Saturday March 12

Saturday March 12

No one really wanted to get up this morning, but we did anyway. I did a hernia repair with Chris Hughes, which was a fun experience for both of us. After the surgery and rounds, we came back to the guest house for a nap.

Late in the afternoon Dr. McDonald came over with Althea and 2 of the Rhode Island Liberian nurses to have lunch. I sat with them, and Dr. McDonald told of the conditions at JFK right after the war. There was no food for patients, or water, or electricity; it is hard to imagine coming back to such circumstances and seeing a way out, but they did.

In the evening we attended the HEARTT Gala fundraiser at City Hall. This was the first time they have tried to raise money in Liberia to support HEARTT, and it was an unqualified success ! The President attended as the Guest of Honor, and I'm sure that was the big draw. They sold all 250 available tickets, and had another 100 people on a waiting list. Several people gave testimonials about their experience; I spoke briefly about the honor and privilege of being part of HEARTT.

After the dinner and speeches, Madame President made the rounds of the room greeting guests while Eric did an amazing and wonderful rendition of Amazing Grace on his trumpet, accompanied by the keyboard player from the band. He started out with the standard tune, and then morphed into a jazz rendition that was awesome. The President then came over and asked Eric to play it again when she was back in her seat so that she could really listen and enjoy it. So he played it again and she clearly loved it, tapping along to the jazzy beat.

As the evening was breaking up and we were all milling about, a young woman came up to me to say that she heard me say I was from Connecticut, and that she had gone to school in Connecticut. I asked her where, and she said "Choate Rosemary Hall" ! Her name is Idella Cooper, CRH '94 , and she is the Deputy Minister for Justice for Economic Affairs . Her fiancé took our picture together, which I will be submitting to the CRH Alumni magazine...who would have guessed that 2 CRH alumni would meet up in Monrovia, Liberia ?!

From the gala at City Hall we all went to Groovie's for more dancing. Eric sat in with the band for several tunes and was awesome; having him with us on this trip has definitely added an unexpected dimension of enjoyment for all of us. The band and the singer were fantastic, and we all had a great time dancing. After Groovie's we went to the Palm Springs Casino; I had a very pleasant chat with the President's social secretary, who invited me to come back next January for the President's inauguration !! Assuming she is re-elected of course, but of that there can be little doubt at this point. One should never overestimate the intelligence of a voting population, but it would seem particularly foolish not to reelect her to keep the very powerful sense of forward momentum going. After a good discussion with Wilfred and Michelle at the bar, we all piled into vehicles and headed home to bed.

Oh I forgot to mention one detail. Santiago dared me to get the phrase "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy" into my remarks...and I did so seamlessly ! It was a big hit for those in the know lol