Visiting Max at Dakar Academy

Last weekend I (Debbie) went to visit Max at boarding school in Dakar. I hadn't been there since Nov. 2007, when Max was a freshman living off campus with friends. I feel like I got a much better idea what Max's life at school was like after hanging around for a few days. I met his teachers, went to the spring musical performance, met his friends, ate in the dorm one evening, watched "Survivor" with them on Sunday evening, went out for ice cream after the beach. Dakar Academy seems like a great place to go to school- a nice community of kids and very involved, caring adults. Max has just a few weeks left of junior year- an AP History exam next week, a research paper due, some other assignments and tests and of course final exams.

I was there for the spring musical "Seussical". Pretty impressive what a small school (only about 30-40 students in each class) can do. Lively and colorful sets and costumes and great talent. Max was in the chorus and is in the back left corner.

Max was baptized on Sunday along with some of his classmates. That's Jacob Decker next to him- Jake was our neighbor when we arrived in Liberia in 1995, so he and Max go way back.

Looking through my pictures, I realized that it would have been nice to have more shots of the campus and dorm. Someday I am going to learn to see my life through your eyes and know what to take pictures of.

On the homefront, my husband said that having me gone 5 days made him appreciate me. Guess that's a good state of mind for him to be in since Mother's Day is tomorrow. :) Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow mothers.

ELWA Roadwork

We're getting new roads! Layers of laterite (that's African red clay) grading, rolling, and rumor has it, gravel. Right on the ELWA campus. The campus has been hosting the Chinese road construction company (they've built their own little housing compound in one corner) and as part of the deal, they are working on our roads.

This is the road up to the studio from the Academy. The original road is to the right of the trees (the path to the football field is going off to the right). The new road is to the left of the trees and as you can see, a new culvert and bridge is being installed. The new route will be a great improvement, because there are a lot of rocks and washouts on the original road.

This is the new road from the hospital to the main highway. I was standing right in front of the hospital (around the OR area) when I took this. At the end of the road on the left is the new ELWA market building. The road is nice and wide and has no housing (and small children running into the road) along it.

These two pictures were taken right in front of our house. The grader took down a few of the pine trees (two were dying) and some branches, but better roads will be worth it. Only problem is, the road might be so nice that the cars will go too fast. Our trusty traffic cops, Brady and Coco (our dogs who like to chase cars that are going fast) may get themselves run over.

So that's the latest from the ELWA campus....... Debbie

How do you spell R-E-L-I-E-F?

Caleb's Science Project is due tomorrow... and just a few minutes ago, about 10:40 pm, he completed it!!!! What a relief.... He's feeling pretty good about it. He made a passive solar desalinator... and I guess we discovered why passive solar is NOT the technology used in the real world for this... we had pretty poor output... 1/2 tsp in a day!!! But it's proof of concept anyway.

Here's the proud science student with his display.... We love ya buddy!

Mystery Photo #7--a real mystery this time

When we were in Robertsport a few weeks ago--(see a previous post)--we were exploring some big old buildings that had been damaged during the war and have not been renovated yet. One of them was the Tubman Center of African Culture, a beautiful building which is still in pretty good condition. It's named for the longest serving president of Liberia, William V. S. Tubman, who was in the highest office for about 27 years (1944 until his death in 1971).



The building was almost empty, except for this small hanging seat like a Gondola chair. We were looking all around trying to figure out where it "belonged" or what it's use was. So... if any of you who know more about Liberia's past than we do, or have spent time in Robertsport before, can help us unravel the mystery of this hanging swing or ferris wheel car, we'd be very, very interested to know! Thanks......

Happy Resurrection Day!

Deb and the boys and I really enjoyed our Good Friday and Easter time... I was off for one thing (which was great!), and was able to spend some time reflecting about what my Lord did for me at Passover time when he willingly sacrificed his life and his will for my benefit.

On Friday we had a Good Friday service at church and used a rough hewn home-made cross in the service--we each wrote something on a paper and nailed it to the cross, to represent our wrongdoing, our guilt, the power of evil and selfishness in our lives, etc. And then this morning for resurrection Sunday Deb, the boys and I transformed that same cross with greenery and flowers from around our area, into a symbol of the hope and new life we have in Jesus.

Robertsport Weekend

While Max was home for Spring Break, we enjoyed a weekend in Robertsport. It's about 2 hours away by car, and has a great beach. Yes, we know we live on the beach. But it was nice to be out of town, and the beach in R'port was way cleaner than our beach. We stayed at the "tent resort" pictured below - the tents are heavy canvas and set up on a platform. They are furnished with two double beds and some chairs, and a fan. We slept great.
Here's the group that went- since we had 4 beds (2 tents) reserved, each of the boys brought a friend. They spent hours body-boarding and body surfing. In fact, most of them were in pain from chafing by the end of the trip.


We drove through Robertsport on the way out. It's really just a little town, with this pretty big hill towering over it. Rick thought this tree up on the hill was pretty amazing.

There are more pictures on Rick's camera, so maybe he'll add a few. It was a really nice weekend, and not too long a trip- it could easily be a day trip now that the roads are so good.

Max is on his way back to school in Senegal tonight- it really felt like a short break (spring break always does, it's only 2 weeks). He's doing really well in school in all respects- academically and socially. I'm (Debbie) going to go for a visit in about a month, to see the school play and for Max's baptism.

May God bless your celebration of his Kingship (Palm Sunday), his Sacrifice (Good Friday) and his Victory (Resurrection Sunday!) -- Debbie

Mystery Photo number 6 revealed!

Well, the only comments I got on this one were from those of you who thought it was too easy... and that either means that absolutely everyone thought it was too easy, or that the rest of you were ashamed to admit it was hard... Still looking for comments to let me know which one is the truth.


Jared, Caleb and I went to the beach last week and thought we should have a mystery photo from our day at the beach, and decided to do the barnacles. It was a fun day--swimming and body surfing and just enjoying God's wonderful creation.

By the way, I think there are two species... the grayish ones that don't show up well, vs. the white ones. And as Max mentioned, there are some "deserted" ones that are no longer alive, and some alive and well. So Steve, we look forward to the full Marine Biologist analysis shortly...
With love, Rick for all of us............................