Friday July 19

This is rainy season, but I continue to be surprised by the torrential nature of the rain. It is intermittent, night and day; last night I was awoken several times by the loud pounding of rain on the metal roof.

Today I got up around 8, showered, and came downstairs to see that they bought me Raisin Bran for my breakfast !! Yay !! This morning I finished a wonderful book called "God's House" by Victoria Sweet, a physician who worked in Laguna Honda, a public hospital for the chronically ill in San Francisco. She interweaves the story of that hospital with details of her exploration of medieval medicine, and especially the work of Hildegard of Bingen; the result is a fascinating story of old medicine, new medicine, and the surprising connections between them. It also has some remarkable insights into the changes in medical practice which have occurred in the past several decades, leading to the demise of places like Laguna Honda, killed off by perhaps well-intentioned bureaucrats who decided a new model of care was needed.

At 4 pm Dewalt and Macintosh drove me to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the honoring ceremony. The auditorium was packed when I walked in with Macintosh; the usher asked if I was a diplomat, and Macintosh replied that I was a guest of the President, so I was escorted to a seat in the second row. It was quite an interesting process: there were 12 honorees who were called up individually, and then their citation was read, followed by the President affixing their medal and posing for a photograph with them. There was then a toast to the honorees, and a toast back to the President. The military band played selections such as "Que sera, sera" and the Mexican Hat Dance, and then we adjourned to a reception in the foyer. There was a receiving line of sorts with the President and Vice President, drinks, and canapés; I met a psychiatrist from Meharry Medical School who spent time at Yale. I didn't go through the receiving line, so when the President was leaving, she stopped when she saw me to ask if everything was okay with my schedule. I told her that Aunt Jenny was taking care of it and she laughed, saying that she uses her sister Jenny for the same purpose !

Soon after I returned to the guesthouse, Dr. Debby Harding arrived and we got acquainted. She is the other honoree besides me and the orator who will be invested next Friday in Tubmanburg. We learned later that normally only the Orator is invested on Independence Day itself, but there was a miscommunication in the protocol office, and since Debby wasn't arriving till after the ceremony today, they decided to invest her and me in Tubmanburg next Friday. Shortly after Debby arrived, Aunt Jenny came with copies of the schedule for the next several days to review with us and see what we want to do. It's going to be a busy week ! During the week the President will be dedicating a variety of roads, buildings, and programs, and we are invited to accompany her to all of them. It remains unclear what nights we will stay outside of Monrovia, but definitely at least one or two. Aunt Jenny suggested that we come back here some of the nights, although the President will be staying out there, because the accommodations are sparse. But she said we should talk to the President tomorrow to find out what she wants us to do.

After Aunt Jenny left, Debby and I had dinner and got acquainted more. She lives in Washington,DC and has known the President since 1985. She has worked in philanthropy for much of her professional life, and after the 2005 election in Liberia she was asked by President Sirleaf to harness the good will and money being offered by Americans to use for education. Initially it was planned that she would run the Liberian Education Trust for 3 years and then turn it over to Liberians to run it; it has been 8 years of program development, and it is getting close to ready to be turned over. We had a wonderful conversation, and I'm sure we will have many more as we travel during this week.

Shortly after heading up to bed I was summoned next door to the President's house for a potential medical emergency; happily it resolved with no intervention necessary on my part. Now I can go to sleep and be ready for a long day tomorrow. Wait...not quite yet. Persistent discomfort led to a trip to JFK and some tests, and all of them were negative, so I think I can go to bed now.