Welcome to Liberia

We arrived in Monrovia Thursday afternoon, and were warmly welcomed on the dock by our Advance Team, singers, dancers, and some Liberian dignitaries including the Vice President. It already feels worlds away from Ghana - I wasn't prepared for the desolation of the city, and I haven't even been very far beyond the dock yet. The port in Tema (Ghana) was frightening in its activity: crawling with heavy machinery, hundreds of ships coming in and out every day, a high-walled city of shipping containers. The Monrovia harbor is empty, with just two or three other ship - and it is the only commercial port in the country. There are sunken ships visible in the water, marooned ships on the beach, and even a massive barge that was tipped over in 2001 from improper loading - still resting on its side, half in the water. Something like 40 people have drowned trying to steal goods from its underwater containers.

On the bright side, the air is much cleaner, the view from my porthole has water and sky instead of containers, the sunset view is gorgeous, and we have a good stretch of dock all to ourselves. Because the entrance to the port is guarded by the United Nations it also feels much safer, though once we leave the dock it's far more dangerous than Ghana was, and we certainly won't be taking any 5-day excursions to little surfer villages.

We've spent the first few days here learning about the history and status of Liberia through speakers and films in order to better understand the people that we'll be serving - and it's been heartbreaking. Conceived in America and established by liberated slaves in 1847, Liberia was once a posterchild for independent Africa. It was peacefully democratic from its inception until a 1980 coup ignited 23 years of civil unrest, with a bloody civil war lasting from 1989 through 2003. The final standoff between the Liberian Government, headed by Charles Taylor, and the rebel army, called LURD, occurred in Monrovia and is documented in the film 'Liberia: An Uncivil War.' We watched the film last night, and it was a bit unsettling to see images of such recent fighting right outside the gates of our port. Charles Taylor ended up stepping down and fleeing the country after Nigerian peacekeeping forces arrived, but not without first bankrupting his country, leaving it the poorest country in the world at the time according to some estimates.

Successful elections were held in 2005, and massive improvements have been made under President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-trained economist and the first female president in Africa. But the situation is still dire: 14 years of civil war produced a generation of uneducated and unemployed ex-child soldiers. Unemployment is around 85%, leading to problems with rampant theft, prostitution, teen pregnancy, and civil unrest. More than 1/3 of the population lives on less than $1 per day, and access to basic healthcare is rare. The lack of infrastructure, including electricity and water, continues to discourage foreign investment. If you're interested in reading more, it's definitely worth some time on Google, and here is a link to a good blog that I've been following (thanks Michael).

Needless to say, this is the closest I've ever been in time and space to such violence and destitution. I'm apprehensive to leave the safety of the port, and I've managed to make excuses to stay mostly on the ship so far - a vestige of my experience in Ghana, I think (or maybe I'm just a wuss, I'm ok with that). However, I can't think of another place where the services of Mercy Ships are more needed, and though it's overwhelming to think how our minor contributions are dwarfed by the desperate needs of this broken country, I'm thrilled to finally be here and anxious to get to work!