Hello everyone!

Here my first blogpost from Monrovia, Liberia! It took some trouble to get here: my first flight from Brussels took me over the Sahara and the rainforests of Ivory Coast to Abidjan. As we came close to Liberia heavy storms and lightning prevented the plane from landing however, and we were forced to fly to Freetown, Sierra Leone. There we heard that an Air France plane had attempted to land but had sustained damages to the aircraft, but also to the runway! The captain thus decided to fly back to Brussels. We were offered a night in a nearby Holiday Inn, and we took off on sunday for the second time.

The first thing you feel is the incredible heat and humidity in the air, which instantly made me sweat. Waiting in line for customs was a fascinating procedure as everyone had to wait in a long line in a small room, and many Liberian officials and random other people walked among us. Some passengers were picked out right away by their drivers without having to get a visa stamp at all. This took quite a while to get through and luckily I was picked up by my collegue Lizzy and Thomas, a driver from an organisation we are working with: SPARK. After a long drive through the countryside we arrived in the sprawled-out city of Monrovia. Interesting things to note: many 4-wheel drives, heavily guarded NGO offices and compounds, church-funded schools and half finished buildings.

We arrived at our appartement on the corner of 12th Street and Payne Avenue by passing through a big blue gate with the logo of the UN on it. The amount of space in the appartment is massive, but it is very empty and impersonal. At night it is strongly advised not to walk out on the street, so we take the easy option- Lizzy and I cross our street to the Ethiopian restaurant located there: my first delicious dinner in Liberia!

Today was basically a day of acclimatisation, talking about what is on the planning for the coming days, doing groceries at the local Indian supermarket, and walking to the SPARK IT-centre where they train young entrepreneurs in computer skills. There we formally received an invitation to the official opening of the Entrepreneurship contest tomorrow. After getting a ride back to the house by Thomas, we head to Sajj, an Indian restaurant where a whole host of expats get their work done when they do not have electricity or internet. We had the same problem. In the end we stayed there until late as a massive thunderstorm broke loose over Monrovia. Apparently this happens about three times a week, and mostly at the end of the day.

Tomorrow another day, and I will keep you updated!
Bram