a different Liberia

It's Friday, and I'm settling into a different part of Liberia. Time to pull out your map of Liberia!

Yesterday, I took a marathon road trip from the city of Bopolu (in the northeast) down to Monrovia, and then I caught a vehicle to Ganta (in the far northeast near Guinea and Ivory Coast). I had been in Bopolu working on a story about elderly and marginalized Liberian women who are learning to read for the first time. I am looking forward to sharing their stories with you once they are published.

It took about 10 hours total. Whew! But I passed the time with good people (six Liberian friends in a truck with me on the leg from Bopolu and two Liberian friends and my American friend Sarah on the Monrovia to Ganta leg). Both trips we were packed in those cars, but we managed and it turned out “alright,” as they say here.

I will be up north for a few weeks writing some stories about the conditions (I have two on my list already.)

Out of all the cities and towns and villages I've visited in Liberia, my favorite is Ganta. It is beautiful, surrounded by towering palms and green mountains. It is cool here in the mornings, which such a nice change from hot, hot Monrovia. It is peaceful here, and refreshing and that also is so different from the clogged capital city.

So many people have told me that “Monrovia isn't Liberia.” They are right. Because of the war, about a third of Liberia's 3.2 million people settled in the capital — where you can find a few electricity poles, some running water and plenty of taxis ... but the quality of life there is poor. The city is terrorized by armed robbers and filled with trash.

Anyway, it's just refreshing to get out of Monrovia and see what most of Liberia looks like. It is verdant and curves and drops along bumpy red dirt roads and through small villages filled with mud huts. And yes, life here still is awfully hard ... and I struggle to understand that just about every day I'm here.

I see the wide, green forests, and I think about how this is where people fled from drugged fighters who had marched for hours to pillage and to burn their villages. I think about how fighters trekked into the forest and pulled people out and forced them to do unthinkable acts. One of my friends told me yesterday as we barreled down the bumpy road from Bopolu, that a fighter once made him carry a load of ammunition from his village to the next one. If you couldn't carry it, if you got tired, your life was over. You would be shot dead.

There is so much pain that comes from these beautiful forests. And that is what I will continue to remember as I take in beautiful, peaceful Ganta. I will see the beauty. I will remember that so many Liberians still are hurting. I will pray for them, every single one of these beautiful people whose lives have been torn apart by war.

I will pray that one day, they will be healed.

Well, thankful to be here for a bit. Will keep you posted as I write along!

Comments

[roseline p. gray]

thanks for been in liberia,may god blessed you, and keep you workinn for liberian. if god brings you to it,he will bring you through it.trust god]