I have left Liberia and am on my way to spend a few days with relatives in England. The last few days, I spent time meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends I had met earlier in Monrovia. Most of the people I have met have been warm, welcoming and willing to share their experiences, and that is true of both expats and Liberians. In addition to learning so much by listening to them, I also made some friends.
Bonnie
In Ganta, I met Bonnie Hunt, who works for Journalists for Human Rights and Liberia Media Center. She invited me to her home for a Christmas Party she was having for her staff. We talked before the festivities began. Bonnie trains local journalists on how to report effectively on human rights issues. She is also a freelance journalist, and has some wonderful pieces on her blog.
I spent only 4 weeks in Liberia and only have a very small glimpse of international development and specifically the challenges of post-conflict development. In this short time through it is clear how crucial it is to create sustainability in the local communities. Journalists for Human Rights is empowering the local communities by helping to develop media that can create and inspire change and by training local journalists to produce content (instead of bringing people from abroad to be journalists).
The Christmas Party was fun – In Ganta I had a hard time remembering Christmas was near. In the US, Christmas lights and decorations go up in the malls at Thanksgiving and there are constant reminders everywhere. In most of Liberia electricity is rare and 24 hour access to it even more so. I also had not heard any Christmas car carols on the radio. The first sign of Christmas besides at Bonnie’s place was the marketplace, which was packed with people buying last-minute Christmas gifts.
Monrovia was different – there were lights up on the bridges, and decorations up at some restaurants. And the marketplaces were even crazier. In Monrovia, I was able to reconnect with both Sidi and Rosie. Sidi invited me to join his family at a friend’s house, where they were having a get together for a friend Amadou, who was leaving for Washington DC. Amadou worked at CHF International specifically at Liberian Enterprise Development Finance Company which offers technical assistance and loans to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Entrepreneurship will vitalize the economy here and I hope programs like this encourage more Liberians to start their own businesses.
I met Rosie for lunch one day and it was great to see her again and catch up. By this meeting, I had heard quite a few horrific stories of gender based violence and the atrocities against children. I spoke to Rosie about my experiences and the stories I had heard and we continued the discussion on violence against women and children. There was a girl at THINK who had lots of marks on her back (I thought she had been whipped). Rosie told me about the traditions in the “bush” which are areas outside of villages where many tribes live. She said that they usually mark childrens’ backs with a knife. In the bush the children do not receive an education and their marriages are arranged early. They also do not have access to or they don’t seek medical attention and many get infected and die.
Rosie told me abortions are still illegal except when a woman’s life is at stake. Recently, they were able to fight for an exception that abortion is legal when a pregnancy has resulted from a rape (with parent guardian approval). I told her about my discussions with the students at school and how they mentioned they do not receive sex education. She said that they have been working with the government to include it in next year’s curriculum (starting September). Of course the hope is that the government not only updates but also distributes the curriculum to the schools. I am amazed by Rosie and feel privileged that I met her.
Jennah
Jennah Scott was born in Liberia but grew up in Atlanta. She spent a few months in Liberia in 2007 and is now working in Monrovia for the Philanthropy Secretariat Office of the President. The Secretariat works with philanthropic organizations in Liberia to identify the best places for support and to facilitate partnerships between the government and philanthropists. Jennah was the only “repat” I met in Liberia and it was great to hear about her life in the states as a Liberian and her opinion of Liberia so far. We discussed the difficulties of working in a community and country that is so used to receiving aid from NGOs and also from families that have left Liberia. Is there a sense of entitlement, and a perception that there is no need to work because the aid will always be there? And it is more complicated than that- many of the young adults (20-30 year olds) spent a majority of their childhood and teenage years in war, many victims of war- both as combatants and victims. As NGO’s start to pull out or decrease their aid that is when we will see how sustainable the help has been. I think Jennah and I both left the conversation with a sense of uncertainty mixed with hope.
And finally, on Monday I met another inspiring woman, Farzana Rasheed, who runs an IT company in Monrovia, New Liberia Technology (http://newlibtech.com/newlibtech/) and I thought it would be interesting to visit an IT consulting company in Liberia. Little did I know that we would end up spending 3 hours talking. Farzana is Pakistani but her father was in the Foreign Service so she grew up in many countries.. Senegal, turkey, Romania.. She also worked in development for the UN in several countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and then Liberia. In contrast, I have lived most of my life in California and besides this recent trip to Africa, have not traveled internationally outside of India (and England and Canada –if you can count that).
Farzana with her IT team
I ended up spending dinner with her and met two of her friends, Rebecca and Haresh. Farzana took me for a walk around downtown Monrovia the next day and I had dinner with Haresh and her that evening and also met with the two of them the next day as well before I left for the airport. Like several others I met in Liberia, the 3 of them made me feel so welcome. I didn’t get a chance to see Rebecca again unfortunately, but both Farzana and Haresh treated me like one of the family since the day I met them.
