{"id":7225,"date":"2018-07-08T05:10:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T12:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/?p=7225"},"modified":"2018-07-30T21:17:25","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T04:17:25","slug":"duweh-the-mighty-elephant-getting-out-of-liberia-was-harder-than-getting-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/duweh-the-mighty-elephant-getting-out-of-liberia-was-harder-than-getting-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Duweh, the Mighty Elephant: Getting Out of Liberia Was Harder Than Getting In"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Duweh,<\/p>\n

Note<\/em><\/strong>: If you have not read Hairy Legs<\/a> you may want to do that first.\u00a0 This story is the second part of that trip.<\/em><\/p>\n

If I asked you what was the most memorable trip or the most difficult journey you have taken, what would you say?\u00a0 Maybe you had a lengthy delay, canceled flights or some other challenging issue.\u00a0 Sometimes a dream vacation can become a nightmare. We can\u2019t control every factor.\u00a0 In the dozens of countries I have traveled in I would list my \u201cescape\u201d from Liberia during the civil war as among the most stressful.\u00a0 The word \u201cescape\u201d may be a bit dramatic but it felt that way at the time.<\/p>\n

\"downtown
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; Photo by Erik (HASH) Hershman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On my first trip to Africa, I worked in Nigeria and Ghana and it was there that I got my official African name. After a long pastor\u2019s seminar, I was given a traditional African robe and christened \u201cDuweh\u201d which means \u201cmighty elephant.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t ask what it means because they would not tell me why.\u00a0 Let\u2019s all pretend that it means I am seen as great and mighty and invincible. Their smiles indicated that it may mean something else but let\u2019s stay with great and mighty and invincible. So, when it came time for a second trip to the dark continent, Duweh was ready. \u00a0Duweh is great and mighty and invincible.<\/p>\n

Back to Africa<\/h3>\n
\"a
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was quite a difficult trip to get to Liberia. You need to read the previous story, \u201cHairy Legs<\/a>,\u201d to understand what happened.\u00a0 You learned how the great and mighty and invincible one dealt with a large spider (the size of a bush hog).\u00a0 After a week of teaching by day and hand-to-hand combat at night with creepy crawlers, it was time to leave Liberia.\u00a0 The Liberian civil war had reached Monrovia.\u00a0 Bodies were being brought in from the countryside. Stories were making the rounds that the main airport, the one I arrived at, had been bombed. UN peacekeeping forces were inspecting all vehicles leaving Monrovia. With this cheerful news, I made it VERY CLEAR to the seminar coordinator that I needed to get to the airport really early in the morning. I still did not have a return ticket even though, every day, I asked if someone could check on that. I also did not know what our two conference hosts had done with my passport.\u00a0 One flight per week came in and out of the country and it was beginning to look like this one could be the last flight out for a while if it got out.\u00a0 The evidence of war was everywhere.\u00a0 People were nervous.<\/p>\n

The Window to Get Out of the Country Was Closing<\/h3>\n

My hosts thought the weekly flight was around 10 AM.\u00a0 I had no idea where the domestic airport was and I was concerned about backed-up traffic and roadblocks.\u00a0 So, I told them I wanted to be underway for the airport no later than 6 AM.\u00a0 I was packed and on the curb at 4 AM to be safe.\u00a0 UN vehicles were literally racing around the streets even at that hour. I stood outside on the street and waited. Monrovia, at that time, was a city that had been without electricity for five years, buildings pock-marked with bullet holes and sirens echoing in every corridor.\u00a0 Back home I would be in a warm bed in a calm city in a land of peace.\u00a0 Oh, where is that ride to the airport? Am I going to get out of this place?\u00a0 This is the most dangerous situation I had personally experienced.<\/p>\n

\"shrapnel-riddled
Photo courtesy of Nic Bothma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6 AM. Nobody.\u00a0 6:30 AM. Nobody.\u00a0 7 AM.\u00a0 Nobody.\u00a0 7:30 AM Nobody. Pace, pace, pace in front of my spider-infested hotel.\u00a0 More UN security vehicles racing around the city streets – \u00a0emergency lights flashing.\u00a0 8 AM. Nobody.\u00a0 Getting really nervous.\u00a0 REALLY NERVOUS.\u00a0 No phones, no electricity.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know anyone.\u00a0 8:30 AM \u2013 finally, a taxi pulls up and two familiar faces get out.\u00a0 The first taxi broke down they say.\u00a0 But it is 8:30!\u00a0 Never mind, let\u2019s get to the airport. VERY, VERY NERVOUS.<\/p>\n

But wait, there is a problem.\u00a0 They tell me they need to make a copy of the report they are sending back to the Christian agency who sponsored this pastor\u2019s seminar.\u00a0 I told them never mind since I know the folks at that organization and I will make the copy when I get to America.\u00a0 No, they insisted on making the copy now.\u00a0 War has come to the city and they are concerned about a report. \u00a0I remind them there is no electricity in the city. No problem. One of them has a friend who has a generator and he has another friend who has a copy machine. I have been in third world countries enough to know this was a bad idea. But, we spent an hour going from place to place and by the time we transported the generator and finally got it to the place where the copy machine was, the guy was not there. So, we returned the generator and they decided that the paperwork was not all that important anyway.\u00a0 Well, at least I am not holding a generator in my lap.<\/p>\n

There Was No Way We Would Get to the Airport on Time.<\/h3>\n

9:30 AM! We still haven\u2019t left the city and the last flight that will ever leave the country is leaving in 30 minutes. I have no ticket, no passport.\u00a0 I have gone beyond nervous. I am almost sick.\u00a0 But, my two new Liberian friends are calm as can be.\u00a0 That is because they are not leaving so they don\u2019t have to be nervous.\u00a0 Actually, they should have been more nervous than I was because they were staying in Liberia.<\/p>\n

\"Women
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We left for the airport.\u00a0 The driver was happy and in no hurry. Why couldn\u2019t I have the angry driver I had in the Ivory Coast who drove so fast my knuckles didn\u2019t get their color back until the next day. No, I have the world\u2019s most joyful and slowest taxi driver.\u00a0 Well what do you know, there\u2019s a roadblock. Cars are pulled over and they are taking the seats out and examining everything. It felt like it took forever to reach the roadside inspection station. \u00a0It was time to play the \u201cDuweh\u201d card.\u00a0 \u201cI am a Christian worker named Duweh, the mighty elephant, and I need to get to the airport right now.\u201d They tell me that they are happy to meet Duweh, the mighty elephant, but they still have to take the seats out of our taxi. I don\u2019t think they respected elephants.<\/p>\n

Finally, we got underway and when we pulled up at the domestic airport it was complete pandemonium. It was like everyone in Liberia wanted out, can\u2019t imagine why. It must be because of the spiders. The large crowd outside the terminal was agitated, most looked scared.\u00a0 I was quickly guided by my two calm friends through the crowds and into a room all by myself, and then they sat down next to me and nobody said a word. A glance at my watch didn\u2019t help the tension. 11 AM.\u00a0 Now, normally, that is not the best time to arrive for a once a week, 10 AM flight, but what do I know? This was Africa.\u00a0 Then I saw what had to be the most disheartening sight in my life. The three of us watched, in total silence, as the only airplane at the airport slowly taxied out to the end of the runway.\u00a0 In the calmest, cracking voice I could come up with I asked, \u201cIs that my plane?\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 We watched.\u00a0 The plane went down the runway.\u00a0 But halfway, it stopped and slowly came back to the terminal. \u201cWhat is he doing?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe pilot wants to make sure it works.\u201d\u00a0 The plane was an old Russian cargo plane converted to a passenger liner. It would be like flying in a World War II bomber with folding chairs.\u00a0 I knew this because I had arrived on it. Yep, it worked, so now they would load the plane. Will they do it like in Nigeria when I was there?\u00a0 They had a plane that seated about 100 and they had issued 500 boarding passes.\u00a0 Everyone ran onto the tarmac when the two-hour late plane arrived.\u00a0 It resembled a soccer riot. So, will it be like that again?<\/p>\n

\"elephant
Artwork by Raoul Pascual<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then the door opened to our room. It was then that I noticed the letters VIP on the door. I wondered why all the shouting people were outside in the parking lot and in the big lobby, and we were the only ones in this small private room. The man who walked in the door seemed familiar. He walked over to me and politely handed me a boarding pass and my passport and thanked me for coming to his country, and then he went back outside into the pandemonium.\u00a0 I was dumbfounded. I asked who he was, and my new friends told me that he was one of the 180 pastors who had attended the Christian seminar. I then remembered him.\u00a0 But what was he doing with my documents and why was he at the airport?\u00a0 \u201cOh, sir, he is the airport controller. He is in charge of everything at the airport.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSo, I guess I am not going to miss my plane.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOh, sir, you are the guest of honor. They would hold the plane for you all day if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is pretty much impossible to describe my feelings after that. Humbled to be sure. Who am I to get such treatment. Upset that they didn\u2019t tell me sooner, so I could have enjoyed my morning instead of fretting. Even angrier at my attitude and my lack of faith. Once again, I had been reminded that God is the great controller of life, and he does not always make His plans as clear to us as we would like. Whether it is a flight, or something else out of our control, it is all the same. He is the controller and we need to rest in His will.\u00a0 It has been many years since that experience but I still need to remember that lesson every day. Remember, elephants have good memories.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Lord, for this important lesson. Thank you, Lord, for bringing me through it and for what I learned at that time.\u00a0 I may not understand it all but you do and I will rest with you. And thank you, Lord, for even that spider.\u00a0 On second thought please ignore the spider prayer, \u00a0I am not that strong yet in my faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I asked you what was the most memorable trip or the most difficult journey you have taken, what would you say? Maybe you had a lengthy delay, canceled flights or some other challenging issue. Sometimes a dream vacation can become a nightmare. We can\u2019t control every factor. In the dozens of countries I have traveled in I would list my \u201cescape\u201d from Liberia during the civil war as among the most stressful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":7219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[445,1317,1269,1268,1272],"class_list":["post-7225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-travel","tag-africa","tag-airport","tag-civil-war","tag-liberia","tag-monrovia"],"yoast_head":"\nGetting Out of Liberia Was Harder than Getting In - Traveling Boy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the dozens of countries I have traveled in I would list my getting out of Liberia during the civil war as among the most stressful.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/duweh-the-mighty-elephant-getting-out-of-liberia-was-harder-than-getting-in\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting Out of Liberia Was Harder than Getting In - 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Ed has gone places that tourists never see and that is probably why his experiences are not exactly normal, sometimes downright incredible. After all these years, Ed decided it is time to put all those adventures in a book for their children and grandchildren. It will be called Laughing Into The Wind. He and Janet find humor in just about everything, even two terminal diseases they have been through and survived. 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