Liberia

Today, on the last day of April, we finished our 17th country for the month, keeping pace with my hope of getting 17 done every month. June and July might be tough, but we'll see what we can do. We are over a third complete with the countries project! 

But we are behind on our average of African countries, so I'm trying to throw a few in there. It's hard to try and theme days around them. 

But Liberia was perfect to celebrate for James Monroe's birthday! 

I'm sure you remember this from before (the boys did!), but Liberia is the only country, besides the United State, whose Capital City is named after a US President. 

Liberia's capital is Monrovia, and it was founded in 1822 (during Monroe's term). The port city at the mouth of the Saint Paul river was established by the American Colonization Society as a haven for freed black slaves from America. 

Liberia was founded a year earlier, and is is the only country to ever be founded by the freed slaves who had returned to Africa from the United States. 

The capital city isn't Liberia's only nod to the United States. If you notice, their flag resembles the US flag, reflecting the historical ties of the country to the US. Their official language is also English. 

And, in another mind-blowing, weird-where did you find that- fact.... Do you guys remember the show 'Parks and Recreation'? (You should, it was like all that kept me going once I caught up on Office episodes) Anyway, remember the actress who played Donna? Her real life aunt is the REAL LIFE PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA! She's the first elected female head of state. She's been in office for the last 11 years. 

In other interesting facts, I'm not sure where I thought rubber came from, but I didn't think it was trees. I mean the latex in it comes from trees, and apparently 'rubber tapping' is big in Liberia. (It's one of their largest exports). 

But I think the story the boys liked the most was about Liberian warlord-turn Christian Priest who was known as 'General Butt Naked', because he and his men used to go into battle with nothing but guns and shoes. (Apparently there's a character in the 'Book of Mormon' inspired by Joshua Milton Blahyi) 

Liberia is a small country, about the size of Virginia. There is only one National Park, Sapo National Park, but it is home to the endangered Pygmy Hippo and African Forrest Elephants, and a  new species of coffee was found in the National Park in 2010. 

Unfortunately, Liberia hasn't had it easy. After centuries of warlords, child soldiers, and secret societies, Liberia was finally stable enough to open their country to visitors. But then in March of 2014, Liberia along with its neighbors Sierra Leone and Guinea became ground zero for the Ebola outbreak. I'm sure that contributes to the very young life expectancy of 58.

The boys made their Liberia post cards. 

Calib's featured James Monroe holding the Liberia flag, much like he is depicted holding the US flag in the painting where Washington crosses the Delaware. 

Peyton noted the large amounts of rain in Liberia. Monrovia is the wettest capital city in the world, with an average of 195 inches of rain a year. They see more rain in July than London sees in a year. 

Hayden put a Parks and Rec reference on his two sided postcard. 

Dinner was quite the undertaking for Asa. We had Check Rice, Liberian Chicken Gravy,  Bananas and citrus, Liberian Rice Bread, and Liberian Style Collard Greens

This meal earned two spoons up (from me and Asa, the boys were pretty neutral on it). 

First of all, I loved the chicken gravy. The recipe calls for fish with it, and we skipped that and just did chicken and shrimp. But the way the shrimp was covered in the yummy sauce reminded me of the garlic shrimp I had in Hawaii (and I'm SO looking forward to having again!) 

The rice was rice. I expected it to have more flavor, but it was pretty bland. 

The 'collard greens' were Asa's favorite. We substituted kale, because it said you could- and that's what we had. 

And the bread I just couldn't decide if I liked or not. There's no flour in it, instead it's made with cream of rice. Now, I didn't even know that was a thing, and I'd like to thank Publix for having an online index of every single product in their store. I just typed it in, and it was like 'oh yes, cream of rice cereal, find it in the hot cereals in aisle 6'. Amazing! But anyway, the texture on it was weird, but the flavor was good. We all ate our piece but we just couldn't decide if we liked it or not. 

We colored Liberia in right there on the Atlantic Ocean in yellow. I'm pretty sure we've done 13 African countries, so we're going to have to pick up the pace on that. (We should be doing one a week). 

68 down, 125 to go! 

Next Up: Chad (keeping that Africa average up)