Folder 10

1961 Oct 02, 1 p. no env. Letter to Folks The small apartment she had looked at awhile ago will now be available in the middle of October; the mold is so bad in Africa that she’s debating sending her Turkish rugs back to her folks’; had talked to her boss and he said if she didn’t get the housing she wanted then she should “threaten to refuse to return to post;” will be going out to the bush with one of the area extension workers; “I answer here to the Liberians to the name of Mayback. Can you figure that one out. It’s impossible to understand the natives. They do not pronounce syllables.”
1961 Oct 05, 1 p. no env. Letter to Brother Is having a hard time getting a legitimate expense account; discusses the Border reunion; “We are having our first publicity about our first recognized communist infiltration from [Ghavra]. I have been wondering how I could instigate a story of the Am. Missionaries in Liberia from an educational angle and holding a country for Democracy, good neighbors, relations, etc.;” says the drivers are not educated and some would rather try to drive the I.C.A. car themselves rather than hiring a driver; says her counterpart here is the sharpest she’s ever worked with, her husband is in the malaria control program; is trying to see how she can get home economics into the education system, “In Turkey the Mission supported my stepping out of Agr. and working in education. In fact, they encouraged me. Here the exact opposite is the case. Again, it seems to lie in our Directorship.”
1961 Oct 06, 1 p. no env. Letter to Brother “Well we got the news today of the change from I.C.A. to A.I.D. and dropping all marginal? employees;” discusses vacation trips the government pays for the longer missionaries work in Africa; hasn’t quite been able to stomach the food just yet; “In 1901 the life expectancy of Missionaries in Liberia was 6 mo. I think it could have been due to a great extent to malaria.”
1961 Oct 08, 1 p. no env. Letter to Mary from Effie Friends and Family news
1961 Oct 12, 1 p. no env. Letter to Brother Has finally figured out her salary and is impressed that in Liberia she can do banking at several different banks and write checks; saw a movie with Spencer Tracy in the Tennessee Monkey Trial and thought it was one of the most enjoyable out of the movies she’s seen in Liberia.
1961 Oct 16, 1 p. no env. Letter to Brother Read a great article on aging by James Thurhers; “Anyway, I don’t have the pep here I had in Turkey;” describes a recent accident, the driver wrapped the car around a telephone pole; Almost stepped on a poisonous snake; “This morning I feel like going down and buying a ticket out. I’ve been in that d--n room 3 months. They wouldn’t think of keeping a man technician there 3 days and then we come to Africa to raise the status of women;” visited the Province Commissioner who’s interested in going to the United States to study Administration.
1961 Oct 18, 1 p. no env. Letter to Folks After being around cases of small pox, she was vaccinated again; had been taken to the City Market by the area extension worker, “There are no trained traffic cops here and no one listens to them. There is a narrow, barely 2 lane road deeply rutted and I mean deeply;” discusses the ignorance in Liberia.
1961 Oct 21, 1 p. no env. Letter to Brother Hasn’t heard about her apartment and can’t communicate because there are no telephones; heard that the Government is sending 80 Peace Corps youth into Liberia and Mary feels that she and the 4H man are the only two who aren’t against it, “I think they are going to teach themselves and the American Public a few things no visiting U.S. Senator knows;” had actually turned down her first social invitation as she must prepare for a safari trip.
1961 Oct 21, 4 p. no env. Newspaper The Liberian Age,
1961 Oct. 23, “US Promises Greater Economic Aid to Liberia”
1961 Oct 25, 1 p. no env. Letter to Brother The Booker T. Washington Institute is the only place they teach Home Economics; even though English is the main language, it’s hard to understand everyone because of the accents; the Turkish deputy Agriculture Director is being transferred to Liberia as a forester; still hasn’t received her household effects; is concerned about the % of money from the US that will go into President Tubman’s pocket instead of Liberian aid.
1961 Oct 30, 1 p. no env. Letter to Folks The driver and her counterparts fill the jeep with supplies and Mary had to put her foot down when they had tried to store live chicken; talks about the difficulty in traveling, especially with the driver situation, “Halfway in we met another I.C.A. car. The driver reported that while we were gone, a bunch of drivers together with a dispatcher got drunk and took one of our new Chevys and completely demolished it. That’s 2 out of 10 in one month cars about 1 mo. old. He said that [they] were all fired;” read about the Peace Corps in Time magazine.
1961 Oct, 1 p. no env. Letter to Brother “They gave me a key yesterday to this cubby hole I’m to move into;” discusses how she is to get new furniture and they were shocked to hear that she planned on selling the furniture when she gets her effects from Turkey and they had told her she could be fired for it, “I said ‘whoops & goodie’ if they fire me they have to ship my things home at their expense. So what;” her counterpart isn’t doing so well and might have to have surgery; Senators from the US have come to investigate the Agriculture Department and had asked I.C.A. several questions during a meeting, “The Liberians intimated that they felt most of us were competent but that we didn’t fraternize. I think it was true. After the meeting I thought I’d take a crack at them. Our men are afraid of their shadows. I said Am. would ask them how we lived when they got home and I thought they ought to know if they felt they could crawl the four flights to my room.”