Liberia... Where to start?....
Last Thursday sailed into Liberia's capital, Monrovia.. to be greeted by over a hundred Liberians singing, drumming and dancing, as we docked our ship into their port! The Vice President of Liberia and Minister of Health gave an opening speech as we listened from the lower deck. The NEXT evening we got to step off the ship as our passports were finally validated.
Last Thursday sailed into Liberia's capital, Monrovia.. to be greeted by over a hundred Liberians singing, drumming and dancing, as we docked our ship into their port! The Vice President of Liberia and Minister of Health gave an opening speech as we listened from the lower deck. The NEXT evening we got to step off the ship as our passports were finally validated.
This port is BEAUTIFUL. Much more so than in Ghana, we have a long, quiet dock just to ourselves and for that we are all very thankful. We have been enjoying it every evening. In the distance from the port we have a panaoramic view of the city climbing up onto one big hill. If you look closer with binoculars from the ship, you will see that our view of the sea and the city suddenly reveals a different disturbing story..as you focus in... you start to notice that those big government buildings have huge holes in them, houses turned into ashes..as you walk through the roads you see a shutdown bombed out hospital on your right..and a brandnew shiny car dealership on your left...you will pass over a bridge where some of the heaviest fighting occured, bullet holes going through the lamp posts and storefronts...and among the rusty, yellow taxis you will wind around big militarty trucks with 'UN" in big black letter on the side making their presence among the people.
Brief history lesson: Liberia was created by 12 freed slaves from America, I believe the only African country that has never been colonized. The capital originally named Christopolis meaning "city of Christ", was changed to Monrovia after President Monroe released the country from some hefty debts. After a much too complicated history to go into of rule between the founders & the indigineous people, civil unrest began... Liberia is just getting over 14 years of Civil War, ending in 2003! All those years of fighting between the rebels & the government left what was once one of the most economicly sound countries in AFRICA..into one of the poorest countries in the WORLD. In the rebels attempt to overthrow the government, they bombed their factories used for export, destroyed sources for electricity & running water, and lost human dignity in the way they treated the civilians; losing over 250,000 lives, destroying many more:
* 80% unemployed & making less than $1 per day
* 52% living in extreme poverty
* 1 out of 6 people dependent on international food aid
* 10% have access to healthcare
* 25% have access to safe drinking water
* 50% of children get Malaria during the wet season
* 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) ~ countless becoming orphans b/c parents murdered or placed in orphanges until parents can be found
* During the 14 years of the civil war, there was NO EDUCATION...schools completely shutdown..making a literacy rate of 20% as of 2003. Told we will see 20 & 30 year olds going to elementary, middle, and high school in the mornings!
* Years of CORRUPT government leaves the UN to find trustworthy civilians to rebuild a competent police force before pulling out.
* 80% unemployed & making less than $1 per day
* 52% living in extreme poverty
* 1 out of 6 people dependent on international food aid
* 10% have access to healthcare
* 25% have access to safe drinking water
* 50% of children get Malaria during the wet season
* 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) ~ countless becoming orphans b/c parents murdered or placed in orphanges until parents can be found
* During the 14 years of the civil war, there was NO EDUCATION...schools completely shutdown..making a literacy rate of 20% as of 2003. Told we will see 20 & 30 year olds going to elementary, middle, and high school in the mornings!
* Years of CORRUPT government leaves the UN to find trustworthy civilians to rebuild a competent police force before pulling out.
* Countless children ex-rebels, agreeing in order survive, dealing with having murdered their elders.
There is a weird sense of justice here: Many put in prison without proof of crimes, left in starving, dirty jail conditions with loved ones not knowing where they are for YEARS until the new government can rebuild and give them all a fair trial. If someone is caught stealing in the markets, they will be chased down and beaten, perhaps even to death, as was witnessed by some crew members last year. (As an organization, we are trying to be very careful and not flaunt cameras around, or other material possessions so that we might not tempt a desperate Liberian, thus possible causing him great injury)
At the top of the city's hill you will find what once was one of the most ritziest hotels (Dakur?) on the African West Coast ...today it is in shambles. Walking around the premise was extremely eerie; the bombed out, burnt, & ravaged hotel is now used as a refugee camp for thousands. Past the large marble entrance where President Monroe used to pass, rements of what it once was, you will find woman siiting outside the hallways cooking in their metal pots, babies lying on FILTHY mattresses outside by an drained pool, and children playing around piles and piles of garbage..one of my friends even found a child with a handgun coming out of one of the rooms, his father had to tell him to quickly put it away when they saw them...! At the top of this hotel is an incredible view of the whole city and our crisp, white ship in the distance. The city tells two stories everywhere you go.
In 2005, the first woman president of Africa took office in Liberia..Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She is winning the respect of her whole country and world as she slowly is making order out of mass chaos. Mercy Shippers who were here just 10 months ago already see good progress...nicely paved roads, more buisness's reopening, 2 trafficlights functioning, and just yesterday noticed the start of rewiring the major city lights to function on generators. Although there are many blank, eerie stares on the faces of the people, there are many more who offer comforting smiles and help to the lost looking Americans. There is a small sense of hope in the air as progress in now becoming more tangible. With the peace agreement in 2003, 15,000 UN soldiers live in bases around the city. It is the second largest peacekeeping troop in the world, the first residing in the Republic of Congo.
One of the UN bases is just outside our gates. We have already established a little, friendly competition and in the evenings we stroll on over there to play volleyball with the Bangladesh UN, and soccer with the Nepalese UN soldiers. At the end of the soccer games they do a little march thing for us in their green & blue uniforms.. while we just stand there all muddy and in our smelly clothes. Kinda humourous ;)
Being here seems a bit overwhelming and more scary to me, but overall EXCITING that it seems we can really give some tangilbe hope to them by offering our services and being a extremely small part of their countries rebuilding. I am anxious to get started. Surgery starts again on March 19th!
