Rainbow

I see fascinating and great things out in the jungle.
Its hard to write them all out... to paint the scenes for you so you can see them too.
Therefore, I took pictures of the beautiful people and things Ive come across. I shan't post them all. I think I have three though.
When I was growing up my sisters and I were mildly obsessed with this doll called Rainbow Bright. Anyone else?
She had rockin pink hair, a silk blue jumper dress, color splashed socks and she rode a unicorn over the rainbow. Every adolescent girls dream.
(a young confused boys dream as well)
During a survey/interview last week I just happened to look up and over as a hardworking teenage boy stomped by to go work on the farm. I glanced at his attire and when my eyes put together that his shirt wasn't just a blur of flashy colors but a captured scene of a legendary fictitious character that I once loved and cherished as a child, I almost had a seizure.
He was wearing a Rainbow Bright Shirt. This manly young boy, who was about to go work his day away making money to support his family and put food on the table by digging up vegetables and planting rice, was wearing a rainbow bright t-shirt.
I took a picture of it. I almost bought it off him but then thought that probably shouldn't happen. Ms. Bright needs to remain out in the jungle, colorful and happy, giving joy to everyone who gets the privileged of looking at her.
I asked him where he got it but he didnt understand me. He liked that I took his picture though, so we both win in the end.


I also took a picture of one of my favorite little girls I have encountered yet. Her name is Rebbecca and during a survey I was supervising, her grandmother brought her over to me. She told me that her granddaughter wanted to introduce herself. Rebbecca was rare and lovely, she is an albino African with the coolest hair possibly in the world. In the picture she is giving off such a gangster vibe, sucking on her little candy wrapper with her head tilted to the side. I loved her. She came and put her arm next to mine and said we were the same. Her grandmother says she never sees white people so this was a special occasion.


The third picture is of fish!!!! In tin foil!!! Whole fish, eye balls and all. We ordered 5 of them. Before our eyes our dinner was prepared on the busy streets of Gbarnga in central Liberia. The ocean reptiles were taken out of a big bowl, slathered in a tangy zesty almost bar-b-quey sauce and thrown on the grill over a fire. We watched them roast with much anticipation. Once cooked the fish were topped with fresh avacado slices and more sauce. The whole week we had been eating rice and granola bars, so this was a good mix up in our menu. It was our last night of the Impact Assesment journey, the closing of two weeks out in the jungle, and we wanted to celebrate. And you cant celebrate without eating an entire fish: tales/scales/eyeballs/skin. Right?

After they were roasted and we had piled up our plates with fried plantains and drank our cold sodas, we wrapped up our food and headed back to the headquarters to indulge. Looking for dinner in Gbarnga was thrilling, we trotted up and down the busy streets of the main road at dusk to search. The sun was setting over the city, chickens were wabbling across the road and the venders were calling out to the hungry onlookers.
There were many options of food at multiple different food stands yet we ended up at the fish lady.
I definitely enjoyed eating the crazy fish fresh from their watery grave, I mean it kind of made me feel weird, and later I did regret it, but at the time it was truly grand. I ate my whole fish minus the eyes and the bones. Some of you are already contimplating a nice way of discontinuing our friendship because of what I have done. But dont do that. It was just a fish. Not that gross.

Hopefully you can see the food in the picture sitting in the tin foil, waiting to be devoured. My expression says alot I think. A mix between worry, anticipation, hunger and sheer confusion.