Some people may be shocked by the things I carry. In addition to crucial items like, you know, my phone and camera and notebook and stuff, I always throw this small floral pouch into my bag when heading out to snap photos and do some reporting.

1) Handkerchief: essential for whipping excessive sweat off my brow and thereby avoiding sweat dripping into my eyes and reducing visibility and picture-taking abilities.

2) Emergenc-C: I pour this powder into a bottle of water for a bit a of extra energy (possibly the placebo type) and to make borehole water more palatable.

3) Bag o' meds: pain killers, antidiarrheals, band aids, and a Z-pack and Cipro. Self explanatory.

4) Wet Wipes: way better than hand sanitizer. That stuff just rubs the dirt into your hands and leaves them sticky, and with these, you get the antibacterial cleaning agent in a wipe form that will actually leave your hands feeling clean. I like the lemon scented ones, or whichever ones are on sale when I'm in the USA and stocking up.

5) Sunscreen: my mom sent me a package once with this fancy little tube of sunscreen. Works just as well as the cheap kind that I usually buy.

6) Press pass from the Daily Monitor: sometimes someone asks me for an ID card who doesn't actually need to check my ID, or who I think might not return whatever ID card I hand over. I have friends who carry around expired library cards or random sports club membership cards, etc, for the same reason - just to hand over a piece of laminated plastic to over-anxious inspector-types. This one works for me because it says "PRESS" and because if I lost it, I'd be sad for sentimental reasons, but still have my necessary UNMIL press accreditation pass tucked in my pocket.

7) Business cards: I don't give these out that often, which is probably why I've yet to get new ones with my Liberia phone number on them. One day I'll get spiffy ones here, but for now, these will do.

8) Hair clips: my hair is too short for a pony tail but long enough to get in my way. Hence clips.

9) Pen: I heart different color pens.

10) Tissues: self explanatory.


Even if I don't need all of these things every time I'm in the field, I just keep this pouch packed and ready and I don't even think about what's in it. And even if I don't need everythingevery time , someone I'm around probably does need something. Especially if I'm working with someone less prepared (or paranoid) who still wants to have clean hands or flavorful water.

Cross-posted on Scarlett Lion.

On Old Road in Congo Town, a neighborhood in Monrovia, I went through an alley, and then through another, to a compound hidden inside what seemed like never ending compounds. A bunch of teenagers were meeting inside for a youth group, and this little girl watched in awe. She couldn't wait to join. But I hope she waits a bit to grow up.

Behind a decaying theater that was once Monrovia's finest, Matthew Karr sat in the middle of a working day and told me, "nobody rehabilitated me." He was referring to the leagues of ex-combatants, fighters often forcefully put on the front lines during Liberia's civil wars, who have received training in cosmetology, haberdashery, and other such skills very useful for rebuilding post-war Liberia.  Matthew didn't participate. Instead, he hangs out in Sinkor looking for jobs here and there. The unemployment rate in Liberia is somewhere between 70 and 85 percent and so Matthew has plenty of company.

As long as he has enough to eat and a little bit of money to call his Daddy, he doesn't seem to mind sitting around in his red velvet chair too much.  One day, though, he says he'll stand up. Here's hoping rebuilding Liberia will one day be something worth standing for.