An Army of Normal Folks - Peggy Halvorsen: The Wisconsin Mom in Liberia (Pt 1)

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Peggy Halvorsen was "only" trying to adopt a kid from Liberia. Shortly after they agreed to adopt his brother too, he died from cholera and Peggy insisted that this could not be the end of the story. 14 years later, their accidental ministry Teamwork Africa has built 216 wells, repaired over 500 existing ones, sponsor the education of 180 kids, and they're about to open their second school. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I said, I'm not sure what to feel now about leaving is that I hope Mother Teresa's quote is true. And her quote is that I found this paradox that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. Because I have surely loved until it hurts deeply. I have come across the world only to find myself at home. A joy growing deep in my soul. As long as I never forget the love, laughter, family and friendship that is here, it will always be with me. I have so much to do when I get home. It feels a little overwhelming, but these memories and God's strength will encourage me in my weakness.

Everyone said that coming here would change me, but I didn't understand how. When I first arrived, I said that Liberia had a beauty among the rubble. And I have found such beauty. And it is the beauty, not the rubble, that has changed me. Wow. And you're saying that with tears in your eyes right now. Yeah. Yeah.

Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, a father, I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in inner city Memphis. That last part somehow led to an Oscar for the film about our team. That movie's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems are never going to be solved by a bunch of fancy people and nice clothes using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army of normal folks, that's us. Just you and me deciding, hey, you know what, maybe I can help. That's exactly what Peggy Halverson, the voice you just heard, has done. And as if adopting a child from Liberia in West Africa wasn't enough,

this journey opened Peggy's eyes to so much else that she just could not look away from. This Wisconsin mom's accidental nonprofit, teamwork Africa, has since built and repaired hundreds of wells in Liberia, started a school there, and sponsors the education of hundreds of students. I cannot wait for you to meet Peggy right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hello, I'm John Lithgow. We choose to go to the move. I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. That's one small step for man. It's about Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space.

You're a great pilot, Buzz. As far as I'm concerned, the best I've seen. That's the story you think you know. This is the story you don't. Predisposition to depression, alcohol abuse, and suicide. We'll see Buzz. I try to overcome demons. What do you say, Buzz?

Another beer? And triumph over addiction. Here's to you, Buzz Aldrin. Good luck to you. And become a true hero. Buzz and I will proceed into the lunar module. Not because he conquers space, but because he conquers himself.

Buzz. We intercepted a Soviet radio transmission. Starring me, John Lithgow. Can you put it through? Can you translate? On the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. American history is full of wise people.

What women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea and 1% is gory. Those founding fathers were gossipy AF, and they love to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history, and I find the answers, including. the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses, and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary,

this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it. Listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I became a journalist, I was the first Latina in the newsrooms where I worked. I'm Maria Inojosa. I dreamt of having a place where voices that have been historically sidelined would instead be centered.

For over 30 years now, Latino USA has been that place. This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Culture. As the longest running Latino News and Culture Show in the United States, Latino USA delivers the stories that truly matter to all. All of us. From sharp and deep analysis of the most pressing news. They're creating these narrative that immigrants or criminals. This is about everyone's freedom of speech. Nobody expected two popes from the American continent to stories about our cultures and our identities.

When you do get a trans character like Imidavetes, the trans community is going to push back on that. Colorism, all of these things that exist in Mexican culture and Latino culture. You'll hear from people like Congresswoman. AOC. I don't want to give them my fear. I'm not going to give them my fear. Listen to Latino USA as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network. Available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Adventure should never come with a pause button. Remember the movie pass era? Where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9?

It made zero cents and I could not stop thinking about it. I'm Bridget Todd. Host of the tech podcast, there are no girls on the internet. On this new season, I'm talking to the innovators who are left out of the tech headlines, like the visionary behind a movie pass, Black founder Stacey Spikes, who was pushed out of Movie Pass the company that he founded. His story is wild, and it's currently the subject of a juicy new HBO documentary. We dive into how culture connects us. When you go to France, or you go to England, or you go to Hong Kong,

those kids are wearing Jordans, they're wearing Kobe's shirt, they're watching Black Panther. And the challenges of being a Black founder. Close your eyes and tell me what a tech founder looks like. They're not going to describe someone who looks like me and they're not going to describe someone who looks like you. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us.

So listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet on the IHurt Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How serious is youth vaping? Irreversible lung damage serious. One in 10 kids vape serious, which warrants a serious conversation from a serious parental figure, like yourself. Not the seriously know-at-all sports dad

or the seriously smart podcaster? It requires a serious conversation that is best had by you. No, seriously. The best person to talk to your child about vaping is you. To start the conversation, visit talkaboutvaping.org. Brought to you by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council. Welcome to Memphis.

Thank you. What'd you get here? About 30 minutes ago. Oh, you just landed. You just flew in. I just got here. You stay in the night? Yes.

Where'd Alex put you? I don't know. Yeah, Peabody or somewhere else? Weston, Memphis, Bell. Weston, Memphis, Bob Bill Street? Oh, that's right. I hope you like music. That's in the middle of the Blues District.

Oh, that's awesome. Oh, that would be wonderful. Yeah, you are a block from Rum Boogie Cafe and two blocks from Caches. Rum boogie and then up at Second and Beal is B.B. Kings, right? Yeah, so you're in the cradle of the beginning of blues and rock and roll. That's super exciting. Yeah, you might want to kind of pedal down there and check it out. It's pretty cool.

You're Cross Street from the FedEx Fulham. It's a good place. So, O'Clair, Wisconsin, all I know is that's a Northwoods area. That's where you came to us from. Where is that? Where is Wisconsin or? No, I know where Wisconsin is, but O'Clair. When I was in Boston, people did not know where Wisconsin was.

Okay, well, I'm a little less geographically challenged. O'Clair is on the west central side. So it's about an hour's drive from the Twin Cities or St. Paul in Minneapolis. I got it. It gets real cold up there in the winter. It sure does. Yeah. Is it hot there now?

Sure is. I mean, hot is relative. We've had 110 degree heat index down here for the last three weeks. this is a mild day you got lucky well yeah well yeah this weekend was pretty nice up there too the weekend before was in the 90s yeah that's hot for you guys yeah it can get hot ball me i wonder i sometimes why we live there it gets really really cold it's really hot well welcome to memphis do you know dave wood i do who's dave wood dave and his wife becky are wonderful supporters of teamwork africa they come to our events and you know they've been with us on our journey and

And when I had an event recently, they were there and they were trying to think about what could they do that would help teamwork Africa. And they thought, hey, wouldn't it be cool if Peggy and Teamwork Africa could be one of the ordinary folks or normal folks that could be on the show. Well, welcome. So here's the deal, everybody. Peggy Halverson is the co-founder and U.S. Executive Director of Teamwork Africa, which obviously we're going to get to because that's your story while you're here will lead up to it. and kind of set the table for it. We found out about Peggy because Dave would did what we ask all of you to do. Folks who are fans of an army of normal folks who have joined the Army of Normal folks,

folks who are regular listeners, we ask you over and over again to email us about normal people doing exceptional things in the world and we'll find out about them. And if we feel like they fit, we'll bring them to Memphis and tell their stories. and Peggy, you were here because of the kindness of Dave Wood reaching out and telling us a little bit about you. So Dave, shout out to you. Thank you so much for being a loyal listener and for taking the five minutes to simply make a suggestion that has now led to Peggy plopping down in Memphis across from me to have a little chat. So ding ding for Dave Wood. Yeah, they're awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. So what'd you come from? What'd you grow up?

I grew up in rural Wisconsin, daughter of farming kids. My parents both came from farming families. I grew up in, we didn't live on a farm, but a rural area, very small town, the kind that you drive by, and nobody knows where it is. The one that you salute on he-haw. Yeah. Those. Yeah.

Siblings? For sure. Yep. I'm the oldest of three. Oldest of three. So pretty normal Midwestern American family. Yeah, I sure thought so, yeah. Yeah.

And your husband? Yep. He is a radio broadcast. in a oh really he is he works on christia radio sitting right at home i well yeah but i'm used to him interviewing me chops could i be a radio broadcaster you have an amazing voice do you hear that cassius that's right i've got a face and a voice for radio so Alex posted so i was screwing with a a guest from north carroll in memphis we claim very few things but we have our claims to fame and we're pretty devout about them okay one is fedex was

founded and headquartered here, which is a big deal to us. Right. International paper. The first Holiday Inn ever was here and the founder and their families here. And back then, there was no Hilton or Weston. I mean, Holiday Inn set the stage for how we travel now. Termin X, AutoZone. Most recently, XAI is here.

And so we have, yeah, not many, your face and your, well, right. Wow, right. Memphis has. a lot going for it, and not many people know it. We get overshadowed by Nashville a lot. The other thing we have is a deep, rich heritage in music, which is Elvis and, I mean, Aretha and Isaac Hayes and Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison. I mean, the list goes on and on.

They all got their start here, often at Sun Studios, which is still open. And then before that, the blues. is rock and roll is a is a convalation of the blues from the Mississippi Delta and rockabilly from the hills and when rockabilly the gospel and the blues collided that's what made rock and roll and that happened here wow and so we as memphians we brag on that don't we cashes I mean that's our thing and then so that's the arts that's the business And then culturally, it's barbecue. World Championship barbecue contest is here and all of that. And so we appreciate that the people in North Carolina, Texas and Kansas City try, but they are minor league barbecue. I see. Right.

So I had a guest here from North Carolina not too long ago, and I was giving her the business about her, you know, nice try on the barbecue, but let's be real kind of thing. and he put it up on TikTok. And now I'm getting dog cussed by about half the country over this barbecue thing. Okay. So while you're here, if you go taste a little of the blues, Bill Street also has some nice little barbecue places. I would love that. You might want to grab a rib or two and taste the flare.

See? That would be very fun. Very important. That sounds great. Okay. So now we're past that. You guys, your husband and you get married, have a family, start having children and a lovely normal American life, but not, and I don't mean this, but not anything remarkable that would be, right? Yeah.

That's it. Just the normal, yeah. Very normal life, I thought. Yeah. And we'll pick it up where a line I read. by you said, I felt like God had put it on my heart that there was a little boy that was supposed to be our son. Where did that come from? Yeah, that's a great question. I was in our church and I was in our worship service. And you already had how many children? We had three and I was

expecting our fourth. And had not adopted or anything. These are four natural born. What's your husband's name? Mark. Mark. So these are Mark and Peggy offspring doing life. Four kids is a lot to pay for. I mean, I have four, so I know. And so you're sitting in church and decide you need to adopt also while you're pregnant. Are you crazy? Well, I was just listening. So I was in the worship service and I was worshipping and I felt God just speak that to my heart.

And it startled me. I walked out of the sanctuary and into the lobby. And there's a couple that I know there that I really respected who've done missions. and they're all wholehearted for God. And I said, I just feel like God told me something and I need you to pray with me right now. And so they grabbed my hands and I told them what I felt like God had put in my heart and they prayed with me at that moment.

And then I just kept it in my heart, quiet, because we were expecting our fourth child and my husband would absolutely think I was crazy. I was about saying, poor Mark. Yeah, no, I didn't say anything. I just kept it in my heart for a couple of years. And a couple of years later, he came home from work one day, and he had listened to Stephen Curtis Chapman was quoting John Piper saying that adoption is the living gospel. And he said, I think we should adopt.

And then I told him. How long between the two times? Yeah. That's a good question. So it's 2005 when I first heard that from the Lord. And it was probably 2007, 2000. Couple years. Yeah, a couple of years.

And now, a few messages from our generous sponsors, but first, we're hosting two live interviews that I want to share with you. On August 20th, we're hosting one in Memphis with Peter Mutabazi, who is known as the foster dad flipper and is the most famous foster dad in all of America. Peter has fostered, get this, 47 kids, has adopted three of them, and is about to adopt three more, and his radical love has gone viral. This dude's got 2.5 million followers on social media. To learn more, and RSVP, visit fosterdadflipper. dot eventbright.com.

Fosterdadflipper. Dot eventbrite.com for August 20th, a live interview with Peter Mutabazi. And then, on August 28th, we're doing one in Oxford, Mississippi, with one of my mentors, and I dare call them dear friends, Sparky Riordan. Ole Miss was so lucky to have Sparky as the dean

students when I was there and many others. And he's now authored a new book, The Dean, Menwires and Missives. Guys, I'm telling you, this is something you don't want to miss. I think we can just turn on the microphone and I can say, hey, everybody, this is Sparky and shut up. And he will entertain, inspire. He's a phenomenal guy. To RSVP to that one, visit Sparky-Reardon.

dot eventbrite.com. That's Sparky Reardon. dot, eventbrite.com in Oxford, August 28th. I hope you'll come to both. We'll be right back. Hello, I'm John Lithgow.

We choose to go to the move. I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. That's one small step for man. It's about Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space. You're a great pilot, Buzz. As far as I'm concerned, the best I've seen. That's the story you think, you know.

This is the story you don't. Predisposition to depression, alcohol abuse, and suicide. We'll see Buzz try to overcome demons. What do you say, Buzz? Another beer? And triumph over addiction. Use to you, Buzz Aldrin. Good luck to you.

And become a true hero. Buzz and I will proceed into the lunar module. Not because he conquers space, but because he conquers himself. Buzz. We intercepted a Soviet radio transmission. Starring me, John Lithgow. Can you put it through?

No, can you translate? On the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American history is full of wise people. What women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea and 1% is gory. Those founding fathers were gossipy AF, and they love to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history, and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses, and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator-based,

on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it. Listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I became a journalist, I was the first Latina in the newsrooms where I worked. I'm Maria Inogosa. I dreamt of having a place where voices that have been historically sidelined would instead be centered. For over 30 years now, Latino USA has been that place. This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. As the longest running Latino news and culture show in the United States, Latino USA delivers the stories that truly matter

to all of us. From sharp and deep analysis of the most pressing news, they're creating these narrative that immigrants are criminals. This is about everyone's freedom of speech. Nobody expected to popes from the American continent to stories about our cultures and our

identities. When you do get a trans character like Imita Perez, the trans community is going to push back

on that. Colorism, all of these things that exist in Mexican culture and Latino culture.

You'll hear from people like Congresswoman AOC. I don't want to give them my fear. I'm not

going to give them my fear. Listen to Latino USA as part of the My Cultura podcast network.

Available on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Adventure should never come with a pause button. Remember the movie pass era, where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9? It made zero cents, and I could not stop thinking about it. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech podcast, there are no girls on the internet. On this new season, I'm talking to the innovators who are left out of the tech headlines, like the visionary behind a movie pass, black founder Stacey Spikes, who was pushed out of movie pass the company that he founded. His story is wild that it's currently the subject of a juicy new HBO documentary.

We dive into how culture connects us. When you go to France, or you go to England, or you go to Hong Kong, those kids are wearing Jordans, they're wearing Kobe's shirt, they're watching Black Panther. And the challenges of being a Black founder. Close your eyes and tell me what a tech founder looks like. They're not going to describe someone who looks like me and they're not going to describe someone who looks like you. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us.

So listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet on the IHurt Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How serious is youth vaping? Irreversible lung damage serious. One in ten kids vape serious, which warrants a serious conversation from a serious parental figure like yourself. Not the seriously know-it-all sports dad or the seriously smart podcaster. It requires a serious conversation that is best had by you. No, seriously, the best person to talk to your child about vaping is you. To start the conversation, visit Talk Aboutvaping.org, brought to you by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council.

All right. Before we go any further, because I want our listeners to stick with us, okay? But first, full disclosure, I'm a Christian, okay? We are not a Christian. show. We're not a non-Christian show. We are an army of normal folks. And if you have an army of normal folks, you're going to have people of all different phase, religions, belief sets, and everything else. So for our non-Christian listeners, or maybe more, less devout listeners, I want to give you an opportunity, before we go further, to let folks know who don't really

understand quote, God spoke to me. Some people think that means God came down in a vision with a white robe and there was trumpets and music. I know you laugh because it's ridiculous, right? But as ridiculous as that sounds to you, it sounds to other people who don't understand the depth of your faith and how you feel like you're, quote, listening. So I would like for you to explain for our listeners what that really means and how that sounds and feels to your ears and your heart to move you to want to go do something because I don't want to lose people who say, oh my gosh, you know, what, did an angel come down and plop down in the pew and look at her and talk to her? You know what I mean? Yeah. Give our listeners an opportunity

to understand what that what that means i think that more people are led by the spirit of god than they think they don't they wouldn't call it that they maybe they would call it a different name but it's that that um impression that feeling that you should go to the left today instead of to the right like there's or you should take that job intuition yeah it can it can feel like that and I would say, you know, I certainly have that experience too. There's only two times or three maybe in my life where I had such a strong impression that really came out of the blue that I would actually call it. I felt like there was some divine calling to do something and that was certainly one of them.

But I feel like when you are listening to, you know, paying attention to the world that you're in, that you're not so like, that you quiet down the noise that each person has a purpose for their life. And if they're quiet and they sit still long enough, I feel like whether, whatever your tradition is, I believe there's a force in the universe that's going to guide you in the direction that you are supposed that you were created to do. So for me, as a Christian, I call that God's voice. And if you're not a Christian, then there's, I still think that you were created for a purpose and that when you are still and listen for it, you'll find it. Peggy, I think that is a beautiful explanation and I appreciate it because I want people to understand that you're not

some zealot out there thinking, yeah, it's funny that you laugh because it sounds ridiculous to you, but some non-believers hear that and they recoil because they think, oh my gosh, this is some zealot, religious fanatic and they think they're talking to. to God, and I don't want people to get that impression when they hear it because that is not at all who you are. Right. And I also feel like there's some times in my life where I was quiet and still, which is very rare, that I felt compelled, strongly convicted to do something in my life.

And I look back on it now, and I feel absolutely I was being led by my God and my faith. so I think it's a beautiful explanation of what you're saying and I just want people to kind of hear it from the horse's mouth because you're the one who felt what I think that there are times where people can get really crazy ideas and that can happen but for me especially with for this particular thing this wasn't the outside of what I was expecting I didn't do anything with it for two years I just sat and waited because if this was from God then it wasn't going to be something that I was going to make happen it was it was a door that that was open, and whenever the time was right to walk through it, I was ready to walk through it. And then Mark rolls in and says, we need to adopt. Right. Did you then share him? Yes.

Then I shared it with him. Well, now you guys are in. I mean, you've been carrying this for two years. He rolls in, dumps it on your lap, and you're like, well, guess what, Mark? I think you're right. And but even then, even though I felt like it was Africa, we didn't start with Africa. We actually, it looked at all different kinds of adoption. adoption options. We looked at foster care adoption and special needs adoption and

international adoption to try to find what was the right fit for our family. And we were so overwhelmed by the information that we found that one of the first things we did was we hosted a conference, a workshop in our community called Hope for Forgotten Children, where we invited people to come and learn about foster care, orphan care, and adoption. And then it was actually through that that we met the woman who was doing work in Liberia. and actually started us on the process of adoption in Africa. So it was through that. What's her name?

Who's she? Her name was Donna. And what'd she say? And how'd she know? Well, she was doing humanitarian work in Liberia, and she was helping people getting matched with kids there. And at the time, Liberia was really easy to adopt from. And so she had connections in Liberia.

And she's like, hey, I can help you guys find a kid to adopt, if that's the direction you want to go. And so we're like, okay, tell us more. No kidding. Yeah. Yes. So I think we probably held that conference in, you know, in the summer. And we started our home study. And by December, we had the picture of a little boy in, you know, from Liberia. And the email said, could this be your son? And we hadn't even finished the home study yet. Okay. We, Alex has plopped people guessed out in front of me to interview. Oh, no, you're going to butcher this as you always do. Oh, yeah.

I'm going to butcher this. But I'll fix it. I know you will. Oh, by the way, it's like Wizard of Oz. Ignore the man behind the curtain. He's just an irritating thing. He'll sit over and say stuff every once in a while. Just act like he's not there.

Okay. That's rude. See? So I've interviewed, I don't know. We've probably had four or five interviews with folks, past shows, that have been in and around the adoption world, certainly never from Liberia, so you're first. I'm always struck by the desire to adopt.

I have four children that I adore. They are now 28, 29, 28, 27, and 26th. I adore them most times. Sometimes they're a complete pain of the butt, but I do adore them in general, right? And as empathetic as I want to be in the world and as much possible I want to do the world, I cannot fathom inviting another headache into my life,

especially one that I did not create. I think it takes a special design and empathy and heart in person to take on what you take on, especially those that even consider special needs kids, knowing they're bringing that into their home and their life into their own children's lives. so I want to tell you I'm in awe of people like you there's something inside of you that's just very very special that I do not have in me then comes the work to actually do it once you clear the hurdle of being that kind of person and I have been astounded at the cost of this

the financial burden it takes just to get adoption done sometimes Walk us through that initial process so that people understand that it's a lot more than calling a Liberian saying, hey, I'll take a kid, ship them over. Yeah, and our story is unique and probably would not ever be repeated. But at the time that we were matched with Michael in Liberia, you could petition the government directly. So once you had your home study on the U.S. side, you could petition the Ministry of Gender in Liberia, and then they would do their background check or whatever.

and it was just a real simple process. And I don't even remember what it was at the time because it didn't happen. When we got masked with Michael in December of 2008, and in January, Liberia closed to adoption. Yeah. Lovely. Because it was so easy to adopt from Liberia that there was a huge amount of corruption. So children were being adopted that weren't orphans. Children were being adopted that had special needs, but it wasn't disclosed to the adoptive

families. There was extortion and bribery and all kinds of awful, awful things. Was there child trafficking too probably? I mean, yeah, I mean, I guess if that's the definite, I mean, sending a child home with other people who have parents without their permission, I guess, would be trafficking.

There was one story I heard. Were they kidnapping them from their parents? So, at that time, again, and this is, you know, shortly, Liberia had a 20-year Civil War from 1989 to 2004. And so this shortly after that. This was within four or five years after that war had ended. And so a lot of

families were just really struggling. So as nonprofits and aid was coming in, adoption orphanages were being set up. So a lot of times parents would put their kids in the orphanage to take care of them while they're trying to get things established with the full intention of going back to that orphanage to go get their kid once everything was okay. And then they would go back and their child would be gone. We'll be right back. Hello, I'm John Lithgow. We choose to go to the move.

I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. That's one small step for man. It's about Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space. You're a great pilot, Buzz. as far as I'm concerned the best I've seen. That's the story you think, you know. This is the story you don't. Predisposition to depression, alcohol abuse, and suicide.

We'll see Buzz try to overcome demons. What do you say, Buzz? Another beer? And triumph over addiction. Use to you, Buzz Aldrin. Good luck to you. And become a true hero. Buzz and I will proceed into the lunar module. Not because he conquers space, but because he conquers himself. Buzz. We intercepted a Soviet radio transmission.

Starring me, John Lithgow. Can you put it through? On the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American history is full of wise people. What women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea, and 1% is gory. Those founding fathers were gossipy. and they love to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline,

the show where you send us your questions about American history, and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses, and then he says, The greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said.

It would have been harder to fake it than to do it. Listen to American History Hotline on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I became a journalist, I was the first Latina in the newsrooms where I worked. I'm Maria Inogosa. I dreamt of having a place where voices that have been historically sidelined would instead be centered. For over 30 years now, Latino USA has been that place. This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Cultura. As the longest running Latino news and culture show in the United States,

Latino USA delivers the stories that truly matter to all of us. From sharp and deep analysis of the most pressing news, they're creating these narrative that immigrants or criminals. This is about everyone's freedom of speech. Nobody expected two popes from the American continent to stories about our cultures and our identity. When you do get a trans character like Imira Perez, the trans community is going to push back on that. Colorism, all of these things that exist in Mexican culture and Latino culture.

You'll hear from people like Congresswoman, AOC. I don't want to give them my fear. I'm not going to give them my fear. Listen to Latino USA as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Adventure should never come with a pause button. the movie pass era, where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9, it made zero cents and I could not stop thinking about it. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech podcast, there are no girls on the internet. On this new season, I'm talking to the innovators who are left

out of the tech headlines, like the visionary behind a movie pass, Black founder Stacey Spikes, who was pushed out of movie pass the company that he founded. His story is wild and it's currently the subject of a juicy new HBO documentary. We dive into how culture connects us. When you go to France, or you go to England, or you go to Hong Kong, those kids are wearing Jordans, they're wearing Kobe's shirt, they're watching Black Panther. And the challenges of being a Black founder. Close your eyes and tell me what a tech founder looks like. They're not going to describe someone who looks like me and they're not going to describe someone

who looks like you. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us. So listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet on the IHurt Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or you get your podcasts. How serious is youth vaping? Irreversible lung damage serious. One in ten kids vape serious, which warrants a serious conversation from a serious parental figure like yourself.

Not the seriously know-at-all sports dad or the seriously smart podcaster. It requires a serious conversation that is best had by you. No, seriously. The best person to talk to your child about vaping is you. To start the conversation, visit talk about vaping.org. Brought to you by the American Lung Association. and the Ad Council. So the country, after the Civil War,

trying to get some level of civics arranged, closed it to stop all the bad stuff. Yes, yes. But who got caught up, and that was the good people, too, trying to do the good thing. Well, and we were told from the beginning, oh, it'll just be sick. months and every six months it was another six months for like years but in the meantime even before they even closed we found out shortly after we got matched with michael that he had a little brother and would be we be willing to adopt him too oh you're nuts and so i mean again just just at the very beginning of learning about liberia and the losses that people had experienced and the

the brokenness and the pain, I was like, if Michael lives with his little brother, the last thing I want to do is separate him from the family that he has. And so we agreed that we would adopt both of those boys and he would be our extra little blessing. So apparently what God put on your heart and what God put on Mark's heart were like one each. Yes. Yes, I never thought about it that way. It seems to a, all right, before we go forward, there's one other question I have to ask that I think people want to know, but are often maybe too socially afraid to ask, but I'm going to ask it, but I want to be as respectful and gentle with the topic as possible, but I still think I need to ask it to understand. You're white. Your husband's white. Your children are therefore

white. They are. You live in O'Clair, Wisconsin, which I assume is pretty, white. It is. Okay. I have seen mixed race adoption families before. And I even hold them in even higher regard because there has to be a little bit of a social stigma. You all have to overcome the adopted kids, the family, everything from a race standpoint. One, I'm not, I don't want to say did it give you pause because I don't feel like pauses in your vocabulary really but it had to have been a consideration and you had to have talked to your own children about it and I just want to know and again I say this in the most respectful way because I genuinely think it's phenomenal that you don't let something as insignificant as skin color.

stop you. But unfortunately, society says it is a stop son sometimes. How did you handle that part? At the time. Is that a fair question? Sure. I think it's an important question too. I think at the time, again, our adoption story is really, really long. So at the time that we first got matched with Michael, we were attending a church where a lot of families in the church were adopting from Ethiopia. And so we felt like if we adopted a child from Africa, he would be at least part of a community of other kids that looked like him in a place where there were a lot of other adoptive families. And that would help all of us, both biological kids and Michael and our whole family feel like, you know, this was kind of a normal thing. That was part of what our church was doing at the time. We did not adopt Michael at the, and my kids were really little.

So, you know, talking, we talked to them about it, but it wasn't like they had. an opinion, I mean, had a strong opinion, really. But we did not adopt Michael until he was a teenager. And at the time that our adoption was actually finally going through, I spent time sitting down with other African-American families in my community and asked them. I'm like, what is it like to go to high school in O'Clair as a person of color and just try to get an idea of, you know, what is the, what's the situation with the police department in our town? Are they, you know, what is the relationship like with, you know, people of color and the government? And I wanted to know all of that before we brought Michael into our community.

And I was really, really happy. Salika Lawton is a friend of mine, and she's a community organizer. She's also professor at UW O'Clair. And her son was attending the high school that my son was going to attend. He had just graduated and was really, really pleased to hear that our community was doing well in trying to build a safe place for everybody. That's very cool. All right.

I just asked Chatch, BT. What? O'Clair, Wisconsin, 1.5% of the population is African-American. 1.5%? Yeah, pretty low. Yeah. That's more now than it was 10 years ago. That's because y'all be adopted.

Okay. So, all right, so let's go back because we jump from 5 to 15 in the story's in the middle. And spoiler alert for everybody. listening, this actually isn't an adoption story. No, it's not. It's a story about how adoption led to just a phenomenal thing. But you guys had to understand, everybody needed to understand kind of how the entree happened. So take us from Michael at five to Liberia. Yeah, we like to call our story on our way to somewhere else. Because this was not the journey that we

had intended to go on. Mark and I, we had her four kids and we were going to adopt these two boys and we were going to keep living the life that we had. I was a stay-at-home mom at the time and Mark worked in the radio station and that was what we thought life was going to look like. But six months after we were matched with Habakkuk, who was two years old at the time, he had got malaria and he was sick so he got treatment for that. But his grandpa had died and they, both the boys went back, no, just Habakkuk went back to the village where his grandpa had lived, where the funeral was going to be. And in Liberia, when an older person dies,

it's a huge community event. So there was a huge influx of people in that small village. And there was a cholera outbreak. And have a... A what outbreak? Cholera. Colora is a waterborne illness. Bacterial.

I mean, I know what cholera is, but I didn't know there were still outbreaks. Yeah. In a lot of the developing world. Undeveloped owners. Yeah. Yeah. So Habakkuk got cholera and very, very,

quickly he passed away. We lost him. You're kidding. Were you there? No. No. Our contact at that time. So Peter Flomo, Pastor Peter, was our contact there. And so someone had called him from the village and said Habakkuk was sick. Peter tried to get there to get him to take him to a clinic for treatment. But because he had had malaria and he was so small, he just died really fast. How old was he? Two and a half. This is Michael's natural little brother. Yep, that's his little brother. Who was going to be your sixth. Our extra little blessing.

Okay. Mm-hmm. So now you are keenly aware of what cholera can do. I was so emotional, so angry and, like, sad and frustrated and kind of mad at God, really, because getting two little boys from Africa was not my idea. he brought this little boy into our lives he he planted him in my heart and then six months later he's gone and i was just really adamant that this is not the end of this story the story does not end with and then have a cook died so i'd figure out i'm like okay what this is not okay i i call it stupid death and i call it stupid because there's no reason why in this day

and age, anyone should have to die from dirty drinking water. It just shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen. Yeah, but you're in Wisconsin. They're literally halfway across the globe and worn, torn, trying to recover Liberia. What are you going to do about it? You're just a normal person. What am I going to do about it?

Well, the first thing I wanted to do was to put a well in his village, in his memory. That was how I wanted to honor his life. Okay. So I, through the contacts that I had, I'm like, how do we do? do this and so they told me and I'm actually an introvert sort of by personality um so the idea of getting up in front of people and raising a bunch of money was not something I was eager to do but I was absolutely passionate about this I was adamant that we are going to do this you were passionate right absolutely do you know what we say all the time that the amazing things in the world happen

when normal people employ their passion at an intersect with opportunity You saw an uptune, you had passion. Yeah. Yeah. So we raised the money for the well. We got the money to Liberia before rainy season so that they could hand-dig this well. And then the well went in in March of 2010. And my friends went to Liberia for the well dedication, but I didn't go at the time.

I saw the pictures. And when I saw the pictures, I'm like, I need to be there. And my husband did not argue. So in October of 2010, I went to Liberia for the first time to meet Michael and to go to the community where have a cook had died. We'll be right back. Hello, I'm John Lithgow. We choose to go to the moon.

I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. That's one small step for man. It's about Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space. You're a great pilot, Buzz. As far as I'm concerned, the best I've seen. That's the story you think you know. This is the story you don't. position to depression, alcohol abuse, and suicide.

We'll see Buzz try to overcome demons. What do you say, Buzz? Another beer? And triumph over addiction. Here's to you, Buzz Aldrin. Good luck to you. And become a true hero. Buzz and I will proceed into the lunar module. Not because he conquers space, but because he conquers himself. Buzz.

We intercepted a Soviet radio transmission. Starring me, John Lithgow. Can you put it through? in the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American History is full of wise people. What women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea and 1% is gory. Those founding fathers were gossipy AF, and they love to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your question,

about American history, and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses, and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it. Listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I became a journalist, I was the first Latina in the newsrooms where I worked.

I'm Maria Inojosa. I dreamt of having a place where voices that have been historically sidelined would instead be centered. For over 30 years now, Latino USA has been that place. This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Cultura. As the longest running Latino News and Culture Show In the United States, Natino USA delivers the stories that truly matter to all of us.

From sharp and deep analysis of the most pressing news, they're creating these narrative that immigrants are criminals. This is about everyone's freedom of speech. Nobody expected to popes from the American continent to stories about our cultures and our identities. When you do get a trans character like Imidipedez, the trans community is going to push back on that. colorism, all of these things that exist in Mexican culture

in Latino culture. You'll hear from people like Congresswoman, AOC. I don't want to give them my fear. I'm not going to give them my fear. Listen to Latino USA as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Adventure should never come with a pause button. Remember the movie pass era? Where you could watch all the movies you wanted for just $9? It may zero sense and I could not stop thinking about it. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech podcast. There are no girls on the internet. On this new season, I'm talking to the innovators who are left out of the tech headlines, like the visionary behind a movie pass, Black founder Stacey Spikes,

who was pushed out of movie pass the company that he founded. His story is wild and it's currently the subject of a juicy new HBO documentary. We dive into how culture connects us. When you go to France, or you go to England, or you go to Hong Kong, those kids are wearing Jordans, they're wearing Kobe's shirt, they're watching Black Panther. And the challenges of being a Black founder. Close your eyes and tell me what a tech founder looks like. They're not going to describe someone who looks like me and they're not going to describe someone who looks like you. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us. So listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet on the IHurt Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get to be.

your podcasts. How serious is youth vaping? Irreversible lung damage serious. One in ten kids vape serious, which warrants a serious conversation from a serious parental figure, like yourself. Not the seriously know-at-all sports dad or the seriously smart podcaster. It requires a serious conversation that is best had by you. No, seriously.

The best person to talk to your child about vaping is you. To start the conversation, visit talk about vaping.org. Brought to you by the American Lung Association. and the Ad Council. Did Michael know that you guys were to be his family eventually? You know, so Michael at that time was living with Pastor Peter. So he has five biological kids, and I couldn't tell you how many orphans were living with him at the time,

but Michael was staying with him. And so when I got to Liberia, Peter said, Michael, this is your mom. Wow. Kind of like that. and he was he was five years old he said nothing

he didn't say anything when the world went on in Michael's young life to become an orphan up to five and then to be said hi this person who doesn't look anything like you for America's your mom now well that has to be a little bit of a shock for Michael there are so many things

that were hard for him because up until then he had lived in the village with his grandparents and he spoke their dialect which was Pelle so he didn't even speak in Pelle L-A. Can you spell that for me? K-P-E-L-E. Okay, and that's a dialect?

One of the 16 dialects in Liberia of the, like the... So it's almost a tribal language. Yep, yep, one of the languages in Liberia. One of the 16 languages? Yes. Holy smokes. How do you ever get anything done? Well, Liberia was founded by freed American slaves.

Right. So English is the connecting language. And I meant to look this up for I meant you, met you. President Monroe's administration, if I'm right about this, boy, this is going back to high school, but what didn't it, wasn't it, President Monroe's administration offered free slaves settlement back to Africa and our country created Liberia, Liber being the Latin for freedom or free land, and created Liberia for American free slaves. Is that close?

The American Colonization Society. was the organization that organized it all, and then it was funded by the U.S. government to help people go back to Africa to start a country. But when they showed up, there were still people living there who were indigenous. Yeah. Well, that's a whole. Well, because the, we can talk politics from Monroe area,

but it's not today's politics. Well, if you imagine the experience that these freed people had in the United States and what it meant to be in charge and what it meant to have power. When they went, when they were in, when they went to Liberia, that was the type of society they understood. And so in a lot of ways, there ended up being a lot of disparagement between the people who returned to Africa and the people who are still living there. indigenous. Right. So like the motto of Liberia is love of freedom brought us here. But that only represents 10% of the population. The other 90% were already there. And one of 16 languages. So how do you even communicate about it?

Well, and then honestly, the tension between the settlers and the indigenous people there is what eventually fueled the Civil War in the 80s. Good intentions. Yeah. Yeah. And what ends up in that carnage is children and homelessness and cholera and abject poverty and loss and all of it. Okay. So you show up and Pastor, what's his name says, what's his name? Pastor Peter. Yep.

Pastor Peter says, hey, Michael. Yeah. Su. This is mom. So he, yeah. So he was living with his grandparents. His grandpa dies. He goes to Monrovia now, which is a totally different.

Liberia from the rural Liberia. It's a capital, right? It is, yes. And we speak English there. Is it all cosmopolitan? Is it like a city at least? Yeah, there's a million, there's, at that time, there's a million people in that, in the area.

So he goes from this little village without a well for drinking water to Monrovia. Right. Where people are speaking English and he speaks Pelle. And they just plop him in school. And they, and I said, how can he go to school if he doesn't even speak English? And Peter's like, ah, he'll learn. So he didn't talk, but part of that was because he was still learning English. Got it.

Yeah, when I met him, right? Okay, so you're there. Yep, so we're there, and I get a chance to go visit the village, and I get to see the well, and I'm trying to, there's about three guys in the village who have gone to school so they can speak English. Nobody else can speak English because no one else has gone to school. No one can even read the inscription in the well and have a cuck's memory. So I go, okay, how do we start a school? So I went back home with the goal of starting a school in this village.

And then when I got home, my husband's like, well, now you're traveling around the world. I want to go somewhere. And I'm like, well, we have a kid in Liberia. So why don't you go there? So six months later in March of 2011, Mark, and I went back to Liberia together. to dedicate the school that we were opening there. And at that time, Mark and Peter started going around to other villages and sharing about God. And we kept seeing community after community with no clean water and no education and no medical care.

And after that. And I would assume orphans. Sure. Yeah. Well, and it's hard to know who all you even are the orphans because they're all just living with somebody, their neighbor or their grandma or their aunt or somebody. Is that a tribal cultural thing or is that a disintegration of what that culture was supposed to be because of all the war and everything that tore the place up? The war disrupted everything.

So it just left an entire generation of people just completely traumatized. Some of the worst war atrocities that you've heard of happened in Liberia too. like child soldiers and just awful, awful things happen to kids that were witnesses to terrible things where their parents were killed and women were assaulted and kids were given drugs to go fight this stupid war. Yeah, that's my understanding is they would give kids as young as 13s drugs and a rifle and coke them up and just tell them go shoot what they could shoot. Yeah.

Yeah, it was awful. I've also been told that the, some, it's not in here. I looked it up while I was on my phone in a, in a actual and a board meeting. And I don't know the exact numbers, but something like 75% of 16 year old females by the time they're 16 have been sexually assaulted in Liberia. Is that right? The time frame could be different. During the wartime, I know that's absolutely true. assault of women in Liberia is still incredibly high right now.

It's rampant. Yeah. So there's also an education there that needs to be had. Yep. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, you and Mark from O'Clair, Wisconsin, show up and I guess you're going to change a country?

I guess we are. I, you know, when I came back from Liberia the first time, I was so angry. I was just, one day I was just driving in my car and I was just ranting to God. It's just like, how in the world can you be the God of the universe and allow kids to die from dirty drinking water and children never go to school and all of these awful things that are having a live here? Why don't you do something? And I felt like God was just patiently listening to me and I'm going to tell you another story of God speaking to me because when I finally stopped and I was quiet, I felt like God said, Peggy, I am doing something. And I want to do it through you.

And I was like, okay, what do I do? Because I didn't know anything. I didn't know anything about Liberia or how to help. I had no background in this area. I don't know anything about nonprofits. I know nothing. I know that I love being a mom and I know that I want to adopt this little boy. And I have started to develop some friendships in Liberia.

And so we started teamwork Africa and I started to ask them. I'm like, what can we do? Like, how do we help? That's when you started the name, Teamwork Africa? Yeah, Peter Falamon, so our partner in Liberia actually came up with that name. That was the name that he had. And so he was our teacher. He was our guide to tell us how we could make a difference in Liberia.

So what was your goal with Teamwork Africa originally? When we started, we were hoping that we would work through churches to meet the spiritual and physical needs of communities and that we would just do whatever it was that the community needed. So we started out doing everything. We did clean water projects, agriculture projects, microloans, child sponsorship, education, you name it, we tried it. And how that worked? And not well, we've been doing this now for a long time. But I mean, it's the beginning. Yeah. It was so exciting in the beginning. Like, you know, it was great. You would go, we'd do these well dedications and people would be dancing and you know laughing and it was it was amazing and it was great and then you know

six months later the well would break down and the guy who was trained to repair it was gone and so then we're like well this wasn't a long-term solution like you know like it's easy when you first start something and you really think this is making a big difference and then after you do it for a decade and you look back and you say wow this did not I didn't I was hoping for more And that concludes part one of my conversation with Peggy Halverson, and you don't want to miss part two. It's now available to listen to. Together, guys, we can change this country, but it starts with you. I'll see in part two.

Hello, I'm John Lithgow. We choose to go to the moon. I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. That's one small step for man. About Buzz Aldrin, one of the two pioneers of space. You're a great pilot, Buzz. That's the story you think you know. This is the story you don't.

Buzz, starring me, John Lithgow. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a charity? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers. I'm so glad you asked me this question.

This is such a ridiculous story. You can listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I became a journalist, I was the first Latina in the newsrooms where I worked. I'm Maria Inojosa. I spent my career creating journalism that centers voices who have been historically sidelined. From the most pressing news stories

to deep cultural explorations, Latino USA is journalism with heart. Listen to Latino USA, the longest running Latino news and culture show in the United States. Hear it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How serious is youth vaping?

Irreversible lung damage serious, one in ten kids vape serious, which warrants a serious conversation from a serious parental figure like yourself. Not the seriously know-at-all sports dad or the seriously smart podcaster. It requires a serious conversation

that is best had by you. No, seriously. The best person to talk to your child about vaping is you. To start the conversation, visit talkaboutvaping.org. Brought to you by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult.

But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me. New episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast.