Susan E. Greisen's Blog, page 7

PEACE CORPS MAN

Sixty-three short stories and poems were published in the anthology, Never the Same Again: Life Service and Friendship in Liberia. Five of the authors have videoed their experiences and writings and I am honored to share the first one with you. Sit back and allow John to transport you from his hometown in Pennsylvania to his town in Liberia where he served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1981 to 84. His words and message are so powerful…a poem to read again and again.

Friends of Liberia sponsored this book and all proceeds will benefit humanitarian programs in Liberia. To learn more about the book, click on this LINK. You may purchase our publication below or ask for it where ever fine books are sold.

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Your applause and comments below will let us know how our efforts have impacted you. The remaining videos will be posted in the next days/weeks.

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West Coast Book Launch Video

Here is our taped West Coast Book launch of our Anthology, Never the Same Again, hosted by Village Books in Bellingham, WA with the introduction by the chief editor, Susan Greisen. We had readings from 6 of our authors: Dorothy Hares, John Miller, Joan Hamilton, Susan Greisen, Barbara Burke, and Maxwell Sines. Nearly 100 people attended both virtually and in person. Enjoy!

Thanks to all our readers who have contributed to our book success and spreading the word about Liberia. All proceeds benefit humanitarian programs in Liberia.

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Planting a Seed

In 1971, my first year as a 20 year-old Peace Corps volunteer in Zorgowee, Liberia, my role was to teach health education to mothers regarding antenatal and well-baby care. In the 70s, infant mortality in the first two weeks of life and maternal mortality was 40%, respectively. This meant that 4 in 10 mothers and infants died from childbirth complications – many preventable. As a licensed practical nurse with just a few months training, I had witnessed a country child birth performed by indigenous midwives in my small village. It was then I knew what knowledge they needed to make deliveries safer. So, I took it upon myself to take education one extra step.

In Part III, chapters “Country Birth” and “Indigenous Midwives” of my memoir, In Search of Pink Flamingos, I narrate the details of observing that country delivery by indigenous midwives. Later on I developed a training workshop for 12 of the midwives by using cardboard cut outs. Crude and antiquated you may say, but this was all I had – no educational tools. This was the simplest way to communicate in 3 languages to women with no ability to read or write. Here is the steadfast lead midwife, Bendu, who supported me 100%.

So what was the real outcome data of my work 50 years ago? Over the decades since my departure, two civil wars (many in my village were killed or fled due to the war conflict), AIDS, and Ebola all took their toll on human lives and infrastructure. I frequently pondered the question, “What good had I done, if any?”

In 2019 I had prepared a PowerPoint for former Peace Corp volunteers in my area. I was shocked by the WHO statistics, that despite all the atrocities and devastation the country had encountered, the mortality of infants and mothers had decreased to nearly single digits. Women had learned that delivering in a safer environment led to better survival. Many were now being delivered in clinics with trained staff. After the civil wars, training of Liberian nurses to become midwives helped in this effort (Some of these projects are funded by Friends of Liberia, a non-profit organization to which I belong).

This still left a gap in my knowledge of how, why and where? In September 2022 I met a former Peace Corps volunteer, Cary Virtue, who had returned 3 years earlier from a PC Response mission to Liberia. He explained that a program called Maternal Waiting Home (MWH) is a government sponsored program primarily funded by non-profit organizations that build small homes with beds next to facilities with trained midwifery staff. Here, pregnant women can stay days before delivery allowing access to this skilled care. Because of this effort, the maternal and fetal mortality continue to decline. The last recorded statistic is about 1%. Despite that good number, Liberia is still the 7th worse maternal mortality rate in the world. Below is a photo of pregnant women awaiting their due date in a MWH in Nimba County, near my village in 2019.

Maybe I’m taking a big leap, but I want to think my 1971 cardboard cutouts and the midwifery workshop helped plant a seed. I believe that teaching improved sanitation and basic childbirth principles was a beginning to better care.

I think the mothers and midwives believed it too.

If you want to help support this program and others to promote these efforts, go to Friends of Liberia (FOL) by clicking here to designate your donation for our health programs.

A happy woman peering through the MWH window in my village of Zorgowee in 2019.

Post Note: Maternal hemorrhage is one of the major causes of postpartum death. In Part VII, Chapter, Give Twins a Chance,” I tell the story of a postpartum woman hemorrhaging after her birth of twins. I demonstrated to the indigenous midwife how to externally massage the mother’s uterus, and we ultimately saved the mother’s life. Read about it in In Search of Pink Flamingos. I can only hope this midwife passed her learning on to others.

I would love to hear your comment in the box below. (No one can track your email or name if you do.)

Beyond Campfire Chatter

While on a camping excursion with friends and neighbors sitting around the campfire on a warm August evening, for some strange reason, the discussion turned to protein foods. Some of us shivered with “Oohs,” “Awes,” and “Yucks” as a few recalled tasting unsavory insects in certain parts of Asia.

One of my neighbors, Chris, who bought our Anthology entitled Never the Same Again, said she had just read something interesting. She shared with the nine of us, from the story “Uncommon Meat” about the Boa Constrictor and the German Shepard. As she told the story from memory, line by line, the campfire audience listened intently. When she concluded telling us which creature was really eaten by the local Liberians, the discussion gravitated toward customs that vary around the world and importance of protein during hard times. I chimed in with another protein story from the Anthology, “Gonleyen the Bird Catcher.” Chris added some detail that I had forgotten. One of my neighbors asked Chris when she had been to Liberia. “Oh no, I haven’t been there, I just read these stories in Never the Same Again.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Chris had been transported to Liberia through those brief stories. She was able to tell them to a group with the takeaway message of each story being totally clear.

The art of storytelling is a gift FOL authors have given to the world and the messages they share. This was exactly what I had hoped for. To see it spontaneously happen before my eyes was so rewarding. These stories and poems can and will educate: ones that go beyond campfire chatter.

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If our anthology lit a fire in your psyche, l encourage you to leave a comment above OR write a review/comment on any or all of these websites below. Hover over the link and open:

Peace Corps Worldwide:
https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/review-never-the-same-again-life-service-and-friendship-in-liberia/
(For this link just scroll to the bottom and add your comment. It will ask for your email, but it will not be published. You don’t have to be a PC volunteer to comment.)

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1736935151/RPCVWritersReadeA/#customerReviews
(Amazon requires that you have purchased $50 of merchandise from them in the past year or are a Prime member)

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61290175-never-the-same-again?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=men52qnAiD&rank=12#CommunityReviews

Thanks for reading. Here is a list of my recent blogs.

Beyond Campfire ChatterWest Coast Book Launch SuccessWar and ReunionBook Launch (in person or virtual), 9/25/22, 4PM, PDTPC Liberia’s 60th Celebrations

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West Coast Book Launch Success

Thanks to all you for attending the West Coast hybrid book launch for Never the Same Again on September 25th, 2022 held at Village Books in Bellingham, WA. I emceed the event that had close to 70 attend via Zoom and about 20 in person. Conducting a hybrid event was a technical challenge, but we pulled it off without too much chaos. Thank you to our wonderful readers/authors who joined us from across the nation via Zoom:

Dorothy Wrase Hares, upstate New York, reading “Greetings”John Miller, Athens, OH, reading “Peace Corps Man”Susan Greisen, Bellingham, WA, reading “Beyond War”Joan Safran Hamilton, Vancouver, WA, reading “My Heart Sings”Barbara Burke, Birmingham, AL, reading “The Richness of Life”Max Sines, San Jose, CA, reading “Peace Corps Goals and Liberian Ways”Karen Lange, Takoma Pk, MD, our co-editor for telling us her role in Liberia and beyond.

At the end of the event a woman stood up and said “I was born in Liberia in the 50s and left when I was 17. I was taught by Peace Corps volunteers in Sinoe County near Greenville and am currently in touch with one who lives on the east coast. I attribute my personal success to the Peace Corps and am so happy to be at this event and reconnect with FOL.” We welcome Shirley Dujardin.

She now lives just one hour from me in Washington State and was so moved by our event. She hugged me tightly as we departed and wouldn’t let go as she wept. We exchanged information and we will be getting together again soon. What an emotional and touching ending to our event. Yes, it is all about human connection – a connection that is not easily forgotten. Fifty three years later, Shirley never forgot.

Thank you again to all those participated in making this book a success. I encourage all our readers of this fabulous anthology to spread the word about our book, suggest it to your book club or bring it to your schools or libraries as examples of how to be a global citizen. I will keep posting more on my website and sign up below if you would like periodic blogs about Liberia. Or join FOL and donate to our humanitarian programs in Liberia at FOL.org.

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War and Reunion

WARNING:
This blog may be longer than most and more difficult to read, but for those who want to understand what happened in Nimba County and those Liberians in my village of Zorgowee including the surrounding areas in 1990, I give you the courage to read on.

Do you ever make assumptions from what you’ve read or heard? Without a first-hand account of the outcome of my village of Zorgowee, Liberia, where I lived for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, I made some assumptions of what transpired when President Samuel Doe went on a retaliating rampage in the villages inhabited by the Mano and Gio ethnic groups. Zorgowee was predominately Gio and President Doe was out to massacre them in 1990 after his former Gio Commander General, Thomas Quiwonkpa, failed to overthrow him in a coup attempt.

After completing my service in the Peace Corps in 1973, I had only read in the US news reports about the atrocities that Doe had committed to the Mano and Gio people in the 80s and 90s. I drafted my conclusions in my memoir epilogue of In Search of Pink Flamingos. On page 244 it read, “Entire [Gio] villages were emptied, including Zorgowee, as people fled for safety. I have lost all contact with those who lived there.” That was all I knew back then.

In July of 2022, on my way back from the East Coast attending the Book Launch for Never the Same Again: Life, Service and Friendship in Liberia, I reunited with a Liberian, Gabriel Mongrue. I had only met him once in my village in 1972 when I was 20. He was 16 at the time and the Gio houseboy of Mark and Sally, volunteers from the nearby village of Karnplay.

Gabriel was attending the University of Liberia (UL) in the capitol of Monrovia when political tensions came to a head in 1990. President Doe’s soldiers began killing Mano and Gio men throughout the capitol. Gabriel’s life was in imminent danger and he went into hiding. (Read this entire story of his escape written by Mark Zelonis called “My Resilient Son” in our Anthology, Never the Same Again.) When the battle of power in Liberia escalated, Gabriel was able to call Sally and Mark back in the US to explain his situation. They generously sent him money for a plane ticket. He barely escaped with his life to the US with a new passport and a Liberian visitor visa. He arrived in Amsterdam with only a shirt on his back and 22 Liberian cents. Gabriel was given a Dutch Guilder from a stranger at Amsterdam airport to call Sally and Mark and the following day they picked him up at JFK Airport.  

By sheer coincidence, over 50 years later, Gabriel, at age 67, and I met again in Rhode Island. We hugged, laughed and his Liberian English was so welcoming to my ears. He invited me for dinner, making a special trip to the African grocery for a full Liberian feast of fried eddo, sweet potato, cassava and plantain followed by palm butter with chicken over rice and his homemade Liberian hot pepper sauce. OMG. I was in heaven and immediately transported to Liberia with his warm welcome.

Because his village was also Gio, I asked him if he knew what had happened in our villages in Nimba County during the turbulent years after my departure.

African Grocery Store Sharing our stories

Gabriel explained that in January of 1990 Doe had learned that the Gio rebels who had failed an earlier coup attempt had been trained in Libya and Burkina Faso. They were now well-armed and they were crossing the border from Ivory Coast into Karnplay. Doe announced on the radio that his army was heading up the road from Monrovia to Nimba County toward Zorgowee and Karnplay to stop the invasion and kill every Gio and Mano in its path. Gabriel remembered Doe announcing on the radio that same week that there will be “No Nimba County”.

Doe’s army arrived first in Zorgowee and as villagers tried to flee, they were shot dead. Some were beheaded. Homes were torched. The army then moved to Karnplay and a major battle ensued. More killings and homes burned. Doe’s soldier then returned to Monrovia killing more on the way. Villagers who lived on the perimeter were able to escape into the bush, but were too afraid to return. “No time to bury their loved ones,” Gabriel said. News traveled to Monrovia via eye witnesses of Gabriel’s family and later photo images and reports in the newspaper that Zorgowee and Karnplay were littered with smoldering homes and the stench of corpses lying where they fell. Gabriel shared with me the brutal newspaper photos that he brought back with him the day he escaped.

As I listened to Gabriel, my stomach seized. I had thought from my previous research that most Zorgowee villagers fled across the nearby borders to Ivory Coast. I was wrong. I felt an urge to let my tears flow as I thought of my Liberian friends, but held back as I watched Gabriel’s head hung low. I refrained from asking any other questions as our pain was already more than we both could bare.

I changed the subject and spoke of lighter memories. We talked about the anthology, Never the Same Again just published. He held a copy in his hand. In it is a story that Mark wrote about Gabriel coming to America, “My Resilient Son”. Thinking I could give him a positive image after war, I wanted to read him my poem I wrote for the book, “Beyond War”. I wanted him to hear how my Peace Corps memories and our impact on Liberia hoped to foster peace beyond the warlords of destruction. Halfway through the poem I read…

 “Then the bullets came.
For two decades
Two civil wars
Ravaged Liberia.
Stories tell of the destructive scars
The wars left behind.”

As I read that stanza to Gabriel, I soon realized my imagination had created words that rang so true…so real. How did I know about the bullets? I thought they had all fled. My poem became Gabriel’s words…the dead beheaded corpses lying in Zorgowee. Oh God, I wish I had been wrong. I paused, took deep breaths. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought of Martha, Rita, Clara, Jacob, Peter, Duo and so many others. What about all the mothers that had come in for antenatal care. What about the twins that were born and all the other babies that we had successfully vaccinated to improve their care and quality of life? I took more deep breaths as I struggled to continue. Thirty long seconds passed. Gabriel’s eyes cast downward. I must read on for Gabriel to hear the reason for my poem. I must for the sake of hope and a future. The very next stanza read…

“But Liberians remember
Those of us who served
In times of Peace
…before the bullets.
They hold us close
In their hearts
And so do we.
A bridge of human connection.
An everlasting bond.”

Thirty years later after Gabriel escaped Liberia with his life, and fifty years since our last meeting, we sat together and ate a Liberian meal, listened to African music, laughed, cried and shared Liberian stories and photos. This is exactly what my poem, “Beyond War,” meant. We both remembered. This was, in fact, the everlasting bond of human connection in the flesh.

Post Note I: Gabriel informed me that his deceased grandfather and uncle were the Gio village chiefs in Karnplay – a chiefdom lineage. Had Liberia’s future been different, I sat sharing a meal with the would-be Gio chief of Karnplay.

Post Note II: It was during that same East Coast visit that I learned that Clara (Sarah), my house girl, had escaped Liberia across the border to Ivory Coast during the Zorgowee massacre. After spending time in the US, she had gone back to Zorgowee. She fled with her husband and children during the attack. After 2 years as refugees in Ivory Coast they returned back to the US. I tell of her passing in my most recent blog. They were the few from my village who were saved.

Feel free to leave a reply or tell us your story of this tragic time in Liberia.

The Passing

Those of you who have read my memoir, In Search of Pink Flamingos, may recall Clara as my house girl in Zorgowee, Liberia. Her real name is Sarah. (I have permission to use her name.) Sarah was older than I thought when I was in Liberia. Though she hadn’t finished grade school, she was about 18 years old in 1971. This young woman was very special. Quiet, smart and ever so kind. She taught me how to shop, cook and navigate the idiosyncrasies of living in our small village.

After I left Liberia, I met Sarah again in 1975 when she visited me in California with Janet (Sally in the book), the former volunteer in Zorgowee who sponsored her coming to the US on a student visa. After that visit I lost touch with both Janet and Sarah.

Many decades later, in 2021, I reunited with Janet and discovered Sarah had become a nursing health assistant, married a Liberian man, and became US citizens living in Philadelphia. Here is an earlier photo of Sarah with Janet and three of her children.

However, my news of finding Sarah was bittersweet. Sadly, Sarah had developed early Alzheimer disease and had lived in a nursing facility for the past 5 years.

Later that year, when I learned of this news and her condition, I arranged a Face Time call with the nursing home manager who held the iPad to Sarah while I called her name. Sarah awoke from her slumber and opened her eyes as if searching for me. I spoke to her for about 2 minutes telling her who I was, thanked her for all that she did for me in Liberia, and that I loved her. I am unsure if she knew who I was or if she even saw me. When I ended the call I wept. I was filled with grief but was grateful as I had found Sarah after 50 years and had the opportunity to thank her.

After several years in her demented state, she succumbed and passed away peacefully on July 31, 2022 at age 69.

Janet was able to attend the service in person and explained how Sarah leaves a life-long legacy of service as many at the funeral spoke of how she helped others so they could lead better lives, just as she had helped me and Janet in our small village of Zorgowee.

Rest in Peace, my Dear Sarah.

Feel free to leave your comments/reply below.

Book Launch (in person or virtual), 9/25/22, 4PM, PDT

As the chief editor, I am inviting you to the West Coast book launch of Never the Same Again: Life, Service and Friendship in Liberia, a hybrid event at Village Books. Susan Corbett and Karen Lange, co-editors, were also responsible for this incredible anthology. All of us are former Peace Corps volunteers in Liberia.

Come in person in Bellingham, WA or attend online by clicking on this LINK. Register in advance to save your spot.

Never the Same Again: Life, Service, and Friendship in Liberia is a collection of true stories and poems from fifty authors who take you on a heartfelt journey of their wonderful experiences to those marred by illness, adversity and civil wars. Join Susan E. Greisen who will share with you this wonderful anthology with excerpt readings from authors who will join us virtually from around the nation. Slides from this book will add to this book launch experience. This publication celebrates the Peace Corps’ 60th Anniversary in Liberia.

You will have the option to buy this book and other books by the editors at the time of registration. You won’t want to miss it. All proceeds from the sale of this book support humanitarian programs in Liberia. Can’t wait to see you there.

At anytime click BUY NOW to purchase this incredible anthology that is an unprecedented craft of collective storytelling of the times and life in Liberia over a span of 60 years.

Hybrid Book Launch, 9/25/22, 4PM, PDT

As the chief editor, I am inviting you to the West Coast book launch of Never the Same Again: Life, Service and Friendship in Liberia, a hybrid event at Village Books. Susan Corbett and Karen Lange, co-editors, were also responsible for this incredible anthology. All of us are former Peace Corps volunteers in Liberia.

Come in person in Bellingham, WA or attend online by clicking on this LINK. Register in advance to save your spot.

Never the Same Again: Life, Service, and Friendship in Liberia is a collection of true stories and poems from fifty authors who take you on a heartfelt journey of their wonderful experiences to those marred by illness, adversity and civil wars. Join Susan E. Greisen who will share with you this wonderful anthology with excerpt readings from authors who will join us virtually from around the nation. Slides from this book will add to this book launch experience. This publication celebrates the Peace Corps’ 60th Anniversary in Liberia.

You will have the option to buy this book and other books by the editors at the time of registration. You won’t want to miss it. All proceeds from the sale of this book support humanitarian programs in Liberia. Can’t wait to see you there.

At anytime click BUY NOW to purchase this incredible anthology that is an unprecedented craft of collective storytelling of the times and life in Liberia over a span of 60 years.

PC Liberia’s 60th Celebrations

Three days of celebration honored Peace Corps entry into Liberia in 1962. My last blog focused on the Book Launch of our Anthology, Never the Same Again. Enjoy a selection of photos of FOL members during happy hour 7/22/22 at the Deco Bar in Washington DC. Many of us met for the first time after working together for two years on the Anthology project. Coppelia Hays won the award for traveling the farthest from Hamburg Germany to join in the festivities. She is middle of the second photo.

Having fun in the sun and heat at the Liberian Embassy open house celebrating Liberia’s Independence Day in Washington DC, July 23, 2022.

Sarah Morrison, our fearless FOL 60th Anniversary leader and former FOL president presented our Anthology, Never the Same Again, to the Liberian Ambassador to the US, the honorable Jeremiah Sulunteh. Sarah then carried one of the county flags during the processional. Susan Greisen, the chief editor, got a treasured portrait with the Liberian Ambassador. During his speech to the audience, the Ambassador told us one of his teachers in Liberia was a PC volunteer. Jim Gray approached the Ambassador afterward in an attempt to reconnect him with that volunteer.

The county flag processional with a YouTube video below. Click on the red arrow to view and listen to the Liberian beat!!

Share this blog with your friends and family. Any of you can sign up for my periodic blogs that will pertain to the Never the Same Again anthology or In Search of Pink Flamingo, my memoir. In them you will see more photos and companion stories to these books. Feel free to leave a reply at the bottom of this blog. FOL wants to hear your thoughts.

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