PEPPER BIRD SPEAKS

For the first time in 27 years, I had been lulled to sleep by the crashing waves of my favorite ocean, and the booms and pelting rain that only West Africa can bring. Better than Ambien! We, my siblings and I, (a group of 15 including some spouses and children) were home –ELWA, Monrovia, Liberia. We had left a lifetime ago, not knowing if we’d ever return, and yet here we were. It was January 2006, momentous not only for our return, but we were also on the cusp of the Inauguration of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, first woman president of an African country, the hope and future of war-torn Liberia. My parents, Bill and Betty Thompson, had made the return earlier, as had my sister Nancy Molenhouse and her family, but Bill, Brian, Sally, Meanu and I were beyond excitement, yet exhausted from the journey.

I bolted awake that first morning, awakened by a long-buried birdsong – the Pepper Bird! How did I know that was what was that early alarm? Long-buried memory remembered. The Pepper Bird is the national bird of Liberia, named because of its primary diet of wild peppers. Also called the Garden Bulbul, its melodic alarm call arouses and awakens the community early in the morning. As I bounded out of bed to see my home in the daylight, I didn’t then know that I was also being aroused to a new focus, a new mission, and new heartbeat. Liberia still had my heart, which wept for the suffering and devastation of the last 14 years, and I wanted to do my small part to help restore some hope and healing to my beloved home.

Pepper Bird Legend

"When the sun drops behind the trees, Old Father Night steals through the 'softly softly trails' of the jungle, and gathers all his tired children in his arms. In that soft embrace, they rest content, secure from toil and trouble. Old Father Night comforts them with happy dreams that seem to have no end. But there is Father Day who claims these children also. As the sun rises with each new dawn, Mr. Pepper Bird perches on Old Father Night's shoulder, and tells him that he must return the people to Father Day. Old Father Night cannot bear to fire up his people to the burdens and torment of Father Day, so he holds his children tighter and pretends not to hear. Pepper Bird shrieks louder and louder."
“‘Father Night, Father Night, - get up, here's Father Day.' He yells and calls until Old Father Night opens one eye, 'small small,' and sees Mr. Sun glaring at him; then he knows he cannot pretend any longer, and hands over his beloved African children to Father Day."