Herring People

2-7-13

This morning we stopped in for a visit to the THINK home and JTC. This is a place for vulnerable youth who need a supportive and safe place to stay. Some of them are young girls who have been abused. Some kids as young as 5 have been basically forced into slave labor into roadside shops, and are brought here by the police. Rarely will they be reunited with their parents. These youth are a vulnerable group, and have been eating the herring for the past nine months.

Vivian Badu is the matriarch of this center. She is small and raspy-voiced and dynamic, and utterly in charge. She greeted us with a hug and then marched around the outdoor kitchen cooking a herring lunch for 26 people in 95-degree heat and 4-inch wedge heels. She wrenched open like 20 cans of herring with a knife, arm muscles bulging. 

We hung out in the courtyard and ate some rice with spicy Liberian herring gravy on top. When we left, a grinning 13 year old girl started singing, “Goodbye herring people….goodbye herring people!” It made us all laugh and I still have the tune stuck in my head. 

 This is how you mash up peppers. Peppers are a non-negotiable ingredient in Liberian food.

Vivian cookin' up a storm.

                                                     This was on the wall inside.

                                                   Dining on herring gravy with rice.

                                          Nicole loves kids and they love her!