Cuttington U/wheelchair ramps and FMN workshop

Monday we traveled to the Bong area to go to Cuttington University. It was a 3 1/2 hour trip.Needless to say no one knew to bring motion sickness pills because of the road. Josephus told us he took one before we left! You know it is a bumpy road if a Liberian is taken that pill! :0)

When we arrived, the University was kind enough to feed us. We had for the first time- Potato greens in palm oil over rice. Not bad...

We stayed in the University guest house that didnt have air conditioning. It was very hot that night so we took all the mattresses and slept on the porch for relief. Needless to say there was not much sleep due to the laughing/jokes, and the paranoia of bugs and lizards of some. I ended up being the bug killer using my shoe and the others well they got new knick names based on events that happened. What were they? I am glad you asked. They were Fluff n Go, Spooner, Plunger, and the Missionary Sucker. I will let you ask them who was who. ha We did appreciate our hotel by the time we got back to Monrovia needless to say.

This is Professor Flomo and his wife Victoria. We had a wonderful visit with them and had supper with them. When we visited the Professor the end of the previous week he had a really nice goat in his yard. One of the girls asked about him and he stated that the goat would be the guest of honor at an event next week. We didnt think nothing of it. When we started to eat supper at his house that night he said the guest of honor showed up. That is when it dawned on us. It was a good thing too or we would have not had anything to eat!
He has a great sense of humor and is passionate about the handicap issues facing the Liberian people.He is who is heading up the wheel chair ramp project at the University where he works.
We listen to his amazing Life story (he was not born crippled) and it will soon be in book form. I would highly recommend all reading it as it is adventurous, has romance, trials, drama, and shows the strength and courage he has. We sat on his porch and listen to stories as the thunder and lightening cracked for several hours. Branches falling down around the house and the rain pouring down. Made for a good back ground for story telling too.

Once we were there, we met with the Cuttington University Staff and President. He gave us some history of the college and we shared with him our desire to see students have better access to the school building through the building of these wheel chair ramps. We then made a small presentation to start the fund and made the commitment to see the project through.

We were there the same time there was a launching of the Dept. of Special Needs at Cuttington. They had a small program where there was songs sung, demonstrations given, poems read, Professor Flomo spoke, and etc... Currently they have 11 students that are disabled in attendance. I really liked that Professor Flomo stated-" A Disability does not have to Determine Ability."

Blind students demonstrating how they type on a Braille machine.

If this guy can get up and talk about how his disability is not going to stand in the way of his education in Liberia then how much more so can we not let our own disabilities (and we do have them in one way or another) keep us from helping them or others too.

This is Professor Flomo and his two sons singing a song about disabled people in Liberia.

We then toured the Phoebe hospital peds ward and come to know some of the children there. This child's name is Shadrack. He is a caustic victim. So sad to see this plight and know it could have been prevented.

The following morning- we held a workshop for student nurses, caregivers, and social workers on the care and therapies of special needs children. They asked many great questions and were hungry to learn how they too can help these kids. There was around 50 in attendance. Christina and Josephus did a great job of explaining and demonstrating as well as educating them of this issue.

I took a few minutes to address the caustic prevention and education issue and how important it was for them to help advocate prevention of this tragedy on kids.

Those who completed the course received certificates.

With that out of the way- we had a moment to relax. Professor took our picture- he tells us to eat cheese! (not say cheese) That got us all laughing...Denise in particular as I understand she cannot live with out her cheese. -ha

Peter squeezes himself on the back of a motor bike to go get his vehicle to pick us up. And we thought squeezing in the back of a taxi was rough. :0)

While our trip to Bong was short- we really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to our next visit there. We understand that there is a wonderful water falls to go see....