Wednesday, January 18, 2012; Atlanta Georgia
How long does it
take to get from Kansas City, MO to Liberia? At least four days, but it could
be longer. More than 52 hours ago, I left Kansas City, anxious for the awaiting
African adventure. And now, I’m laughing
with my new Liberian friends about the announcement that just came over the
loudspeaker. “Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we don’t yet have our
aircraft. Right now it’s coming over from maintenance.” Maintenance!? We all
groaned and laughed awkwardly, now connected as friends through the 2 days
spent in Atlanta, because of a maintenance issue with our aircraft. In addition
to the twelve volunteers delayed, in our group are numerous Americans working
for non-governmental organizations, about 20 dressed in Army fatigues, a
businessman who splits his time between America and Liberia, a Liberian woman
with her three kids, aged 14, 8 and 18 months, finally returning to Liberia
after 21 years in Minnesota. Her husband has found a job there, and she is
joining him. Their kids have never seen Liberia. Her daughter loves to scream
just to make noise. I know this because I sat right behind them for the two
hours we were actually in the air, presumably on our way to Accra, Ghana.
Another man is returning to Liberia because his father is (or was) dying, and
he hoped to see him one more time. At this rate, he’ll be lucky to make the
funeral.
Having met the
other volunteers prior to departure, we are quickly making friends. Part of the
ease is because we’re all RPCVs, and so already share a connection that other
new travelers might not understand. When we were turned around, we were
surprised, yes. Not because we were going to be delayed, but because we were
going to be delayed before even leaving US airspace. This kind of thing is
normal in so many other parts of the world, but for it to happen here, in the
greatest nation on earth, somehow feels wrong. We somehow feel entitled to at
least reach our destination before being so inconvenienced. The cause of our
delay turned out to be a faulty navigation system. They told us they thought
they’d fixed it before we left, but they actually made it worse. You would
think, in America, they could test these things before taking off!
I wonder if this
is somewhat easier because of what I’m already expecting in Liberia – long
wait-times, uncomfortable transit, dirty clothes; if I’d been on my way to
vacation in the Mediterranean, would I be disgruntled and angry? Would I be
like the well-dressed gentleman who demanded that they allow us access to our
checked bags, after so many had left? It was this complaint that extended our
time spent at the airport yet another 2 hours after landing, only for half of
us to learn that our luggage had probably gone ahead to Accra, Ghana. Delta
confirmed that my luggage had indeed arrived in Accra, and was on its way to
Liberia. My confidence in them at this point is not so high.
