Africa
IT’S HERE. Rick comes to fetch me in the morning at the Hilltop Hotel in Gbarnga and we get into the Toyota Land Cruiser. Vroom, vroom. We set off for the compound of the last NGO, which I have come to visit. It’s a whole different matter with Rick, let’s say that we are talking…
SAMUEL IS THE BOSS. That’s what I realise on the next day from the way they all stare at him when he greets me. One’s eyes can reveal a leader’s terrain. Samuel apologises for not having been able to accompany the day before due to “mechanical issues”. But I am already annoyed with this guy,…
Click, click. We have several photos taken with the people at the organisation and with the whole village. Those photos immortalise a great moment. Then we set off to see the cassava plantations on the outskirts of Bounaldine, Liberia. We walk and walk. We walk and walk amidst lush trees, which almost poke your eye out…
THE FOOD TAKES A WHILE TO COME. The food sometimes takes a while to come in Liberia. So instead of having lunch, we keep making our way into Nimba County and head towards the next village, Bounaldine, in our rickety brown Toyota Hilux. André, by the way, sits in the back throughout the journey, throughout…
IT’S FULL OF PIGS. That’s what we found upon arrival at the next village, Green Hill Quarry, in Liberia. The village is shaped like an L-shaped slide. It’s so inclined that it feels like we are sliding, wheeee. The dirty pigs, which are emaciated with protruding bones, are scurrying all over the village. They eat a lot,…
I SLEEP IN GBENEQUELLEH IN A TINY ROOM with no mosquito net, hoping malaria in Liberia doesn’t recognise me. Deep into the night, an overwhelming silence alternates with the roar of generators. I am tired and can hardly sleep. The next morning, Fred springs straight up, so he has obviously had a good rest compared to…
As we return to the car, I share with Fred and Alex what Kapuscinski once wrote about Liberia in his masterpiece, The Shadow of the Sun. How he’d be decapitated if he didn’t hand over money to the boys who watched over him whilst he slept. Fred can’t contain his laughter while Alex recoils in…
WHAT SHOULD I CALL IT? Jungle? Rainforest? Forest? Wilderness? Luxuriant foliage? There is definitely no word that can precisely define where I am heading to in Liberia. Countryside could be an option, but that doesn’t quite do it for me either. Jungle? No, impossible, I can’t call it the jungle. That would be over the…
I have often felt that I was going to climb the wall in Liberia. On some occasions I see her. The lady, who every night slightly commits suicide on UN Drive. She intentionally subtracts minutes from her life. That’s her, the woman wearing three rags and short hair. She throws herself onto the Ocean View…
GOAL. Goooal!!!! That was a goooooal !!! Goooooooal!!! The whole Samuel Doe Stadium erupts. It’s party time. We embrace, we’re all Liberians today and we are dancing with everyone. Gilberto is engaging in consensual fondling with the girl sitting behind us and someone is slapping me on the back as if they’d known me their…