August 28,2010

..And the rains came,pelting us w. its blessings. Fortunately, no floods as in China and Pakistan. Kid UN offices allowing this communique as I have no internet. Attended Flag Day celebration in Buchanan City on Tuesday as the guest of the Governor Julia Duncan Cassels and spoke from the podium with a sty-in-school message. My Fulbright workshops with the Wuse Women and Leraning Women were well-rcvd. and I am surrounded by the greatest in Liberian hospitality. We eat, lunch and work together and I am becoming a great fan of chuck rice and stewed barricuda and grouper fish. I have a fan base of young women students who are really on the ball. Last evening I addressed 65 men (mostly Christian pastors)and the Ass't Governor asking them to commite themselves to supporting gender equality. We will see what the men of Liberia are made of!This morning we begin thw two-day curriculum seminars for faculty, staff, and women leaders to begin the first stages of a 'white paper'-a gender studies curriculum which will accompany the women's center. There is talk of making gender Studies 101 a required course for ALL students and most seem to be on board with this proposal. The men had great questions, important concerns, some about feeling displaced by what they felt might become a women-dominant process. I assured them that the principles of the equality of men and women guarantee our metaphor that man and woman are like 'two wings of the bird-if one of the wings is icapacitated the bird won't fly.'
May the blessings of the good God of the Universe keep us all on the road to peace!

Buchanan City-Part II

Welcome to the world of spotty internet access,bucket showers, and a moodly electrical grid. A bucket shower is a refreshing bucket of water from a lge. vat in the bathrm that you pour over yrself after soaping up, taking water conservation to new heights.Try it to be in touch w. most of the world, and eco-friendly.Have been introduced to the county Sch Supt.,Hon. Julia Duncan Cassell,women leaders throughout Buchanan, and church and business leaders, all of whom are participating in our workshops, seminars, and meetings. Several men's groups are being integrated into our planning/schedule b/c the boys are feeling left out. And let's face it, girls, we can't move forward on the equality of men and women unless we work together. During our planning for developing a gender studies program and women's ctr.at the newly chartered Grand Bassa Community College, a need had emerged to separate the women's sessions based on age. Seems the younger women have issues they want to raise that they're reluctant to share in the presence of older women. So we've split the sessions, calling the younger women- "Learning Women"- and the mature ladies-"Wise Women".
The prospects for girls and women here are bleak but that's why many of us are here contibuting women's empowerment projects at all levels. For those of you following news for The Fast Project, I have just rcvd. the go-ahead fr. the Supt. to join w.a 'learning women's' group-"Girls of Destiny" who will help implement the project in 3 schools selected by the Supt. As soon as I hear fr.the Honorary Consul in ATL (+ "100 Black Women"), we may expect aid in reaching KC for the personal care products.
Yesterday we were taken to the fabulously serene Princess beach for the entire Sunday afternoon, crashing waves, young people playing beach games,blissful. This mostly coastal nations' beaches are yet undiscovered territory by the developers.
Stay tuned for my next internet access.

Buchanan City, 19 August

Awakening,one peers thru the mosquito netting as a light breeze gives its last breath to the curtains. My Boston insects have been domesticated;Liberian insects do as they please. For just pennies almost, mosquito netting holds off malaria in the developing world and the disease could be reduced, if not eradicated if we in the wets were more generous w. our pennies. Arriving last nite I'm welcomed by a rainy season that lasts from April to November and, accord. to President Sirleaf-Johnson, climate change has extended this season dramatically. Collected @ the airport by Dr. Zangai and his driver, Paul, we make our way fr. Roberts airport located on the Firestone Plantation and the 60 mile trip on the Monrovia-Buchanan Highway. Our 4-wheel drive passes thru bamboo, cottonwood, and rubber tree forests and past the very humble thatched roof homes of the poor. No highway lighting, no electricity on this road, but Liberia has a rainforest so pristine, it rivals the Amazon. There wld have been more of it except that the former 'African strongman'(Charles Taylor) currently on trial at the Hague, chopped down a good deal of it to fund his rebel enterprises and the 14 yr. civil war. Africa is impoverished in many places, but its lush natural richness and the resilience and enterprise of its people will win out eventually. "Ma Ellen"(as the President is known) leads her people to small victories day by day since 2006. The folk stories of Liberian women bringing the war lords to their knees to end the war thru a peace movement is documented in the film, "Pray the devil back to hell". See it if you can....But I digress. The real story is that Monrovia-Buchanan highway on which you can only drive normally for intervals of 500 ft. or so, as you bob and weave snake-like to avoid the notorious potholes w. only your headlights to guide you. And this is the second time I am leaving a little bit of "myself" off the side of the road unable to conquer the nausea. The up-and-down movement did me in and reminded me of watching Nuri as a baby in the 'jolly jumper. Not the same. I am not smiling. Stay tuned for tomorrow's continuing saga of Robin-in-the-bush as I describe a "bucket shower" and the radio programme.

Eastward toward Liberia

One of the things I like about "This Child Will be Great"(2009), the autobiography of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is her prologue.... She starts by describing her country, not herself painting it as a

wonderful, beautiful, mixed-up country struggling mightily to find itself.

If you've read it, post your comments.
I'll be blogging here w. fotoz after I arrive Friday in Monrovia. Follow me, ask questions, comment.

8 Goals For Africa

The Promise of World Peace - A Baha'i Perspective

Haiti's schools six months into crisis

UNICEF radio reports on Haitian schools six months after crisis. Our energies, time, and money are best invested in the lives of children and youth. If we want a better world, this is the road to walk. Education is the key to eliminating poverty. These global citizens of the present and future in the developing world deserve what many of us have received in the developed world. And our urban and rural school systems in the U.S. need a massive reformation. I hope American school kids will pressure their local, state, and federal governments toward revolutionizing education in the U.S.

International Day of the World's Indigenous People - Zunia.org

International Day of the World's Indigenous People - Zunia.org

The FAST Project

Providing personal hygiene products and peer health educators to improve girls school attendance in developing countries. An associate of the Tahirih Association at:
Donate to support this project.

My book release: "Women, war, and violence: Personal perspctives and global activism" (Eds. Chandler, Wang, Fuller)

Become aware of the impact of gender and violence around the world. My current work on the ground in Liberia is documented in the introduction, chapter two-"Speaking with Post-war Liberia..". The book cover features "Capoeira", a collage work featured on my web site:. Available for purchase on Amazon at