Photos by Nicole Allet, Swiss,Paul Box, English, Willy Peerens, Belgium and Me Click for more photos

“WHITE MAN JOGGING, WHITE MAN JOGGING, WHITE MAN JOGGING, LOOK AT THE WHITE MAN JOGGING!!” screeches a little kid in the dark. Others yell and giggle. A small group form but then I am gone.

I am running as fast as I can, sweating through the dark, wet and crowded streets of Monrovia, Liberia. A lithe, tall, dark form I can barely see is weaving through the crowds ahead of me. He’s getting away. “Mike Nuts, Mike Nuts” I yell. His name is actually the noble name of Magnus Khan but I call him “Mike Nuts” because he is a fast runner and crazy and of course much younger then my 40 years. What am I doing here? A friendly, young, tall, kid, maybe 19, he offered to run with me. We just met on the street outside my apartment. And now we have been running fast for 45 minutes. I had been running up and down the 300 foot alley next to our compound and it had been getting boring, so I took him up on it. We are running around the west side of town. A maze of streets, smells and forms I had never seen before in my life. This is my second day in Monrovia and it is interesting. I was advised not to go – he will have you kidnapped or worse killed!

West Africa, Sierra Leone and Liberia are new things for me. A couple of months ago I was suffering the dark, wet winter of Punta Arenas, Chile where I had been living. (Actually I loved it!) I am ashamed that Monrovia invoked a notion of danger and violence - bodies piling in front of the US Embassy and 15 years of civil war. It had not been in my radar, so being another American or almost Chilean I read through the articles quickly and glanced at the horrible photos appearing on Chilean TV and papers. I started paying a little more attention when I was offered a chance to go over with an organization called Vietanam Veterans of America Foundation. Vvaf.org. I hadn’t thought of the beautiful African women, amazing ocean views, friendly people, cute kids, nice architecture – though much of it burned and blown up.

This was after spending a night in Ghana and weekend in Freetown, Sierra Leone. I can’t see much, lack of electricity there are no streetlights. Many dark forms are moving through the streets and I follow Magnus so I don’t bump into anybody. Slava, our fearless Russian leader warned me to stay away from the Liberian neighbors. He could lead me into a trap and I could be kidnapped or worse robbed and killed.

To be continued….