For Women Only

I saw the ad on the ship for a female get together to go through a book entitled “For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men” by Shaunti Feldhahn . I was intrigued as I had come across circles where men were considered the head of a marriage. I decided to view it as a study in cultural anthropology.

Feldhahn wrote the book after taking a survey in which she asked both sexes whether they would rather be alone and unloved or disrespected and inadequate. 75% of women said they would prefer to be disrespected and inadequate rather than alone and unloved while 75% of men said the opposite (much to the shock of the polled women). This highlighted for her how few women have a clue how men’s minds work. This book was designed to enlighten any female who cared to unlock the mystery of males in her life whether it be family, workers, or friends.

It seemed that the jist rested on a certain biblical description of husbands being told to love their wives and wives being told to respect their husbands. We were asked why wives were not asked to love, but men were. I spouted something about the cultural context of the time and women being merely possessions of males. Marriage merely signified the exchange of goods from father to son and the interlinking of families groups and so the request to love this person was actually a significant shift in perspective from one of function to one of emotion. Later it dawned on me that these suggestions made for husbands and wives fit into the 75% inadequacy holes that each sex felt according to the original survey.

After the 1st session I was surprised at how relatively even-keeled it began. It was actually a good source on how to be a decent human being to others. It was applicable to anyone at any time. It focused on how to value, respect, affirm, and appreciate another human being. It looks at how we can have a double standard when it comes to how we want to be treated versus how we treat others.

ASSIGNMENT 1: DO NOT SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE TO ANYONE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX. I thought, hey, why torture your own sex too? I tried not being negative to anyone. What did I find? There is a lot of grey area!

Quote: George Alagiah

"When I joined the BBC, arguably the Western world's most influential broadcaster, I told myself I would avoid the clichés. If I took pictures of the starving, I would try to preserve their dignity; if I showed footage of conflict I would try to explain where all the anger and hatred came from. I wanted to challenge the image of Africa as a place of tribal savagery and greedy, callous leaders.

But Africa didn't help me. All too often it was difficult to make sense of what I saw. That's the way it has been since the BBC sent me back to Africa for the first time. Liberia was a bad place from which to attempt to rebuild the continent's tarnished reputation. Two and a half decades after I had left for boarding school in England, Africa was in worse shape than I could ever have imagined."

-George Alagiah, A Passage to Africa, 2001

Academy Sports Day

The Academy on board the ship marked their end of the year with a Sports Day. The Nepal UN Base Camp ("Camp Everest") generously offered us their field to use for the event.

The UN Nepal Base entrance.

Entering the field.

I arrived too late to see the kids compete, but got to see the parents racing.
The moms start their race.
The men get a "head" start.
The dads come running towards the finish line.
Parents hover under the awning.

A red flag.

The kids watch as the adults race.

By the end of the day no one is in their seats anymore.

The best view.
The bleachers.

A UN ambulance is parked beside the field.
The Academy Principal looks on.The parents.
Time for the announcements.

The kids line up to receive their rewards.

The red team won.

The Principal of the Academy presents a thank you gift to the UN Nepal base.
Some of the teenagers hovering near the end of the field.

Two of my students being themselves.

The same two students looking suspiciously innocent.

A Year of African Anaesthesia

Nigel:
Having spent almost a year in Africa as an anaesthetist, first in Malawi for 4 months and now in Liberia with Mercy Ships for what will be 7 months, there is both a satisfaction and frustration.

Teaching local biomedical students in Liberia about the working of anaesthetic machines on Mercy Ships.

Firstly, I have learned that it was God who was willing to use me as his hands for this time and it is through his strength that I am here, not my own. I have been fortunate enough to have been born in a country where achieving a medical training was an opportunity at my door as long as I was willing to work at it. My training was free and I only had a small amount of debt after 5 years of study. Back then, and still now, a job is pretty much guaranteed and the financial reward is handsome.

In Africa, even if I wanted to become a doctor, the chances are as slim as becoming the next president. Such is the daily struggle just to earn a simple living and put food on the table.

The next thing I have observed is how ‘easy’ it is to practice in the West. Don’t get me wrong, medicine at home has its own stresses in terms of complex patients, quality assurance, targets to meet and departments to run on a fixed budget. This however is relative to the situation in Africa.

Two Malawian anaesthetists prepare a patient for surgery at Biet Cure Hospital.

Here, the majority do not have access to even basic medical care. 70,000 people die each day needlessly of causes such as water, basic sanitation, AIDS and easily treatable conditions. Where there is a hospital, it works on a system of payment and bribes for your treatment. The anaesthetic facilities are basic and the conditions the anaesthetists work in are difficult. The equipment is out of date and often non-functional, there is often little or no monitoring of the patient, drugs are scarce and techniques are kept simple. Looking after a patient for even moderately complicated surgery is beyond their boundaries. Recovery rooms in these hospitals do not even have oxygen!

Queens Hospital, Blantyre (Malawi), anaesthesia cart with draw-over apparatus and a brick to hold the syringes.

In Malawi, there is only one anaesthetic doctor and in Liberia there are none. As in most of Africa, nurses provide this care in harsh circumstances and I stand and watch them in complete admiration. The 3 nurses I helped teach in Malawi (and let’s face it, I learnt much from them too) still did not earn enough to travel or buy a house. They would tell me that their wages went to feed and clothe their extended families which could be up to 10 people. I can go home, find a job, work with other doctors and a trained assistant and have all the drugs and equipment that I need at my disposal. If something does not work, you simply swap it for one that does. I know my patients are going back to a ward where they will be cared for properly. It makes me angry when people complain about the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK. You do not need to travel far to have a reality check.

Our friends, Polina and Patricia, in Malawi.

Truth-seeking: Historic Liberia Hearings in St. Paul Reveal Horrors

Vereata Giddings, one of around 30,000 Liberians living in Minnesota. “Going back to that memory is tough, like it’s happening all over again.” Photo: Paul Schmelzer

BY ANNA PRATT, MINNESOTA INDEPENDENT
June 21, 2008
Describing the events that unfolded in July 1990 still brings tears to the eyes of Liberian native Jane Allison Samukai. After civil war broke out in her homeland, rebel soldiers attacked her home. Those who didn’t heed the soldiers’ demands were shot. “I witnessed my neighbor’s killing and torture,” Samukai said, wiping her eyes. “People were taken away in the night… I knew they were going to kill me.”

Confronting a difficult past: the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission in St. Paul By Emily K. Bright, TC Daily Planet Witnesses at the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation hearing in St. Paul June 9-14 varied widely in their experiences and perspectives. The daughter of the Vice President under Samuel Doe in the 1980s wanted her murdered father to be remembered as a public servant willing to give his life for his country. The economic advisor under three presidents flew in from Philadelphia to give his inside perspective on what would be best for his country. A young nurse tearfully recounted finding the soldier who kidnapped and raped her during Taylor’s rebellion later promoted to a government security position.

Historic meeting of the Liberian Truth & Reconcilation concludes
by Staff, African News Journal Over the weekend, Saturday, June 13, marked the conclusion of the six-day meeting of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceedings held both live at Sundlin Music Hall on the Hamline University campus in St. Paul or via the live web-cast at www.trcofliberia.org. A full days of proceedings was planned most of those days with witnesses testimony and other events throughout.
After she’d been tied up and raped at gunpoint, another soldier told her attacker that he had done enough. She lay helplessly on the ground. “I could no longer fight,” she told an audience that had gathered for the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings at St. Paul’s Hamline University last week.

Eventually, Samukai, who was covered with cuts and bruises, made her way back to the schoolhouse where her family and others had sought shelter. For days, she lived in fear. “I thought about suicide…I couldn’t face anyone,” she said with a pained expression on her face. In spite of everything, Samukai, who now lives in New Jersey and works with troubled youth, pressed on. Now, she says she wants to pay tribute to those who endured what she did by “being a voice for the voiceless.”

For the rest of the article click here.

Home

Ship life begins with a series of orientations. If you are one of the many who stay longer than 3 months then you go through a second series of "long-term" orientations. This begins with a talk called "How to Survive Ship Life". It is actually good. It talks about signs of stress and unhealthy coping mechanisms: drowning yourself in food, on the Internet, etc..

It also covers the phases that crew go through when living on board the ship. The first phase is the honeymoon. The second is hostility. The last phase is home.

HONEYMOON.
Yes, there was a honeymoon phase. We were excitedly meeting a lot of people. We enjoyed our jobs. The room we were given was bigger than we expected. We were heading to Liberia. There was all the junk food you could want on board.

HOSTILITY.
We became tired. Our jobs seemed relentless at times and we didn't see much of each other. We lost the ability to gain energy by being around other people and began hiding away just to recuperate. Our room was windowless and unbearably loud 24 hours a day. We ate too much. I buried myself in my computer and blog. We were confined to the ship by our lack of driving privileges. And there was too much junk food everywhere.

HOME.
We have recently entered this phase. We are sad to see people go and really miss them. I changed jobs to being a writer (with some photography and graphic design) which allows us more time together. We were offered to house sit a family cabin (windows and relative quiet). We began really valuing the people that were still here and came out of hiding. And we gained control of our junk food intake.

We will be sad to leave, but also excited about what lies ahead.

The New Liberia

MANDY ROSSOUW | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 21 2008 06:00 THE SMART NEWS SOURCE

Torture and mutilation in Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election campaign are reaching the levels of Liberia's horrific civil war, Mail & Guardian publisher Trevor Ncube said this week after returning from a visit to his home country.

"Limbs are being cut off and victims are given a choice: 'long-sleeved' or 'short-sleeved', meaning you can choose whether to lose your hand or your forearm.

"I think the numbers of people who are killed is understated. I know of at least three people who've been burned alive."

Ncube said the tactics used by "war veterans" and youth militia recalled those used by Zanu-PF during the country's liberation war. The ability to move freely around the country, even the capital city, has become a thing of the past.

"Rural Zimbabwe is inaccessible for anyone not from those areas. If you want to visit anyone there you have to report to the chief or headman," he said.

"My mother wanted to visit her sister in Bikita whose husband had fallen seriously ill. She was advised not to bother. 'You will be killed if you come here,' they told her."

Ncube said that in the rural areas mock elections are held in which people are told to line up behind the headman. As the ZanuPF militia oversees the voting, people are told where to place their cross. They are threatened that those who vote wrongly on June 27 will be dealt with severely.

Ncube said that although Zanu-PF started the violence to intimidate the opposition, the party is now struggling to keep it under control.

"It has got out of hand -- the party doesn't know which button to push any more. But they aren't complaining because all the violence works in their favour."

More Than Just Secretions...

During my current position as an anaesthetist with Mercy Ships serving in Liberia, West Africa, I was a little shocked at what I recently found in a child’s mouth before extubation. Upon routine suctioning of the pharynx following a cleft palate repair, apart from the usual blood and secretions one normally retrieves, I was greeted by 2 intestinal roundworms (Ascaris Lumbricoides) each approximately 15 cm long.

Ascaris is one of the most common parasites found in humans and it is estimated that 25% of the world’s population is infected with this nematode. The worms are a potential cause of airway obstruction and it is worth considering this in patients returning from or living in areas of endemic parasitic infestation(1).

Nigel Barker m/v Africa Mercy, Liberia, West Africa

1. Faraj JH. Upper airway obstruction by Ascaris worm. Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia 1993;40:471.

Vimto

I have just discovered this drink here in Liberia. Vimto. It tastes like creme soda and comes in a cool can. Nigel tells me he had it in the UK growing up.

Young People from Liberia Raise their Voices Against Violence

Interview from the RAISE Conference, 19 June 2008
Reported from New York by Shannon Egan

KAMPALA, Uganda --- Woloquoi Davis was just seven years old when the conflict in Liberia broke out. Rebels slaughtered his uncle and grand uncle before his very eyes. Forced to flee for his life, along with his few remaining family members, Woloquoi ran as fast as his young legs would carry him. Throughout his search for safety and freedom, he witnessed rebels killing innocent civilians and looting and burning the houses and property of his community members.

The Liberian conflict, which began in 1989, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and devastated the country’s economy. In 2003, the conflict came to an end and communities have had the opportunity to focus on the rebuilding of homes, neighbourhoods and basic infrastructures. But in a country where ritual murder, systematic rape, and torture were commonplace for more than a decade, some have found it hard to leave behind the habit of violence. After so many years, the thread of violence has become intertwined with the culture.

Woloquoi, now 25 years old, is trying to change his world by advocating for Liberia’s young people in the fight to stop all forms of the violence that he says “is destroying the social and moral shape of Liberia”. In his self-appointed role, Woloquoi volunteers for the United Youth Movement against Violence, an organization based in Paynesville City in the outskirts of the country’s capital, Monrovia. The Youth Movement, which teaches young people living in impoverished communities about issues such as gender-based violence through sports, art and other recreational activities, is supported by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

In an interview during the Reproductive Health in Emergencies Conference, Woloquoi talks about how participating in the recreational activities helped him heal from the painful experiences of his past and empowered him to change the course of his life for the better. He also addresses some of the key issues affecting young people in Liberia today, such as the lack of education and the problem of prostitution and he explains why it is beneficial for communities and organizations to invest in young people early on.

Click here to read the short interview. It is well worth the read.

Related Links:
Helping Young People Affected by Crisis
Will You Listen? Young Voices from Conflict Zones

Senator charged over deadly Liberian land dispute

Monrovia, Liberia, 18 June 2008 04:02 Fourteen people, including a senator, have been charged with murder following a deadly land dispute that left at least 14 people dead in Liberia, the Solicitor General of Liberia said on Wednesday. "Senator Roland Kahn and 13 others were charged last night," Tiawon Gongloe said via telephone. The charges follow the brutal killing of at least 14 farmers in Margibi county, about 120km north of Monrovia, nearly two weeks ago. The suspects are currently held in custody while they await trial, expected to be set in a month's time, according to Gongloe. The land dispute between Charles Bennie, a former spokesperson for the Lurd rebels, and the senator is the most deadly in recent years, with 14 people dead and another 19 still missing, according to police. The farmers, who were working for Bennie as contractors on his land, were attacked by armed men who opened fire on them. Bennie said he had been involved in a dispute over the land for some time with Kahn, who represents Margibi county. A court had already ruled the farmland belongs to him but the senator continued to claim it as his ancestral land, he added. Bennie accused Kahn's security men of leading the attackers, but the senator has denied the allegations. The Senate suspended Kahn last week, lifting his immunity from prosecution. Last week, Bennie, Kahn and 13 others were arrested in connection with the case. Kahn and the 13 men will be charged. The investigation into Bennie continues. "The police have nothing against Charles Bennie yet, so he has been asked to be reporting to the police headquarters daily as the investigation continues," the Solicitor General said. -- Sapa-AFP Related Headlines: Liberia: Senator, 13 Others Charged With Murder Liberia: Sen. Kaine, 14 Others Given One Week Liberia: Death Penalty Awaits Margibi Massacre Perpetrators Liberia: 'They Massacred With Machetes, Ak-47s' Liberia: Peace-Time Bloodbath Under Fire Liberia: Farm Workers Killed in Clash

Liberia: 'No Conflict of Interest,' President Sirleaf Says

The Analyst (Monrovia)
11 June 2008, Posted to the web 11 June 2008
Edwood Dennis, Monrovia

China's President Hu Jintao (L) meets Liberia's President
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia's capital Monrovia February 1, 2007. [Reuters]

Liberia is painstakingly emerging from the depths it was thrown by 14 years of civil infamy and there is no question that it will use all available assistance.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf seems to have no problem with this approach to recovery and said so this week.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has disclosed that there is no conflict of interest in Liberia's relationship with both the U.S. and China.

She said what rather seems to exist is a confusion of interest amongst some of Liberia's international partners on how rapidly and to what level to help spur Liberia's post-war security and economic recoveries...

The President Sirleaf said while neither the U.S. nor the PRC at any time expressed disquiet about the nation's partnership with the other, some Liberians and non-Liberians at one time or the other expressed fear that the direction the administration has taken may, at some point, fuel diplomatic conflict.

She did not say why the Liberians and non-Liberians thought that was a possibility, but observers recalled that the Tolbert administration paid dearly for such relation with China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War years.

Then, the U.S. regarded the two communist nations as threat to the democratization of Third World nations, including Liberia which many say the U.S. guided jealously as a satellite or pilot state.

Today with the U.S. and China cooperating at several fronts including the levels of trade, global terrorism, finance, and banking, analysts say, that Liberia will fall into trouble for courting China is far unlikely.

She said Liberia needed all of its friends, traditional and new, so that the widespread desperation being felt across the country can be taken care of as rapidly as necessary to protect the nation's stability obtained through the sacrifice of UNMIL.

According to her, both the U.S. and China were genuine friends of Liberia who, in their own ways, were concerned about the plight of the nation following years of bad economic policies and a devastating civil war and doing what best they could to help the nation out of its current dilemma.

She said both governments were equally concerned about Liberia's quick recovery as indicated by their past contributions and present efforts to contribute to the improvement and expansion of the nation's only public institution of higher learning and to education in general.

Click here to read the rest of the article

Juxtaposition

The word juxtaposition is the key phrase in art history. The contemporary way of learning about this history is to compare and contrast two different pieces of work. I like the word because it eludes to the ironic. Here is a photo of a strange juxtaposition in Monrovia.

Goodbyes

What is hard about living on a ship with 400 others? I am told it is the goodbyes. I don't always know how something will effect me before I consciously realize how valuable it is. Our friends Mark and Peggy from NYC left the ship on Sunday. I was feeling fine until it actually hit me how different it would be now and how I would miss them.
They are easy to be around. We are all liberal thinkers and no one was smothering so we naturally did some things together and then went on our way. It is a relationship that is so comfortable you might not notice how integral it is.

Mark is social and outgoing and so the two of them connected us (who were busy hiding away trying to survive community life) to a lot of different groups we wouldn't normally have been aquainted with. Peggy is humble and a thoughtful speaker. She was my skin guru and master yogurt maker. They both are very well read, talented at their jobs, and the best hummus makers around for counties. They are sorely missed by a lot of people.

Post departure we were left feeling like we had no friends left. As I ran into people over the next few days on the ship, I realized others were feeling the same way. A lot of people are leaving in the next few weeks. School on board the ship is over and families and teachers are heading home for the holidays leaving few of us left.

As one person who has seen people come and go over a 2 year period put it, it does change, but it becomes different and goes on until it changes again. I like change when I control it, not so much when it controls me.

I am suddenly really conscious of our friends that are still here. With two months left, I have a lot of hanging out to do.

And to Mark and Peggy, we will see you again somewhere around the world!

School Girls, Lane Girls

I read the Liberia headlines last week: 24 Students Become Pregnant at Guthrie (June 9, 2008, C. Emmanuel Johnson)

"The Ministry of Education has constituted a team to investigate circumstances surrounding the pregnancy of about 24 students at the Guthrie School System in Bomi County.
Education Minister Dr. Joseph Korto said when facts are established that the impregnate students were under the age, the matter would be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution because of the statutory nature. He told a news conference Saturday in Monrovia that reports of sexual activities among students and teachers were worrisome."

Last night a friend introduced me to a film by Carielle Doe who lived and worked in Liberia as an aid worker in 2005. In 2006, she went back to Liberia to create her documentary "School Girls, Lane Girls" as her master's thesis in Journalism. It focuses on young girls in Monrovia who sell thier bodies in order to pay for thier education (which is not free in Liberia). Save the Children, a UK Charity, estimates between 60-80% of young school girls in Monrovia sell their bodies to make money to pay for the fees. This is staggering. The education system is not very good either.
After years of civil war, the smallest West African nation of Liberia was ripe for change. In 2006, they welcomed Africa’s first female president as their new head of state. Her agenda included creating new opportunities for Liberian women. Many young girls in Liberia want to take advantage of the opportunities by going to school. Unfortunately the girls’ methods of funding an education may do them more harm than good.

The film explains how after the long war, basic survival has become a way of life for Liberians. Prostitution is just an extention of the survival for these young girls, many of of whom have left their parents and homes in villages to come to Monrovia for school.

Click here to watch the Trailer.

Sophie Jodin

Speaking of the proposal (which I was last post), as the idea was developing in my head in Canada a year ago, someone asked me if I had seen Sophie Jodin’s work. I knew of this Montreal artist and had partly followed her work over the years, but had not realized she was working from a similar theme (War Series/Ward Series). Check out Sophie Jodin’s War Series on her website HERE.

All The Good Things

I have had a number of people asking what became of my art proposal to Mercy Ships. Mercy Ships decided they were not interested in being involved. I suspect an artist may represent too risky of a marketing move for a company intent on branding themselves. I think I am better off in the long run as their policies on complete copyright and creative control would make any art maker nervous. We have different visions and that, I realize, is fine.

I did however feel strongly (and brilliantly) about the idea. I was momentarily left hanging and wondering what had gone wrong. Then I reassessed as I often do when things don’t seem clear. I think most artist fluctuate between thinking they are the most brilliant thing out there and feeling like losers who can't produce anything other than shite. It is essential to have times where you think you are brilliant as it motivates the production of all those brilliant epiphanies. It will keep you thinking people are quite possibly blind when they don't buy into it. Artists shouldn’t fight their tendency to be sensitive either. It is there where artists record so that others can participate in perspectives they could not imagine. 



So, back to feeling like doggy doo on this particular occasion, not so much about the rejection itself, but more about how it was rejected. I pulled out my list entitled “all the good things” which is where I record all the really positive things that keep me believing in both myself and my goals.

All the good things (Apr/May)
-16,000 hits on my www.michal.ca for April
-receiving a random email from a man who inherited one of my paintings in a will
-selling 4 major and 2 minor works through Vancouver Art Gallery and an Alberta art auction
-selling $12,000 of work in two months through galleries while in Liberia
-discovering my work has been featured on paintblog.ca
-a friend writing a really nice blog about me
-a designer writing really positive comments about my work
-small encouraging notes my family members gave me at Christmas, but I saved until the spring
-4+ exhibitions I have lined up for the fall (with more ideas in tow)
-a strong sense that the best I have to offer is actually art related, not minor jobs
-the original proposal being picked up internationally with development possibilities into a bigger project than initially projected.

I would encourage anyone to write down lists like this. When I am not feeling that good about my situation, I pull it out and am instantly transported back to my exciting world of possibilities.

Liberia: Series of Things

Here are some fun series of photos that people have shot in Liberia. Click on the subject below to view more images.Wheelbarrow Entrepreneurs in MonroviaRoad Signs & Shop Names
Transport and Other Humours

Bumpers