Brief narrative before scrolling down through the photos:
The purpose of our self-funded trip, my husband Harry Itoka and I, was two-fold. First, we traveled to Grand Bassam for his international family reunion, the Gadegbeku Family, which the Ivoirian family hosted.
Grand Bassam was the Ivory Coast's first capital during colonial times.
After the reunion, we continue our trip to the Southeast of Liberia, where both of us come from, and where our 501 (c) (3) Nonprofit organization, Gyabolanders and Friends-US INC, implements several humanitarian projects in Women Empowerment and Literacy (schools). See website www.gyaboland.org .
Visiting and inspecting these projects and assessing their impact is a must.
My husband's maternal family is from Gbolobo Road, Pleebo, and his paternal family from Nyaankeh, Webbo, River Gee County.
Our route: We flew a 45-minute flight from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, to San Pedro. Drove from San Pedro to the border in Tabou, where we crossed into Liberia on the Cavalla River by a Ferry. Thereafter, we were in Harper City, Cape Palmas. It was surreal, after leaving there so many years ago.
The following day, after we arrived in Harper, we headed to my husband's hometown of Nyaankeh, where a few family members still live, but we did not recognize him. However, they were happy to see him. On the same day, we went sightseeing in Pleebo and Gedetarbo.
The following day, we headed for Gyaboland/Garraway Beach, my hometown that I left sixty years ago. A town with overwhelming gratitude for the humanitarian work we have done over the years. Projects including:
Construction of a school with Solar panels
Renovation of High School
Manufacturing of students and teachers furniture
Construction and furnishing of Women Empowerment Center
Donation of Marching Band set to HS
Donation of six Laptops to HS for establishing a computer Lab
Constantly donating School supplies
Etc.
The activities of our three-day duration included:
Welcome Ceremony with Kola Nut,
Constant inflow of guests,
Church service at the AE Hall, United Methodist Church,
Tour of the various towns,
Inspection of Projects,
Visiting the three schools in Garraway Beach- 1) S.G. Mooney School where we distributed drawstring gift bags filled with some school supplies and other goodies, 2) United Methodist School, goodies bags to the kindergarten and first graders, and Reusable Menstrual Hygiene kids to the ninth grader girls 3) Garraway Central High School, presented six Laptops to the Administration for students use, distributed goodies gift bags to the Kindergarten and First graders.
We intended to gift every student a goodie bag. Unfortunately, the barrels did not arrive. The barrels containing school supplies and Menstrual Hygiene kits shipped from the USA in Mid February have not yet arrived in Liberia. The delay of these items is very disappointing and unfortunate. Until now, those items have not arrived in Liberia.
On Sunday after Church, we headed to the beautiful beaches, where our entire crew spent the rest of the day with some local youngsters.
The morning of the day of departure - The sound of the local Traditional Horn cycling past our house awakened us. That sound was the beginning of a big feast given by the entire town. The town elders killed a cow for the feast while the women cooked palm butter and pepper soup. There was enough food to feed the entire town. Everyone gathered in the yard: the drums, the food, the dancing.
There was a pause in the music for a formal program, speeches, and the presentation of a Certificate of Appreciation, and then we went back into dancing to the beats of the drums. Our convoy pulled off at about 6:00 pm for departure back to Harper. It was a bittersweet moment leaving my people again. I prayed that Almighty God would bless me with good health and a long life, so that I could visit my people again in the near future.
On Sunday morning, we attended church Service at the AE Hall United Methodist Church. It is the church where I was baptized. This church looked huge to me before I left Garraway. Now, it was a small structure.
