From our guest, Célia

Climat

When I arrived in Liberia after spending all day on the plane, the first thing I noticed was the heat and humidity. After a rainy and cold summer in Switzerland, this is a change! It was often nice and warm (I didn't need to use my sweaters ;-) but as it was the rainy season, there were big rains sometimes quite impressive. One of the last days, we still went to swim in the sea with Simeon in spite of the rain to enjoy until the last moment! The humidity makes everything a little more difficult, whether it is the physical efforts where we sweat a lot more or the drying of the laundry which takes much more time!

Roads

One of the biggest differences that marked me was the roads. The cars, the motorcycles and "kekes" overtake on all sides, pedestrians cross without paying much attention and at night there are no lights on the side of the road. The state of the road also leaves much to be desired, there are many holes in the asphalt that fill up when it rains. I was also able to experience the dirt roads when we were in Voinjama (in the north of Liberia) for a week vacation. It was a real change of scenery when there were 12 of us in the car on these roads that shook in all directions and we didn't even have to think about strapping ourselves in!

Hospital

I had the chance to go and help for 5 mornings in the under 5 clinic at the campus hospital. I was able to help weigh and measure children and babies. Most of them came to the hospital for malnutrition problems. So I really saw the poverty and its impact on Liberian children. It was very interesting and I felt useful to to help the nurses there. It was not always easy to see babies so small and so thin, for example I weighed a 6 month old baby who weighed only 2.8 kg, which is less than a baby at birth. But there were also moments of joy, when a child who was on a nutrition program and came back to be weighed every day to finally reach his target weight. It was really beautiful and you can see that the hospital is really helping these people who can't even afford the means to feed their children.

Family

I had a great time with the whole Piaget family. It was an incredible opportunity to to live with them for a month. I was able to experience the life of a missionary family and and life in Africa. It allowed me to be really immersed in the culture, to eat local food, to meet a lot of people but it was also reassuring to be with them because they knew both Liberian and Swiss culture. There was always something to do, between the French classes with Theotime and Simeon, the games with Gabriel and keeping Caleb busy! I keep a lot of good memories with them and with Melvina and Nicolas, our discussions when the children were in bed and all that they told me and they brought me!

I spent an incredible month in Liberia (which went by too quickly!) and I came back with images, smells and memories in my head!

Thank you so much Piaget's!

Célia