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.