African Cooking Class #1

Today after work Jackie and I headed across the street from Redemption (the hospital where the dental clinic is located) to Mama’s house. Mama is a lady in her early 30’s who runs a little stand on the side of the road in front of the hospital. Her main items for purchase are bananas and oranges. She likes us so much that she also offers to make plantain chips for us on a regular basis. :) Mama is such a lovable person. Almost every day she makes her way over to the clinic to check on the crew. She always leaves us by saying see you tomorrow, God willing.

The other day I was talking with her and sharing my hopes and dreams of one day getting to prepare an African dish for my loved ones at home, and she responded by saying “come I will teach you.”

So last Thursday I mapped out all the details to my first African cooking class. We settled on today to be our first class. Jackie the assistant coordinator also shares the same hopes and dreams as I, so she decided she had better enroll in the cooking class as well. The menu for our first class was as follows: potato greens soup, okra soup, peanut sauce soup, and chili aka pepper spice.

We started cooking at about 3:30 and finished up around 5:30. It was great. I cleaned and cut potato greens, mashed peppers for the spice, cooked the okra, fried fish eye balls and all, learned the secret of adding spices, mixed up a little peanut sauce, and in the end was able to sample each dish that we had prepared. I was cruising through my first class with flying colors until Mama passed me the fish. I am a custom to buying already cut and cleaned fish at Dierbergs at home but not in West Africa. Here you head to the market and buy fish that have basically have just taken their last breath in some instances or in others have been hanging out in the Hot Humid air for hours and more likely than not are infested with flies.

I have tried to steer away from the fish here that is sold in the markets for a few reasons, #1 I have a fetish with meat on bones…given that be fried chicken, ribs, fish. I just hate eating meat off the bone, #2 I don’t know how to clean a fish. I know that is hard to believe given the facts of where I grew up, and where I went to college at but it is true I haven’t a clue, and the 3rd reason I am not a fan of eating meat that has been sitting out all day. Anyway Mama asked me to clean and prepare the fish…. I said to her hmmm not sure I can do that. She replied it is part of the class, I said well then I guess I fail the class because I am not sure I can descale that fish, especially with it looking me in eye like it is. :) I am a wimp I know but I just am not a fan, I mean I could have done it if I HAD to do it, but I didn’t have to, and Mama seemed to be doing a fine job.

In the end after 2 hours of cooking, several visitors stopping to see what these white women were doing, sampling our dishes by eating with our hands, and a few burns from the HOT coal stoves Jackie and I had successfully completed our first African cooking class. And despite rejecting to skin the fish, I still passed with an A+. Cooking class #2 coming soon: palm oil.

Good news for all my friends and family at home….. I will be having an open house once I get back, and these dishes will be available for each of you to sample minus the fish with the eyes and bones. :)

Stories for Saturday

My alarm went off at 8:00 am this morning and I thought to myself; maybe I will just shut it off and go back to bed. Then it dawned on me why my alarm was making that annoying beep beep beep sound. It's Saturday and I am headed to see my little angles at Frances Gaskin. Once I remembered that, I did not think twice about ignoring the alarm and going back to sleep.

Today I decided I would take a few pictures of my friends and family to show the kids. They LOVED it! After the bible lesson and color time, I whipped out 4 photographs. One of my family, one of my friends, one of my brother and I, and one of Austin Thomas Looker and I. The photos were an immediate hit. After a brief explanation of who was who I was bombarded with questions far beyond what I imagined. They examined and sized up these 4 photos in great detail. I found it so cute. They wanted to know everything. I will restate a few of the comments for you.

Comments on the Family photo: A picture of myself, my brother, and my mom and dad on my dads 50th Birthday in January.

"Oh is that you Pa. He is 50 in age"

"Your Pa has small hair" ---- translation Your dad is BALD :) haha

"Your brother and you resemble"—translation you and your brother look alike

"Is that your sister".... no it’s my MOM!!!! Hahaha "Oh your ma look young"

"You look like your ma and your brother look like your pa"

"Who make that cake" I made the cake "Oh alright did you eat it" "It looks fine"

Comments on the friend’s photo: Picture of Nate and Kristen Brewer, Alaina, Sarah, Tom, and myself at my house before I left.

"Who are these people...they your brothers and your sisters". No they are my friends

"Oh.....they fine"

"He your boyfriend...pointing to Tom".. No that is my friend "Oh he fine"

"Oh she is pretty".. pointing to Sarah "very pretty"

"Is that your house" "Yes Oh it looks very fine"

"you bring them to see us some day"

Picture of Austin and I at a Cardinals game

"Who that, that your child"- that's my friend... they all laughed. "Your friend small"

"Who is that"-pointing to all the people in the background at the game

"Where you at, in America?" -Yes I am at a baseball game do you know what baseball is? NO! It's a game where you use a bat and hit a ball....OHHHH we know that...That's nice"

"Look at all these white people"-- white white white- as they pointed to crowds of people in the background.

And then comments on the picture of my brother and I

"Is that your brother? He FINE!!! Very Fine"

“You two resemble"

After we talked about the photos they asked me can we keep these. I said sure you can keep them. Then one of the kids ran inside and came back outside with a really old looking photo album. They sat down and took out photos that were currently occupying the album and replaced them with my photos.

Soooo Mom, Dad, Nate, Austin, Sarah, Alaina, Kristen, Nate and Thomas your faces will forever be left in Africa at the Frances Gaskin Rescue home for Abandon Children.

Consider yourself LUCKY!!!!!!!!

Next Saturday the kids are making the journey to visit us on the ship. They are excited, and, I am very excited! A few of the kids asked me if they could see where I rest…aka sleep, I told them sure I will have to make sure and clean my room and make my bed. :)


Oh and one last thing. On our ride home we can upon and accident. An elderly man had been hit. We saw the man lying on the pavement with blood gushing out of his head. Praise God, we had 3 nurses in our car. The 3 nurses, a male crew member, and myself jumped out of the car and ran over to the man. The nurses did nurse things,and myself and the Stephen did crowd control.

The scene was complete chaos, people running and screaming and crying. Bystanders gathering around to look and SNAP PHOTOS! Can you believe that…? I saw one lady who had a camera and was down in the victims face taking photos.... I told her to back up. People asking is he alive, does he have a pulse. The nurses used a lapa (material they use to make clothes here) to control the bleeding and a truck passing by offered to take the man to the hospital. So we loaded the man into the back of the truck and off the truck went…. Speeding to the hospital.

We got back in our Land Rover, said a prayer and headed back to the ship. Pray for this man and his family, we have no idea what happened and we have no idea how he is doing, but we do know God provided this man with a few nurses who knew how to take charge and how to react in a crisis. Thank God!

Just another Saturday of stories of my time here in Africa.

The Faces of Frances Gaskin

Above you will find a few of the faces that make up the children who live at the Frances Gaskin Rescue Home, an orphanage that I visit on Saturday mornings. I first started going about 2 months ago and I have been making it a regular part of my Saturday mornings ever since. I remember the first time I went I was a little disappointed in myself when I realized that it took me 3 months to get there in the first place. The kids are so lovely. I adore all of them. It is hard to describe the feelings of joy and excitement that I experience when we pull up in the Land Rovers and outside on the front porch stands about 30 kids all jumping up and down because they are so excited to see us coming. I have about 10 kids that are really close to my heart and every time I go they are waiting for me. Once they spot me in the Land Rover they all say Jessica is here. I think the kids are doing more for me than I am doing for them.

Here is a little more background info on the home. Frances Gaskin is operated by a Christian Liberian couple Evelyn and Emmanuel. There are 33 kids total at the home 3 of which are the couples birth children. Emmanuel’s grandmother started this home during the war. She noticed a bunch of wondering kids in the neighborhood so she decided to start taking care of them. After her death Evelyn and Emmanuel took over responsibilities of the home and named it Frances Gaskin Rescue Home after Emmanuel’s grandmother. Within the last few years they have built a 4 room house. One bedroom for the boys, one bedroom for the girls, a bedroom for Evelyn and Emmanuel, and a kitchen/ dinning room/ all purpose room; each of the kids rooms have 2 double bed mattresses that sit on the floor. All the children sleep on these beds. You can do the math. That makes for one cozy nights sleep.

The couple receives 5$ a month per kids from the government and they also receive 2 meals of rice a day for the kids through an orphanage relief organization. Could you imagine taking care of your children on 2 meals a day and 5$ a month, WOW what a task they have before them. There is also a 4 room school house on the premises where the children and other neighborhood kids attend classes.

Emmanuel and Evelyn are amazing. They have such hearts for God and these children. I had to ask Evelyn one day which three were her birth children. She said to me “you could not tell could you?” I said “No” she then replied “That is the way we want it, we want each of the kids to know they are equally important to us.”

I Thank God for people like Evelyn and Emmanuel, who are willing to give up everything for these children. They are currently trying to build latrines and they are also trying to dig a well so they have clean drinking water. Both of these projects take lots of money, something that they don’t have. Pray that I can seek God’s guidance on how I can help this home and these children. Evelyn told me once “This life is not easy, but God is faithful, and I would not have it any other way.”

For more pictures from Frances Gaskin click on the link to the right titled Frances Gaskin Home.

Halloween in Africa!

Last Friday was Halloween and Emily and I were invited to attend a dress up Halloween Party at the US Embassy hosted by the US UN. We have made friends with a few of the American UN soldiers and they were our tickets into the events for the evening. We both dressed up as pirates, we figured it was appropriate considering were we are currently living.

It was great fun hanging around fellow Americans. There was a time when I stopped and thought how crazy is this... we are at a Halloween Party with a bunch of American in Liberia, West Africa. HAHA

Last Saturday and Sunday Hanna, Karen, Jane, Nina, and I decided to get off the ship for a few days. It does a body good. We head by taxi to Thinkers Village about 45 minutes away from the ship. There we beached it and relaxed all day Saturday and all day Sunday. We stayed the night in a guest house that had a BATH TUB....which we were unable to use because the water pressure was so weak...but we were excited none the less to see a bath tub. :)

Below are pictures of the weekend....at the request of Alaina :)-love you friend!

Thanksgiving Day Blessings

Yesterday Liberia celebrated Thanksgiving, and given the fact that at this very moment there are 33 nations represented on board, all of which celebrate different holidays on different days the ship doesn’t single out and celebrate any specific holiday for any specific country. So with that being said, I will not be celebrating Thanksgiving on the 27th of November unless I can get in good and attend the US UN Thanksgiving Day Celebration at the US Embassy….which is very likely. :) I hope

Anyway so in honor of Thanksgiving here in Liberia, the crew members on board the Africa Mercy had a Thanksgiving Day Celebration! It started with a yummy meal and then was followed up by a fantastic time of worship and celebration. During the service the Academy kids did their rendition of a living cornucopia which was very cute and at another point in the service 33 different people said a prayer in their mother language. It was so awesome to hear Gods people give shouts of praise and thanksgiving in their native language. It was a very very very small glimpse at how multicultural Heaven will be.

After that we had fellowship and enjoyed ice cream and fudge. It was a day filled with lots of good food and lots of fun with friends…just like at home, and I only missed home once during the entire day….it wasn’t when I was eating and thinking how much I will miss my grandpas pumpkin dessert delight, or how I would miss my moms oh so good pecan pie and super moist turkey, or my grandmas mashed potatoes and rolls, or my Aunt Kathy’s cherry cheesecake or how I would miss sitting with my mom on the couch and looking through the Thanksgiving Day adds planning out our shopping route and wish lists for Black Friday, or even how I will miss camping out at Best Buy with Kayla throughout the entire night just for a computer that in the end we don’t have a chance at getting anyhow….. or the nap I would be taking after lunch with my dad napping in his easy chair beside me, and it wasn’t even when I thought about how much my brother and I LOVE the parade… it was when I was thanking God for all my blessing especially the ones He has provided me this year…and as I was praying all the faces of my family started to pass through my head and that is when I realized all God has given me. That is when I really missed home for the first time.

I will miss Thanksgiving day and all the traditions that come with it., but instead of being down about not getting to eat turkey and pie I will spend the day thanking God for all the special blessing he has placed in my life, all my family and friend whom I miss but will see soon! :)


Below are pictures from dinner and also a picture of the huge table of harvest that we thanked God for providing. After the celebration we were all able to take something of the table to enjoy.



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. Psalm 145:7

Dance Party- African Style!

Today after I finished with my patients, I went outside to visit with my after school darlings. My assistant had brought her portable CD player (remember those, well before the days of IPods) to work today and had it hooked up to a small portable speaker. I decided to take this concocted musical device out to the children and there in the middle of the hospital corridor we had a dance party. Can you imagine having a dance party in the hallways of the hospitals at home. NEVER!!!

I think the children here are taught to move their bodies the moment they exit the womb. The kids did more than show me up with their dance moves, they down right busted a move way better than this white woman will ever be able to.

Let the FUN times in Africa continue to roll!!!!

Historical Election Day!

Is anyone as ready for this Election day to be OVER as I am!!!! YES! I am all the way in Africa and its all I am hearing. Who is winning, Who do you want to win, Who is the best man for the job, This is a historic event, this could change America's History etc.....

Unfortunately I can't complain toooo much considering the fact that getting an absentee ballot slipped my mind, however I do have a few thoughts that I thought I would get out. This post is more of a thinking out loud post than it is anything.So if you are a die hard politician or an Election Day 2008 Advocate then don't be offended.

I just finished running and I thought I would sit down in Midships lounge on the couch and relax a bit while I typed to you all. My plan was to type about my weekend which was a super fun weekend, however the second I sat down it happens. My mind and thoughts are flooded with ELECTION ELECTION ELECTION. I am finding it rather hilarious as I sit here and count the number of people....most who are not even American that stop to see what CNN has to say about the current ongoing Election day in America. For example at this current time the lounge where I am sitting is occupied by myself an American and 4 others who are not Americas. haha Most of which are finding this very entertaining.

After spending the last 5 months outside of the United States I have found a few things out about myself and my identify as an American. First of all....there are other places outside of the USA and those places are just as worthy of calling home as America is. The world is not America. With that being said the second things I have found out about myself is that I am PROUD to be an American and I LOVE living and calling the US my home- Most of the time!


This elections has been turned into a ridiculous circus. I feel the media is turning this into a racial fight. Black President VS Women Vice President. Republican VS Democrat. They have charts, Stats, and stories for every subject imaginable. There is even a chart that can tell us how many poll complaints there are and what city/state they are coming from. Since I have been sitting here CNN just ran a story about a 90 year old lady who voted in the back of an ambulance. COME ONE!

A few of the head lines...Oboma's daughters was caught yawing at the polls, It's going to take a lot to dig us out of the ditch that the republicans have left us, God Bless the president elects wife for not keeping her hands out of her husbands hair, can you believe what she wore to the polls.... SERIOUSLY!!! OH and did you know now that there are exit polls now, that are filled with questions about yourself...one of which is do you consider yourself a born again Christian.

I am not just bashing CNN it just so happens to be the only station we get. I am actually thankful for CNN at this moment because it has been the only TV stations besides the BBC and Discovery that I that I have had the opportunity to watch since the first of June.

Anyway may God have His way with this day. My prayer is that people can make biblical, moral decisions on who to vote for.My prayer is that we can become United as country with whoever is the new President. My prayer is that God will be put back into our government and country so that REAL change can finally take place, but my thought is We are to stuck on ourselves to ask God for help.

After all the United States still remains the greatest land of opportunity... that is what the guy on CNN said. Time for me to head out of the midships lounge, I think I have had enough for one day.


"Pray continually". 1 Thessalonians 5:17