TOT

By Jose Alfaro

Aisha shows off the solar ovens

When we first heard that we would be teaching 5 camps of high school students I thought it would be impossible.  Then they told me we would be doing the five camps simultaneously and I just thought I was hearing things.  I thought there would be no way we would be able to get the people we needed to put together such madness.  Not to mention doing it within a budget.  Then to make me freak out a little more they said we had to limit the number of people we could bring from University of Michigan to work at the programing Liberia!  

I was going to flip.  In my mind there was no way we would be able to develop curriculum in Math, English, Engineering, Agriculture, Computer lab and Hands on Lab plus deliver it to five different camps simultaneously.  "Now, don't worry!" they told me, "You will have Peace Crops volunteers to help you!"  Oh great, now we have to do the impossible and be intimidated by the people that are supposed to help us.  I guess in my mind the PCs were people that are made with one part Indiana Jones, one part Crocodile Dundee, one part Dr. Livingston, and a whole lot of badass.  I didn't particularly feel good having to bring a bunch of them and train them.  Train THEM!  Well, why don't we just bring Superman and show him how to fly?  

Mim demonstrates an aquifer experiment

Somehow they convinced us to do it anyway and off we went.  The 15 people at Michigan that worked on the curriculum did more than an amazing job.  They produced something I am still amazed at.  Ten of those people are here now, at Cuttington.  We picked up on the way at various point 9 more people.  All of them looked a little ragged, lived, and oddly comfortable at being in Liberia.  All of them turned out to be experts at their parts of Liberia, their students, their disciplines.  All of them turned out to be amazing, lovable and a whole lot of crazy.  I was right on the badass, wrong on the intimidation.  Behind the rough exterior we found some crazy individuals with a  heart as big as the continent they serve in.  Yeah, there was a lot of venting in the face of other westerners but behind that was a genuine delight in what they are doing and the small accomplishments they are achieving.  There was a genuine love for the kids they serve.  

So, here we are at the end of a 6 day "Training of the Trainers."  TOT, what an appropriate term.  For in those days those PCs were trained on hands on labs that included biogas production, sustainable agriculture, lemon batteries and rubber band powered airplanes.  The trainer's eyes and their excitement not just at the experiments but the curriculum we prepared was worth all the worry we had.  

Yark discusses our crazy logistics

"There is a lot of horse power in this team", was the comment the Chief of Party gave us at the lunch table.  Oh yeah, there is a lot of power behind this group.  Oh yeah, I should have not worried.  The trainers are now trained.  The teams are now ready.  Today the first team headed out to Zwedru for the beginning preparations.  The rest of the teams will leave between now and Saturday morning.  The next two weeks will be amazing.  The next two weeks will hopefully change the lives of more than 500 people, students and teachers.  I was wrong, this was doable, they are not intimidating and most importantly this can be done.  Not only will it be done, it will rock!

Sibu blows Stephanie and Yark away with a Non-Newtonian Fluid.
It acts as a liquid when you touch it slowly but a solid when you punch it quickly

The group enjoys Kpatawee Falls