Liberia -the dogs of war

So at last I am here in Liberia. Anu and I have spoken about being here for more than a year now, in various conversations. In preparation for being here, I spent a lot of time with Anu, listening to desciptions of her experiences, reading the reports she wrote and immersing myself in the stories of the women with whom we would be working. At one point I was so distressed and sad ... but still determined to come.

NOTHING could have prepared me for the assault on my senses of things I have seen, heard, and felt since being here. The people are incredibly warm and welcoming, smiling and friendly. even though sometimes as we drive through the crowded, bustling towns some people still look at us curiously, some with a frown. There are masses of people on the roads always, coming and going, and it seems almost everyone when they stop, is selling something. I have seen Ardvarks for sale (dead of course), giant lizzards, and lumps of meat amongst other things.

We arrived on an incredibly hot day; as we came out of the arrivals hall and into the street, the heat bashed itself onto our skin and up our noses. My hair curled up welcoming the humidity and doing that weird wriggle it does when it feels the damp. Anu was stung by a bee. We were commandeered by a tall thin man who kept asking us what kind of car was coming so he could look out for it. It was an arrival in Africa which I expected and least expected at the same time.

As we drove from the airport, I was really tired and tried to sleep in the back of the bumpy car, but afraid of missing out I sat up and looked around. To my horror I saw a dog lying in the road, his back legs had been hit and so he couldn't get himself up. No-one stopped and I cried out in distress. I have been on the look our for new information that will change that story going around in my head. Look I know that in an impoverished country which has been through war anything is game and during the war, the people ate not only dogs but cats, and the forest animals such as Legauvans and Ant Eaters Stories of dogs abound, and I am constantly on the look out for something that will re-inform the story I have going around in my head. I have heard horrible stories about dogs here, stories of dogs kept to be eaten, bashed to death in a sack, tied up and starved. However, whenever I see dogs, most of them are not starving, and some look like they are part of the family, so it has been really confusing for me to think about whether these family pets will end up in the same pot as the chicken and the goat.

Across the road there is a small family with a dog, The dog sits close to the woman as she makes the evening meal. He is part of that family...... so I look and keep looking. However, today on our way back from lunch with Cerue in New Georgia (nog), I saw a man on the side of the road with a gorgeous well-cared for Pekinese dog, who not only was freshly washed, but had a little collar and tag on, and my mind sighed. At last the peice of information which will let me rest on this one... even if it is just for a while!!!