T-Minus 2 Months

Happy May everyone!

As I write this I’m sitting in Uncle Levi’s Business Center. Work on the farm is finished for the day and I find myself most evenings helping Levi out in his shop. A few weeks ago one of his employees quit which left him with only Oliver. Oliver is 19 and works after school gets out.  Words cannot explain how much of an organized mess Liberian business is. Who needs labels when you can just memorize or make up prices for things? Just when I think I have memorized all the prices someone comes in and asks for something I don’t know the price of. Here at Levi’s Business Center we sell everything from scratch cards, phones, batteries, tv’s, generators, voltage regulators, fans, chargers, dvd players, headphones, and much more. We also provide cell phone charging and money changing services. Most people come in looking for wholesale scratch cards. You can buy a pack of Cellcom cards for 45 US but has a 50 dollar value if sold individually. Lonestar is a little more stingy at 47 bucks for a pack worth 50. A pack is either comprised of 10 five dollar cards, 10 cards with 5 tear off dollar pieces, or Cellcom has a pack of 10 cards with each card carrying 10 separate 50 cent pieces. There is also the wholesale transfer which is done thru text message. Its retail value is 40 but is sold here for 38. Then there are the retail card sales. There are the usual 5 US cards, then things get a little more complicated.  Lonestar dollar cards are sold for 75LD while Cellcom dollar cards are sold for 70LD. However a if a dollar bill is given the person still owes you 15 more LD for Lonestar or 10 additional LD for Cellcom. When changing dollar bill they are only worth 60LD even though the rate is 72. Libercell dollar cards are sold for 80LD but are pretty rare. Lonestar has a card that has 50LD printed on it but is actually sold for 60LD. Cellcom has an equally confusing card that is has 35LD printed but is sold for 40. Lots of the older folks who have cell phones come in wanting a 50 cent transfer that is done via text message and is sold for 40LD. Money changing is the most tedious considering the 72LD to 1US rate. However if someone wants to make a large purchase in LD the rate changes to 73. The phone charging rate is 20LD but if the person “begs you” they can usually have it for 15. The shop is usually ran off a central generator and if it’s on, a huge guy is sure to walk in and ask for his electric money. When the central power isn’t on Levi has a 500watt Chinese generator that needs to rest ever couple hours and needs frequent adjustments but that’s what’s expected from a 100 generator.

Last week I underwent the official Liberian Legal ticketing process.  Upon reaching the immigration checkpoint I have to go through everyday to get to the farm a man stopped me from passing and asked me where my helmet was. I told him I forgot it and will be sure to wear it next time. I asked him who he was so he quickly whipped out his Liberian National Police ID. I begged him to let me pass but he was being pretty strict. He demanded my keys and of course I refused because that would give him leverage and I would be forced to pay a bribe. This of course didn’t make him too happy. I told him it wasn’t protocol for him to have my keys unless I had a written violation. He explained to me he was just an arresting officer and not a ticketing officer so he couldn’t give me a ticket.  I told him to arrest me so I could go through the legal process and be on my way so I could keep working to help his country. He refused to take me through the legal process and refused to let me pass which tells me he is just looking for a bribe. I decided to try and wait him out so I sat at the checkpoint for about a half hour. If the officers want to collect a bribe they just grab the motorbike key which gives them instant leverage. The driver doesn’t get the key back till he goes inside or around the corner where the bribe is negotiated or exchanged. Normally I would just pay the bribe and get on with life but for some reason I decided to test them. Taxi drivers almost always have to pay something before the gate is lifted and is usually done through a handshake if the driver is frequently passing or if the driver rarely passes and doesn’t know the officers the price gets raised. Witnessing all of this while waiting is tough. Finally the officer suggested I drive him into the station so he could issue me a ticket. I counter-suggested since I didn’t have a helmet I couldn’t drive so we should take a motorcycle taxi to the station. He agreed and we got the next cycle to stop. The driver looked at me and started negotiating price. I looked at the officer and told him since he is arresting me he has to pay the taxi to take me in to the station.  After some debate the officer agreed and we were off to the station. Once at the station he referred me to the ticketing officer who made me wait about another half hour before calling me into his office and issuing me a ticket. He took my License after writing the violation for not wearing a helmet and not obeying the officer. I tried to explain that the officer was giving me an unlawful command but soon gave up the argument because it was almost 11. Once getting the ticket I was free to go but knowing I would have problems back at the checkpoint I got the ticketing officers number. I got a taxi back to the checkpoint, picked up my helmet on the way, but sure enough they wouldn’t let me pass even though I showed them my ticket. I told him he was embarrassing himself by not following protocol and had him call the ticketing officer. After talking with the ticketing officer, he let me pass. The next week I made my way to the Guinea border to the Finance office where the ticket was to be paid. After finding out where the ticket needed to be paid, the employees informed me the man who writes the receipts is out for lunch. I had them call him and just like I had expected he claimed he “was coming.” I waited another half hour before the receipt man arrived. He collected my 2,500 LD and wrote me the receipt. I then rode back to the station to get my license back. The original ticketing officer wasn’t there of course but another man got into his office.  After presenting the payment receipt the man started looking for my license. He removed a few books and clipboards from the desk, lifted the tablecloth and shuffled through the poorly hidden stash of licenses. Of course he couldn’t find it so we called the original ticketing officer who reassured him it was on the desk. We then removed the remaining book, clipboards, and typewriter from the desk and removed the whole tablecloth.  We finally found it and the officer handed it to me and I was quickly on my way.

Farming is going really well compared to the Indiana farmers. We are demonstrating nursery techniques for cabbage such as compost bags and early teeming. We planted the Tomato nursery last week and will soon be demonstrating different nursery techniques. Groundbreaking on the Pig house happened last week and it’s a rush to get it up and the zinc over it before rainy season.

I can’t believe I’m coming home it less than 2 months!!