"We've Got a Great Big Convoy..." - Part I

My mother is a bit Captain Obvious about...everything...so when she shoved me awake yesterday and pointed outside the Jeep window, I assumed I was looking for a tree.

No tree: there were four piglets sprinting alongside us.

Mom gets yesterday's gold star.

Ours was one of 15 trucks in President Sirleaf's convoy to Grand Bassa county. When I agreed to be awoken before 6am, I imagined a leisurely road trip to the countryside. No one mentioned the 84 mile drive includes two epic, pot-holed hours on dirt (nay: mud) roads.

But I digress.

We arrived in one piece to celebrate steel behemoth ArcelorMittal's mining in Liberia -- a major coup given Lakshmi Mittal is the 4th richest person in the world and Liberia is ranked 224th by GDP.

I don't know what I was expecting of an iron ore mine but it's exactly as unsexy as it sounds. Nevertheless, it was my first glimpse of Madame President -- a super-chill, brilliant smart-mouth.

I loved her immediately.

President Sirleaf: Mr. Mittal, I'm holding you to your promise to pave the roads out there.
{Audience cheers. Mittal feigns annoyance}
Mr. Mittal: I'm not clapping.
President Sirleaf: I don't need claps. I need cash.

I was deep in a Liberian-Indian feast when the president entered the canteen. There's nothing like needing to stand at attention to snap you out of a food coma. Briefly.

Which brings us back to the nap cut short by Mom and her piglets.