Archive for January, 2009

Daniel, my best friend.  Daniel would tell me that I was his best friend.  I would tell Daniel that surely I could not be his best friend because he has only known me a year. ‘No’, Daniel said, ‘you are my best friend’.

Daniel was one of those people who genuinely cared about you.

He would drive me crazy!!!  Tyrone, how did you sleep?  Did you rest yourself?  Are you going to eat your lunch?  Are you going to eat your dinner?  Where is my friend? (asking me where my wife was)…Tyrone, Tyrone, Tyrone….WHAT?!  DANIEL, WHAT!?  My wife doesn’t ask me that many questions and my mom is back home in the states!

Oh Daniel would drive me nuts.

Daniel was soft spoken and truly cared about the answers to those questions.

I did have to break the news to him that I had a few best friends at home, but he would still qualify as a best friend because who said you had to have just one best friend?  He was happy with that.

Daniel was sad and visually upset the day we said goodbye.  He called and left me a message on my phone a few days right before the ship left…

“Tyrone, this is your best friend Daniel…”

Then he proceeded to say some funny things and make me laugh, also he picked up several of my words, sounds, and mannerisms while he was here that he portrayed thru the phone call.  Daniel hasn’t answered any of my emails since we have been gone, but thats to be expected.  Most people in Liberia don’t have laptops or computers, and even if they did, they don’t have internet access unless they pay a high price for it at an internet cafe…and most don’t have the money for that.

Daniel, as well as the others could write a story about living in Liberia that would leave you speechless…its hard for me to imagine.

Daniel was a hard worker going above and beyond what was expected of him.  Daniel has a plan.  He knows how to save money and wisely think about his future.

A year or two ago a crew member offered to finance Daniels training for him to be with Mercy Ships as staff abourd the ship (then Anastasis, now Africa Mercy) and later probably pay his crew fees and insurance when he came back, but Daniel declined.  Daniel doesn’t want to leave his country…he told me he doesn’t have any big dreams of leaving and heading out for the ‘Western World’.  Some would question whats wrong with him, but I applaud him for wanting to stay ‘home’ and pursue his dreams and goals in his own country.  Whats wrong with that?

Yes, I will miss Daniel.  At this point I miss him aggravating me everyday and that’s not easy for me to admit.  I probably was the closest with Daniel.  We talked about life, his plans, Jesus, our spiritual growth, prayer…and movies he’s never seen, like ‘Karate Kid’ where the main character, a young boy, was called ‘Daniel-son’ by Mister Mi-Aggi. (spelling?)  This is relevant because Daniel likes karate but I think he only learned it from watching TV or Movies so I was surprised he had not seen it (they have plenty-o bootleg DVD’s here in Monrovia).  Sadly enough we had the movie here in the Library but I never got around to watching it with him…

Someone in Monrovia Liberia tell Daniel to email and let me know he’s been doing alright!

Oretha left before the end of the year to attend a Discipleship Training School to return as long term staff…hopefully that will happen for her!

For some reason, not sure how, Oretha got the idea that I was a bad boss or not a good man…hmmm maybe they (the long term staff) were talking about some other chief cook/galley manager before I came and she thought it was me.  But after she got over the initial shock of me being more crazy and fun than mean she was well on her way to enjoying her time in the kitchen.

The above picture is Oretha and I after I received my Africa Shirt (made locally – with fresh fold lines still in it! hahaha!) at which time she expressed for herself and representing the other day workers in food service many kind words for me being her boss and the fun they had working with me.   Definitely a great time and gift for me.  I think I would be more proud of enjoying working and learning from them as they learned from me more than I ever would winning a food contest/competition and getting a trophy…I just could not see it being as fulfilling.

Oretha has one of those real serious looking faces (just like Jemima) that breaks into one of the biggest grins.  Oretha and Ophelia are actually related.  Oretha is Ophelia’s aunt.  Earlier this year Oretha’s sister (Ophelia’s mom) passed away…it was a hard time for both of them and neither of them wanted to miss a day of work.  They needed the money to help the family.  Financially several of us helped out the best we could and time is helping heal the rest.

Oretha was the ward cook on the opposite cooking rotation from Ophelia…sometimes these two could fight/argue like nothing you’ve ever seen and then start laughing when I came to quiet them down.  This only happened when one of them came to the ship to do extra work  on the same day the other was working…like getting money to go to the market to get local food to cook for the patients.  Who else is going to know better how to maneuver the market and negotiate/barter prices?

Oretha came for the last work day on the ship to make her presentations and give away her African shirts to Peter and I, since Peter was the big boss-my boss,  he got two shirts!  Korpo helped her and assisted in pulling the shirts over our big head!

Oretha, if your reading this I miss those spicy beans you cooked for the patients…send me the recipe!

On the left hand side of me is Jemima.  And yes, I did make fun of her by calling her Aunt Jemima which is a popular syrup and buttermilk pancake product in the United States(which as I remember, was also delicious).  Nope, I am not going to apologize…I explained it to her and she thought it was funny and EVEN she had heard of it.  BUT you want to know something more interesting than funny about her name?  Her mother named her after a woman in the Bible.  Yes.  Its true.  Remember Job?

Job 42:14 (King James Version)

14And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.

Now if you are truthful you will admit it never occurred to you or remember it, or you would have questioned whether it was the true by running to find it in your Bible.  But there it is…plain as day.

Jemima was another one of those people who always looked serious but would ‘break out’ in a big grin when you talked to her (or threw water on her, after the scream of course).  Jemima worked in the dining room but would come up to the galley to get food to eat or help us with something we were doing (because we were always short a hand or two, but you probably realize this by now from my posts).  We would enjoy sitting around and talking while we ate in the galley (instead of in the dining room) because that’s where they wanted to be, plus its where the ward food was made which was/is true Liberian food.

Jemima is a hard worker…nobody in dining room or galley would ever question that, but she is a great friend as well.

Korpo came to the dining room to help out because the work load was too much for the current volunteers we had on staff.  I may be wrong but I believe she was already working on board but was ’shifted’ over to the dining room from another department.  She too would come up to the galley like Jemima did, but I think it took her a little while to get used to me.  Because just like Jemima, she thought I was a little strange and crazy.  And to her/their credit, I am.

I did not know her as well as the others but I enjoyed her friendship as well.  She was surprisingly a little more aggressive in talking to me and giving me a ‘hard time’ in return when I aggravated her on purpose.

I hope they all are doing well, I wish I knew.

Kind of quiet, HARD WORKER, and loved to wear all the odd head and apron gear he could find in our galley cabinet!

John (sorry Foday) was the real dish machine!  He would just let them pile up till they were worth doing (a few at a time while they trickle in is wasting time) and in the mean time he would help the ward cook, the cooking team, and/or the salad team prep their food for the meals.

You know that one person at school, church, or work who is always the one you add to every team that works great with others?  John was/is that all around good worker.  No complaints.  I tormented John a little bit, but torment is probably a strong word.  He had this bad habit of leaving a lot of water in big metal bowls after he washed them, and since we stack our bowls on a rack right side up, the water would stay in them instead of draining out. (which by the way is the WRONG way in the food service world, but you have to go with what works in situations like these…)

I used to ask the dishwashers repeatedly ever week to drain this water out, but they could never remember…so I started tossing the water on them if they were close to me when I retrieved a bowl to use and it had water in it!  That surprised John a little bit and he started to remember to drain or dry them better. 

Don’t try to start in on me for being mean, its WATER!  And they loved it, it was fun…and it created more jokes and laughter.  Later I would just surprise anybody close to me by throwing the water on them, and then say, ‘Don’t forget to remind your friend John to empty the remaining water from the bowls before stacking them up…’ then they would start aggravating John about the water left on the dishes…worked quite well.

The rumor is that John may show up in Benin to work in the kitchen/galley for the next outreach.  That will be good for Peter if both John and Oretha can make it back!

Foday needs an exclamation mark at the end of his name.  Believe it or not, (and it was hard for us to believe) Foday is about 50 years old with 9 kids!  The last baby he had was born in 2008 and he named it Peter (after my boss, the Chief Steward) because Foday said he wanted his child to grow up big and healthy like Peter! (I think it was meant as a compliment, but Peter looked a little skeptical)

Foday is one of two dishwasher, they (Foday and John) rotate on their assigned cooking team…so they don’t work together.

We have talked about Ophelia in a previous post where I described her and Foday having those heated arguments in the kitchen.  Foday can/will drive you crazy and have you laughing hard at the same time…and sometimes separately.  BUT…

Somewhere along the line Foday has blurred the reality between dreams, his imagination, and being conscious – but of course living through a civil war, in poverty, and having 9 kids to feed may do that to you…and I mean that seriously as well as humorously.  Foday tells us great stories of killing 50 foot eagles and knowing the ‘Bong Mine’ Troll (search bong mine for other posts on Bong Mine).  And he is adamant about them being true and correct, which of course makes for some interesting conversation and questions from new crew/staff/volunteers to the galley.  Of which we, the people who are long term, get some very great entertainment out of it!  And of course Ophelia does her best to get him ‘riled up’.

The downside to this is that Foday has a hard time concentrating on getting work done, or paying attention to instructions.  When this happens I aggravate him by comparing him to John, the other dishwasher.  This usually does the trick, but then starts him on a new tirade of undecipherable English.

I could share more, but it probably wouldn’t be appropriate in a public post…got to leave him some dignity, right?