An Unknown Future: Liberians Try to Get Their Feet Back on the Ground
Posted by Kev-o-rama

Lend Me Your Ear.....(and I'll sing you a song)

It all started by agreeing to wake up at 6am Sunday morning. I thought it would be harder to wake up but I went to bed at 9pm and was pretty much ready to go when my cell phone alarm went off. Once I hit the water I woke up immediately. What started out as just another day on the surf turned out to be a pretty hair-raising incident that could have been a lot worse. The waves were maybe 5ft’ers on average but didn’t have very good form and most didn’t offer much of a ride at all. That said, there were some that you could have a little fun on and that we tried to do. Initial surf participants were a group of five from the Mercy Ships and myself. The main perpetrator would come about 45 minutes after we initially hit the water. Midway through our time on the water I saw Mrs. Bev from SP sitting on the beach, most likely waiting for someone to pack it in so she could borrow their board. Being the thoughtful character that I am, I went to shore and offered her my board for a while (she should have taken it…it would have saved everyone a bunch of trouble). Spellbound by her conversation with Michelle and Seren from the Mercy Ships, Bev immediately denied my offer. One must understand that an idle surfboard is completely useless. I grabbed the board and paddled back out.
After another 30 minutes or so I caught a wave and rode it to the beach. Bev was just on her way out on a board that somebody lent to her. We both proceeded to paddle out, Bev in front and a bit to the side of me, for argument’s sake, let us say 2 o’clock. It all happened so fast I really don’t actually know what happened but all I know is that I got whacked on the head. I knew Bev’s board hit me pretty hard but I wasn’t quite sure what the extent of the damage was. I got up and shook it off ready to continue paddling out when Bev says, “Kev’s you’re bleeding!” Initially she thought it was “a mere flesh wound” but as she looked at it closer I asked her if it would need stitches. She proceeded to say, “You’ve got to go to the hospital.” It ends up that her surfboard hit my ear and sliced right through it! It was weird because I couldn’t feel anything except for some blood dripping off my ear. After seeing it I feel lucky I didn’t lose my entire earlobe. It sliced completely through the back of my earlobe leaving it partially attached to my ear. We made it back to the Silver Beach house rummaging around the house to find a camera in order to document the evidence for blog purposes. After snapping a few Bev drove me to the ELWA hospital where the only doctor I trust in Liberia, besides those on the Mercy Ship of course, Rick Sacra, stitched me up. Total damage equalled five stitches to the ear and one to my neck. It didn’t hurt at all and made for some good pictures so I guess I can say that it was worth it!