An Army of Normal Folks - Peggy Halvorsen: The Wisconsin Mom in Liberia (Pt 2)

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.

Hey, everybody. It's Bill Courtney with an Army of Normal folks, and we continue now of part two of our conversation with Peggy Halverson right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. 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 Alderman. 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 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 a.F. 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 Inoghosa. 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 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 Imira Perez, the trans community is going to push back on that. Colorism, all of these things like 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. 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 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. So let's just talk about wells for a minute. I think an American sitting there listening to us says like, oh, that's cool.

They dug a hole and got some water. And we take so much for granted in the United States. I haven't been to Liberia, but I have traveled extensively for work. We sell lumber all over the place, and oftentimes lumber is made where inexpensive labor. Lumber is sent where inexpensive labor is to make furniture as inexpensively as possible to then export back to First World Nations, candidly. Some of it is a lot like the garment industry. Okay.

So that takes me to places that have poverty, oftentimes. I have witnessed human beings trying to bathe in a ditch. While not far up the ditch, another individual was relieving himself in said ditch. Sure. And while that's made me distasteful to imagine and picture in your mind's eye, then the person downstream of Ditch Creek is scooping up their cooking water with the same water that someone had just relieved themselves in and bathed in. Yep.

So when you talk about the importance of clean water in a well, you really need to understand that cholera in some of these places can claim up to 40% of the people's lives. And it is why in many of these places, the population, the age of the population is typically like 60% under 30 years old because people just don't live long because they don't have something as simple as clean water to drink, bathe, or cook with. Sure. Is that Liberia? Absolutely. The 70% of Liberia is under 30 years old. 70?

Under 30. Under 30. That may be the worst number I've ever heard. heard. There may be a worst country, but there can't be many. They just did a census two years ago, and those were the statistics that came out. So between the war and the water, health things, the country is full of young people with no mentors. So just building a well, literally upgrades exponentially the lifestyle of the people in that village. Mm-hmm. Yes. And for a lot of the community,

and I wish I had better numbers on how many, but some of the communities had enough structure and enough organization and leadership in the community that once they had a well, it was theirs and they took care of it with, like most of the time what they do in Liberia is you have a chain and a lock on pump and you only open it in the morning and in the evening so that the kids don't come and play on it

and, you know, throw rock, whatever, you know, be kids. So there's a lot and you, in some places, you do not wear your shoes on the culvert around that pump. Like in those places that keep the place really clean and neat, that pump is going to last a long time. But not every community has leadership. And in the community that we put our first well in, it was a community of almost all women.

The only guy that I knew who was there was drunk most of the time. So we have had to repair that well. Oh, my goodness. Almost every year we have to go back. back and do simple repairs just because they don't have enough organization in that community to maintain that pump and that when that happens over and over and over I start thinking there's another problem that we need to address before we can even address the water problem which is education organizations and mentorship yep which is why wells so michael morphed to

one well which morph to more wells, which morph to civics and teaching. Civics and education. Oh, yeah, sure. Is that right? Well, and we also, at the same time that we were doing Wells, we are also doing a child sponsorship program. What is that?

So we are trying to help kids go to school. Oh. So in Liberia, there is a public school system that is free. But as Peter used to say, it's free of teachers, it's free of books, It's free of death. It's free of everything. It's free of everything. So that is not an option.

Where's Peter from? Peter's Liberian. No kidding. He's from the same tribe that Michael's from. No kidding. Yeah. Just a Liberian dude trying to do it right. Yeah.

He's a pastor and a husband and father of five kids, plus a whole bunch of other kids that he kept bringing home. I don't know how he was. I don't know how they don't know. He's fine to be like, Peter, he forgot to stop bringing home children so all right so take us from the first wells onward and the sponsorship thing we did the first well and the first school and then teamwork africa started and then we actually were able to partner with an organization from texas called the last well and they were focused on bringing

clean water to liberia so we were one of their partners for five years five years four or five years something like that and we did a ton of projects with them because we had librarian well technician teams and they, you know, that they're specialized in going to really remote areas where you couldn't bring a well digging rig and they would carry in all the materials on their heads. So the cement, the frame for molding the culverts and they would mold the bricks on site. And so, yeah, they would jump through. And then I got to go to Liberia and do the follow-up.

So I got to walk on all those jungle paths and go verify, yep, there's a new well right here in the middle of nowhere where, you know, we walked an hour from the closest road to go to this village and see that there's a brand new well there. So that far? Oh, sure, easily. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, sometimes we would take a land cruiser as far as the land cruiser would go and then

we'd take a motorcycle as far as the motorcycle would go and then we would walk from there. Did you ever feel unsafe? No. Really? No, because by the time I was doing that part, I had developed really. really close friendships with my friends in Liberia. And so they were so, so, so careful with me. We actually moved to Liberia in 2016.

Yeah, see, you're not supposed to do that. We actually, after this, decided to move. Yeah, I'm sorry. You just blew that one. Well, it's revealed now. Well, we did, and we were living there. And I was, so on weekends, I would go into the rural areas to go do my, you know, my well checkups.

And I would travel with the well technician team. and then there was a place that I would guest house that I would stay overnight. And there was one time where my well technician team was like, we don't know about this place that you stay because it doesn't have a fence around it. And we don't really know the guys that are there. And are you sure that you're safe there? And I'm like, yes, I know the guys there. They're okay.

And they're like, okay, fine. So they drop me off. And then the guys at that place, they're like, we don't know about those well technician guys that you're hanging out on. So it was like everybody was always, you know, looking out for me. And one time I was a little bit foolish and it was not a very high hill, but it was steep and it had gravel on it. So it was like six foot little incline and I slipped and I fell down and slid down it on my knee.

And so I got a big gash and it made it actually a nice scar. And the guys were with me were absolutely horrified that I got hurt. And for the rest of like, not only for the rest of that trip, but for months after that, I was not allowed to walk up or down a hill without holding someone's hand. They told me, they said, we have committed to bring you back to your husband in the same condition that you left. So you cannot get hurt. Unbelievable. It also speaks to the humanity, to the desire to just be safe and happy and have the basics.

and how despite all of the 20 years of the past that these people have lived through, that their raw humanity still comes through. Yeah. And they, you know, at that point, they knew us. And they were so grateful that the family who lived in a country like the United States would give all that up to come and live with them. And they really wanted to honor that sacrifice that we were making. and so take us to the decision that you and mark and your four children made to move to

Liberia and at this point you still have Michael living with no no he's still in Liberia is so tell me how that works well from the very first time I went to Liberia my heart was just captured and I just really wanted to be there so I wanted to bring you captured by that's I I was looking over something some of the things I wrote on my first trip. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

I, yeah, just. For those who aren't watching this on YouTube, she's got a folder with a bunch of notes in front of her. And when she said that, she looked down. These are some of your notes from 15 years ago? Yeah, this is my. What's that? All for you.

That's how seriously she's taking this. That's precious. This is, you know, from October 2010. So this is from my first time, my first time in Liberia. So what did you fall in love with? I said, let me read this last. This is like the end, my last, this is when I'm leaving. I said, I didn't want to think about leaving.

I said, I'm not sure what to feel now about leaving. I said, 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'll 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. 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 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 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? No, can you translate?

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 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 Inoghosa. 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 this narrative that immigrants or 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 Imira Perez, the trans community is going to push back on that.

Colorism, all of these things like 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 job. 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-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 Aboutvaping.org, brought to you by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council. So you get the wells going, you sponsor some kids, and then you or Mark, or you and Mark look at each other and say, why don't we just hoof it?

I wanted to move there, and I again waited because I did not want to make my husband. back up our house and move to Africa. So I just was patient and I waited to see if God would speak to him the same way that he was speaking to me. And so after a couple of years, Mark said, okay, well, if it go like, kind of like, I don't know how this could possibly happen, but if you can find a way to make it happen, let's see where this leads. And we found someone who said, oh, sure, I can support you guys going to Africa. So we had a guy who was like really like literally started funding us to go to Liberia about six months before we left. So we had, you know, we had some money saved up for us to go to Liberia. We sold their house and backed up our kids and moved to Liberia.

You say it almost as you say it, you're laughing like you're not even sure you actually did that. I know. The whole time, I was like, it's simple. It's crazy. It's like, how does somebody just pack up suitcases and just move to Africa? And then we just, but we just did. And yeah. All right. So how old were your kids? They were, that's a great question. So 2016. So Evelyn was 16, 16, 15, 13, 13, and 11. What were they thinking about leaving high school and friends to go to Africa? Well, Dawson had just, my son had just finished middle school, so he hadn't started high school yet. So, I mean, he was probably the most like, yeah, whatever, mom.

The girls were home, my oldest two girls were already homeschooling. They had had it with middle school and in high school. So they were good with it. And then Elena is just, she had just finished elementary school. So it's kind of like a transition year for most of the kids anyway. So it actually fit for them. Yeah. So, and they, I mean, they weren't like, they were open to. to it. I wouldn't have said they were like gung ho, like excited for moving to Africa, but they

were certainly open to it. Two of the girls had already gone to Liberia with me. So they kind of knew a little bit of what we were getting into. And at this time, teamwork Africa is a thing. It is. Yeah. And you're raising money. So now you're taking teamwork Africa to have teamwork in Africa. Yeah. And I, you know, so we had to, we had to find somebody to be the director on the U.S. side. So that was another huge factor in being able to even leave because we had to have somebody here who was running everything. So we had, you know, so we got someone to do that. We had someone to sponsor us to go. And then we, we went. Would you live? What's, did you live in Monroe? We, yep, outside. So Monrovia is like, you know, capital city. And then there's little communities

around Minervia, just kind of like suburbs are here. And so we had a base in Liberia where we had a guest house. And so our family moved into the guest house. We had built our first school there. And we were in the process of trying to build a medical center. So we had a place to to stay. And the Flomo family had also built a house on that same property. So we were all living together. We were, it was absolutely insane. I had traveled to Liberia at least twice a year up to that point. And I had stayed up to three weeks at a time. And I thought I kind of had an idea of what it might be like to live in Liberia. And I really thought I had covered all the bases. And I thought I knew what this would look like. And when we got there, we put all our stuff in a container and shipped

it. And the container stayed in the port until three weeks before we went back to the U.S. for our first visit. It couldn't clear customs. No. No, it was the most awful. That year was so hard. We shipped it in August and we got it in May. That's quick.

Three weeks before we left to go back to the U.S. So you've literally lived out of a suitcase for seven months. Whatever we, yeah, whatever we could get, and we know whatever we could, you know, get in Liberia or whatever we had in our suitcases. That is literally what we had. Yeah, it was a very interesting time for us. And we had a plan to have a generator. We had raised a whole bunch of money to build a community generator so that we'd have electricity. It never, never worked.

So our struggle to have electricity every day. Like we would try to have the generator on from like 7 p.m. until like, you know, three or so in the morning because it's hot. It's hot and humid in Liberia. But, you know, we were going to have running water in our house. We had running water in our house for one day. After that, we had to carry in water to the bathrooms,

to the big barrels where we could, yeah. We had regular toilets. You just, you know, dump the bucket of water in the toilet. And then we did bucket baths every night. No hot water, no consistent electricity. For how long was this? Two school years. So we were there from, we went.

month there, August of 2018, we came back in June of the following year. And then we were back for two months. Then we went back for another year. So for, yeah. And you had running water one day. Yeah. Of that entire stay. Yes. And your children bucked it up and said, okay. They did. Yeah. They, and now, you know, my kids are between 25 and 20 now. And they will tell you that living in Liberia for those two years shaped their lives. And they, for the most part, and are incredibly grateful because of how it has changed how they see life in the United States. And they know. A fortunate and blessed they really are.

Yes. Yes. So what was your plan? What did you do the two years? You were in a barbaria besides tow water. Well, my background's actually in education. So I was planning to work with the school, kind of in the administration. I wanted to be training the teachers and implementing some programs that would help the school, you know, be better, be better.

different. And then Mark actually ended up being the Bible teacher in the school. He actually ended up in the classroom teaching more than I did. The kids still talk about him when I go back to visit. Yeah. Unbelievable. So then I went out, of course, into the jungle and did my well assessments to go check on all our water projects too. Okay. So you come back from Liberia in 2018. 18. With the goal of... Well, we had hoped that when we were in Liberia, we would have finally adopt Michael. But that didn't happen either. Let's remember this all started

with trying to adopt Michael. Yeah. And in the meantime, you've moved to Liberia and back. Did he get to live with you while you were in Liberia? He did. Bless his heart and your heart. So you guys formed a real familial relationship. And then when you had to go, you had to leave them again.

Yeah. The summer, when we left for two months, you know, he stayed. But when we knew we were coming back. So we ended up coming. So my oldest daughter had a knee injury, a significant one that we thought she needed surgery for. So in the spring of 2018, she had to come back to the United States. And she was just turned 18. So she legally could travel, but physically she couldn't. And so we sent my son. So like, you know, tall, strong guy. He's going to like make sure she gets to the airport. Okay. Except the two of them don't have a clue on how to travel. But my 14-year-old daughter is got the, you know, she knows how to,

she knows how to navigate the airport. And so we sent the three of them back to the United States together ahead of time. And then after they left, we got word from the U.S. that the director, the U.S. director that was in charge of teamwork Africa was resigning within a month. And that immediately meant that in order for teamwork Africa to survive, we had to come back home. So we were already planning to come back again for two months during the summertime. So when we came back, we had two months to find a new place to live, to get new jobs, to get new cars, to reestablish everything. And while I had done a lot of, you know, studying and research and learning about what it

would be like for our family to live in Liberia, I hadn't had any time to think about what it would be like to come back. And it turned out that coming back to the United States was really, much harder on my family than it was leaving. Why? The reverse culture shock. Like, everybody thought it would be the same. Everybody thought it would just feel the same.

And it didn't. Everything felt really different. And, like, at that point, we had just had a new Woodman's grocery store come into our community. And I walked in and looked at it and walked right back out. The idea that you would have an entire aisle for peanut butter was totally overwhelming to me. I could, for a long time, I had to just shop out little grocery stores because it's crazy. You know what's interesting about that? Is you're an American and you were only gone two years.

How overwhelming must it be for someone that comes from there and tries to integrate into our culture? And, I mean, for only two years and you're an American, you came from that. What must it be like for someone to try? We always talk about people need to integrate into society, better. But the overwhelming that, I mean, I've never thought about it until you just said that, but how difficult that must be for people. Yeah. Yeah. My kids were in youth group and they were talking about a story, something that had happened in Haiti. And they were showing a video of kids from Haiti. And for my daughter, Grace, those kids looked like kids she knew. They lived in a

community, you know, in an environment that she was familiar with. The girls in front of her were giggling and playing on her phone. And she was like so overwhelmed. She actually got up and left and went to the bathroom and sobbed because she couldn't connect with these girls who just, they just had no connection to what they were seeing from that video. But for Grace, she knew what it was like to live there. She knew the struggles that those kids were going through. So a lot of those things were just really hard. My kids thought differently than the kids that they, you know, went to school with. And for quite a long time, for several months, it was, I felt like I was just trying to keep everybody's head above water as we were trying to acclimate

to being back here. And then we had Michael with us. That, when we came back to stay, we were able to keep, Michael came with us for four months. And then at the end of four months, I had to take him back to Liberia to wait for the adoption. Plus his heart. He has to feel like a yo-yo. He was so excited to come to the United States. And that was a whole other thing, too, because people in Liberia think that the U.S. is heaven. It is heaven. And so anything that didn't go the way he thought it was going to go, it was really hard for him because he thought everything was going to be perfect here. So that made it a little bit, you know, those were some really funny, funny times where we're like, no, Michael, this is actually just another part of Earth

where things are a little bit easier, but they don't go perfectly either. So, yeah, but That's interesting. Yeah. All right. So you're back here. Mm-hmm. You're running teamwork Africa and Michael's still there. Yeah.

And you still have work today. Well, and when we got back to from Liberia and the director quit, so did all the other staff. So. Well, we came back to Teamwork Africa. The organization kind of in shambles. And I'm trying to keep our family, you know, floating. And now I've got to take Michael back to Liberia. And so he went back in October in January of that year.

So 2019, Peter Flamo dies suddenly. And he's our country director. Pastor Peter. Yeah, one of my best friends. And I'm like, we can be done now. Like, we can just be done. Well, and then, yeah. So that's 2009.

And then I can go through Michael's whole adoption story. But we do finally adopt Michael in December. of 2019 right before 2020 and then 2020 hits and then everybody you know all the nonprofit organizations are there's no fundraising you know like and i was yeah exactly i do i do want to say though that it's by the grace of god that michael came home in december of 2019 because if he hadn't based on his age he had just turned 15 i'm not sure after everything closed during covid by the time we could have possibly traveled. He'd have been an adult. He might have aged out. So that was like the, I mean at the very last minute, because I was like, God, seriously, we've gone through all this. Please don't tell me at

the end of the day, we are not going to adopt this kid. So we did. 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 two 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. 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? No, can you translate?

On the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American history is full of what. 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 work. 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 of us. From sharp and deep analysis of the most pressing news, they're creating this narrative, that immigrants are 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 Imidav 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 mic. Multura 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 sound. 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 Vap 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.

You're finally adopted and together without going back and forth. You've started to try to put back together team. Africa, U.S., and then Pastor Peter does, and it's 2020 going into COVID. And candidly, it's like, maybe we've done what we've going to do. Yeah, and like, I can be done? God, can I be done? And you know, candidly, who could blame you? And you still have done an enormous amount.

Yeah. Schools and medical centers and wells and teamwork Africa's story could be a good one and bowed up right there. I think it would have. I would have been satisfied with that. I would have, I would have been okay with moving on to doing, going back to the life. I thought we were going to have, you know, a decade before that. But it's five years later and you're sitting in front of me. So what happened?

What happened was in those quiet moments where I sat still, I knew that we weren't done yet. And so we, we reorganized and we refocused. And I gathered the people that I knew best in Liberia and brought them all together to see, what kind of team we could rebuild and the teamwork Africa team that we built in Liberia after that is the strongest our team has ever been the work that we're doing now one door closes more open we it's almost like the first decade of teamwork Africa was just practice for the work that we're doing now how many wells have you guys built oh yes I brought that too because I'm super bad at numbers so yeah give me give me what we're going to get to what you're doing now so that people get

how this crazy story is not ended but currently in the present progressing but let's put some perspective to it now in terms of numbers yeah from two wells and all of it okay from 2011 to 2024, we did 216 new wells. Meaning 216 entire communities. Yes. No longer dying from cholera. Yeah. Yeah.

Brand new wells. Keep going. Yeah. And then way over 500 repairs. Like we would do major repairs that we would record, but we would go to communities where there was a little mini repair, a small repair, and we would always fix them. We didn't even write it down. So there were times we'd be out doing our well.

assessments and we tried always to get back to where we were staying before dark because you know a breakdown in the dark in the jungle is not ideal you know so we'd be like watching the time and you know i'd see one more well i'm like willie willie do you think you have time to fix that one more well and he's like yeah we can do it and then another time he'd be like says peggy can we fix one more well before we leave her today and so between you know the two of us where he just peter willie jackson is our well technician he's been with us the entire time he is passionate about having drinking water. Yeah. And he's so talented.

I've seen him, you know, McGiver has nothing on Willey. His way to innovate and figure out how to solve problems and he just doesn't quit either. Like he just keeps going at it until he figures out a solution. All right, so that many wells. What else? Yeah. So that's what I have for our wells.

So for like our kids. So right now we have 280 kids on our scholarship program and we're about ready to open up our second school. and what that's i mean we've done lots of other things too but i don't have all the numbers for all the stuff that's still incredible from a mom who wanted to adopt a kid a normal kid a mom sitting in oaklair wisconsin who wanted to adopt a kid i mean how many how many people in each of these villages on average we we estimate that each well can provide i think

The government statistics say 200 people, but the last well said 500 for each, for each well. And how many wells? 216. So it's 260. Well, that's all the repairs. They don't work. Well, yeah, they don't work. That's like, that's 130,000 people or so.

Wow. Yeah. That are living free of cholera because you decided to adopt Michael. I mean, that is insane. All right. So, reorganized. Yes. What's today looking?

Well, because Liberia is so young and because the war and the lack of health care has taken so many grandparents, aunts and uncles. One doctor per 70,000 people. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. That'd be one doctor for my entire, for O'Clair. For the entire city. Yeah. Right.

I think, yeah. We decided that a lot of the challenges of the programs that we had started were didn't work because of just lack of education and in a lot of ways a lack of character development Liberia is an incredibly corrupt country and it's because of the civil war and the disruption of the fabric of their society it just mixed it just you know lying is is a you know normal stealing from everybody is acceptable like and it just makes nothing works well when you don't have integrity when you don't have character and trying to get like we we tried to do agriculture projects and so trying to bring in more innovative more resourceful forms of

agriculture and nobody wants to change the way they do things so that is like just beating your head against the wall so we decided you know what we're going to work with children we're going to work with youth because they are going to be the leaders for tomorrow they are they have the opportunity to change the direction of this country And so we decided to focus on education and mentorship, especially the mentorship. So we started a program from girls and a program for boys. We limit it to 30 kids with two leaders, mentors. We teach character lessons.

We use the Bible. They get into small groups. They talk. And then they meet weekly. And we also, as you mentioned. And this is in addition to school. Yes. Yep.

Yeah. So we ran. We are our first. So we have 180 kids that. get scholarships. They do not all go to our school because they don't live close enough to us. But in 2022, I was getting so frustrated with the cost of the tuition going up and the quality of education going down that I was just like, we have got to figure out a way that we can run our own school. And we didn't have the money to build a school. And that was going to take forever

to do. And so I just asked the team, I'm like, can you guys look around and see? Is there a house that we could rent, that we could start a school? Or what can you? we do. And one of our staff was going to a church and the church school closed. And she talked to the pastor and told her our interest in starting a school. And we worked out an arrangement that we're renting that school now for the next 10 years. And that was our first school. So it's called Imago Day. It's called Imago Day. It's called Imago Day. What is? Imago Day is Latin for image of God. So the motto of our school is based on Genesis 1 27, where it says God said, let us make people in our image.

All right, Peggy, show them your tat. And it's tattooed on your wrist. That was her midlife crisis, Bill. She got a tattoo. She is. That's your midlife crisis tat. Yes, it is. It is.

Imago Day, that phrase is. Did you ever think you'd have a tat? No. I've thought about it for the last two years. And then this year, I turned 50. And I'm like, if I'm ever going to do it, it's going to be now. So now you tatted that on your rest. I am so passionate about the children in Liberia knowing that each one of them has been made in the image of God and deserves love and respect.

And not only that, for them to know that, but for them to see the people in their communities that every single person that they see is also made in the image of God and deserves love and respect. And I want our school to be a place where that's true. I want these kids to grow in communities where that's true. I want them to build families where that's true. You're literally trying to change the culture of the country from the bottom up. Yeah, and not, and small and small. Like, it's so easy when you get started to say, we're going to change Africa or we're going to change Liberia or we're going to change Bon County or we're going to change Swakoko District. And now I'm like, you know what?

I'm going to pour my life into the lives of 180 kids, and I'm going to pray that God is going to change the communities through them. Wow. So, 130,000 people in communities getting clean drink of water, schools, character development, character building, trying to change it from the ground. up. Where's the money come from? I don't know.

Like I told you when we're the executive director, so you need to know. Well, when we first started, and I told you that I didn't know anything about running a nonprofit. And so I just, my husband worked at the radio station. And so he would have me on. He had a talk show at the time. Perfect. And I would tell the story.

You know what? When I was in Liberia and I would. you know, you always have to give a greeting to the community. And I would always close my greeting to them. And I would say, I'm going to carry you back with me in my heart. And I'm going to share your story. And so that's what I would do. I would just tell the story of what I had seen and what I had felt and what life was like there.

And people just responded. You know, we had a guy, the very first time I was on the radio, we had a guy call and say, how much does the cost to sponsor a well? And I had to go find out. And he was like, I want to put a well in in one of those communities. And I went to the church I grew up in, and I told the story of the first 10 kids. And they're like, we'll sponsor all 10 of them. And, you know, things in the early days just came in.

And I was sitting with a pastor who connects with lots of different missionaries and international organizations. And I was telling him it was going on with teamwork Africa. And he said, what's happening with you guys is, truly astonishing. And I'm like, it is? I'm like, you mean this isn't how it happens for all the organizations? He's like, no. I, you know, it is astonishing because it starts with a normal person, an average person, a mom wanting to adopt a child who got passionate about where that child's from and all of this has happened and is ongoing. But I do.

want to give you an opportunity to answer a question, and this is a softball, but I'm going to lob it up there for you. All right. Why should we give a crap about the kids in Liberia? We got problems all around us in the United States. Yeah, because every single person matters, whether they're here or whether they're there. We are all just people. There's not, we're not different people. There's not, you know, we make so many boundaries between here and there or what makes us one group and them another group. And the truth is we're just all people. Right now, the radio station that my husband works at is doing a backpack fundraiser and they're raising money for backpacks for O'Claire and they're raising money for backpacks for Chippewa Falls, which is the community next door. And they're raising backpacks for the kids in Liberia too.

And it's a beautiful partnership between saying, that the kids in my community matter and so do the ones far away that I don't see. They all matter. And wherever you can find a spot to do something, do it. A lot of times when I, you know, I get that question. Why should we care what happens, you know, in Africa? We have problems here. And my question is, great, what are you doing about it?

That a girl. Don't tell me that, you know, we have problems here. If you're not doing anything about it, this is where I have been called to do something. And if you're called to do something with me, then let's go do it. But if not, find the thing that you are created to do and do it and stop complaining about what other people are doing. That sounds like how we open the show or something. She's ready to host it, right?

I think you are ready to host it. I think you're ready to host because that's what I've been saying to anybody who will listen is, you know, I wish somebody would do something about that day. Who is somebody? It can be just a normal person from O'Clair, Wisconsin. It could be anybody who wants to employ their passion in an area of need and make miracles happen. I really, really love the name of your podcast, and I think it's one of the reasons why I was, like, I'm like, I think. You caught a 5 a.m. flight this morning?

Why I can be on this podcast is because I am just a normal person. It's like if you've said it over, I'm a mom. from Wisconsin. I'm a kid who grew up in the, you know, in the rural farmland and wanted to grow up and, you know, get married and have kids. Like, this was not, I'm not, it frustrates me to no end when people say, oh, you're so, you're so amazing. I'm like, no, I'm not. I, what, what God has done in my life is truly amazing, but it's not because I'm amazing. I'm simply following one step at a time. 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.

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. 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 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 Cultura. As the longest running Latino news and culture show in the United States, 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 Imidavidez, the trans community is going to push back on that. Colorism, all of these things like 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 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 about vaping.org.

Brought to you by the American Lung Association and the Ad Council. One thing, Bill, to your question about why I care about Africa, you know, sometimes you'll go on the riff about, even if you don't care about the morality of it, how about the practical basis? And I think what you guys did with Ebola is a great example of that. And people now appreciate, especially from COVID, that the world really is interconnected. So, like, we don't deal with these problems. It's going to get here, too. If you want to talk about what you guys do with that.

Yeah, I mean, what I said. say oftentimes if you don't care from it from a social and spiritual standpoint, there's a pragmatic view to the type of work that you guys do. One of them I use all the time is for like our city. If you don't care about our schools failing kids from a social point of view, well, I think you're a jerk, but okay, but you should care about it pragmatically if you give a crap about your property values and about your tax base, it all can, So tell us about what Alex is talking about.

Yeah. In 2014, there was an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and most people in the United States knew absolutely nothing about it until the first American contracted Ebola. And then suddenly it was a national emergency. But it was a big deal for us at the time because we, shortly after the breakout, we lost two of our foster moms. And they're... To Ebola. Yeah. Two of our foster mom and their whole families.

their entire two of our kids. My understanding is Ebola is a terrible death too. It is, at the time of the outbreak, it was about 90% fatal. The chances of surviving were almost impossible. We had two nurses who also passed away from Ebola. So in trying to help other people survive. So it was an incredibly scary time. And so we, you know, I'm in communication with Peter almost every day.

I was like every day he would call me and tell me and let me know if everyone was okay. And so the biggest thing that we could do to help was the hand washing buckets, just to make sure that everybody washed their hands constantly. And basically- But how do you do that if you don't even have clean water? Exactly. Well, so- That's why you need wells.

Right. But we, so we bought hundreds, if not thousands of buckets with faucets and bleach and soap. And we gave those out to all of our families, to everybody we could find. And after they got those buckets, we didn't. lose another kid to Ebola. Simple as that. But the point is, why do we care? Because the world is connected now.

And it may, COVID may have broken out on bats in a cave or in a lab in Wuhan or wherever. We know the answer to that. Who? Listen, I said it may. I don't know anybody will ever pinpoint for sure. They pretty much said it's the lab now. What's that? They pretty much said it's the lab.

Okay. Well, fine. It's lab. The point is it happened literally halfway around the world from us, and it killed all of the people that killed. Ebola killed people here and scared the hell out of people in the United States. So why should we care? Because basic health, basic safety, basic education makes the world a better place for all of us. From a pragmatic standpoint.

It was, the, the U.S. stepped up and helped Liberia at that, at that time. It was one of the most proud moments for me as an American was that most of, most Americans have no idea the United States tie to Liberia. But at that moment, when Liberia needed somebody to step up and help them, the United States sent support there. And Sierra Leone was founded by, was part of England. so the UK sent resources to Sierra Leone and the French sent support to Cote d'A. No, Guinea was the third country that had it. And so it was actually a good moment for me to see these nations actually doing something to help these countries who desperately needed it at the time.

You know, the sad part of it is that they did it because they didn't want Ebola to come to their countries. I was about to say, was it because of their abject generosity because they didn't want to bowels to spread with them? At least they were, at least they were there. Like, you know, they need, they apps. I mean, like, Liberia could not have ended Ebola without world help. So what does it cost to sponsor one of these kids? $25 a month. $25 a month.

We'll get a kid educated. Yeah. That's it. That's it. And not only that, that, so the base of what the, our sponsorship kits get is tuition. They get backpacks. They get school shoes. then we have some kids who are in even deeper poverty.

And so we have several families that also get rice support every month. How can I as a donor be assured that that money gets to that kid? How does that work? Okay. So all of the money for Starfish Kids goes into the fund. And then every year, like, so I'm getting ready to go to Liberia in September. I'm going to be bringing all the tuition money with me to Liberia. And so I'm there when all the kids.

kids register for school. So, and then I get all the receipts. So you literally take care of. Yeah. When we register the kids, I'm there and I get the receipts for the school. So we go and right now, my staff in Liberia are doing home visits for each one of our kids. They're going to their houses. They're saying where they sleep, who they live with. We get their contact information. We find out what their health concerns are. And then we get new pictures of the kids every year. And then we register them for school. So we have learned the hard way not to give cash to people so we we always get receipts for everything that we do so that i can so that i can know moved by you that want to support you can rest assured yeah these kids are

getting this money they are yeah even the kids on the rice support i get their picture with the bag of rice every month so when the kids go to the doctor i get a picture of the receipt from the from the clinic that they went to i didn't grow up with a whole lot and sometimes being a spoiled impetual American kid like all of my own children and pretty much everybody else to see, listen, I wouldn't always finish what was on my plate. And my mom would say, my mom would say, you know, you should eat that and quit being such a selfish little turd because they're, their kids starving in Africa. I used to say, and my joke was, and I know their names. Right. That's why I set it up for you. When I read you said that, I died.

laughing because you could say they're a kid starving to Africa and I know who they are eat your food you little spoiled brat oh when Peter had the chance to come to the United States a couple times and one time you know making dinner whatever and I'm calling the kids to come and eat and he comes to the kitchen he goes you have to call the children to come in and eat like our kids are waiting at the door that's funny but sad yeah and I think it's beautiful that you're making all of this effort to make it better for these children and starting at the ground up and cleaning water and everything else. How do people find out more about teamwork Africa?

We have a website, teamworkafrica.org. We're very active on Facebook. So you can find teamwork Africa on Facebook. And we have a media person in so she does the Instagram and all that kind of stuff too. What if somebody wants to get in touch with you? Yeah. You can email me for sure at Peggy at Teamworkafrica.org. Alex, anything else from you over there?

Yeah. One of the things, it's like the Mountain Villager story. That's not quite the name of it. The guy talking about the fencing. Oh! And then also to the story of the girl where people thought, you know, maybe she was promiscuous, but you knew something else. Yeah.

Yeah. So we wanted to learn how to teach self-sustainability. And we wanted to point out why giving handouts didn't solve any problems. And so we started a hound out, but a handout, the old proverbial setting. And if you look at our logo, we have, you know, the little people trying to, you know, help the other person up. So one of the stories that we used in our training for self-sustainability was about a community who lived up on a mountain. And there was a really rugged trail. And people kept sliding down off the trail and getting hurt or dying.

And so one, you know, kind-hearted group came in and they said, well, what you guys need is a clinic at the bottom of of this mountain so when people get hurt, they can take them to the clinic and get treatment. So they went back to wherever they were from and raised money and built the clinic and funded it and staffed it. But over time, that got really burdensome and they couldn't keep raising money to pay the salaries and get all the medicine and stuff. And eventually the clinic closed and people kept falling off the mountain, getting hurt and dying.

So another group from a really big city came and said, no, what you need is an ambulance. So if you have an ambulance at the bottom of the hill, then when someone gets hurt, you can get in the ambulance and then drive to the hospital in the city. So, but, you know, the ambulance needs to do tires all the time and it kept breaking down and then eventually they just got tired of paying for that ambulance. And so there the ambulance sits. So the community is sitting there going, well, what are we going to do about this problem? And this old man said, well, I didn't want to say anything when the outsiders were here. But I was thinking we could build a fence along the path so that people would stop falling off the side of the mountain.

Crazy thought. We could chop down some of our trees and we could build our own railing to keep people from falling off and we could maintain it on our own without any help from anybody else. Old saying is you can keep pulling drowning kids out of the river, which is a beautiful thing to do, but eventually you need to wonder why they're falling in in the first place. Exactly.

Yeah. So we started. How much money was wasted on a clinic and an ambulance because we went in to tell them what they needed when all we had to do was ask, hey, how can we help you with this mountain thing? What do you all think? Right. The importance of bottom up solution is the people closest to the problem. Bottom up solution. People close to problems always know the answer.

Get my hand up, not a handout and things change and they have ownership on it because it's their idea and they know what it is. It's a beautiful story. 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. 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 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

Put it through. No, can you translate it? 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 loved 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 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 this narrative that immigrants are 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 Imita Perez, the trans community is going to push back on that. Colorism, all of these things like 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 Podcast, or wherever you 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. We talked early about very sad truth of assault. You have a story about a girl.

I'll just let you tell it that some thought might be promiscuous, but it turned out something completely different. I met Lomeney in one of my very first trips to Liberia. She was four or five years old, and she had a growth on her eye. And when I went back ahead, got noticeably bigger. And so we were able to take Lomene and get her treatment. Unfortunately, we weren't able to save her eye, but we were able to remove the tumor. And so from that time on, she lived at our campus in Monrovia to go to school.

And she was a super sweet, very shy little girl. So she lived there for several years. And then in 2019, when Peter died, just chaos. just erupted. And nobody knew what was going to happen. You know, Peter held the whole thing together. And she ended up going, she ended up leaving. I didn't know where she went. And so I was in the community where I knew that she was from, where I had first met her and asking the principal of the school there. I'm like, do you know Lomene? Do you know, have you seen her? Do you know where she went? And after I left, he contacted me. He said, yeah, I found Lomene. And so I sent our staff from

Monrovia to go see if we could take her back to town so she could keep going to school. And when they got there, they said, Lomeney's just given birth to a baby. And so my country director was like, oh, she has a boyfriend now. She's, you know, off doing her old thing. And I'm like, Frances, you don't know Lomene. I do. And that's not the kind of girl that she is. Go find out what happened to her.

So we sent the staff back to the village to talk to find out what happened. and the they said Lomene was a vulnerable girl A what? Vulnerable Just meant that there was no She had no protector

She didn't have a father An uncle, a brother Nobody to defend her So she was an easy target And Lomeney gave birth to a baby girl Three weeks after she turned 14 So

I was undone Another moment where I was just like You know So mad and so sad and just um we talked to her her mother was still there and we asked her if we could take lomeney and the baby back to town and um we had a have a wonderful woman who was one of my best friends rosalind who um kind of raised lomeney when she was in town so lomeney went to go live with with rosalind and then when you got to town they had me on video call and i knew i knew they were

going to ask me to give the baby a name. And I was like, all these feelings are just so huge. And so I'm talking to Rosalind and, and she's showing me this beautiful baby girl. And she said, says, Peggy, what are we going to name her? And I just blurted out, mercy. We'll name her mercy. And from Mercy and Lomene's story, we have a dream of building a mercy house, which will be housing for at-risk girls. so that those girls who are vulnerable will be in a safe place and also for girls who have already been assaulted and we didn't get there in time,

that they can also have a safe place to recover and have a second chance at life. We have girls right now. We don't have the Mercy House built, but I have two girls right now who are in really bad spots and we need to find housing for them now, a safe place for them to be. One of our girls was living with her neighbor, and her neighbor kicked her out, said she wasn't

bringing anything to the family. So she went to go live with a boy who had his own demands on her, and she's pregnant now. And where is she going to go? Who's, you know, at another girl who got pregnant and ran away because she was sure her mom was going to kick her out because she was pregnant. So we have an incredible social worker in Liberia. Her name is Angeline. And we have a trauma counseling group. She meets with the girls twice a month and is trying to help them work through both the trauma of assault and also helping to teach these girls

that their body belongs to them and that nobody else has the right to touch it. And they can say no. And they can tell somebody when they're being harassed. And there are literally signs on schools in Liberia that say no, no sex for grades, no grades for sex. With all that you've done, there's so much more to do. The thing that ties it all together for me is that my entire life,

what I've wanted more than anything in the whole world is to be a mom. And I have been blessed with five kids that I had the opportunity to raise. but there are so many kids in Liberia where I'm the only mom they've got and they message me every day I was like, I'm going to see if I can remember the names of all of the kids that call me, call me mom and there's a good start on some of those kids

that, and some days, you know, like Sarah, she just needs me to say, I love you, Sarah, or it was Alicia's birth the other day and I'm like, happy birthday, dear. Like everybody needs to know they matter to someone and for some of these kids it's me way over here where they can they just need to know that somebody cares somebody sees them how many names are on there um 14 15 16 i was still going 25 bucks a month yeah teamwork africa y'all um and army of normal folks is about normal folks

doing extraordinary things when they match their passion with an opportunity. And Peggy is a, I mean, tip-top five-star example of that. And I don't know how you can hear the story and hear her voice and hear her passion and understand the volume of need available and understand something as simple as $25 could literally help change not only an individual's life, but join the ranks of the people that Peggy is trying to put together to change the culture of an entire country, one heart at a time. Thanks for joining me. Thanks for telling your story.

You are an inspiration, Peggy. It's pretty phenomenal, as well as Mark and your children, candidly, your entire family, the work that they've all committed, all because you want to adopt a kid. Tells you, we're on our way to somewhere else. What's Michael doing now? He is actually in the National Guard. he's in the United States National Guard he's trying he had some trouble with the entrance stuff so he had to get some tutoring and stuff but he's he's trying that out holy smokes is

that aren't you proud yeah that's phenomenal that's phenomenal thank you hopperson everybody co-founder and u.s. director of teamwork africa from o'clair wisconsin and liberia and points of between doing God's work, changing lives one at a time. Peggy, thank you. Thank you so much for having with you. And thank you for joining us this week. If Peggy Halverson has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action by adopting a child, easily sponsoring the education of their Liberian students for only 25 bucks a month or something else entirely, please let me know. I really want to hear about it.

You can write me anytime at Bill at normalfolks. And I'm telling you, ask anybody who's ever email me. I will respond. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with friends, share it on social, subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it. Please join the army at normalfolks. Any and all of these things that will help us grow. An Army of Normal Folks. I'm Bill Courtney.

Until next time, do what you can. Hello, I'm John Lithgow. 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. Heart 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 cherry? Were JFK and Maryland 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.

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-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.

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