Travel Guide for Liberia

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Travel

Guide for

Liberia Introduction

1. Passport

2. Visa

3. Travel vaccinations

4. Flight

5. Luggage

6. Clothes

7. Toiletries/ Personal items

8. Medical/ Health items

9. Other items to Pack

10. Team Fee

11. Food

12. Accommodations, communication, and money

13. Etiquette

14. Spiritual life

15. Transportation

16. Weather in Liberia

17. Liberian English

This guide is not a check list, but rather a collection of

suggestions to help you have an enjoyable experience.

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Introduction

Don’t Come

By: Peggy Halvorsen, 2012

If you don't like skipping meals, don't come.

If long bumpy drives in a landcruiser bother you, don't come.

If you are sensitive to body odor, don't come.

If you like structured schedules that rarely change, don't come.

If you think this would be a fun way to see Africa, don't come.

If you can't sleep unless it is quiet, don't come.

If eating chicken and rice regularly is boring to you, don't come.

If you don't like bugs, dirt and sweat, don't come.

If you don't like your personal "bubble" intruded on, don't come.

If you can't hike 45 min minutes, carry 50 lb short distances, and balance on logs to cross over water,

don't come.

Although these statements may sound humorous, they are serious. This is not a sightseeing tour of

Africa. We are about the work of the ministry and it is hard work. So, count the cost before you come. It's

a lousy way to spend a lot of money on a spoiled vacation.

This poem was written out of frustration when I realized I had poorly prepared a team of

visitors to Liberia. I hadn’t communicated to them adequately that Liberia is a very challenging

country. In terms of rating mission trip difficulty on a scale from 1 to 10, Liberia would be a 10.

Some people love a challenge, some people think they want a challenge. Please know which

one you are.





Plan ahead:

1. Passport:

Application at the post office Cost: $110

Can get passport photo at Walgreens for $7

Can take up to 4-6 weeks

2. Visa: http://www.liberianembassyus.org/index.php?page=consular

search: embassy of Liberia (choose the Washington D. C. office

REQUIREMENTS FOR U.S. CITIZENS TO OBTAIN VISA TO ENTER LIBERIA

Tourist Visa

Requirements for Visa (from embassy website)

a. Valid Passport. with at least 6 months left before expiration

b. Two (2) passport size photographs. (FULL Face view on White background)

c. Flight itinerary

d. Application for visa must be completed in duplicate.e. Self addressed prepaid

USPS/FEDEX/UPS envelope for return of passport (see mail restrictions)Mail or drop-

off passport and all other documents listed above. Failure to include all items could lead

to delays in processing of your visa.

b. In accordance with International Health Regulations, all persons entering Liberia are also

required to have a Valid Certificate of Immunization (YELLOW BOOK)

Notes:

1.There is a waiting period of seven(7) working days for Visa processing.

2. Applicants are advised to apply within two weeks of their travel date.

3. Airlines by regulation, will not allow you to board without a valid visa.

4. There is an additional fee of $75.00 for Same Day and $50.00 for Next Day service

Step 1 (just to repeat what you need to send to apply for visa)

a. Signed passport b. 2 passport photos (not the one from your passport, you have to get another one) c. Copy of your flight itinerary d. Yellow fever form (plan to always keep that form in your passport) e. Extra requirements for minors

Fee: SINGLE: 1-3 Months US$ 131.00

MULTIPLE: 1 Year US$ 200.00 MULTIPLE: 2 Years US$ 300.00 MULTIPLE: 3 Years US$ 400.00





Step 2 Print out the Application form or fill it out online and then print it out.

1. Page one is basic personal information. You don’t have to be very specific about the employer info, that is more for business visas.

2. Page two: Select the type of visa you want a. Purpose of trip: Choose tourism b. Duration of trip: number of days in country c. Ultimate destination: Monrovia Arrival Date: on flight itinerary d. Contact information of two references

Name: Flomo, Peter K Address: Soul Clinic Community, Paynesville Liberia Phone: 011 231 886 522341 Name: Quinah, David Address: Barclay Mission Area, Wood Camp, Paynesville Phone: 011 231 886 486090

3. Travel vaccinations:

Make an appointment with a travel nurse at least 6 weeks before travel

Must receive yellow fever

Recommended to also get Hep B, Typhoid, Diphtheria and Malaria (usually daily oral) its highly

recommended to get a polio booster, as polio has popped up in Liberia recently

The anti-malarial pills are highly recommended. You may also receive an antidiarrheal

prescription

*These vaccinations can be expensive depending on your insurance. Please figure out

the costs and add it to your total expenses for the mission outreach.

Travel:

4. Flight:

cost can vary greatly from $1500 to $2500 depending on the time of year.

Direct flight takes 14 hours, with multiple stops and layovers it can be 20 to 24 hrs.

You can bring a travel pillow for long flight

Before you get off the plane at Roberts International airport, you will fill out an

immigration form. This form will include your personal information as well as contract

information while you are in Liberia. Make a small notecard to keep in your passport with

phone numbers and addresses of your contacts and accommodation information.





Copy of immigration form.

Most of the information is your personal info

and ticket/flight info. You will also need to fill in

your address & phone number in Liberia.

Please use the following info:

Peter Flomo: #011-231-652-2341 and address-

Soul Clinic, Monrovia, Liberia

New Life Community Guest House address:

Pipeline Rd, Lower Johnsonville, Monrovia

5. Luggage

Can vary by airline, but typically you can take:

2-50 lb checked pieces of luggage. Each

checked bag after first 2, costs about $200+

1-carry-on luggage size: 9x13x22

(standard size carry on luggage)

1-purse, brief case, or backpack (that

must fit by your feet on the plane)

And a jacket

Teamwork Africa has many supplies to bring for ongoing projects in Liberia. Please donate one or both

of your 50 lb checked bags for supplies.

Packing:

6. Clothes

Women: skirts or dresses knee length is recommended. Loose capris may be worn on non-outreach

days. Tee shirts, but no tank tops.

Men: dress pants and polo shirts are recommended for outreach days. Long shorts and tee shirts may be

worn for non-outreach days.

Carefully choose two pairs of comfortable sandals or flip flops. There is a lot of walking.

Note on clothes: We often donate our clothes and toiletries at the end of the trip. It is certainly not

required, but something you may want to consider.

Laundry is available at the guest house.

It is not recommended to bring fancy jewelry. Simple accessories are best. Leaving your fancy jewelry at

home .





7. Toiletries/ personal items:

Toothbrush/toothpaste sunscreen

Soap/washcloth bug repellent

antibactieria wipes/gel Other personal hygiene items

small umbrella flashlight (electricity does go out often)

sunglasses small personal battery operated fan

small packages of tissue to double as toilet paper as needed

Money belt: Money and important documents are best kept with you at all times.

8. Medicine/ health items to bring:

These items are not required, they are suggestions of items others have found helpful.

Antidiarrheal medication (you may get a prescription) for severe stomach issues

Over the counter upset stomach medicine like Tums or Pepto for minor stomach issues

Probiotics, can get at health food store (optional)

Colloidal silver, also at health food store (optional)

1st aid supplies ( there is a 1st Aid kit at the guest house)

Tylenol PM or Benadryl (to help sleep on flight)

antihistamine pills Malaria meds. Vitamins

9. Other items to pack:

camera

Laptop (optional) We usually have internet

extra memory sticks for computer and camera

$ for cell phone scratch card





carry $1 bills for the airport tips

Your life in Liberia

10. Team Fee

Your team fee covers all of your expensive from leaving at the airport to arriving back home. This

includes, but is not limited to, travel, food, water, guest home, fuel for generator/truck, and ministry

focus. Most team fees are $1000 for 8-10 days. If you are planning to stay more than 10 days, you may

be asked to increase your team fee. If you are interested in the overall team budget, please feel free to

ask for it.

11. Food:

Breakfast is provided at the Guest House.

Breakfast foods can include: malt o meal, hard boiled eggs, home made bread or rolls, scrambled

eggs, sardines, mayo and ketsup wrapped in a tortilla (affectionately called “enchalala”) and fruit. Hot

water is available for tea or instant coffee.

Lunch and dinner are flexible depending on the schedule.

These meals are often spaghetti, rice and soup (a sauce to go over the rice) made of chicken, fish or goat

and vegetables such as potato greens, cabbage, collard greens, bitter ball or beans. Also fried chicken,

cabbage salad, or fried sweet potatoes or plaintain.

Tea is often served in the evening before bed.

Bring snacks with you when we leave for the day, there is no way of knowing for sure how long it will be

before we return. Our cook usually comes with us on trips to the interior. She is very good at making

sure we have food to eat.

Meals are usually in the morning and evening. We don’t always stop for lunch. Bring extra snacks to

carry with you during the day.

Depending on the season there is always delicious fruit to eat: pineapple, mangos, citrus fruit, and

bananas.

Snack ideas to pack: Peanut butter, trail mix/nuts, dried fruit, jerky, tuna, hard candy, high protein

snacks, beef jerky, turkey jerky, protein bars not covered in chocolate,

Plan to bring a few snacks with you to eat throughout the day.

Eating in front of other is viewed as extremely rude. If you are having a snack, share with those around

you.





Water

Bottled water is purchased in Monrovia. It is highly recommended to drink only beverages that are

bottled or filtered. We usually carried one large bottle of water per person per day. You are encouraged

to bring a water bottle with a filter in it or a filter straw.

12. Etiquette

Liberians are very warm and friendly people. They are quite emotional and laugh a lot. When they

disagree, they can get very loud. This often can lead Americans to think that a big conflict is occurring,

this may not at all be the case. Try not to make assumptions , it is better to ask for clarification rather

than make incorrect conclusions.

DO NOT GIVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER TO ANYONE.

If you do, you are inviting middle of the night requests for money. This is not to imply that Liberians are

beggars, but it seems that by giving out your number, you are inviting such phone calls. If you can not

avoid someone requesting to contact you, give them your email or facebook contact. You can also say

they can ask Pastor Peter to contact you on their behalf. This will limit requests.

Do not give away anything without permission.

This is not to limit your desire to give gifts, but to protect you from unintended consequences. If you

give one person a pair of shoes, you may have 5 more people asking for some. Just ask for advice and

the team leaders will help you find an appropriate way to give gifts.

Sometimes our Liberian friends ask for things, please get input from the leaders before you agree to

giving anything. You may not know that the same person asks for a suitcase every time a team comes.

Our Liberian teammates know the rules and expectations, but there are always new friends joining our

group and they may not know. Politely tell them that you will ask the team leader if it’s OK before you

give things away.

Do not make promises you can’t keep. Try not to make promises at all! You can say, If God provides” or

“As God leads” .

Time in Liberia is flexible. The answer to the question of “When does church start?” is “When the pastor

gets there.” No one pays much attention to clocks. Schedules are suggestions for the day’s events. What

isn’t done today can always be done tomorrow. Flexibility is crucial to enjoying Liberia.

13. Accommodations, communication and money

We stay at the New Life Community Guest house in Monrovia, the teacher house at Kpeletyama, and

the missionary house in Duita. The interior is more “rustic” than the guest house.

Communication





You may want to buy a Liberian cell phone, approx. $40 and the phone cards for $5. Phone rates

from Liberia to the US are very reasonable, usually much better than the other way around

(from US to Liberia). You may be able to borrow one before you go or borrow from a friend

while you are there. US cell phones do not work in Liberia.

Unlocked phone that can take international sim cards will work in Liberia with the purchase of a

sim card. About $10.

Money

Credit cards do not work in Liberia and neither do traveler’s checks. Bring American money in

small bills for everyday expenses ($20 and less) Bring plenty of small bills, you will get all your

change in Liberian money.

If you plan on shopping, make sure you have a Liberian negotiate the price, or you will end up

paying “white women’s” prices which are significantly more than Liberian prices.

14. Spiritual life

Our Liberian partners are Christians. They often start and end their day with personal prayer. If you are

staying in a room together, you may be invited into that prayer. We often pray when we depart in a

vehicle for safe travels because of the real and many perils. We pray prayers of thanks when we arrive

safely. We often pray and sing in the truck as well.

We like to begin our day with team devotions, although that doesn’t always happen. And end our days

with debriefing about the day’s events. There are often many sad things that happen while we are there

and the best thing to do is pray together.

15. Transportation:

We divide the cost of gas between the number of people going. You should know how much gas will

cost before the trip. The amount varies depending on how much traveling will take place. The vehicle we

use usually has air conditioning.

Time change is 6 hrs. ahead (5 hrs. during daylight savings time)

Plan to pack a knapsack or backpack to carry supplies each day. Purses aren’t very useful. Fanny packs

can be useful.

When you are running around in Liberia, always have a bag of supplies with you...especially a small roll

of toilet paper!

The “roads” in Liberia are terrible. This is not an understatement. You may be mislead at your arrival

because one of the nicest roads in the country is from the airport to Monrovia. However, the rest of the





country is a different story. Even the roads in the city vary in condition. There has been a lot of road

construction in recent years, so things are improving. Usually, the main roads are full of huge potholes,

driving on both sides of the road to avoid them is acceptable. The jungle roads off the main roads are

dirt paths. It can take many hours to reach a village destination.

16. Weather in Liberia

Rainy season: April to October

Dry season: October to April

Temp. around 90 degrees year round, very humid, tropical climate

August can be cool at night, you might even want to pack a light sweater/jacket.

17. Liberian English

Here are some tips for understanding Liberian English:

1. The best thing to understand is that Liberians do not pronounce the end of most of their words. So, if

an American says, "Give me some of that apple," from a Liberian it would sound like, "Gi me su u da

appu."

2. Also, a very important difference in communicating that isn't verbal but still necessary to understand

is that Liberians raise their eyebrows to say, "Yes." They only give a slight nod when the, "Yes," is very

emphatic.

3. Obviously, the Liberian accent is unique. This is something that is best understood by listening to

anyone from West Africa speak for awhile. If you are adopting a Liberian child, it would be helpful to

familiarize yourself with the accent. Get a music CD, watch movies with characters from West Africa, or

find someone in your community with a similar accent. The book Blue Clay People is written by William

Powers, who worked in Liberia for two years, and it has a lot of Liberian conversations in it. After

listening to the accent from a lot of people speaking, it gets much easier to understand. If you're not

able to travel, don't worry. It will just take some more effort on your part to get exposure to the way

Liberian English sounds. You can listen to Liberian live radio at http://www.liberianonline.com/liberia-

radio.html

4. There are some common pronunciation differences, like Liberians do not make the "th" sound.

Instead, it sounds like "d" or "t". For example, "this" sounds like "dis" and "three" sounds like "tree."

They pronounce our short O sound like "aw" so "God" sounds like "Gaw."

5. They have different rules for grammar, so the placement of their words in a sentence is often

different or the verb form can be different or partly missing. Like "I am finished" in Liberian is "I fini." Or

we may say, "Will you take me to school?" and a Liberian would say, "You carry me to skoow?" Or we



http://www.liberianonline.com/liberia-radio.html

http://www.liberianonline.com/liberia-radio.html



say, "How are you?" and a Liberian says, "How you feeling?" Also, Liberians tend to use the present

tense of verbs regardless of the time an action took place. This is one of the differences in language that

will stay with your Liberian children longest.

6. Liberians will often repeat a word for emphasis. "He ha plenty, plenty toys" to refer to someone

having an overwhelming amount of toys or "He funny, funny in de he (head)" to refer to someone who

seems mentally unsound.7. Americans and Liberians use different words for a lot of common things.

Here are a few:

American/Liberian

How are you?/How you feelin? or How you

comu on?

I'm okay/TryinI'm hanging in there/Tryin small

or I dry ri (I'm dry rice)

throw/chunk (As in "chunk it here")

shirt/blouse (for women) shirt (for boys)

pants/trousers

flip flops/slippers

tennis shoes/sneakers

okay/aw rie (all right)

a lot/plenty

cookie or cracker/biscuit

hot dog/sausage

little bit/small or small, small

Dad/Pa

Mom/Ma

to take somewhere/carry

move or move over/dress

soccer/football

done/fini (finish/finished)

your family/yaw peepo (your people)

pajamas/nega (nightgown)

bath/bathe

trash can/bucket

braid/plat (plait)

spank/beat

plead/beg

rogue/thief

shame/embarrass

What do you think?/How you loo a da? (How do

you look at that?)

There are also the bathroom terms that are helpful to know when you are asking if they need to use

the facilities. :) They say "pee pee" and "poo poo."

