Pure Gold.

We’ve been in Liberia on and off since 2005. There is one, very posh grocery store, that carries Haagen-Dazs and in 2005 the going rate was an outrageous $11 USD.

This week it’s an unbelievable $25!! A bag of rice costs $50, so I’m wondering who’s buying the ice cream? Maybe its the new elite party drug?

The children and I are getting ready to leave on Friday for a summer break in the USA. Yesterday, I was getting our “adopted” son, Gebellah, organized for the next two months without us: soap, money for school lunch and transport back and forth to school, etc. As he was about to go, I asked him if there was anything extra he needed. He thought for a minute and said he would really like it if I could give him 200 Liberian dollars ($4 USD) because sometimes when he comes home from school he is so hungry and it is hard to wait for dinner. If he had some extra pocket money, he could buy some chop at a street vendor when dinner is late.

$4 for two months. What can I say? I have no commentary on that. It is simply humbling to have so much in the face of one who has so little.

These photos from around the world tell their own story:

(Source not known. I received them in a forwarded email and it seems they may have originated with Wycliffe).