It was early in August and this was my third week in Buchanan. The New Jersey team had just returned to the States, and I was now staying at Gabriel's house. Every day the skies were dark and overcast, and often it was raining just enough to discourage me from going out. But on this morning the showers had let up a bit, so I decided to venture out along the road and look for a few birds as I walked up to the PROJECT BUCHANAN property.
Eugene (who is a nephew to Gabriel and lives with the family) wanted to go with me, so I gave him my extra pair of binoculars to put around his neck and I showed him how to focus them. He had never looked through binoculars before, and so when his eyes suddenly adjusted to the big, close view he was getting through those crystal-clear lenses, I could tell that the moment was almost magical for him. Eugene had just discovered a totally new world, and I had been there to see it happen!
As we started walking down that muddy road with all its African sights and sounds and smells, in some strange way I too felt like a boy again. On this visit to Buchanan I was back in the country where I had been born and raised so many years ago, back where everything was still so much the same. Yet in another way Liberia also seemed far away, waiting to be rediscovered. I knew that back in my drought-stricken home state of Colorado this summer, the winds were hot and dry and the plains were parched and brown. Now, as I stopped for a moment on this muddy road in Liberia--just five degrees above the equator--, the amazing thing for me was the saturation of the greens in this rain-drenched valley, and the absolute stillness of the humid tropical air.
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Eugene must have felt so special to be out with you! My favorite line is: "When you start out to make a difference, you just never know how much difference you are going to make, or how much more you may be required to make... especially in a country where civil war has had an impact on the children and on their futures." Great reminder, dad!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrea! It wasn't until after I got back to the States and started putting that day into perspective, that I began to realize how much is really at stake for Eugene and for so many other kids in Liberia.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading this tonight!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeanette! And thanks for your huge, huge interest in PROJECT BUCHANAN!
DeleteIt's late here but I couldn't wait till tomorrow when I realized there was another post to read! Great endeavour, Gord! I'm going to try to hook my slate to Mom's TV on Friday to see if we can get a good viewing of this for her.
ReplyDeleteVery good! I was hoping you might be able to do something like that, but I wasn't sure whether you would have access to the internet in the building where she is now. Let me know if it works out!
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