We're Officially Volunteers!

It’s Official!

Just over a week ago, we finally took the oath to become official Peace Corps volunteers. Following a pretty serious oath (you can look it up online - it sounds similar to what we imagine a military oath might sound like) Therese gave a speech on behalf of the volunteers and we heard remarks from the Minister of Education and the new US Ambassador to Liberia.

The ceremony was in full Liberian mode with an individual acknowledgement for every distinguished guest, slightly missing the designated start time, and “plenty” food served after. We all got custom lappa dresses and suits made, and Bobby and Therese even matched—customary for married couples.

Before getting sent to our new homes and workplaces, we had two special visits with the Ambassador and the President of the Republic of Liberia.

Ambassador Mark Toner came to PC headquarters in Monrovia to chat and take a few pictures with us. He has been so kind and really fun to get to know, and actually served as a PC volunteer in Liberia many years ago. Some Liberian and African news outlets even picked up the story of our meeting with Ambassador Toner.

Our other visit was with his excellency President Joseph Boakai at his executive mansion. He was supposed to be the special guest at our swearing in ceremony; however, he could not make it and instead invited us to take pictures and chat with him a few days later. President Boakai seemed very grateful for PC and said the organization had positively impacted his life and the wellbeing of the country.

After all these festivities, we are finally back in Ganta where Bobby has started his job with the health clinic and Therese is cleaning her lab and getting ready for school to start. Since arriving back home, we’ve begun to fall into a routine and really get comfortable in our community.

We’ve touched on the different chores that we have become aquatinted with since moving here, but we wanted to highlight the grind that is Bobby’s water hauling chore. Therese allows Bobby to show off his man strength and haul all the water for the house. He takes a wheelbarrow and fills three, six-gallon containers with water from a well and then pushes them back up the hill to our house—then repeat 20 or so times. In addition to this manual labor, Bobby is surrounded by at least seven children at all times who want rides in the wheelbarrow all the way down the hill to the well.

Therese wanted to add that she does all the washing now, a similarly long and tedious task, which involves scrubbing all the stinky/sweaty clothes on a washboard and wringing them out by hand.

Therese has also been experimenting in the kitchen. We have discovered the gem that is brownie scramble; the closest thing to a baked treat with no oven. You use brownie mix, but instead of baking it in the oven, you cook it into a brownie soufflé over the stovetop.

The best dinner to come from this week was teriyaki chicken with fried rice. However, the chicken was canned, luncheon meat “flavored” chicken, and we had no sesame oil. If anyone has ideas for recipes with lots of canned goods, we’re all ears.

Our other good news is that we found a couch, or as Liberians say, a living room sitting chair. We even hired a pickup truck to carry it to our house with our new mini fridge. So now we have a comfy place to sit while enjoying some cold Liberian energy drinks and off-brand Coke.

To celebrate our new purchases, we invited Therese’s co-teachers over for some energy drinks and Liberian checkers. We are trying to get better, but still don’t see the patterns like the Liberians do. At least we know the rules now!

We will leave you with the best interaction of the week. The scene is Bobby and Therese walking to the market in Ganta:

Man on Street: Is that your sister?

Bobby: No, this is my wife.

Man on Street: Oh, congratulations on the beautiful woman!

Not to toot my own horn (Therese), but Bobby gets many congratulations on his beautiful wife as we walk through Ganta.

Hope all is well in America, and talk soon.

Therese and Bobby

The content of this website and blog is Therese Joffre’s and Bobby Housel’s alone and does not reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Liberian Government.