Robertsport Community Works

The Liberian arm of The African T-Shirt Company

2011-06-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

As we transition Robertsport Community Works to the local community, we're handing over the Liberian arm of The African T-Shirt Company to 100% local ownership.

Jallah Fahnbulleh of Graphics Palace International, next to the mosque on Newport Street, will be silk-screening our designs on t-shirts by hand from his shop:

Drive It Like It's UNMIL

The Ministry of Fun and Drink

Trying Small

You can order t-shirts in M, L, XL, XXL. Or, you can bring your own shirt and pay for him to silk-screen the design.

Jallah takes orders at jallah.fahnbulleh@gmail.com, by phone (077-022-611), or from his Newport Street shop, beside the mosque.

He’s learning to take orders directly, so I suggest being clear and following up a phone call order with an email or text message. Thanks in advance for supporting small business development in Liberia! And thanks to Old Star Radio for the open use of their designs.

Of course, this only works if you’re in Monrovia. And if you are, The African T-Shirt Company is having a final stock sale this week. This week only, we'll also be selling the following. Email me for the stock list. :>

Failed State

Mogadisco

Surf Liberia

OM Africa

Mama Liberia beach bag


Mama Liberia yoga mat bag

Mama Liberia bags at conferences!

2011-05-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

For the last year, Mama Liberia bags have been a hit at international conferences, upping the style stakes when it comes to conference bags and making a serious difference in the life of the Co-op, which has scaled up to 60 women when these large orders come in.

Check out these very cool photos courtesy of the EBD Group, one of our main conference patrons. Don't the bags bring color and life? I think so. Email me about bulk orders for your own event. Our artisan silk-screeners can place your logo anywhere!

RCW budget: January - March, 2011

2011-04-18T08:05:00.001-07:00

Here is the first of our now-quarterly budget updates. As we transition our projects to community ownership this year, we will do our best to keep them as accurate as possible.

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income from campsite fees and tent rental (Jan: $310.00, Feb: $60.00, March: $130.00): $500

Expenditure on staff salaries ($130 for two staff per month): $390.00

Campsite sub-total: $110.00

Mama Liberia Sewing Co-op

Thanks to a big order from the EBD Group, you'll see our Community Fund grows nicely this quarter. Because of their order--and the way we've set up RCW projects to grow the Community Fund--we now have project money for beach cleanup, sea turtle rescue and other cool stuff the community might want to try their hand at (not to mention we'll be able to give out some more small business loans)...

Community Fund tithe from Mama Liberia Sewing Co-op $3,000.00

It's been a quiet quarter, as we've been focusing on running a tight ship on our existing projects so that they can become 100% community-led. We've been an NGO in Liberia for almost two years, so it's time for our starter projects to stand on their own.

Project summary

Robertsport Community Campsite: $110.00

Mama Liberia tithe to Community Fund: $3,000.00

Community Fund as of December 2010: -$151.90

Community Fund as of March 2011: $2,958.10

Glad to be back in the green!

Budget updates for November/December 2010

2011-04-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, these are late! We had a tumultuous start to 2011, and these updates fell by the wayside to be restarted again...now.

Thanks for bearing with us. Project updates included.

Surf Liberia

Because of events beyond our control that disrupted where and how we store our inventory, we've put The African T-Shirt Company on hold as it transitions to local project leadership. That means, unfortunately, that sales of Surf Liberia t-shirts are also on hold. Lucky for us, the Community Fund is a doing well and this temporary pause will not disrupt our sponsorship of local surfers.

We hope to see The African T-Shirt Company and Surf Liberia t-shirt sales back up and running in a few months, 100% Liberian run.

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income

Campsite fees and tent rental: $275

Expenditure

Staff salaries (Nov/Dec): $260

Rake: $10

Sub-total: -$5

Sea Turtle Rescue

We have yet to start official fund-raising for this project, but pay for rescued turtles on an ad-hoc basis out of the Community Fund. So far, we've saved five! The turtles show up in a wheelbarrow and we carry them, flapping vigorously the closer they get to the ocean, until about 10 meters from the shore. They pull themselves the rest of the way, gaining visible strength as they reach the ocean. The waves surge over them, and they disappear, hopefully never to be seen again!

If you'd like to donate specifically to this project, please email me!

Expenditure

Two adult yellow-bill sea turtles: $20
A hutch of 100 leatherback sea turtle eggs, which sadly didn't hatch although we followed all the directions: $10

Sub-total: -$30

Community Beach Clean-up

We've collected over 2,000 pounds of marine debris in less than two years and this project is going strong. Miriama, who's been cooking the volunteers' meals as a thank-you for their good work, is taking over project leadership in the coming months.

Expenditure

Volunteer meals (Nov/Dec): $60

Sub-total: -$60

Mama Liberia Sewing Co-op

We are working on a very large bag order that will bring in much-needed money to the Community Fund, so stay tuned for our next budget update, when all will be well!

Summary

Robertsport Community Campsite: -$5.00
Sea Turtle Rescue: -$30.00
Community Beach Cleanup: -$60.00
Sub-total: -$95
Community Fund as of October 2010: -$56.90

Community Fund as of December 2010: -$151.90

The plan for 2011

2011-02-09T04:33:00.000-08:00

Those of you who keep track may have noticed that we haven't posted a budget update in a little. We're moving to a more sustainable quarterly budget posting, starting now.

Also, 2011 will be the year of sustainability. Robertsport Community Works will turn two and it's time for RCW Directors to take a step back and let the community run things 100%. Sure, they'll make mistakes now and then, and I'm sure there will be a bit of drama every so often. But running their own income-generating projects is the only way these projects will work--really work, in a way that brings long-term income to Uptown, especially its young people.

We're taking on a more advisory role this year. We'll be there, but we'll be in the background (in our hammocks, I hope!). I look forward to updating you on how it goes!

The Co-op photo shoot

2011-01-03T03:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the generosity of the U.S. Ambassador's Self-Help Fund, the Women's Sewing Co-op has funding for a website which we plan to launch in early 2011. As part of the marketing effort, we enlisted the help of a brilliantly talented photographer friend. The Co-op photos she took last year helped launch the group's international sales, and I'm thrilled she was able to work with us again.

Here are some teasers from the shoot. As you can see, the women enjoyed themselves.

The African T-Shirt Company goes local

2010-12-28T02:41:00.000-08:00

When Nate and I first started The African T-Shirt Company to raise funds for our Robertsport-based community NGO, we did things quick and simple. Website? Try Google Sites. Photos? Bring out the digital camera and let's talk some against the wall when the sun is out. Modeling? No one's around--let me go wash my hair.

A year and a half later, and we have a staff of plenty at Tides and a gorgeous rooftop balcony with a view of West Point and the Atlantic. So, we reshot our classic designs and added a few new ones.

Here's Alfred Lomax, in a photo picked up by B-spirit!, the Brussels Airline in-flight magazine. They give it out free at their office in Monrovia, so it has a large local readership.

A new design from Old Star Radio, here's the Ministry of Fun and Drink...

And because Maryedeh of the Tides kitchen enjoyed having her photo taken so much...

You can see the rest--and buy shirts--here.

October 2010 budget update

2010-11-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

October was a busy month at Robertsport Community Works. Dry season is upon us, which means the campsite is seeing a return of visitors eager to spend the weekend in Robertsport. We also held our 2nd Annual Surf Liberia Contest on October 24. Surf Liberia raises money for the Surf Liberia Mentoring Program--more specifically, for the university and technical school scholarships we provide for surfers who graduate from high school.

Here's the update!

Surf Liberia

The annual event for the Surf Liberia Mentoring Program, the Annual Surf Liberia Contest, was held in October. We're still waiting for two sponsors' donations to come in--fingers crossed--so that we can be 100% even on this, as planned...

Income
Registration fee for surf contest: $100
Sponsor donation: $100

Expenditure
Contest t-shirts: $300
Clean-up crew ($5 for the day to young men in the community): $40
Clean the Beach t-shirts for the clean-up crew: $48

Sub-total $-188

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income
Campsite fees and tent rental: $260

Expenditure
Thatch for the shower and bathrooms: $20
Rake: $5
Kerosene for the lanterns: $10
Staff salaries: $130
Hammocks:$35
Coal pot, receipt book and shower repair: $40

Sub-total $20

Sea Turtle Rescue

Expenditure
Rescue of two yellowbill sea turtles: $20

Sub-total -$20

Community Beach Clean-up

Expenditure
Volunteer meal for monthly beach clean-up: $30

Sub-total -$30

Community Fund Loans
Ansu $120
Sub-total of Community Fund in active loans: -$120

Project Summary
Surf Liberia -$188

Robertsport Community Campsite $20
Sea Turtle Rescue -$20
Community Beach Clean-up -$30
Communty Fund -$120

Budget Summary

Surf Liberia Mentorship as of October 2010: $7.00
Community Fund as of August/September 2010: $93.10
Community Fund as of October 2010: -$56.90

Party at the Mama Liberia Sewing Co-op!

2010-11-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

The Mama Liberia Sewing Co-op just had it's first party. I'm not sure why it took us so long, except that gathering all the women together seemed like a volatile event and I shied away from it for a few months. I think, despite a few hiccups, that it went well and they all had a great time. Parties like this are important for building their group identity and increasing their social capital. That, and they deserved it.
Here is Miriama, showing off the chicken stew they served with check rice, followed by pepper soup and fufu. I brought the chickens and soda, and the Co-op members all pitched in for the rest of the food. They had big pots with massive, rake-like spoons. Next time, I'll get to the party earlier so I can watch the cooking.
By the time I made it into the kitchen, the dancing had begun.
This is Joe, celebrating the Co-op by dancing happily in front of the Nana's bar. Thanks to Nana's Lodge for hosting our party!
This is my favorite photo, of the women looking at a slide-show of the photos we're going to use for their Mama Liberia website. As you can see, they like them quite a lot.
Here are Tina, Ma Bendu and Matilda (left to right), the three Team Leaders of the Co-op. They're each responsible for four tenured members and a wider team that is mobilized during big orders. These three wome have been with the Co-op since the beginning!
This is Jebbeh, who is using her sewing money to build her own house.
This is Miriama dancing with her daughter, little Bendu, named after Co-op Team Leader Ma Bendu. Miriama uses her sewing money to invest in her own transport business.
This is Josephine, who opened a bank account to save her sewing money. Josephine is trained as a nurse but hasn't found work in the local health centers. I'm not sure why and this puzzles me, as Liberian is in dire need of rural health workers. I intend to talk to her more about this in the future and see if she can't find a job in the area.
Tina, who organized most of the party cooking and serving, gets ready to serve the food. That's Jenneh next to her. Tina started a crab-selling business with her sewing money and Jenneh is building her own house.
I'm posting this portrait of rather happy looking Ma Bendu wearing lovely surfer boardshorts commissioned by some friends. They look good, right? She never managed to deliver them, probably because she likes them so much herself. You two know who you are, and if you want me to organize a duplicate pair, let me know.
Of course, someone has to do the washing up. Small Bendu and Jenneh volunteered, but didn't want to be left out of the photo taking.
And last but not least, the obligatory children's shot of little Bendu and friends.

To buy Co-op products, visit The African T-Shirt Company. Thanks to all for your support!

Pics from the 2nd Annual Surf Liberia Contest

2010-11-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

On October 24, a group of local and expatriate surfers gathered under the cotton tree at the Robertsport Community Campsite to convene the 2nd Annual Surf Liberia Contest. T-shirts were passed out and surfers registered, but where were the waves?

We waited until low tide then made the call for Shipwrecks, carried over chairs from Nana's Lodge and set up under an almond tree. We had 12 local surfers and 7 expats, including a few beginners and very new local beginners. You know you've succeeded in targeting youth when one of the contestants signs his name, "Baby Boy."

The contest lasted a little over three hours, with judging done by local and expat surfers as well as the visiting Surf Resource Network crew. We had over a hundred spectators, including Robertsport locals and weekenders, some UNMIL visitors, and even half of the Mama Liberia Sewing Co-op! The waves were a bit onshore, shoulder to head-high with some overhead sets on the drop quickly turning to mushy faces.

Of course, when it came time for the women's heat right before the finals, the swell surged to overhead plus and I got smoked--along with the relative and extremely brave newbie I'd cajoled into surfing with me. Better luck for the women's division next year!

Thanks to Robertsport Community Works partners Soul Surfers Foundation, Seren Clothing and Surf Resource Network. Thanks to our Surf Liberia contest event sponsors Nana's Lodge, Liberia Travel and Life Magazine, and Miss Boss Lady Entertainment. We value your support!

Here are some photos, courtesy of Surf Resource Network's Sean Brody, of the contest:

Alfred Lomax finishes a heat. Alfred is currently on scholarship courtesy of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and attending high school in Monrovia.

Alfred does a cut-back at Shipwrecks.
Alfred wins the contest and is chaired to the beach by fellow surfers. This is my favorite contest shot.
Alfred, 1st place in this year's Surf Liberia Contest, with a wooden plaque hand-carved in Robertsport.

Peter Swen, a university student in Monrovia, pulls into a little barrel before giving Alfred a run for his money and winning 2nd place.
Armstrong shows some local style on his newly-donated board.
Philip has gotten a lot better this year, thanks in part to a surfboard of his own donated by the Soul Surfers Foundation. Thank you!
Sam Brown Jr. looks remarkably like his father, Sam Brown, a member of our Community Board and an invaluable member of Robertsport Community Works. His board was donated by Surf Resource Network. Thank you!
For a full budget overview of Surf Liberia and the surf contest, check out the monthly budget reports on our Robertsport Community Works blog.

See you in the water next year!

2nd Surf Liberia Contest next weekend!

2010-10-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

I've been spending today getting all the details ready for next weekend's 2nd Annual Surf Liberia contest. Learn more here if you think you can make it. Email me if you plan to compete!

Here are the details:

The contest will run on the morning of Saturday, 23 October if the waves are good. If not, it will be postponed until the afternoon, or even Sunday morning or afternoon. Once we begin, the contest will take about three hours.

We have three partners supporting us this year: Soul Surfers Foundation, Seren Clothing and the Surf Resource Network. Soul Surfers sponsors our Surf Liberia mentoring program in the Uptown community, the Surf Resource Network is helping us run the contest and the boys at Seren Clothing (both of whom I went to school with in Cairo) did the t-shirt.

Solomon thinks its really cool. I agree. He's helping us have a first run-off of 60 made for next Saturday. We'll put them on The African T-Shirt Company, which will also see some new energy in the next few months...

We'll have live commentary, prizes for 1st to 4th place, and it's the best place to see all the local surfers side by side, representing Liberia. Nana's Lodge and Miss Boss Lady Entertainment are the lead Liberian sponsors, contributing to the Surf Liberia Mentoring Project and lending us a hand with the organizing.

Hope to see you at the contest!

August/September 2010 budget update

2010-09-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

We went on holiday in August, so are combining our budget update for the rainy season/summer months.

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income
Campsite fees and tent rental: $80

Expenditure
Campsite staff salaries (Aug/Sept): $220

Sub-total: -$140

Women's Sewing Co-op

Income
10% from product sales to Community Fund: $6.00

Sub-total: $6.00

Sea Turtle Rescue Project

Expenditure
August salary to project leader (end of 3-month pilot): $50.00

Sub-total: -$50.00

Community Fund

Expenditure
Loan to Miriama: $350.00
Loan to Sam Brown: $450.00
Work permits: $700.00

Sub-total: -$1,500.00

Project Summary

Robertsport Community Campsite: -$140
Women's Sewing C0-op: $6.00
Sea Turtle Rescue project: -$50.00
Community Fund: -$1,500.00

Sub-total: -$1,684.00

Budget Summary

Surf Liberia Mentorship as of Aug/Sept 2010: $195.00
Community Fund as of July 2010: $1,777.10
Community Fund as of August/September 2010: $93.10

The 2nd Annual Surf Liberia Contest: 9/10 October 2010

2010-09-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Photo of Liberian surfer Armstrong (no pun intended) courtesy of Myles Estey.

Robertsport Community Works is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual Surf Liberia Contest, to be held on the weekend of 9-10 October on the surfing beach in Robertsport, wherever the waves look like they're breaking best.

Participants and volunteers will meet at the Robertsport Community Campsite cotton tree on Saturday 9 October at 9:00 am to decide which break is working best. We'll postpone to the afternoon/next morning/next afternoon if we expect conditions to markedly improve.

If you'd like to participate, send me an email. Registration for participants is $25 and you get a cool contest t-shirt designed by Liberian graphic designer Efren Rebugio Jr. Shirts will also be on sale at the contest site and though The African T-Shirt Company. All profits go directly to the RCW Surf Liberia Mentoring program. Local surfers compete for free.

We hope to organize a fun, relaxed event that showcases the local surfers' skills and sportsmanship, and to have a fun day at the beach!

The RCW Sea Turtle Rescue Project

2010-09-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

Design courtesy of Tamar Losleben.

Last September, before our first beach cleanup, Alfred and I were surfing Inners and he noticed a massive pile of sand right under the big almond tree.

"Turtle!" he shouted, and started digging.

Rather naively, I asked what he was doing.

"Turtle eggs are too sweet," was his reply.

I paused for a minute, reluctant to be the white woman in Africa who pushes conservation just for the sake of it, going crazy with zeal for, say, saving turtles while the community around me was also in need. I waited, weighed my options--Alfred thinking I was insufferable versus being indirectly responsible for a hundred dead turtle eggs--and told him not to dig them up.

"But why, Elie? If I don't, someone else will." He had a point. Without a plan, and a good one at that, what was I doing trying to change the behavior of one person when clearly it wouldn't affect the outcome?

Still.

"Do it for me, okay Alfred?"

Alfred gave me a look like I was exactly the crazy white woman stereotype I was trying to avoid, then grabbed his board and we surfed a few little Inner Cottons stomach waves before starting the cleanup. We joked about the turtles for weeks.

We still joke about the turtles. Only now we've run a 3-month pilot Sea Turtle Rescue project modeled on the one in Ghana and we're a little further along from where we started. Just a little.

What we've learned from Project Leader Abraham (AB) Fanbulleh is that it's not easy for people to trust the project's motives. They think we're working with the police, who arrest people in possession of either sea turtles or their eggs and imprison them until they pay a hefty fine.

We also have teaching to do about the importance of sea turtles in maintaining species balance in the ocean ecosystem, although AB has been explaining slowly their connection to keeping jellyfish populations--that ruin fishing nets and spoil entire catches--at bay.

There's obviously more, but that the main stuff. We have a lot to work on in the future!

August 2010 buget update

2010-08-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here it is, short and sweet, with a little bit of commentary thrown in where I couldn't help myself.

Robertsport Community Campsite
We're going to need to buy new tents for rainy season. The wear and tear from the sun and sand corrodes the tent poles until their elastic snaps and the poles start to rust. We're working on a marifa fix for this (Swahili for 'making something work with what you've got'), which I'll blog about when we get there. The idea being: prolong the life of the existing tents as long as possible and keep an eye out for cheap tents to purchase.

Income
Tent rental and campsite fees: +$330

Expenditure
Campsite staff salaries: -$130
Brushing behind the cotton tree to expand where we can set up tents: -$40
New thatch for the shower: -$10
Kerosene for lanterns: -$20

Sub-total: +$130

Women's Sewing Co-op
We had a massive bulk order from a conference group in the States. Ten percent of product sales go to the Community Fund--a pool for seed money for new projects and loans to community members for their small businesses. You'll see that reflected below.

We also hired a Project Manager! This piece of information is so exciting, it will need it's own post.

Income
Community fund 10% of sales: +$1,000 (!)

Expenditure
Baseline salary (before commission) for Project Manager: -$40

Sub-total: $960

Sea Turtle Rescue
This project is in its 3rd month of pilot currently and we'll be writing up what we've learned--as well as whether we'll continue--when we receive and compile monthly project reports from the Project Leader

Expenditure
Salary (July): -$50

Sub-total: -$50

Community Beach Clean-up
Because of a simple communications issue that we're following up on, we haven't been getting the money to feed our cleanup volunteers from our partner, which means that we've been covering this cost for the last 3 months. We're on this...

Expenditure
4 months of food money for volunteers: -$120

Sub-total: -$120

Surf Liberia Mentoring Program

Income
T-shirt sales: +$18

Sub-total: +$18

Project Summary
Robertsport Community Campsite: +$130
Women's Sewing Co-op: +$960
Sea Turtle Rescue: -$50
Community Beach Clean-up: -$120
Surf Liberia Mentoring: +$18
Total: +$938

Budget Summary
Surf Liberia Mentorship as of July 2010: $195
Community Fund as of June 2010: $839.10
Community Fund as of July 2010: $1,777.10

We have almost $2,000 to use for programming and loans this program cycle! Stay tuned for our plans.

How the Sewing Co-op spends their money

2010-08-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

For their bulk order we're sending out next week, we decided to take a group photo. Three of our tenured members were missing, but here we are (the sun was bright: we normally look much better than this):

Top row (left to right): Bendu, Matilda, Tina, Jenneh, Matilda, Botoe, Josephine, Famatta, Rose and Ma Bendu

Bottom row (left to right): Musu, me, Jebbeh

If anyone is in Liberia and would like to take more professional photos of the Co-op for their new website, please let me know. We could use them.

I also asked the members of the Sewing Co-op how they're spending the money that they're earning through the project. Here are their answers...

“With my sewing money…

I was able to invest in my own video club business.” –Miriama
I was able to send my children to school.” –Matilda
I built my house.” –Ma Bendu
I was able to start my own fish business.” – Rose
I was able to start selling scratch cards.” –Bendu
I am doing a crab business” – Tina
I am building my house.” –Jenneh
I was able to open by own bank account.” –Josephine
I am saving my money.” –Botoe
I am going to built my own house.” –Jebbeh

Cool, eh?

Surf Liberia becomes a mentorship program

2010-07-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

When we started our Surf Liberia Scholarship program over a year ago, our idea was to offer an alternative vehicle for sponsoring surfers that didn't involve throwing them cash and encouraging a consumer-based lifestyle.

We wanted surfing to be a positive force for change for themselves and their community--to grow leaders through surfing. So we paid their school fees instead.

Fast-forward one year. Nevermind we may not be the *only* people paying their school fees (gasp!). When we asked two surfers what they wanted to do with their sponsorship money, they said they wanted to buy clothes. They thought about it and that's what they came up with. I'm not saying they shouldn't buy clothes, but not with Surf Liberia money. So what good is this money doing?

Nate works professionally at a variety of educational initiatives and projects involving young people and we know we want to impact the local surfers in a way that helps them realize personal and professional goals, whatever they might be. So we're revisioning our Surf Liberia project--which has raised almost $500 in t-shirt sales to date--to be more mentoring oriented and less about just giving young surfers money and equipment. We'll still do that, but we'll have better boundaries and parameters about what we will and will not support.

For example, seed money to start a business, cool. Money to go clothes shopping in Monrovia, probably not. Thanks to Soul Surfers Foundation for their support for Robertsport Community Works and this project: Alfonzo and Phillip are holding donated surfboards above (this photo, btw, was taken in May). They're the ones who aren't getting the clothes, but they have new surfboards. I think they'll get over it.

June 2010 budget update

2010-07-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

I know I should be better at posting what we're up to organizationally on here, and I promise to make more of an effort. You'll see. Coming this month: the challenges of sea turtle rescue, the successes of the Women's Sewing Co-op, and how we're adapting our surf mentoring program to better suit the needs of local surfers.

Thanks to a visiting Australian surfer who is helping get our Water Safety programs started and who stayed at the campsite for a bit (until he wisely decided that in the depth of rainy season, sometimes a roof and bed bed offered by the American women who run a youth program is better than a tent). His campsite fees and tent rental will ensure that our Campsite Manager and his back-up have their salaries paid through rainy season.

Also, a *huge* thanks to the EBD Group, who are purchasing 1,000 bags wholesale from the Women's Sewing Co-op for one of their conferences. More about this in another post, but let's just say that they've made an incredible impact in the Robertsport community and the lives of the women in the Co-op.

Here's the budget low-down for June 2010:

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income
Campsite and tent rental +$255

Expenditure
Wallace severance pay -$40*
Kerosene for lanterns -$15

*We had to let former campsite staff Wallace go, as he was showing up for work in a less-than-ideal condition. We will miss his kind face and hard work, and hope to see him at future beach clean-ups and in the community...

Sub-total $200

Women's Sewing Co-op

Income
Community Fund profits from bag sales (14 bags) $14

Sea Turtle Rescue

Expenditure
June salary for Project Leader -$40

Surf Liberia Mentoring Program
Surf Liberia t-shirts profits (13 shirts) +$117

Project Summary
Community Campsite $200
Women's Sewing Co-op $14
Sea Turtle Rescue -$40
Sub-total $174

Budget Summary
Surf Liberia Mentorship as of 2010 $177
Community Fund as of May 2010 $665.10
Community Fund as of June 2010 $839.10

One year of lapas at the Women's Sewing Co-op

2010-06-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Women's Sewing Co-op--a project I mentor through Robertsport Community Works--is coming up on its 1-year anniversary. The women want to have a party. Most especially, they want me to make the same vegan chocolate cake I made for Bendu's birthday--and they want my recipe. They also want me to help them buy identical lapas so that we can all have matching dresses. If/when this happens, I promise to document it.

You can order bags here!

While I go up to my Tides kitchen and bake for them, here are some of the coolest lapa prints the Co-op has sewn together in the last year:

Gorgeous lapas

Whitewater
Frog feet

Cat tails

Yellow lanterns

Pineapple (so far, the Co-op's all-time favorite)

Cowrie

Plenty fish

Snake eyes

Jungle

Ladybug

Taxi

Tree lapas

Yellow trees

Klimt trees (aka Klimt deforestation)

Leaves

Wildlife lapa
Big butterfly

Honeybees (a favorite)

Peacock

Snail

Blue goose

Free bird

Migration

Entertaining lapa
Camera

Pharmacy

Rooster

School

Tropical palm trees

Bunnies

Aquatic lapa

Big fish

Plenty fish

Oyster

Sting ray

Sea creatures

Fish pond

May 2010 budget update

2010-06-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

It's only June 2nd and I'm publishing our budget update for May. Quite happy with myself for that... Here you are!

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income
Campsite fees and tent rental $120

Expenditure
New platform for pit latrine
- Materials $40
- Transporting materials to Robertsport $30
- Workmanship $25
Kerosene $10
Salary Campsite Manager $70
Salary Campsite Staff $40 (half month)

Campsite sub-total -$95

Women's Sewing Co-op

Income
3 bags sold $4.50

Co-op sub-total $4.50

Sea Turtle Rescue
Check out the link to our new project!

Expenditure
$10 advance on salary for Project Leader ($50 salary total per month)
$20 for sea turtle and sea turtle egg rescue

Sea Turtle Rescue sub-total -$30

Project Summary
Robertsport Community Campsite -$95
Women's Sewing Co-op $4.50
Sea Turtle Rescue -$30

Project sub-total -$120.50

Budget Summary

Community Fund as of April 2010 $785.60
Community Fund as of May 2010 $665.10

The Co-op doesn't need me

2010-05-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick Friday afternoon post after coming back from the U.S. Embassy Craft fair, where the Women's Sewing Co-op had their own booth, as you can see. I was taking pictures and getting in the way, so I left them with their display and am picking them up to serve them fish sticks at 5:00.
I'm hoping either Matilda, who you see at the display above, or Jenneh, who is posing below, will want to start running more sales and marketing outreach for the Co-op. They're getting transport money, a Monrovia per diem and 10% of today's sales. They're very serious and keen!
Check out our stuff at The African T-Shirt Company if you can't stop by our new merchandise corner at Tides. I'll be posting stories on the amazing Liberian artists at the Crafts Fair on my personal blog, Anonymous Country. See you there!

We save sea turtles.

2010-05-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Nate and I were surfing Shipwrecks with a visiting Aussie when we saw a large fishing net drifting towards the rocks. We focused on it and a lone flipper waved. We waited a moment, and it waved again.

"Turtle!" announced the Aussie.

"Let's rescue it!" I said, starting to paddle towards the rocks and hoping that a giant set wasn't just beyond the horizon and about to smash me to pieces.

The sea turtle was impossibly tangled, and while the men slowly paddled against the current to get it to the beach, I ran back to the campsite to get our knife so that we could cut it free. A kilometer later, I was back and we got started.

The turtle was freaked out to be pulled out of the water, but the Aussie kept it calm by sitting next to it and rubbing its neck, humming softly to console it. Nate started cutting the net, which was chaffing tight around the turtle's neck and flippers, right to the muscle in some places. It must've been frighteningly uncomfortable, but the turtle didn't try to bite us like I expected. Instead, it stayed pretty calm as we cut it free.

It only took a second for the turtle, once released from the 20 kg net it had been lugging along, to lumber itself towards the water and disappear. I wanted to take more photos, but got kind of caught up in the moment.

"We saved a turtle! That's great karma. I feel fantastic," said the Aussie, ever enthusiastic.

I think we just started our turtle conservation project. More details on what it will look like when we talk to our new Project Leaders next week.

Women's Sewing Co-op is now on Etsy!

2010-05-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the support of the U.S. Ambassador's Self-Help Fund, the Women's Sewing Co-op has hand bags and beach bags now on Etsy! We've already gotten 22 views!

There will be a dedicated Co-op website coming soon...

April 2010 budget update

2010-05-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

We've started a new project this month, one that works with the community to protect sea turtles. Young men will work on a community eco-tourism project that I'll write about in my next post. For now, here is our budget with project updates, as relevant.

Robertsport Community Campsite

In April, Wallace and T-Boy (aka Prince) were running the campsite. It made $325 in campsite fees and tent rental, but $40 of that was stolen.

Income
Campsite fees and tent rental $285

Expenditure
Campsite staff salaries $140
RCW Community Campsite staff rain jackets (2) $30
New campsite bench $15
Thatch for the bathroom $10
Kerosene lanterns $10
Kerosene for the lanterns $10
Campsite staff t-shirts (2) $10

Campsite sub-total $60

Women's Sewing Co-op

After March's big order, the Co-op took a month to work slowly through a batch of lapa. We'll have the new bags on the website and at Tides starting next week. The team leaders will be selling at the U.S. Embassy Craft Fair next Friday, May 28, at the Public Affairs Office and have their very own booth. We're also looking into a major new product that would make a Liberian tradition in lapa style...I'll tell you soon.

Income
10% of Co-op products' profits to RCW Community Fund $6

Co-op sub-total $6

Surf Liberia Mentorship Program

Income
Surf Liberia t-shirt sales $40

Surf Liberia sub-total $40

African Women = Power t-shirts: $45 to the ARC's Survivors' Fund
Surf Liberia Mentorship Program: $40 to sponsored/mentored surfers

Project Summary
Robertsport Community Campsite $60
Women's Sewing Co-op $6
Total $66

Budget Summary
Community Fund as of March 2010 $719.60
Community Fund as of April 2010 $785.60

Job search: Co-op Project Manager

2010-04-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of Fiorella Yanuzzi

Yes, dear and trusted readers, I'm tapping the network. Who knows a talented, entrepreneurial and dynamic Liberian woman who can lead the Co-op towards greater and greater success?

This is, surprisingly, only a part-time job--but it has the potential to pay very well. Full job description is below. Thanks for sending this around! I'll keep you updated on the search.

Robertsport Community Work
Job Description: Women’s Sewing Co-op Project Manager

Background
Robertsport Community Works is a Liberian NGO grounded on the principles of a community-based approach to environmentally sustainable development. We work to foster and support the entrepreneurial spirit within and around the local Robertsport community. The organization’s projects focus on enhancing economic opportunities related to tourism that positively impact the Robertsport community. In addition to the Women’s Sewing Cooperative, Robertsport Community Works manages a monthly beach cleanup, a scholarship program for surfers, community eco-tourism to the surrounding rainforest, kids yoga classes and the Robertsport Community Campsite. For more information, visit www.robertsportcommunityworks.org.

Currently, the Women’s Sewing Cooperative consists of 15 women led by Ma Bindu Davis. A small group of three advanced sewers, who serve as Team Leaders, have taught the others how to hand sew cloth products including beach bags, hand bags, yoga mat bags and aprons made from West African printed cloth called lapa. Women’s involvement is self-selecting – their interest in the project and willingness to learn are the only criteria for co-op membership. Members have regular meetings and cooperative decisions are made by majority vote.

Job details
Robertsport Community Works seeks a part-time Project Manager to lead the Women’s Sewing Co-op. The Project Manager will report directly to the Program Director of Robertsport Community Works and receive regular performance reviews. Although the Project Manager will receiving training, the expectation is that the Manager be increasingly self-sufficient and contribute to the local sustainability of the project. Regular travel to Robertsport is required. This is a part-time position.

Objectives
The Project Manager will be responsible for the following regular duties:
1. Promote and market the Co-op and its products locally in Liberia, regionally and the US and in other international markets, including print, online and other types of advertising.
2. Research, develop and maintain relationships with wholesale buyers, including boutique shops, conferences and trade fairs.
3. Create and disseminate regular communications about the Co-op and its products, using online, social networking, print and other media. Update the Co-op website, contribute to the Robertsport Community Works blog and regularly update product and Co-op photos.
4. Manage all Co-op finances transparently, including product and order tracking and statistics on Co-op productivity.
5. Select and purchase quality lapa in bulk for the Co-op, choosing African-made materials when possible and ensuring equitable distribution to Co-op Team Leaders.
6. Schedule and chair regular and participatory Co-op meetings, make decisions regarding Co-op governance under the supervision of the Program Director, and ensure Co-op needs are heard and meet.
7. Check and maintain a rigorous system of quality control that checks all aspects of Co-op products to ensure they meet the highest standards.
8. In response to Co-op needs as articulated by its members and identified by the Project Manager, organize workshops to increase members’ capacity both personally and professionally.
9. Respond to Co-op orders and communications promptly and ensure products are shipped in timely and professional manner.
10. Update the Women’s Sewing Co-op website to display patterns and products in stock, as well as promote the Co-op, its members and its products.

Applicant knowledge, education and experience
• Fluent, grammatical and professional written and spoken English, with the ability to communicate clearly and professionally over the phone.
• Proficient computer skills, including email and Microsoft Excel.
• The ability to visit Robertsport for Co-op meetings and workshops on a regular basis.
• Excellent interpersonal and conflict resolution skills, as well as the ability to manage on-site and remotely, and an entrepreneurial drive to see Liberian women succeed.

Salary and compensation
This position is paid on a commission basis, with the potential to earn a sizeable local income.

Application instructions
Interested applicants, please email a CV and cover letter to Elie Losleben at elie@robertsportcommunityworks.org. Before an interview is scheduled, two professional references will be required.

March 2010 budget update

2010-04-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a generous order from a US conference, I believe this is the first month we're in the green! Hurrah! Now we can start allocating money to developing our Eco-Tourism Walks and a new conservation project I'll just keep secret for now...

We'll also be able to set money aside so that our Campsite Staff will continue to be employed through rainy season, when income will slow down substantially. Needless to say, Wallace and T-Boy are thrilled about this.

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income
Campsite fees and tent rental $245

Expenditure
Salary for campsite staff $130
New hammocks $30
Benjamin making another bench $15
Kerosene for campsite lanterns $10

Expenditure sub-total $185

Campsite sub-total $60

Women's Sewing Co-op

Income
15% project fee from sales of Co-op products $551

Co-op sub-total $551

The African T-Shirt Company Fundraising

Income

Profit from Surf Liberia t-shirts $36
Profit from Cotton Tree t-shirts for conservation projects $22

Eco-Tourism Walks

Income
$250 donation from the winning team at Quiz Night February 2010 (thank you!)

Project Summary
Robertsport Community Campsite $60
Women's Sewing Co-op $551
Surf Liberia Scholarship $36
Conservation projects $272
Total $919

Budget Summary
Community Fund as of February 2010 -$199.40
Community Fund as of March 2010 $719.60

550 bags in a month: We did it!

2010-04-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

We did it! The Women's Sewing Co-op successfully sewed a bag a day for almost a month, producing 550 bags (plus an extra 10) going to a conference in San Francisco this April. I'm extremely pleased and very impressed with their commitment and dedication to the project. I'll post after our next meeting about how they're saving (and spending) their hard-earned cash.

Check out how cool the bags look with their conference logo! Jerry and Jallah, who are still deciding on a name for their new store, stayed up all weekend making sure the Robertsport Community Works tree and url, as well as the conference brand, were silk-screened perfectly. Carrying the bags between the shop and our apartment must have gotten them plenty of neighborhood attention.
Our main concern for the project was the usual: quality control. Our assistant Solomon and I have worked out a pretty good system that takes advantage of our respective strengths: Solomon painstakingly examines each seam and hem for signs of disaster, while I hold up a bag and can instantly tell whether the pattern is facing the right direction (fish swim sideways, birds fly up, etc.) and if it's the right size. It works well.
Here is Solomon, extremely pleased to be almost done I'm sure. To make deadline last Friday, we met the women in the afternoon, bought and sorted bags, and did quality control in the car--Solomon sitting in the back (his school wasn't having class that day) checking the hems and seams, and me in the front, slowly piling hundreds of beach bags on my lap. It got a bit hot, but we did it--Jerry and Jallah came to pick up the bags that night. They worked all through the weekend and we collected the bags, some of which still had paint drying, folded them into recycled boxes (Volvic, Jameson, anything the supermarkets give us) and drove them to FedEx.

Once again, FedEx was wonderful. The bags--we think because we used different lapa, which are woven thicker, but we're not sure--weighed 6 kg more than they were supposed to. Let's just say they hooked us up.
What's next? Well, the Co-op is on vacation for a week or two, I'm writing an article about the project for Business Liberia magazine and am actively recruiting for a Liberian project manager. Email me if you know if anyone. And thanks for all the support!

Women's Sewing Co-op: Working hard, and on a deadline

2010-03-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago, a friend asked me to send some of the Women's Sewing Co-op beach bags to her boss, who was staying at Kendeja. I sent Solomon with the bags and his ID card. He returned with a little note that said, "550 bags to the US by 5 April," or something close. For weeks, I'd been complaining to Nate that we were never going to move our Co-op stock, which we (the organization) buy from the women at monthly meetings, effectively assuming the project's financial risk. I did quick math and figured that the stock I'd been worried about moving was less that 200 bags. We were going to have to move, and move fast.

Before I agreed that the Co-op could meet the order, I needed to do some research. How would we get the bags there on such short notice? Could the women sew 350 bags in a month? More importantly, did they even want to?

I made a few phone calls to Robertsport, mentioned the idea to the Co-op Team Leaders and got their enthusiastic vote of approval. They wanted in and better yet, they thought they could do it. So Nate and I purchased 45 African suits worth of lapa--over 400 yards of cloth, a bunch of thread and headed to Robertsport.

Three weeks later, the women are on schedule and this Sunday, when we have our meeting, will probably all be needing Thai massages for their necks and shoulders. I will keep you updated on the order, as it's a big one and I'm sure will be a good story to tell.

February 2010 budget update

2010-03-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

Lots of good stuff happened in the month of February. Alfred returned with $160. We had partners from Soul Surfers Foundation staying for three weeks, which brought in some good revenue for February and March, and they donated a tent for us to rent. Here's the update:

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income
Tent rental and campsite fees (we haven't yet been able to disaggregate, but we're working on it) $140
Alfred paying back December 2009 campsite fees and tent rental $160

Income sub-total $300

Expenditure

Rake $7
Hammocks $40
Lanterns $7
Cutlass $5
Twine $3
Receipt book $2
Logo stamp $5
Ink and stamp pad $5
Kerosene for lanterns $10

Expenditure sub-total $84

Campsite sub-total $216

Women's Sewing Cooperative

Income
15% from sale of beach bags, yoga mat bags and hand bags $31

Sewing Co-op sub-total $31

Surf Liberia Scholarship Program

Income
Surf Liberia t-shirt sales $36

Expenditure
Scholarship money for Peter Swen's school fees (Salvation Army High School on 24th St.) $50

Surf Liberia Scholarship -$14

Environmental projects

Income
T-shirt sales $22

Environmental projects sub-total $22

Project Summary

Robertsport Community Campsite $216
Women's Sewing Co-op $31
Surf Liberia Scholarship Fund -$14
Environmental projects $22

Budget Summary

Community Fund as of January 2010 -$454.50
Community Fund as of February 2010 -$199.40

This month, we hope to get out of the red and into the green, creating and growing a Community Fund that will be start-up money for community members' microenterprise projects. Thank you for your support!

Monrovia geniuses win quiz night for conservation

2010-03-04T01:20:00.001-08:00

I have some very exceptional friends, so when Dina--who supports our beach cleanup and helps organize my yoga class--said she was competing in a new monthly quiz night, I was not surprised. Our surfer friend who often comes to Robertsport on the weekends was leading Dina's team and had decided to give the winnings--if they won, of course--to Robertsport Community Works. And you know what? They won!

Special thanks to the team leader and his team (you know who you are), who raised $250 for the NGO!

What are we using the money for? Well, Benjamin and other young men from the village have been working informally with us to create a rainforest walk through the Robertsport old-growth coastal rainforest. It's a protected area, an Important Bird Area (not my capitals) and a RAMSAR site (important wetlands--not my acronym), so there's plenty to see.

There's also saw grass, which is just like it sounds. Nate pointed it out on an early walk and I scoffed. How sharp could it be? Bleeding ankles and forearms later, I repented being so blithe. Now, the guides have strict instructions to avoid saw grass at all costs. It does not make for a pleasant tourist experience.

Anyway, this $250 will pay for the start-up of the project, which is just what we need. We've advertised for a volunteer to come and help us set the walks up, but we don't have the cash stipend the two highly qualified candidates would've needed to stay for a couple of months. After all, airfare here is a hefty $2,500, more or less.
So, here's what's on our project list as we get started:

Birds of West Africa and Mammals of West and Central Africa: These classic and rather expensive guide books will help Benjamin and the other guides identify the birds they know and learn their western names, as well as what they eat, where they like to perch and other fun stuff. I'd love a similar book for trees...

Eco-Tourism Guide t-shirts for the guides to wear when they're leading a walk: This will help them look professional, although I'm sure they'll want ID cards too. All our project staff ask us for ID cards.

Cash to develop and draft a map and species list of likely will-sees--trees, birds, insects and maybe lizards. We'd like to have the map onto and to add photos to it on Google.

Guide training: Ben and the others know the forest like the back of their hand, but that doesn't mean their ready to lead inquisitive tourists on a two-hour hike. Guide training will include first-aid, guest relations, when to share information and how to best pace the group.

Promotional photos and brochures: It would be great to have photos to share with Liberian tourism and conservation sites online, as well as a simple brochure to advertise the walks and encourage people to join on walks.

I'm sure there's more stuff, but I really wanted an excuse to post about how much the quiz night winnings will help put this project together. If you're visiting Robertsport in the near future, email me to schedule a guided walk--unless you see one of our brochures first!

All about beach cleanup

2010-02-26T05:55:00.000-08:00

We're well on our way with three major projects now and have been working officially with the Robertsport Community for six months. Over the next couple of weeks, I want to share each of these projects with you in-depth--how we started them, how we mobilize support for them and how we keep them going. If someone wants to do something similar, maybe they'll get some ideas. If anyone wants more details, let me know.

So, beach cleanup. The idea for this started on Nate and my first weekend in Robertsport in May 2009, right after we moved. We'd both visited before to do a recce, but hadn't really noticed the trash. That weekend, there were single-use plastic bags and marine debris all over the beach. That, and a 3-meter pit where someone had sand mined illegally and dug right under our neighbor's cotton tree, so deep that the roots were showing. Here we are with Trinity Dental Clinic dentist Keith Chapman after picking up the trash people were throwing in it. (Photo courtesy of Adam Weiner.)
All good projects need partners, so the first thing we did was see if Musa, the owner of next door Nana's Lodge, would be interested in partnering with us. Lucky for us, he was--and Nana's Lodge remains the lead partner of the Community Beach Cleanup. Every month, they pay for volunteers to share a meal together at the campsite. Then, they load our rice bags filled with plastic into their pickup and take it to the town dump. A big thank-you to Nana's Lodge for supporting this project.

Here's a photo (courtesy of Myles Estey) of our first cleanup, when we picked up almost 500 pounds of trash.
Since then, we've come a long way. We've handed over the project entirely to local leadership, which is sustainable and very exciting. First, we had the local surfers running it. That went well, but then local leader Abraham (aka A.B.) Fanbulleh came forward and really wanted to volunteer, so he's the project leader now. Here are the surfers with surfer and photographer Sean Brody, who took the rest of the photos below during our September clean-up.

We've had numerous people tell A.B. that they'd like to be paid for their work, and each time he brings this up (he brings this up a lot) we remind him that volunteering is...volunteering. And we reward participation with a small meal, cooked by Miriama and her friends. And if you participate for five months, you get a blue Clean the Beach shirt. And if you participate for 10 months, which will take us into the rainy season, you get a RCW raincoat (these will be stylin'). And, we tell him, we recruit for all of our microenterprise projects from the group of volunteers. I expect he'll keep bringing it up, though.

Over the six month beach cleanup has been running, we've had things become a little more informal--now on the first Saturday morning of each month, you just show up with your friends, grab gloves and a rice bag, and walk towards Locos. You come back to eat when your bag is pretty much filled or you score big, like a car bumper we'll be carrying back that washed up right at the Locos point. A.B. writes you name down as you eat, you hand your gloves bag, we count the bags and carry them to Nana's, where they load them with the weekend's garbage and take them to the dump. They bring the rice bags back and we use them again the next month.

Of course, where the trash goes is another story (hint: it's not great) and the focus of a future recycling project. Wonderfully, it's the community who pointed out that something needs to be done with the plastic in the landfill--and the community who notice now when day-trippers leave plastic plates and soda cans all over the beach. They don't just notice--they take a wheelbarrow and pick it up.

Now, it looks like the Monrovia-based surfer we sponsor, Peter Swen, is going to organize his own neighborhood cleanup at ELWA. We're lending him rice bags and gloves and helping him raise money to provide a thank-you meal for the volunteers. (Nice one, Peter.)

Thanks again to Musa at Nana's Lodge, to our anonymous donors who paid for gloves and rice bags and to all our volunteers.

The Cassava Beach trees

2010-02-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

As of last Saturday, you are asked to pay $5.00 to sit under this almond tree and two others that border Cassava Beach. But only if you sit under it for the whole day. I saw a group of bikini and board-short clad visitors sleeping under the tree, but as they were asleep could not ask them whether the mysterious and well-anchored sign had been enforced. If it had, whether it had been enforced with cheerful hospitality. I wonder.

For the last few weeks, we've been seeing signs of life at Cassava Beach. The road, an overgrown path crowded high with elephant grass, was cleared. Areas around the trees were burned and small grasses now grow between the char. There is a wonderful little umbrella thatch on the sand that I'd love to copy for our campsite, and even a little changing area shelter made of bamboo. All wonderful and thoughtful. But I wonder how they decided to charge people who sit under the tree--and how that will work for them. There are quite a few trees on the beach in Robertsport--one of my favorite is the less-photographed giant cotton tree that borders Cassava Beach.

To me, the remarkable thing about this sign is that it's on a tree. At the Robertsport Community Campsite, we encourage our day guests and picnickers to hang out at the shade trees and hammocks next door. Our friend Aaron, who we're always giving our watermelon seeds to, runs a picnic site there. It works well. He makes a little money for helping out with tables and chairs and keeping the place clean. Our campsite guests get their peace and quiet. Everyone shares the pit latrine (or sneaks up to Nana's Lodge--we don't ask).

I've thought about it, and I'm happy in both cases to encourage people in Robertsport to charge people for services. I coached Aaron on how organize the picnic in a way people would pay him for it. Nate and I have worked closely with Wallace and T-Boy, who now work full-time at the campsite, on how to cheerfully request a $5 overnight campsite fee. All three men (two of them young--Wallace is a retired police chief and has the relaxed energy of someone at least 70 in my culture; a story about him later) collect a reasonable income from their mostly-weekend work.

I think the guy at Cassava Beach might have a hard time though, and not because people don't value the work he's put in. Paying for a person-to-person service seems fair and reasonable in West Africa--the people in Robertsport are happy to lend a hand no matter who's visiting. I think Cassava Beach's attempt to get in on the action would do best if if they focused on being there as "security" for the car or actively doing something. Anything! But asking me to pay to sit under a tree and I balk: trees are nature, part of our makeup, for relaxing. No one--not any one--should have to *pay* to sit under them. Looking at that sign makes me oddly offended.

This is either a sign of the industriousness of the people of Robertsport or the kind of impact all this dry season's visitors are having on people in Robertsport. If it's both, that could be good news. But on principle, I'm not paying $5 to sit under that tree.

January 2010 budget update

2010-02-17T01:48:00.000-08:00

Robertsport Community Campsite
Income
Campsite fees and tent rental $150

We'll be disaggregating campsite fees and tent rental next month, just to keep things clear.

Expenditure
2 campsite IDs for campsite staff $10
2 branded and silk-screened T-shirts for campsite staff $10
3 kerosene lanterns $10
Kerosene for the lanterns $9
Campsite staff salaries $120

Sub-total $30

Women's Sewing Co-op
Income
10% from sale of hand bags $8
10% from sale of beach bags and yoga mat bags $22.50

Expenditure
Co-op bag tags $6

Sub-total $24.50

Project Summary
Robertsport Community Campsite $30.00
Women's Sewing Co-op $24.50

Budget Summary
Community Fund as of December 2009 -$509
Community Fund as of January 2010 -$454.50

Return of the Robertsport Cooking School

2010-02-13T04:04:00.000-08:00

Here you see Jebbeh (left) and Tina (right) serving Nate and a a tray of potato greens with fish and chicken, pepper sauce and rice. Jebbeh and Tina worked with me in the Nana's Kitchen and are occassionaly around for me to hire as campsite cooks. The potato greens were delicious and the pepper sauce Tina makes is the best I've had.

In an effort to make the campsite generate as much income as possible for the local community, I'm encouraging the expansion of the Robertsport Cooking School. Miriama, who is a member of the Women's Sewing Co-op and the member who lives the closes to the campsite, already cooks every month for the Community Beach Clean-up. I'll be working with her in the next couple of weeks to adapt her usual repertoire to my palatte--sparse oil, lots of vegetables, not too much pepper and no stock cubes or MSG. Fun!

Buying lapa for the Co-op

2010-02-11T03:47:00.000-08:00

One of the best parts about mentoring the Women's Sewing Co-op is going to Waterside to buy the lapas. We usually go later in the afternoon as it starts to get cooler, driving down to Waterside from Mamba Point and checking the point to see if it's breaking. I used to walk there from Mamba Point down Randall Street, but got a little too much attention for my liking--and it was hard to carry all the lapas home. So now, we drive slowly through the traffic, squeezing our way between wheelbarrows ladden with wares and women with piles of cloth, flip-flops or some other commodity spread on tarpaulin on the ground.
I like to shop indoors away from the sun and crowded streets. Mostly run by Lebanese families, the cloth shops sell lapa in sets of three--enough for an 'African suit' or plenty of bags and aprons sewn by the Co-op. Each lapa is two yards, so a set of three is six yards of fabric--it's important to make sure the lapa comes in one solid piece. The juxtaposition of bright colors and loud patterns can sometimes make my eyes spin and I need to 'cleanse the palette' while I'm buying by looking at the ceiling or a solid color for a moment, before going on.
We've discovered, through trial and error, that some lapa patterns are extremely popular and stick around for months. Others, like our most popular 'honeybee' and often-requested 'jungle' lapa, show up for a week and then disappear. Even Solomon, scouring Waterside, cannot find them--one vendor suggested he travel to Guinea to find it, at which point we abandoned hope. We've since learned that if we like a pattern, we should buy three sets of lapa of it and hope it does well.
Lapas come in all kinds of colors and patterns. Here, you see one current pattern (seashell, bottom right) and two new ones (schoolhouse, bottom left and dragon fish, top right). We now buy 15 sets of lapa at a time--one for each member of the Co-op, who then sews beach bags, hand bags (and soon to be on sale) yoga mat bags and cooking aprons from the cloth.

The Co-op just started selling little hand-sewn hand bags that are perfect for going out at night or, as my sister in New York discovered, packing your lunch. Check them out here!

Women's Sewing Co-op gets a grant from the U.S. Ambassador's Self-Help fund!

2010-02-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

The Women's Sewing Co-op is the proud recipient of the U.S. Ambassador's Self-Help Fund. We're receiving funds this year that allow us to build the project and make it sustainable, and include workshops on leadership and financial management as well as work that I'll do around marketing and distribution.
The grant also gives us money to expand our product line. Here, you see Tina trying on a sample apron my sister brought us from El Salvador. The Co-op members loved it so much that Miriama ended up wearing home (or trying to) the sample they made, because my sister wouldn't part hers. It's fitted, feminine and functional--and we're now making it with West African lapa. Note the handy little side pockets. We won't need to embroider ours, but the pockets will stay.
Here are Miriama, Bendu and Josephine (left to right). Bendu single-handedly ran our booth at the U.S. Embassy Craft Fair and earned more than $600 for the Co-op in one day. Miriama, to the left in pink, will be the next team leader as we expand to 20 members in the coming months.
Matilda is our newest Team Leader. Here, she's tallying and handing over bags that her team members have sewn.

Over the next year, I'll be working with the Co-op to achieve the following:

Try to scale-up Co-op membership to 30 women.
Train team leaders in consistent quality control and management.
Market and distribute the monthly output of the Co-op, which now is over 100 products, both locally in Liberia and internationally.
Expand their product line to aprons, yoga mat bags and more.
Brand the Co-op as a women's microenterprise program and show buyers the positive effect product revenues have on members' lives.
Build the Team Leaders' capacity to effectively run and manage the Co-op on their own.
Build Co-op members' skills in business management and financial literacy.
Develop a Monrovia-based network of suppliers that the Co-op can directly liaise with.

If you're interested in giving us about any or all of these, let me know. I'll be blogging about how we're working towards these goals throughout the year, and your support and guidance is much appreciated.

Robertsport Community Works announces a partnership with Soul Surfers Foundation

2010-02-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

Robertsport Community Works is proud to announce a partnership with Soul Surfers Foundation, a Dutch non-profit that supports surfing-oriented development and humanitarian work. We've been selected as their featured project for 2010 and will be working closely with them to develop projects that support conservation, water safety and help promote local surfing in Robertsport. They're also coming to visit us in February, which I look forward to writing about.

In 2009, Soul Surfers gave us a grant of 1000 euros to support our nascent water safety program, bolster Surf Liberia's efforts to mentor and support local surfers, and to help make our monthly Community Beach Cleanup sustainable. We're in the process of receiving this money and will be sharing with you how we intend to put it to good use.

Thank you, Soul Surfers!

December 2009 budget update

2010-01-29T03:59:00.000-08:00

Robertsport Community Campsite
Expenditure
Ben's salary for campsite groundskeeping $15

Income
We won't know about our income for December until Alfred returns to Robertsport. So, for now, we're showing a loss on the campsite that we believe is temporary.

Sub-total -$15

Women's Sewing Co-op
Expenditure
Fee to participate in the U.S. Embassy Craft Fair $10
Bendu's travel and bonus for running the Co-op stall at the Craft Fair $30

Income
Bag sales at the craft fair (10% project fee) $38
Other bag sales (10% project fee) $18

Sub-total $16

We've only been publishing the 10% income we receive from Co-op project sales that goes to Robertsport Community Works as a project fee. This 10% helps to supplement RCW's finances if we're running project deficits and, if there is a surplus, goes into the Community Fund as seed money for other microenterprise projects.

In addition to publishing the organization's income, we're going to start reporting how much money, monthly, Co-op members are earning through their work. This better shows project impact and starts to communicate the effect the Co-op is having on the lives of women and their families. We'd like to determine the income RCW projects generate for the community each month. This is our first step towards doing so.

Co-op earnings from bags sold in December 2009 $315

Fundraising t-shirts
Income from Surf Liberia shirts $52
Income from Cotton Tree shirts for RCW environmental programs $8
Money raised for ARC safehouses for survivors of gender-based violence $18

Project Summary
Robertsport Community Campsite -$15
Women's Sewing Co-op $16
Community Fund total for December 2009 $1

Project funds for Surf Liberia $52
Project funds for environmental programs $8

Budget Summary
Community Fund as of November 2009: -$510
Community Fund as of December 2009: -$509

Eco-walks in the Robertsport rainforest - Getting started

2010-01-28T04:32:00.000-08:00

Photos courtesy of Tamar Losleben.

We're looking for an ecology and community tourism intern to help Robertsport Community Works set up eco-walks in the coastal rainforest. The job posting on Idealist is here, if you're interested...

Here are some photos of the 'bush walk' we took with Ben and company when our sisters were visiting. It's worth noting that Nate and I have been planning to do this walk for months. It took the insistent presence of both of our sisters to get us out of the water and into the forest--even though the forest is, obviously, pretty awesome. Hence, the need for an intern to help us set up the project. We're realistic in what we expect of ourselves.
You can see, in this clearing, how tall the forest canopy is. Although it was the middle of the day in dry season, characteristically one of the hotter times of the year, we stayed nice and cool in the shade.

Ben is a natural in the forest, just like he is in the water. Here, he and Samuel are collecting kola nuts that fell from the tree. Kola nuts are a natural stimulant and appetite suppressant. You crack them open, take a little bite and chew it while it permeates a bitter dryness throughout your mouth that makes me wince. After, though, a sip of water tastes like sugar dew, so it's kind of worth it.
Here, Sameul--Alfred's little brother--holds kola nuts they way they fall from the tree. Samuel and Emmanuel brought along socks to stuff with kola. I think they planned to sell what they didn't eat to the grownups back in the village.
There were some pretty cool looking trees in the rainforest. this once looked painful. Ben explained that you can chop off the pyramid spikes with a cutlass, remove the thorn and bore a hole in them to make jewelry. Below, a close-up.
Gnarly, right?
Here's Emmanuel, who you may have seem in other campsite pictures because when he's not in school, he brings us fresh coconuts to drink in exchange for notebooks, pens and now a set of watercolors he requested after seeing my sister paint. Emmanuel was a perfect forest guide, stopping to let us catch up with the others, pointing out flowers, mushrooms, trees and all kinds of useful things to know--and eat. Actually, Emmanuel's knowledge of the forest is so thorough that the walk became more of a culinary tour than a nature walk, complete with tastings of 'dog' something-or-other, 'bush ground-pea', just-picked kola, and water that you could drink from the bottom of a freshly-chopped vine. We might not be able, because of sustainability issues, to include all the snacks on the locally-guided walks. When Emmanuel, who just turned 13, gets a little older, he'll be a great guide.

Here are some more shots. I look forward to welcoming our future intern and to announcing the commencement of the walks over the summer. We hope that starting community eco-tourism will increase visitors' appreciation of the rainforest and aid in larger conservation efforts.

Robertsport Community Campsite in the NYT Travel Section!

2010-01-27T03:56:00.000-08:00

Photos courtesy of Sean Brody and the New York Times.

Last Sunday, the Robertsport Community Campsite made the Travel Section of the New York Times. The article, written by 'The House of Sugar Beach' author and NYT correspondent Helene Cooper, focuses on the nascent tourism industry in Robertsport and the growth of local surfing by following the life of Benjamin McCrumuda, who has also recently been profiled in Surfers' Journal. Ben, who usually stands in Alfred's shadow, is going to be chuffed to get copies of these this weekend, that's for sure. There's also a shout-out to RCW Board of Directors member Magnus Wolfe Murray, whose expertise and involvement you'll be hearing about more this year.
I'll let you check out the article, with a few caveats. The waves are not actually 20 feet, you can't surf from Shipwrecks to the campsite cotton tree, and Benjamin remains a fisherman and a surfer. Enjoy!

Reaching Robertsport girls

2010-01-23T03:37:00.000-08:00

At the December meeting of the Women's Sewing Co-op, where we officially grew to 15 members from the 3 we started with in July, I was introduced to someone I thought looked a little young to be sewing bags for a co-op. "How old are you?" I asked, smiling innocently to disguise my concern. Bendu had already mentioned that Matilda's daughters have been enlisted to sewi her co-op bags, but I hadn't verified that this was true. "Thirteen," the girl responded quietly.

I waited a moment, smiled at everyone, and then noticed the women were looking at me expectantly. "I think," I said to Bendu, Tina and Matilda--who is now a team leader, "we need to be very careful about who is making the bags. We want to give women work, but we also want young women to stay in school and have time for play."

This is my UNICEF coming out--I'm second-generation, so it's especially easy to communicate key development messages with clarity. In this case, we can't have girls who should be in school making money sewing bags. That's child labor, not lifting a community out of poverty. It occurred to me that I should introduce the idea of child labor--and it's illegality--to the women.

"Also," I said, clearly my throat because now I was less sure of myself, "we sell these bags to America. People in America want to buy bags that are sewn by women and support them. They do not want young girls sewing these bags when they should be in school. If they knew that this was happening," and here I paused for dramatic effect, "they would not buy the bags." There was nodding, to show that I had been understood, and the 13 year old looked a bit sheepish.

Two issues.

First, if young women are sewing the bags for older Co-op members, not letting them into the Co-op isn't going to change that. However, stressing that each woman should be sewing her own bags--and that there are consequences for not doing so--could enforce a community norm (or encourage tattletales) to make sure that happens.

Interestingly, now that we have Co-op meetings and buy bags once a month, the women have said that they feel less pressure to produce such a high number of them. "That's funny," Nate responded after hearing how they would stress a bit, sewing late into the night and sacrificing quality in the process, "we keep worrying about not bringing you enough lapa to keep up with what you can sew." I think we've reached a more sustainable equilibrium now, and hopefully it will keep the work where we intend it--with the women co-op members.

Second, sending that girl away just means she can't participate in an income-generating project because we consider her (and legally she is) child labor. It doesn't mean she has anything she considers equally lucrative, fulfilling or valuable to fill her time with. I've been thinking about this one. Ideas and thoughts welcome.

We haven't forgotten about our December 2009 budget update

2010-01-20T01:17:00.000-08:00

We're not three weeks late on the December 2009 budget update. Well, we are--but we can't do anything about it. Since Alfred Lomax became Robertsport Community Campsite Manager in November 2009, he's been collecting and keeping track of campsite funds in a notebook dedicated for this purpose. He's also been keeping the funds he collects with the pastor who lives next door.

Verifying this for the months of December 2009 and early January 2010 is difficult because, since New Years, Alfred has been in Monrovia and upcountry tending to family affairs. He doesn't have a phone and no one in Robertsport, including his mother, knows when he'll be back. My frustration at not being able to locate him for our bookkeeping purposes was supplanted by the realization that him going AWOL meant we had to come up with another way to manage the campsite--fast.

Thanks to all of our supporters from the Liberian, UN and NGO communities, the campsite--as we'd like to show you in our upcoming December 2009 budget update--did well over the holiday season. We were able to widen the project's impact in the community and the quality of campsite service by hiring two full-time campsite staff working in day and night shifts. More about them and their work in a future post.

We hope Alfred returns to Robertsport so we can post the December 2009 budget update before January finishes.

Television Coverage of the Surf Contest

2010-01-19T05:28:00.001-08:00

A Reuters videographer prepared this short piece about our Surf Contest. Unfortunately, we cannot embed the video, so you'll have to follow the link. Thanks for watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zDpO1YT8uk#

First Annual Surf Liberia Contest (November 2009)

2010-01-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

The competitors and judges of the First Annual Surf Liberia Contest pose along with a representative of Liberia's Ministry of Youth and Sports. (All photos courtesy of Myles Estey.)

In late November of 2009 Robertsport Community Works was delighted to host the first surf contest in Liberian history. Seven young men from Liberia and five expatriates participated in the men's division, which consisted of four preliminary three man heats, two head-to-head semi-final heats and a two man final. Though good waves can be scarce in late November, we were fortunate enough to have consistent shoulder to head high waves, peeling for a clean 100 meters throughout the contest.

(Peter Swen floats his way to a fourth place finish. You can read about his experiences on his blog The Liberian Surfer.)

A correspondent from Reuters captured footage from the contest for an upcoming television spot. Local community members were glad for the opportunity to explain their views of surfing, tourism and development.

(Nana's Lodge helped to pay these young men to keep the beaches clean during the weekend-long sporting festival. Events like this can often leave beaches in total disarray.)

(Contestants and local spectators in the foreground, judges and cameraman in the background.)

(Benjamin McCrumada cuts back on his way to a third place finish. He was eliminated in the semi-finals by close friend, Alfred Lomax.)

(Here, Alfred Lomax makes the most of a medium sized set, on his way to winning the event.)

We are grateful to Liberian Travel and Life Magazine who generously donated $350 so that top placing competitors could walk away with some cash. Here's Alfred Lomax celebrating his first place $200 finish with runner-up, Keith Chapman--Director of the Trinity Dental Clinic.

Keith Chapman also finished first place in the body boarding division--a four man event that ran just prior to the finals of the men's division. We look forward to additional competitors and more excellent waves when we organize our second contest in the first half of this year.

A final thanks to the surfers from BHP Liberia, who donated several rash guards for top placing competitors. And thanks to all of the people who helped with the banners, the transport, the judging and with keeping the atmosphere so congenial. It was a great time.

Where we were.

2010-01-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

Nate and I both contracted malaria and typhoid in early November and only adequately recovered last weekend. Hence, the long silence on the blog--despite the first surf competition in Liberia--and the lack of new activity on the website.

After a short holiday in Ghana, where we got to see the 2nd Busua Beach Surf Classic--Ghana's own surf competitions--we're back, rested and will be updating you on our plans and projects for 2010. Thanks for reading!

November 2009 project and budget update

2009-12-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

To all you faithful followers of these updates, we've changed a few things that you might find interesting. I've explained them for each of the applicable projects. Also, it looks like we might have some grant money coming in over the next few months. We'll update you on this very exciting news!

Robertsport Community Campsite
We've seen enough sustained income from the campsite that we wanted to reward the work that local surfers Alfred Lomax and Benjamin McCrumuda have been contributing the project.

Alfred Lomax is now the official Manager, responsible for setting up hammocks, tents and lanterns, keeping the pit latrine freshly ashed (to keep the smell and bugs down), welcoming guests and collecting campsite fees. Those of you who know Alfred personally know that he's a hospitality natural, and it will be no surprise that he's doing an excellent job. Alfred gets a $2 commission from each $5 camping fee, so that's why the numbers might look a little different this month.

Benjamin McCrumada is the campsite's Groundskeeper, responsible for building small benches, upkeep on the thatch around the latrine and shower area, and keeping paths and the parking lot brushed of bush grasses. He's paid a monthly salary of $15 for this--about the equivalent of the piecemeal work he was getting to do the same jobs, but now a steady a reliable source of income for him and his family.

Thanks to the magnanimous generosity of RCW Board Member Magnus Wolfe Murray, we've been renting his small ($10/night) and large ($15/night) tents to help raise funds for the campsite and the Community Fund, which provides the seed money for our microenterprise projects. As you'll see, now that it's dry season and thanks to the Nana's Lodge Sports Festival and Family Fun Weekend, we've had a good month.

Expenditures
Ben's salary: $15
Paying security one weekend because management didn't collect fees from the campers (it won't happen again): $60

Income
Campsite fees: $72
Tent rental: $75

Sub-total: $72

Community Beach Cleanup
Expenditure
New gloves for community members (30 pair): -$40
Sub-total: -$40

Women's Sewing Cooperative and The African T-Shirt Company
The Women's Sewing Cooperative did a good business going into the Christmas season, selling bags online through The African T-Shirt Company and at the US Embassy's Christmas Craft Fair. To make sure we had enough in stock, we expanded the Coop to 12 young women, diversified our product line to include yoga mat bags ($15) and hand bags ($10), and made some strategic scaleup and management decisions I'll blog about later. Based on good feedback from the bags, we've raised the price of the beach bags to $15. Because of the increased revenue and the new setup, we raised the amount of income coming in from 5% of profits to 10% -- an investment that will help make the project more sustainable. More about this in a future blog.

Income from Women's Sewing Coop bag sales: $48
Entry fee to sell Coop products at the Craft Fair: -$10
Transport and $10/day stipend for Bendu to come to Monrovia and sell at the Craft Fair: -$30

Our fundraising arm, The African T-Shirt Company, sells t-shirts--most of which we design ourselves, some of which we sell for friends. Three of our t-shirts fundraise directly to project areas:

Surf Liberia: These profits from these shirts goes to the Surf Liberia Scholarship Fund. In addition to paying half the school fees for our sponsored local surfers (they earn the other half by working on or running microenterprise projects), we also mentor them personally and professionally, helping them create short-term and long-term goals both for their surfing and their larger futures.

We held the 1st Annual Surf Liberia Contest this month and gave away
Income for Surf Liberia project from shirt sales and surf contest: $189
Expenditure for Surf Liberia t-shirts for local surfers in the contest: -$48
Travel and $10/day stipend for Solomon to sell Surf Liberia contest shirts in Robertsport that weekend: -$35

Cotton Tree: The tree that wraps around the front and side of this shirt is the ancient cotton tree on the Robertsport Community Campsite -- the historic tree that the boat carrying first President of Liberia Joseph Jenkins Roberts to Liberia was tied to. All profits from this shirt support our environmental programs--projects like beach cleanup and the community eco-walks in the surrounding rainforest.
Income for conservation projects: $45

African Women = Power: These shirts fundraise for gender-based violence programs in Liberia run by the American Refugee Comittee. All profits go to safehouses across the country where women and girl survivors of rape receive medical, legal, justice and psychological services. More on this in a future post.
Income for the ARC's safehouses for women and girl survivors: $36

Sub-total: $169 + $36 for the ARC

Project Summary
Robertsport Community Campsite: $72
Community Beach Cleanup: -$40
Women's Sewing Coop and African T-Shirt Company: $169
Total: $201

Budget Summary
Community Fund as of October 2009: -$711
Community Fund as of November 2009: -$510

Thanks to everyone for your support, suggestions and for helping us make this work.

Rules and scoring from the 1st Annual Surf Liberia Contest

2009-12-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

Here are the rules Nate drew up, read to competitors and kept with the judges during the 1st Annual Surf Liberia Contest:

Marshal is right. [Marshal is the head judge and one of the most respected surfers in the water. He's also the eldest, so culturally this presented no issue to the local surfers -- or anyone, for that matter. We all love Marshal.]
Bad sportsmanship, bad attitudes and rude behavior are causes for disqualification.
Whoever is sitting deepest has the right of way.
Judge the maneuvers, not the wave and not the length of the ride.
Dropping in, interfering, collapsing sections, leash pulling and snaking all constitute interference. If you think this is happening, tell Marshal.

Here's what was on the score sheet. I find it a little intimidating, but we had to come up with something. Thanks to the Eastern Surf Association and the peeps of NYNJSurf.com for helping us put the rules and criteria together.

"Please use whole or half points unless expressing small differences in the excellent range.

0-2: Wipe-outs, shaky rides, rides straight to the beach
3-4: Rides with little confidence and no real turns or with one maneuver and nothing else
5-6: Average waves -- a couple of turns but nothing bold, no variety: just a safe ordinary ride
7-8: Good, confident varied ride with a couple high quality turns/moves, but not too risky/bold
9-10: Excellent rides: surfer stays in the pocket, making big moves at critical sections, shows commitment, flow and variety. Barrels, airs, huge spray, top class."

I have a spreadsheet of all the participants' wave scores, so e-mail me if you were in the contest and want to see how you did.

1st Annual Surf Liberia Contest

2009-12-05T06:43:00.001-08:00

Photo of Alfred Lomax (left) and Keith Chapman (right) courtesy of Myles Estey.

A hearty congratulations to the winners of the 1st Annual Surf Liberia Contest. In the men's surfing division, Alfred Lomax came in 1st place with a cash prize of $200, Keith Chapman in 2nd with a cash prize of $100, Benjamin McCrumada in 3rd with a cash prize of $50 and a rashguard, and Peter Swen in 4th with a rashguard. In the bodyboarding division, Keith Chapman also came in 1st and got a rashguard. We hope to have a women's division in the contest next year and to have more surf-related prizes.

Thanks to Liberia Travel and Life Magazine for putting up the prize money and the surfers of BHP for donating the rashguards. Thanks also to Nana's Lodge for helping with equipment and logistics, and for hiring young men from the community to clean the beach over the whole weekend of their larger event. Thanks also to Myles Estey in advance for letting me steal this photo of the winners from his blog. We'll have more photos to post when he generously stops by and drops them off, as we're still too weak recovering from typhoid and malaria to actually leave the house...

This year's contest was held in November to coincide with the 1st Annual Nana's Lodge Sports Festival and Family Fun Weekend, a three-day extravaganza of football contests, volleyball tournaments, sand castle building and face-painting, not to mention beach bonfires and live performances. The weekend sounded like a great success. Unfortunately, as Nate and I were still recovering, we had to keep our presence to a minimum and only came up for the surf contest and a quick meeting with the Women's Sewing Coop.

We got lucky on the contest weekend with long-period swell, almost no wind and head-high waves during the semi-frequent sets. I'll let Nate post more about the surfing and the conditions with some photos (by Myles). Suffice to say it was an unexpectedly good day in a dry season prone to baby swell and occasional onshores. There was some fun surfing. Next year, we'll hold it in the rainy season when there's proper swell, but for 2009, we did good with the waves we got.

By the way, all proceeds from surfers' entry fees go to the Surf Liberia Scholarship Fund, which pays part of the school fees for local surfers we sponsor -- the other part they raise themselves through working in Robertsport Community Works projects or giving surf lessons. Now that we're raised a bit, although through the sale of our Surf Liberia t-shirts, more local surfers are eligible for scholarships based on their scores in the contest.

Because Nate and I needed to maximize our energy for the day, we got a ride up and back with a generous friend, also the head judge and one of the chillest and best people to have in the Liberian lineup. That was helpful, as we had about an hour to set up and register people once we arrived, which I did from a hammock at the campsite. Another friend saw we were looking a bit ragged and drove us in his 4x4 from the cotton tree to Shipwrecks, where we'd decided -- based on the swell coming in at Inner Cottons -- to hold the event. It was pretty fun driving on the sand, hanging out the window and waving to everyone, I have to say.

Once we got to the beach, there was a small crowd lined up under the shade of the almond trees. The local surfers, who'd all had their entry fees waived in lieu of becoming volunteers, had set up plastic tables and chairs, which we shaded with judges' beach umbrellas and made look rather official. Nate had written up scoring criteria and judging sheets, and we'd had a pizza and beer meeting at the head judge's house a few nights before to decide how things would go.

Before we started, we got everyone together, went over the rules -- 20 minute heats of three to start, how waves would be scored, penalties for interference -- and emphasized that the whole point of everything was to enjoy each other, represent surfing in Liberia, and have a good time. The local surfers were intent, focused and visibly a little nervous. We started the first heat with a siren from our borrowed megaphone, and so the contest began. Highlights included a fantastic showing by a novice, S., who charged without hesitation into steep shoulder-high waves, and the moment when Ben's new board broke and Myles rushed out to loan him his thruster. We even had a member of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in attendance and a video journalist from Reuters filming and interviewing the local surfers and the community, so expect to see a link to that piece soon.

My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all of you who helped to make Liberia's first surfing contest the relaxed and enjoyable event it was. Neither Nate nor I are big into competitive surfing, but it was important for the local surfers to represent their sport and help them legitimize surfing in Liberia. We'll see what opportunities it brings them. In the meantime: judges, helpers, volunteers, supporters and well-wishers -- you know who you are, and we very literally could not have done it without you.

Kwaipuna!

Random thoughts on beach cleanup

2009-11-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

Every month, we help to run a Community Beach Cleanup. I say "help" because although our NGO Robertsport Community Works organizes it, we're opening up leadership of the Saturday event to the wider community: local surfers, expatriate surfers, weekend beachgoers -- pretty much anyone who wants to volunteer.

Only here's the thing. After 30+ members of the community come together under the hot sun and walk down the beach picking up plastic with each other, here's what actually happens. We pile the rice bags, bulging with marine debris and local plastic waste, into the bag of the Nana's Lodge pick-up truck and it drives away.

Here's the thing. We take it to the local dump and...we dump it. We're picking up trash in one place and putting it someplace else. True, it's better in a dump than washing around the ocean, suffocating sea turtles who think plastic bags are jellyfish and clogging up fish gills. And to our credit, we separate the plastic marine debris from the other garbage.

It's that separation that, in a few months, just might pay off. I heard the World Bank is starting to fund a plastic recycling program. I'm not sure of the details, but it sounds like Chinese companies might be buying plastic waste to recycle. Our plastic would be almost perfect: sorted, clean and dry.

A big thank you to Nana's, who also pay for the meal our volunteers then enjoy -- usually a spicy mix of cassava leaf and dried fish served with rice in giant pots. Really, they're as wide as my sink -- I'll photograph the women cooking sometime.

Paperwork Accomplished!

2009-11-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

This is to certify that Robertsport Community Works is now an officially registered NGO with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Planning in Liberia. Getting through this process is neither easy nor transparent. We are tremendously grateful to Alfred Brownell and his team at the Green Advocates for rising to meet this challenge. In the midst of an exceptionally busy schedule and in between bouts of fighting to hold Liberia's extractive industries to the highest global standards, Alfred and his team followed our documents around the ministry, week after week, month after month until the job was done.

Now that we've registered, we can move forward with several applications for support and funding along with our research and plans for setting up a precedent setting conservation easement on the land in Robertsport.

October 2009 budget update

2009-11-09T03:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a summary of our October 2009 income and expenditures by project:

Organizational
Expenditure
Filing our Articles of Incorporation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs $75.00

Sub-total -$75.00

Robertsport Community Campsite
Income
Camping fees $25

Expenditure
Hammocks (2) $20.00
Benches around the almond trees $25

Sub-total -$20

Women's Sewing Cooperative
Income
23 beach bags $11.50

Expenditure
Beach bag tags $3

Sub-total $8.50

Surf Liberia Scholarship fundraising
17 shirts sold $68.00

Project summary
Organizational: -$75.00
Robertsport Community Campsite -$20
Women's Sewing Cooperative $11.50
September 2009 Community Fund -$627.50
Surf Liberia Scholarship fundraising $68.00

Community Fund as of October 2009: -$711.00
Surf Liberia Scholarship money raised in October: $68.00

Photos of the Women's Sewing Cooperative

2009-11-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

My friend Jana Videira took some great photos of the Women's Sewing Coop when she came to visit us in Robertsport. I'm using the occasion to introduce you to a few of the women in the group. Thank you, Jana!
Bendu is one of the Team Leaders. She is the most serious of our members and the most matronly, regularly appealing to her authority as the eldest woman in the Coop to boss other members around. She was our first project manager. As Team Leader, she's responsible for quality control and cloth cutting. Before each meeting, she measures each finished bag and collects them from the women in her team, just like she's doing in the photo above.

Early on, I bought Bendu a phone, she we never used it, referring to all sorts of SIM card problems and issues with the machine. After repeated attempts to reach her over a series of months (not weeks), I finally took it back and kept it in a drawer. My own phone was stolen last week, so I had the occasion to use it, and it works just fine.

This is Teresa, who joined the Coop after being talked up by Bendu as a talented seamstress of African fashions. "She know how to sew," Bendu would nod at me emphatically. Teresa is older and chill, like Bendu. She has a real eye for quality sewing and is responsible for teaching everyone the thick hem stitching on the beach bags -- an innovation that improved quality.

This is one of my favorite photos and the only one not taking facing the beach. The grove of trees we've cleared looks more like a forest, and Teresa looks relaxed and right at home.
This is Botoe, modelling the Fish Bone and Bunnies beach bag prints. Your can see her making the Bunnies bag with her daughter in the one above.

The first photo was taken by the inlet at Inner Cotton Trees, which is always shifting with the tide. Botoe is one of the most beautiful women in the sewing Coop and was one of the first to want to model them with Jana. At the time of the photo shoot, Botoe had two children. She lost her little boy a few weeks ago, a sadness which I'll write more about it a little bit.
Mariama is the granddaughter of the Community Chief. She's small and looks quiet: she never even spoke our first couple of meetings. We pass Mariama's house on the way to the Community Campsite in Robertsport every week and I usually see her, pounding cassava for fufu or doing something in the house. She has a really cute daughter who comes to all of our meetings. Mariama also helps cook lunch -- usually cassava leaf and dried fish -- for the community volunteers after the monthly beach cleanups.

We first started doing real quality control during one endlessly rainy weekend, when we held our meeting in the restaurant/bar area at Nana's Lodge next door to the Campsite. It rained the whole time. I recruited Nate to come and help me measure each bag and hold its seams up to the light. When it was her turn, Mariama found it excruciating. "My bag is fine. It will pass!" she shouted at Nate, laughing and nervous. "Mariama! I thought you were shy!" I teased her, and all of the women shook their heads, laughing.

This is Jebbeh. She was one of the young women in the kitchen with me the week I ran the Robertsport Cooking School out of Nana's Lodge. She looks rather striking in this picture, and doesn't usually make such an open expression. She'll like this photo when we print it out for her.
Tina is the other Team Leader. She was the smartest person I trained in the Nana's Kitchen when we ran the cooking school. She still makes me fresh lime juice over the weekends and prepares Nate and I our dinner plates and brings them to our table. Tina is the best.
This is Matilda. She works at Nana's Lodge and will be our third Team Leader as the Coop expands in the future. She's showing off a bag in Taxi lapa, one of our more popular patterns in the beginning. Matilda sewed all the bags for them, so we call this "her lapa."

Stay tuned as we keep growing and thanks to all of you who have supported our products!

Running the Robertsport Community Campsite

2009-11-03T00:24:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of Jana Videira.

For the last five months, Nate and I have driven to Robertsport every weekend, set up our campsite, hired local security, brought out hammocks and kerosene lanterns, made sure the toilet thatch was defending modesty, and readied Robertsport Community Campsite for potential guests. We stayed there the whole weekend, so it was also an investment in our own comfort, but gradually the packing and unpacking of extra tents and the scent of kerosene in the trunk made us start thinking. We definitely needed someone to run the campsite.

Over the same five months, we've seen local surfer (and world famous!) Alfred Lomax smile and snap to attention whenever he's heard of a new guest visiting Robertsport. We've seen him introduce himself politely, ask tons of questions, invite strangers to stay at his house, organize his mother or his fiancee to cook for them, give them surf lessons, entrust them with his surf boards, and generally encourage visitors to feel welcome, safe and appreciated. Clearly, it was an obvious choice.

Last weekend we sat down with Alfred in a grove of hammocks and offered him the job. He was thrilled, especially since we hired his best friend and fellow surfer Benjamin McCrumuda, to be the groundskeeper. Ben has been making 'African benches' for a few weeks now -- uncomfortable looking wooden benches made from tree trunks and bamboo poles that are actually quite nice to sit on, in a therapeutic sort of way -- so we were really just formalizing his position. Plus, it's good to support them two of them: they do everything together and are respected young members of the community.

We've trained Alfred on how to make receipts and now he's officially in charge. We had a Peace Corps guest last week and a couple of friends stay over the weekend. Things are going well.

Sometimes, the project manages you

2009-10-23T04:21:00.000-07:00

It's worth noting that after a two-week extended stay in Robertsport, during which the Women's Sewing Cooperative met regularly under the giant cotton tree and checked in with me almost daily, showing me their progress, assuring me that they were measuring the straps and sides appropriately, and just saying hello, I haven't had a meeting with them in about two weeks. That means for Coop members used to making $20 a week sewing bags (beautiful ones, which you can buy here), there has been a sudden but temporary lull in their new income.

Before the Women's Sewing Cooperative gave them scissors, sewing needles, and new skills, most of them were what the World Bank calls "underemployed," meaning they might earn small sums for trading or selling fish, but that their income potential was being underutilized -- in simple English, they could be earning more. It's not as if African women are actually underemployed -- sourcing and preparing food, organizing water supplies and child care, cleaning, washing and all the other constant tasks of managing a family can hardly be called "underemployment." It's just that they weren't seeing any cash or formal compensation for their labors. Until now.

Putting the Women's Sewing Cooperative on a fortnight of temporary hold wasn't my intention when Nate and I took our Monrovia stay-cation, but it is benefiting Coop management. Before our break, we had one leader on suspension for accusatory outbursts and unnecessary drama during meetings. The younger members complained that the older women were hoarding fabric and not giving them the supplies to make more than a small number of bags per week. Meetings were filled with interruptions and although we'd agree on one thing, once the women were left on their own, they often decided not to follow instructions and sewed renegade, misshapen bags. Project management demanded patience.

Yesterday, my phone rang with an unknown number. Nate answered, spoke to a man for a moment and passed the phone to me. It was Bendu, our project leader, telling me she missed me and wondering if we're coming up to Robertsport this weekend. We are. I spoke to her for a moment, chatted about work and things, and then she passed the phone to Miriama, another Coop member, who said that she missed me and demanded my return to Robertsport this weekend. Then Miriama passed the phone to Matilda, who also missed me and was looking forward out our Saturday meeting. Then Jebbeh, then Botoe, and then the rest of them, only by then everyone was giggling at their repetitions and I was too, laughing at the idea of a bunch of Coop women organized and clustered around a pay phone kiosk, greeting me one by one and telling me to get back to them so they could keep making money. It was wonderful. I can't wait for Saturday.

Something I've been thinking about: three of the Coop women were training with me in the kitchen at Nana's a few weeks back. Although it's none of my business, I asked, and they weren't getting paid any extra for being there all day. Towards the end of our 10 days of cooking lessons, Botoe pointed out that the three of them wouldn't have any bags for me that week -- they'd been working all day in the kitchen. I realized what a sacrifice it had been for them -- well, sacrifice or strategic investment in the future, which is often the same thing -- to be there, learning from me and consciously taking a cut in their income to do so. I'm impressed with them. And I like it when they call.

A tour of the Roberstport hospital

2009-10-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last week, Ansu -- a security guard at Nana's Lodge next door -- stepped on a massive nail covered in rust while brushing the area around the road. Incidentally, the request to brush was issued directly by the President herself when she visited last weekend, as apparently the encroaching bush was a bit unsightly. This, of course, has nothing to do with why Ansu stepped on the nail.

A resident missionary nurse, acting nanny for the On Surfari peeps' small children, immediately prescribed a tetanus shot and asked if I'd like to accompany her on a short visit to tour St. Timothy's, the hospital up the hill. She and her husband, over a period of years, have filled and shipped a container of medical supplies to distribute to at-need locations around Liberia -- quite a feat, when you think about it -- and she was interested in seeing if St. Timothy's qualified as being in-need.

When we arrived at the hospital on the hill, up an appalling dirt road that made me grateful I wasn't in an ambulance, we were greeted by the hospital administrators and shown around.

Now, it goes without saying that the St. Timothy's Hospital in Robertsport is not a place I ever, under even the best of circumstances, want to visit as a patient. But there was little crowding, clean conditions, clearly posted information and -- although it was a Sunday -- medical staff were visibly in attendance. Things could have been much, much worse.

What struck me most about the visit was the maternity ward. As I've mentioned elsewhere, Liberia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. If you're a Liberian woman, getting pregnant is one of the most dangerous things you can do. At St. Timothy's, when the missionary nurse asked what the OB/GYN needed, she immediately starting listing things like bedding -- simple sheets and blankets -- and delivery kits, as the hospital only has one. "When it gets busy here," she said shaking her head, "we only have one to sterilize and share between four or five women."

I'll go back and visit the hospital when I have some time on my hands and talk more to the OB/GYN about what we can do to improve their capacity. In the meantime, if anyone wants to send donations for me to buy things here, let me know. I'll do it and post back here on its impact.

October Beach Cleanup

2009-10-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

We moved our beach cleaning forward by one week at the request of the On Surfari team, who wanted to document the event. Since neither the human race nor the ocean are running out of garbage, the beaches had already accumulated enough fresh trash to overpower and exhaust approximately thirty volunteers from the community.

I missed the first cleanup; but from what Elie says, there were fewer large pieces of plastic waste this time around, which may have contributed to the lower number of rice bags full of trash that we collectively gathered. Many people returned to help us for the second time in a row, including the traditional chief of the Uptown village and the RCW sponsored surfers (pictured below in a state of empty-wave induced distraction). The expatriate surf scene was also much better represented this time around.

The bag I am holding below probably weighs fifty or sixty pounds. In the three weeks between the last cleanup and the one depicted here, well over fifteen bags of this garbage washed up on a stretch of beach that is less than a kilometer long. If we had been patient enough to pick through all the shredded, soft plastic that results from the pinches of oil, kerosene, salt, and everything else that are sold to inhabitants of the poverty line for a few pennies, we could have filled another fifteen--and if we rounded the corner towards town and the armada of fishing boats, I can't imagine how many other bags we would have filled.

Even the day after the cleanup, a bag or more worth of new large filth was on our small stretch of stewarded beach. Thinking about those giant swirling masses of ocean waste is super depressing. How many bags would that be and then where would we put them?

Thanks to everyone for their help, support and participation! All photographs courtesy of Sean Brody.

Bags to riches

2009-10-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

I have inherited my mother's love of puns. I have also inherited her desire to see women lift themselves out of poverty -- what ten young women from Robertsport are doing as members of the Women's Sewing Cooperative, sewing beach bags by hand that you can order here.

With your support, their numbers will grow. I look forward to a blog post in a month or so about the impact their additional income is having in their lives and the lives of their families.

Check out this article on the importance of women-focused development and support Liberian women by buying some bags!

We'll have smaller bags for sale and new patterns soon!

September 2009 budget update

2009-10-12T04:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a summary of our September 2009 income and expenditures by project:

Robertsport Community Campsite
Income
Camping fees $35
Tent rental $30

Expenditure
Hammocks (3) $53
Stamps for the beach bag $18
Carbolene to keep insects off the signs $10

Sub-total -$16

Women's Sewing Cooperative
Income
46 beach bags $23

Expenditure
Beach bag tags $4

Sub-total $19

Surf Liberia Scholarship fundraising
10 shirts sold $50

Project summary
Robertsport Community Campsite -$16
Women's Sewing Cooperative $19
August 2009 Community Fund -$630.50
Surf Liberia Scholarship fundraising $50

Community Fund as of September 2009: -$627.50
Surf Liberia Scholarship money raised: $50

To support our projects and buy beach bags or Surf Liberia t-shirts, visit www.robertsportcommunityworks.org.

The Cotton Tree

2009-10-12T03:36:00.000-07:00

Photos courtesy of Sean Brody.

This is the cotton tree that towers over the Robertsport Community Campsite, a piece of land that Robertsport Community Works is invested in conserving through the creation of a conservation easement. Conservation easements are legal agreements that restrict the usage of property. Ours would ensure that no permanent structures are built on the land, that no trees of a certain age be cut down, that indigenous species be encouraged and that the community of Robertsport retain access and usage rights. We're working on the details, so stayed tuned.

This is the tree that the American Colonization Society tied its ship to when it landed in Liberia in the late 19th century, the supposed spot where Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first president of Liberia for whom Robertsport was named, stepped off.
It's estimated to be over 500 years old. It would have to be, in order for it to be big enough for the first Americo-Liberians to anchor their ship off of it. Trees like this often end up as raw materials for fishing boats. At Robertsport Community Works, we're starting to make a series of Cotton Tree t-shirts -- each batch the outline of a different ancient cotton tree -- to promote awareness and work towards their conservation. Email me if you want one or check out The African T-Shirt Company in a week or two for details.

The 1st Robertsport Community Beach Cleanup

2009-09-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Photos courtesy of Myles Estey.

On Saturday, 12 September, about 30 community members and expatriates met under the cotton tree at the Robertsport Community Campsite to participate in the first Robertsport Community Beach Cleanup. September's cleanup was part of the Ocean Conservancy's 24th International Coastal Cleanup -- the largest volunteer event in the world with over 400,000 volunteers in over 100 countries. The event raises awareness about the importance of clean beaches, oceans and waterways to human and environmental health.

Our goal was to collect plastic and marine debris from Fisherman's Point to Shipwrecks -- the main stretch of tourist and surfing beach. We gathered around 9 AM and by 10 AM had divided into teams lead by community members and RCW-sponsored surfers Alfred Lomax and Benjamin McCrumuda.
Each volunteer had a pair of thick leather work gloves and a rice bag to collect the trash, but the bags soon filled up and people began dumping the trash into a large pile at the campsite so that they could reuse their bags. This created a logistical challenge at the end, because we needed the trash in back in the rice bags to transport it to the dump, but it did create an impressive looking pile of plastic. We're scaling up our supplies for next month's cleanup and expect more volunteers as well.
We collected 28 rice bags in less than 2 hours -- over 500 pounds of trash. There were a large number of single-use plastic bags that, judging by the newish looking state they washed up in, are from around the Robertsport area. There was also a sizeable amount of older plastics that had broken and decomposed in the water. With the help of a marine biologist who is kindly guiding us, we're collecting data on the types and amount of marine debris collected -- data that will help us form intervention programs to reduce, reuse and recycle local waste in the future.

Every second Saturday around 10:00 am we'll be leading similar cleanups, so please join us or show your support by buying a $10 Cotton Tree t-shirt -- all the proceeds go to our environmental projects. Email me to get involved or pick up a shirt!

Clean the beach!

2009-09-09T01:26:00.000-07:00

Robertsport Community Works and the Ocean Conservancy invite you to the 24th InternationalCleanup Coastal , where we'll join over efforts in over 100 countries to clean up trash from our world's waterways and ocean.

The cleanup will take place on Saturday, 12 September at 9:00 AM at Robertsport Community Campsite. We'll meet under the cotton tree at the campsite (next to Nana's Lodge) to organize into teams. Gloves and bags will be handed out, and after the cleanup lunch for community members will be provided.

The September cleanup will be the beginning of a monthly beach cleanup led by Robertsport Community Works and sponsored by Nana's Lodge and private donations. The beach cleanups are part of an effort to support the biodiversity and ecological integrity of Liberia’s coasts, as well as enhance tourism opportunities for the Robertsport community. Learn more at http://www.robertsportcommunityworks.org/our-projects/beach-cleanup-project.

We hope you can join us on Saturday, 12 September at 9:00 AM. If you can't make it, show your support by purchasing a $10 Robertsport Community Works "Clean the beach" t-shirt by emailing elie@robertsportcommunityworks.org. We ship internationally and all profits go towards beach cleanup!

Thank you for your support of a clean and healthy Robertsport beach.

August 2009 budget update

2009-08-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a summary of our August 2009 income and expenditures by project:

Robertsport Community Campsite
Income
Campsite fees for 4 people $20

Expenditure
Shower thatch $6
Bench $10
Upgrade to bathroom thatch $4

Sub-total: $0

Women's Sewing Cooperative
Income
10 beach bags $5

Expenditure
6 sets of lapa from Waterside $44
6 sets of lapa from Waterside $54
Beach bag branding $7
Beach bag branding $5
7 sets of lapa from Waterside $63
Buying beach bags from the Coop $151
Buying beach bags from the Coop $46

Sub-total - $365

Surf Liberia Scholarship Fundraising
11 Surf Liberia t-shirts $55

Project summary
Robertsport Community Campsite $0
Women's Sewing Cooperative -$365
July 2009 Community Fund -$265.50
Surf Liberia Scholarship Fundraising $55

Community Fund as of August 2009: -$630.50
Surf Liberia Scholarship money raised: $55

To support our projects and buy beach bags or Surf Liberia t-shirts, visit www.robertsportcommunityworks.org.

Behind Surf Tourism

2009-08-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

Now and then Robertsport Community Works is approached by international journalists who seek a better understanding of our mission and our projects. In a recent interchange with a journalist who has considerable experience with surf publications and sub-Saharan travel, we were asked a question that gets to the heart of surf tourism:

"How much are you interested in increasing surf tourism in the area, and how much are you interested in just seeing to it that whatever comes is positive, clean and beneficial to the locals?"

Waves can only handle a certain number of surfers before they get crowded and become an unrelaxing hassle. All of the expatriate locals in Liberia enjoy waves that are shockingly uncrowded; they can be hesitant to embrace programs that provide Liberians with more surfboards or initiatives that attract more foreign surfers.

This journalist's question probably splits surf communities apart more often than it knits them together. My original thinking was definitely protectionist. I wanted to "see to it that whatever comes is positive, clean and beneficial to the locals" and I looked forward to enjoying the uncrowded waves with a few good friends. But against my own better interests as a surfer, we're focusing more and more on "increasing surf tourism in the area."

Why work to clutter up something that sometimes feels special because it is so isolated? The answer can be found in a raft of analytical documents about Liberia's current vulnerability. Youth unemployment is estimated at around 50% (at the absolute lowest) and opportunities for education and employment border on non-existent. This is the most destabilizing fact about this country--and it is a fact that is making many investors (private and governmental) too worried to inject real cash into the Liberian economy. Tourism can add to the nation's stability by providing lots of low-skill jobs and by providing a clear incentive to control violence and the country's public image.

I'd rather see more surfers in the water if it brings more jobs and if they help to jump start the tourism industry of Liberia. Sitting at the inaugural meetings of the Tourism Association of Liberia--to which Robertsport Community Works is offering support--makes it clear how much work must go into rebranding a country that is still widely associated with terrible things. Surfers are often some of the most adventurous travelers, some of the people who are most willing to give image-challenged nations a second chance--and then to brag about it to everyone they know.

Liberia doesn't need a closely guarded secret; Liberia needs help.

Beach bag almost ready for the shelves

2009-08-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

The women of Robertsport and I have been working on creating a hand-sewn product we can sell locally and internationally for almost three months. First, a small group of us talked about the project as I nursed a surfing wound in front of Nana's Lodge. Next, I brought the small group a sample of a large, slouchy monk bag, which they innovated into a sleeker, sturdier version, using West African batik fabric and sewing supplies I sourced cheaply from Monrovia. Then, we worked on quality control, standardizing the pattern and ensuring that edges had hems, knots were tightly tied, and that the seams wouldn't split.

Even before they'd sold a bag, the small group you see above had grown to ten. "Let's keep ourselves at ten," Bendu, the eldest and the Cooperative leader, advised. She's the one teaching women to sew and doing the first rounds of quality control, so fair enough.

Thanks to Myles Estes for this photograph, which shows from left to right Bendu, Tina, Mariama, me and Vivian at work. Bendu is the Cooperative Manager and now has a mobile phone so we can better coordinate orders and supply, and she, Tina and Vivian were the ones who came up with the project with me.

We'll be selling the bags on our website starting next week. They're $10 each, plus $8 shipping and handling anywhere in the world with a little less than 2 weeks to arrive. We'll accept payment on PayPal and have photos of the 18 different patterns you can choose from. Email me at elie@robertsportcommunityworks.org if you'd like to make an order!

Promoters of Good Health

2009-08-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Robertsport Community Works has been looking for a way to support small scale agriculture in the uptown region of Robertsport. Thanks to the friendship and generosity of Simon, an Agricultural Specialist from Germany, we have begun taking steps in this direction.

Simon spent several hours in a group discussion with nearly a dozen members of the Promoters of Good Health, using the sand floor as his blackboard and topographical map. After assessing their agricultural situation and gauging their level of experience along with the complexity of their farming techniques, Simon began a detailed explanation of local crop rotation, composting and the repurposing of human waste for fertilizer.

Members of the Promoters of Good Health expressed great enthusiasm in implementing Simon's suggestions and are hoping for some pamphlets and written materials to help them recall the most pertinent lessons of the workshop. If Simon's core messages are adopted, it should have a positive impact on the cleanliness and good appearance of Robertsport as well--since he stressed community hygiene and spoke against burning felled trees and brush debris.

More on this as it develops.

Surf Liberia Scholarship Fund

2009-08-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Our Surf Liberia shirts are in production, with the profits going towards a surf scholarship program for Liberian surfers. We intend to continue Surf Liberia fundraising with t-shirt, rashguards, stickers and an annual surf competition.

At the moment, we’re raising money for school fees and associated costs for Benjamin McCrumuda, Alfred Lomax and Peter Swen, but all sponsorship will be annual and based on merit, so we hope to expand the pool in the future as well as bring in corporate sponsors to supplement our costs.

Sponsorship will include surfer scholarships, equipment and career mentorship, with the surfers contributing to their school fees through surfing lessons, branded boards and rashguards, and community service.

All shirts are $10, not inclusive of shipping and handling. Profits go 100% to the Scholarship Fund. We have women's shirts in assorted colors, styles and sizes and men's white t-shirts in Medium, Large and X-Large. We ship around the world and take PayPal.

Email scholarship@robertsportcommunityworks.org to order shirts and support our Surf Liberia Scholarship Fund!

July 2009 budget update

2009-08-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

Here's where we are, at the end of July, on a project-by-project basis:

Robertsport Community Campsite
Income
Campsite fee $15

Expenditure
Stamp pad, ink and stamp $8

Sub-total: $7

Beach Clean-up Project
Expenditure
Beach Cleanup T-shirts for the Cleanup Crew to wear $50

Sub-total: -$50

Women's Sewing Cooperative
Income
1 market bag sold $0.50

Expenditure
6 lapa from store $20
Sewing supplies $1
2 yards solid cloth $10
12 lapa from Famatta $38
Sewing supplies for 5 sewing kits $9
July expenditure sub-total $78

Sub-total: -$77.50

Project sub-totals
Robertsport Community Campsite: $7
Beach Cleanup: -$50
Women's Sewing Cooperative: -$77.50
June Community Fund: -$145

Community Fund total: -$265.50

In August, we'll be starting a larger fundraising project that will help us turn the Community Fund from red to green. Stay tuned!

Community Member Profile: Benjamin McCroumada

2009-08-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

As we involve more and more people in the projects of Robertsport Community Works, we will be introducing new team members to our online readership.

Benjamin McCroumada, our contractor/groundskeeper, has been instrumental to the preparation of the RCW campground. Liberia is an incredibly fertile country where untended plots of land thicken to the point of impassibility within a few months. In late May the campsite was overgrown, the shelter surrounding the latrine had vanished and there was a large hole produced by illegal sandmining immediately in front of the social area.

Benjamin has organized a small group of men from the uptown community and worked to better the campsite on a week by week basis. As a result of his labors we now have considerably fewer "parasite trees" (something akin to the strangler fig) and more space for camping. Visitors can walk around the entire base of the cotton tree and move about at night without fearing a sand trap.

Benjamin is a lifetime resident of Robertsport, though he spent ten years deep in the interior of the country, when Liberia's civil war rendered Robertsport unlivable. It was in his grandfather's village, named "Camp Four" where Benjamin learned to make traditional, "country" shelters with bush materials and where he learned how to farm and hunt.

He lives with his father and his four year old son, who he supports with his labors for RCW and as the net dispenser of a fishing team--a position of importance second only to the boat captain. While Benjamin loves the ocean and enjoys fishing, weeks can go by when the ocean is too rough for their hand-made dugout canoe and weeks and even months can pass when the fish supply seems to dwindle, sorely impacting the Uptown community's bottom line. And while Benjamin enjoys rough sees as one of the more talented surfers in Robertsport, he is grateful to have employment that does not depend on the weather.

While Benjamin will continue to work as our dependable contractor and groundskeeper, we look forward to leveraging his knowledge of the forest on our upcoming walking tours of the rainforest and surrounding area.

Signs for the campsite

2009-07-31T12:17:00.001-07:00

When we had our first meeting with the community, we talked about ways to make the campsite more official. People have been camping and picnicking under the giant cotton tree for years, but now that the community was going to start caring for and directly benefiting from visitors, we needed to show that things were a little different. Since no one lives full-time at the site, we decided on three signs and drafted the text for them there and then.

The first sign, above, marks the turn for the campsite from the road down to Nana's Lodge. The second, below, is to remind visitors not to throw their garbage in the toilet and to keep things clean. Garbage attracts flies, and since we're adding ash, leaves and sand to the toilet on a regular basis, the wood base and thatch of the toilet is pretty fly-free.

The young boy in the photo is Claudius, an Uptown local who kept me company while I painted the campsite rules sign, helping me amend the text when I ran out of space and carry the sign under the tarpaulin when it started to rain. When I dripped white paint between the lines, he tore off the outer husk of a ripe coconut, dampened it with water collecting on a leaf and made me an effective paint eraser. It's his arm in the Robertsport Community Campsite sign above. He's 12 and I invited him to start talking to young people in the community about ways Robertsport Community Works can support their needs. It would be great to have a rotating youth member on the Community Board.

The welcome sign was a challenge, as the smallest brushes they sell at hardware stores here were clearly too big for all the information we wanted to include. I used our camping kitchen knife to pare off half the bristles. Benjamin, who made the thatch around our toilet, tied the cuttings to a stick with some twine he found lying around and made me a smaller paintbrush. Without him, we would not have been able to fit the campsite@robertsportcommunityworks.org email on the sign.

As I was painting, it was fun to discuss the text and the signs' purpose with everyone who passed. At one point, I had a crowd of about five people debating how we'd fit the rest of the welcome text on the shrinking real estate of blue. As you can see, we managed well.

Legal Support

2009-07-23T06:25:00.000-07:00

Robertsport Community Works is delighted to announce the beginning of a partnership with Alfred Brownell, the leading environmental attorney in Liberia. Thanks to a series of referrals and a highly visible "Green Advocates" sign near the center of Monrovia, we found ourselves speaking with a man who not only shares our vision and concern for Robertsport; but also a man who grew up in the very same neighborhood of Robertsport that we are working with today.

This improbable piece of good fortune charged our meeting with energy and vision. It was inspiring to see how harmoniously we think and plan for the community. We look forward to working closely with Mr. Brownell in the coming years and are grateful, already, for his generous help registering Robertsport Community Works with the necessary ministries.

Starting the Women's Sewing Cooperative

2009-07-22T04:13:00.000-07:00

Small businesses have the potential to lift people out of poverty. They teach entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy and encourage people to network and innovate, in the process making empowered and impactful choices.

Employ a woman, development literature tells us, and she'll spend the money on her family's health, nutrition and education. Employ 20 community members, like Nana's Lodge next door to the Community Campsite, and their salaries go to family members and friends in a pattern more like widening ripples in a pool than a little trickle-down.

As Robertsport Community Works starts up, income-generating projects for community members are high on our priority list. We're interested in how to supplement the income of the greatest number of people in Robertsport with a wide array of environmentally-minded and culturally enriching microenterprise projects, everything from sustainable agriculture to community-based tourism and recycling.

First, we're making bags. To be more specific, Bintu, Vivian and Tina (from left to right) are making bags with my direction, sewing West African batik cloth called "lapa" by hand into market bags that retail for $10. More about how to order these bags and other products in a future post.

In the meantime, the four of us are figuring out how to create a viable business model that compensates work on each of the phases of the product: the person who selects and buys the lapa in Monrovia and brings it to Robertsport, the sewer, the person who distributes the lapa to places it can be sold in and outside of Liberia, and the person who markets the products in a way that promotes the cooperative and the community.

At the moment, we're working on product samples of small and large market bags, figuring out costings, determining rates of production and starting to enforce quality control. Our expanded product line will include yoga mat bags, aprons and short kimonos. Each of the cooperative's product tags will have a photo of the woman who made it and a bit about the project and Robertsport Community Works.

Our microfinance advisor is constantly reminding us that people work well with incentives, so rather than divide the profits in a cooperative fashion as I originally suggested, we're moving towards a more capitalistic model that gives all the sewer's profit directly to the woman who made the bag. Each market bag will have, by the strap, small embroidered initials identifying the sewer. In addition, we're silkscreening the cotton tree logo and www.robertsportcommunityworks.org on the outside and inside of the strap, respectively. I hope that this move towards branding will start to develop a Robertsport Community Works brand that is the equivalent of seeing a "Rainforest Alliance" or "Fair Trade" sticker on a product.

We're also expanding the project, with new women being trained by other members the cooperative. Each woman will receive a starter kit that includes scissors, needles, thread and a measuring tape -- a cost of approximately $1.50 that she'll pay back in installments upon selling her bags. There is some risk here: give a woman a lapa and a starter kit and she may not come back with a sellable bag, but that's a risk I'm willing to take as we start working to build relationships with the community. At the end of the day, it's about giving people opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty, not about ensuring immediate return on investment. In the long term, I believe we can have things both ways.

June 2009 budget update

2009-07-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

In the interest of organizational transparency, we'll be posting a monthly list of Robertsport Community Work's income and expenditures. This information will also be chalked onto the back of our Robertsport Community Campsite sign for the community to see and respond to.

Here's where we are on a project by project basis:

Robertsport Community Campsite

Income (camping fee is $5 per person per night)
10 June 2009 - $10
26 June 2009 - $5
27 June 2009 - $5
28 June 2009 - $5
June sub-total - $25

We have two four-person tents that we're renting on the weekends (for a $20 deposit and complete with laminated instructions and tent inventory), but as we don't own them, we're not sure whether the money will go to the Community Fund or towards repaying their owner's substantial investment. If it's the former, expect to see the income they generate listed here.

Expenditures
Small welcome signs (2) - $12
Large information sign - $20
Gallon of navy paint - $14
Quart of white paint - $6
Paintbrushes - $6
Cutlass - $5
Grass cutter - $4
Receipt book - $3
Carbon paper - $3
Thatch for toilet - $20
Bush clearing - $5
June sub-total - $97

Beach Cleanup Project
Expenditure
Wheelbarrow - $35
Trash can (2) - $10
Leather gloves (5) - $10
Shovel - $5
Rake - $7
Sub-total - $67

Community Sewing Project
Expenditure
Lapa (2) - $5
Sewing supplies - $1
Sub-total - $6

Community Fund total: $125

The future Robertsport Community Campsite

2009-07-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

One of our first projects involves organizing and formalizing the use of the land around the ancient cotton tree into an eco-friendly campsite. We're talking composting toilets, a sheltered cooking area and a compost heap, a freshwater camping shower, plus strategically positioned hammocks,a designated parking site and an environmentally friendly way to reuse or recycle the waste generated by our campers.

After consulting with campers and the community, we've decided to charge 5 USD per person per night, which will go to campsite maintenance and the Community Fund. Campsite maintenance means first building and then sustaining the amenities listed above -- small comforts which will hopefully encourage people to support the community and stay at the campsite, instead of driving a little further down the beach. The Community Fund will support micro-enterprise and other projects backed by Robertsport Community Works, which you'll be hearing more about in future posts.

To establish and communicate about the campsite's new policies, we're painting three signs. The smaller one, which you see here in its in-progress version, will be placed near the thatch that surrounds our pit toilet and read, "Keep our toilet clean. No garbage, please." The second small one will say, "Welcome to Robertsport Community Campsite." The large sign will welcome people, ask them not to litter, point towards the toilets, explain the fee, announce who to call for security, and also include a disclaimer of some sort absolving us of responsibility should a coconut fall on someone's head, etc. The blackboard side will list the organization's finances, which we'll also post monthly on this blog, as well as any announcements we might want to communicate.

At the moment, the payment system involves us collecting cash and a receipt book. Eventually, the security staff will be trained to issue receipts and collect funds, which they'll give to the RCW treasurer and then to us to put in the RCW account. We'll set up a PayPal account to facilitate this process as well.

We're all about bringing together best practices from like-minded organizations around the world and making them happen in Robertsport, so please post suggestions and comments freely. We hope to see you soon at the Robertsport Community Campsite!

Beach Cleanup

2009-06-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

One of the first actions of Roberstport Community Works will be to initiate a regular, highly visible, weekend beach cleanup. This cleanup will provide a half day of paid labor to at least six different community members. Since a growing amount of medical waste is washing up on the beaches of Robertsport, everyone in the cleanup crew will participate in a brief training that prepares them for handling glass, syringes or other potentially hazardous materials.

The cleanup crew will be chosen by the son of the community chief, who has expressed an intention to help us involve as many hardworking members of the community as possible. They will be provided with clearly labeled "Beach Cleanup" t-shirts in addition to leather gloves and trash bags--to remove any potential stigma that might pertain to picking up the trash of other people.

For the time being, we regret that no recycling options are available for our glass, metal and plastic refuse. In the coming months, we hope to partner with people and organizations who can help us discover what options exist for processing this waste in a sustainable fashion and how such options can be funded.

Robertsport Community Works

2009-06-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

This space will chronicle the development and progress of Robertsport Community Works, a community-based NGO in Robertsport, Liberia based on the following principles:

1. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS is grounded on the principles of a community-based approach to environmentally sustainable development, and will work to foster and support the entrepreneurial spirit within and around the local Robertsport community.

2. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS recognizes the biodiversity and ecological integrity of Liberia’s coasts are necessary and irreplaceable. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS is committed to preserving natural living and non-living diversity and ecological integrity of the coastal environment.

3. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS is dedicated to enhancing tourism and wave-riding opportunities in ways that will positively impact the Robertsport community and not adversely impact nearshore ecosystems.

4. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS is dedicated to enhancing sustainable energy, food systems and recycling within the Cape Mount County and Robertsport community, promoting local food production and renewable energy systems.

5. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS believes that education is essential to the future health and wellbeing of Cape Mount County and the Robertsport community. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS seeks to develop programs and utilize educational materials that are informative, factual, proactive, synergistic and fun.

6. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS strives to be accurate and nonpartisan in its communications with its members and the general public. In addition, ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS will express the unique values inherent in wave-riding — individualism, camaraderie, non-materialism, and an appreciation for human kind's historic relations with the Ocean.

7. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS is a grassroots organization, effective through the participation and support of the Robertsport and Cape Mount community, international and national governmental and non-governmental partners, and the private sector. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS activities emphasize the value of an involved community base.

8. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS will not permit sponsors to divert the organization from its mission or projects undertaken.

9. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin for any reason.

10. ROBERTSPORT COMMUNITY WORKS and its representatives and affiliations agree to abide by these principles and all rules and regulations governing non-profit organizations.

If the principles look like the ones Surfrider Foundation is based on, it's because they are -- with health education, recycling and food and energy sustainability thrown in for good measure.

We're in the early stages of registering now, finding lawyers to help with paperwork and making the appropriate introductions to local government, community leaders, the private sector and others we'll be working with closely.

All of us -- founders, community leaders, surfers, Board of Directors members, women in the sewing project, men employed by Beach Clean Up, and many more -- will be filling this space regularly with our successes and challenges, sharing our experiences and forging partnerships with others like us who are engaged in similar work around the world.

Every month, we'll post our income and expenditures to encourage community ownership and organizational transparency. The same copy will be chalked onto a blackboard at the Robertsport Community Campsite for community members to see and respond to. More about the campsite in our next post.

We welcome comments, suggestions, and collaborative partnerships from all sides.

-- Elie Losleben