yet. From a cross-cultural perspective, when I was in rural West Java, Indonesia, kids refused to play with shoes. Here, everyone on the court is wearing shoes of some sort and are willing to share with those who don’t have shoes. Popular styles include faux Chuck Taylors, dress shoes of many varieties, and regular basketball shoes.

Besides getting some great outdoor exercise that extends beyond my digits from typing all day, I get to discover a new set of rules for playing basketball with these 15-25 year olds.

Rules:

1. No fighting (it’s spray painted on the wall).
2. Teams are set up 3-on-3.
3. Games are up to 5 points by 1, with 2-pointers being allowed from a painted line.
4. All games have referees. This could be the Liberian Rasta who is really high and doesn’t give a shit about the game. Or, it could be the man trying to woo another female who also doesn’t give a shit about the outcome of the game. On average, I’d say the referee will be making his call from about 40 feet from the spot of the foul. Despite the flaws with this system, no one seems to object. The fact that he is impartial, not whether he is correct or incorrect, seems to give this person great power in deciding the outcome of a close game. I loathe this system.
5. You don’t have to clear the ball.
6. As is usually the case, tease the fat kid to no end.
7. After scoring a point, the offensive team inbounds the ball from under the basket.

Still, these games are a lot of fun and everybody puts a lot of heart into the game. This definitely earns my respect and ensures my return to the basketball court. Though far from becoming the alien fixture I aspire to be, I am now “basketball Chinaman” to one kid who lives in the area.

Mother, where have all the windows gone?

Best place to nap in Monrovia: I sat through a World Cup match and this gentleman with a red shirt was still there 2 hours later on the roof (double-click to enlarge image). He even slept through a soccer match going on beside him on the roof. It looks like he's lying beside a pond but it's just water collecting on the roof (a love motel for mosquitos this time of year). Take note of the window-less facade of the building. Many of the "missing parts" of buildings (windows, light fixtures, furniture, etc.) were looted during the peak of the war in 2003.


Lots of yellow cabs: a rival to the New York cab scene on Fifth Avenue? A $150 USD yellow paint job is all that separates a car owner from becoming a taxi driver. Despite the multitude of "student driver" cars around Monrovia, I don't think adminstering driving tests is a central priority for this country. Ok, it comes in a close third after food security and peace.


Never a dull moment in Monrovia: I'm not sure what kind of building this was before the war but like many other buildings around the city, they've become the habitats of squatters. The towering buildings in the background were either unfinished or completely looted. Many of the previous governments in power in Liberia "rented" ministerial facilities from private citizens (i.e. your friends who charged the government exorbitant rental fees in exchange for various favors that government officials requested). What's a political system without good ol' patronage, nepotism, and cronyism?

A colleague of mine pointed out an interesting aid program that was offered to the government of Liberia. You may have heard of "schools-in-a-box" carried out by UNICEF and UNESCO where conflict areas are sent various teaching materials: chalkboard, pencils, a ball, visual aids, etc. This gives teachers and students to commence or resume schooling activities. Given the degree of rampant looting here, one donor came up with an intervention called "ministries-in-a-box." Its contents? Desks, chairs, office supplies, etc. for government ministries.

How can you not love the beach?

Community-driven defecation field on your left and right. Oh yes, based on the # of nugs, the field appears to have high usage.

I'm a 10-second walk to this point (Mamba Point area). Sometimes after work, I breathe in the salty air, listen to the sound of crashing waves, and try to avoid watching people drop the deuce. I'm 99% certain that my wat/san professor would show picture #1 to demonstrate how NOT to set up sanitation facilities for people living in urban slums.

Memo to George W. Bush

MEMO
RE: Gun control

Sorry about your less than stellar presidency. The war in Iraq, crisis at Gitmo, handling of Haditha, reconstruction in Afghanistan, negligence of global poverty, increasing numbers of Americans without health care, ineffective NCLB policy, and other programs you've supported aren't going so well.

In an attempt to reach out and move beyond petty party differences (I'm not a Democrat), I'm going to give you an idea that may very well salvage what little credibility and respect the American people have for you and your cronies. I know you're not so good with words (newspapers are all leftist rags, right?) or oral communication, so I've attached this self-explanatory picture. Essentially, people can deposit arms in these boxes. I snapped this photo in Liberia. No, not Siberia. I said, Liberia. No, Mr. President, Gaddafi is not the president.

I know what you're thinking.
1) The boxes are blue. Americans will mistake them for USPS mail boxes and deposit tax documents or even worse, mailed donations to the RNC. Solution: we'll paint them a different color.
2) How will I afford this program? We can divert some of the future wastage from Katrina reconstruction or the $300 billion we're planning to spend in Iraq.

Think deep. I know you can do it, George. I hope you will take this memo into consideration.

Grand Gedeh 2

Vai Town: site of an INGO-supported health clinic. A woman carried her baby 4 hours to get basic medical treatment here.



I spy Ethiopia(ns). The day I flew in to Grand Gedeh, a member of the Ethiopian battalion shot himself in the stomach or chest. Word going around was that he was depressed and attempted suicide.


A newly built, INGO-supported market center.

Grand Gedeh One

United Nations: white tape, red rope


MI-8 with Ukrainian pilots included


Man vs. nature. Nature wins.

Forests under electron microsope.

Tim says: Wow, you're a pretty looking thing.
Plane says: Back off. 2 months ago, my landing gear wouldn't open and I crashed here with 40 people inside. The Airbus 330 ain't got nuthin' on me! (Roar...cough, cough)