Kevin in Liberia

Addressing the Poverty Trap - Imposing Outside Structures

2007-09-19T21:12:00.000+00:00

Why is it that African countries such as Liberia struggle to re-build themselves? I believe a part of this can be explained away by the imposing of outside structres such as geopolitical boundaries created by colonialist powers - whether it be the French, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English and the like. Africa is comprised of hundreds of tribal groups (approximately 28 here in Liberia alone) and it was only after the colonization of what we now know as African countries that these political boundaries came into being; regardless if they are now ‘independent’ African countries or not. With the amount of dependency on the continent of Africa the term ‘independent Africa nation’ seems a near oxymoron. Presently you’ll find numerous examples of areas of African land that has been carved into pieces by colonialist governments without much, if any, regard for tribal idiosyncrasies, feelings of community, or senses of belongingness.

So what does this have to do with why a country might struggles to rebuild itself? I believe that with the creation of this political divide has come a social divide as well. Similar to this would be the institution or imposition of a Western rule of law onto indigenous or tribal rules of law. In Liberia, the current judicial system has essentially taken power out of the hands of the Town Chief and into the hands of a national judicial system whose basis for justice is more based around what we may know as the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights than anything known to be tribal (whether or not I agree with either the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights or tribal styles of instituting justice is another issue).

Any time you impose something against someone's will, such as the colonialist powers have done with political boundaries and Western rules of law in many parts or Africa it will not go without consequence. I believe political boundaries and a Western rule of law are two tools that have prevented and are preventing Africans from culturally exercising what they know in the process of rebuilding.

Finally, the term ‘rebuilding’ implies that a country such as Liberia was once ‘built’. I suppose the better question would be to ask yourself “What would a ‘built Liberia’ look like socially, economically, spiritually, etc?”

Addressing the Poverty Trap - Seemingly Ceaseless War and Civil Strive

2007-09-06T20:23:00.000+00:00

Recently, one of my readers posed the following question. In the next series I want to title "Addressing the Poverty Trap" I hope to address and share my opinions in an attempt to educate and create discussion on the idea of 'poverty' as we currently know.

Why is it that African countries such as Liberia struggle to re-build themselves? I could probably make educated assumptions, but from your perspective as having worked there, what do you think and what are the reasons as to why, despite Western aid, there appears to be little or no progress or improvement on the poverty. Can countries like Liberia ever realistically rise out of the poverty trap and its associated difficulties and if so how can such prosperity and advancement be properly achieved?

My Response:

Ok, I'm going to try and scratch the surface as to why I believe that African countries such as Liberia have a hard time rebuilding themselves after war or maybe a more general question as to why Africa in general has had a hard time 'developing' in general - and I use that word very gingerly. And before we get started I'll just offer a brief disclaimer that this is a question that the entire world needs to be faced with and I believe that nobody but God has the answer for. These are strictly my views on the situation and I challenge any readers to challenge me on my views or my hypotheses so long as the discussion moves us forward in our thinking on the causes for and reasons why, currently and in recent history, Africa is in the state that it is.

When faced with this question, and its one that I toy with quite often and one that is up for a lot of debate. There are a few ideas that initially come to mind and its those that I'll elaborate a little more of:

1. Seemingly Ceaseless War and Civil Strife (divisions between Opposing Tribal Groups and Clan)

2. Colonial Geopolitical boundaries

3. Widening Gap of Realities between Western Donors and Recipients of 'Aid'.

4. Corruption of Power-mongering African Governments

5. Increasing Dependence of Local Populations on Foreign Aid

6. Lack of a True Indicator of Well-Being (GDP does not account the for progress of social, religious, and community-centered goals - economic progress is only one aspect of an individual)

1. Conflict - Seemingly Ceaseless War and Civil Strife

If we're going to look purely at the economic development of a country and what falls under that umbrella (infrastructure and transportation networks, currency valuation, and attractiveness of the country to foreign investment, among others...) there is no wonder Africa is 'undeveloped' economically speaking just due to the frequency and duration of varying conflicts on the continent.

Taking Liberia as an example, we need to understand that the Liberian Civil War did not only affect Liberia and Liberia alone. The countries immediately surrounding Liberia were affected on a number of different levels. One of those was the fact that when war was present in Liberia a vast number of refugees migrated to areas of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, and Ghana and therefore causing shocks to the local economies of those countries. War affects not only the country in which it is taking place but those who have any immediate interest in the country as a whole.

A couple weeks back I was driving back to our office with our Chief of Security and I asked him how he saw the rebuilding effort coming along in the four years since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2003. I cannot quote him word for word but in essence this is what he said,

...In war, you can tear down and destroy in minutes what it can take years to build up...

If you reflect on the Liberian Civil War that lasted 14 long and destructive years, the nation's entire, and I emphasize ENTIRE, infrastructure was destroyed. Never in my life had I imagined the destructive power that war can have on the physical backbone of a country. Monrovia, until the last 12 months, was the only capital city in the world to hold the claim of not having running water or power to supply to its citizens. The Freeport of Monrovia is the grave for, and don't quote me on this, 17 shipwrecks in the area of possibly three square miles. Most visibly in the harbour is one ship actually on top of another ship, not to speak of the freighter that is completely flipped over Currently there are dirt roads in the bush, 10 hours from Monrovia that are in better condition than those in downtown Monrovia. If it has taken 14 years to destroy this country that has been called by locals 'The New York City of Africa' prior to the Civil War, how long do you figure it will take to rebuild the country to its prior state of existence, if that is even possible? This is just looking purely at the physical infrastructure of the country and not taking into account any social or moral damage done by the atrocities carried out throughout the war.

Diverging from the Liberia example for a minute, not because it isn't relevant or doesn't have tribal issues of its own, I want to bring attention to conflicts between tribal groups or between tribal groups and local governments. Rwanda is an excellent/terrible example of the irreversible damage that can be done through the clashing of tribal groups, especially when spurred on by provocative propaganda encouraging ethnic cleansing. If one looks at the potentially violent conflicts between nomadic tribes such as the Touregs and local governments trying to establish land reform in certain regions inhabited by the Toureg people it is no doubt that violence has and will continue to exist. Any time you impose a Western style of government upon people with a very different way of living, no matter how 'primitive' it may seem to Westerners, it will cause distaste and discomfort in the mouths of those it affects. This is and has been very prevalent in Liberia with the Americo-Liberians imposing a Western rule of law on a pre-Liberian society that was, and still is in some parts dominated by a tribal, chiefdom-based method of administering justice.

There are so many relevant examples of and causes of conflict within Africa but I think the main thing to understand is that conflict is definitely a major problem in Africa and something that plays a major role in keeping the continent from benefiting from the gifts that God has given them (ie. culture, natural resources, etc.)

In the next segment I'll attempt to shed some light on the effects of Colonial Geopolitical boundaries established in Africa and the role they might play in it all.

A Small Cockroach Problem at the SP Guesthouse

2007-08-20T21:03:00.000+00:00

Well, lately we've been facing a problem with cockroaches and ants in our kitchen. They tend to come out at night so if you're up late at night going for a drink of water in the kitchen you could spot what seemed like hundreds of ants and the odd cockroach scampering here and there. Well, we sprayed some magic 'SpryGone' spray and these pictures are the results we got. It seems like the spray worked. I seriously wanted to vomit as we cleaned this mess up. It was absolutely disgusting and wrong on so many levels!

The South African Concept of 'Ubuntu' - Present in Liberia

2007-08-06T20:44:00.000+00:00

While conversing with Thomas Moore, a recently laid off 71 yr old Liberian National Police Officer of 49 years, I was informally introduced to the African concept of Ubuntu on a very real level. As we talked about life in Liberia and the past glories of the picturesque rural fishing village of Robertsport, it was immediately very evident to me that this sound character carried higher morals and values than your average urbanite living in the capital city of Monrovia. When asked what he did with all his spare time he now had, he proceeded to tell me that he loved to fish – in a location where the Atlantic Ocean meets Lake Piso. Without any further probing he continued to explain that when he sold the fish to a fortunate customer, Liberian or foreigner, his aim was not to attain the highest possible retail value for his commodity but rather to sell it at such a price as to maximize the best interests of all parties of the transaction. “If I sell my fish at a higher price to a white man, I can feel bad inside,” he admitted. This was Ubuntu experienced in its riches form. Thomas Moore obtains self-satisfaction by maximizing the feelings of others - an amazing concept.

Surfing Robertsport, Liberia

2007-08-05T21:28:00.000+00:00

One of the few Liberian surfers scouting the rainy season waves at one of the beachbreaks at Robertsport

The UN - Uninvolved in Africa

2007-08-05T14:39:00.000+00:00

A friend of mine recently showed me this picture from the Februrary 2007 edition of Go Magazine. I found it quite thought provoking.

Smacked Upside the Head by a New Paradigm for Development

2007-08-03T17:47:00.000+00:00

This chunk of text is so relevant for each reader yet ashamedly embarrassing in the fact that I even have to put pen to paper if you will. Its purpose is to hopefully show an unadulterated attempt at presenting the modern world’s full-hearted, yet retardedly inefficient attempt at addressing the ‘poor’. The word ‘poor’ is put in parentheses because, in specific cases, adjectives in the modern English vernacular have evolved into forms that often put meanings to words that don’t adequately do justice or describe the common use of the word under scrutiny.

In the context that I currently find myself (a 26 year old male working in Liberia and studying an MA in International Development) there is an avid common vocabulary that I have come to learn has been either adulterated or in which the meaning isn’t fully, or arguably, even partially understood in their correct context: ‘development’, ‘developed’, ‘underdeveloped’, ‘poor’, ‘poverty’, ‘leadership’, as well as many others that I’m sure unknowingly exist. This vernacular is as much a lens, or way of viewing the current framework or paradigm of the ‘poor’, as ‘profit’ is a lens of viewing success in the highly competitive business world of the North. Ashamedly enough, what I have been recently convicted of (hold onto your seats folks) is that the way the entire world views the poor is, at the very core of its existence, dehumanizing, unquestionably not merited, and fundamentally wrong! To qualify the last statement I must say that the entire world (because of its power and influence) is a rudimentary yet appropriate generalization of the situation currently faced by those in the ‘developed’, ‘underdeveloped’, ‘undeveloped’ worlds, those holding power, struggling to gain power, and those without any misty vision of what the word power means (except in the context of it being exercised against them), those in the North, South, and somewhere in the middle, and those in other polarities not mentioned.

Spending an intense two and a half weeks at the residency portion of my Masters program has irreversibly opened my eyes in a way very much like that of a new believer in Christ. I have to attribute the new lens to the learning environment created and ideas disseminated by Professor Lindy Backues as well as the ideas presented in the highly revolutionary Daly and Cobb book For the Common Good. The fact that these ideas were disseminated in an Economic Development of Developing Countries course seems somewhat contradictory because, like many others, my initial instinct is to think of conventional economics as the maximization of short-term self interest and the allocation of scare resources. That in and of itself may indeed be correct because this newly enlightened paradigm is as conventional as it is currently implemented or understood by those in the ‘developed’, ‘underdeveloped’, and ‘undeveloped’ worlds, those holding power…you get the idea. This new paradigm transcends most modern, scientific thought, and will arguably receive increasing attention and critique as it gains much-needed notoriety and trust amongst common people as well as intellectuals.

So by now you’re most likely wondering what exactly this new paradigm entails and how something can be so revolutionary, life-changing, and thought provoking. In order to best understand the new paradigm and what changes it can potentially bring to the common understanding of the ‘poor’ it is, no doubt, necessary to understand just exactly what paradigmatical umbrella under which we are currently living, working, and breathing. Ultimately, this will enable us to see its fatal flaws and how we have come to our current state of approaching the ‘poor’ the way we do.

Currently, all humanity, not just those of us who find ourselves working and living in Africa, unknowingly finds itself operating in a very contradictory world. A Western world often commonly known for their social marketing strategies and corporate responsibility towards humanity is currently part of a paradigm that, to its core, is dehumanizing.

Following WWII, our post-war, neo-colonial world, has been defined by often confusing terms such as ‘development’, ‘developing’, and ‘developed’ – just to name a few. These are terms that are common to most lay people, not only people in an international context and although we might think we have an idea of what these words mean, we are probably kidding ourselves. What I have come to learn is that the current framework in which we live and operate is not nearly adequate or representative of the reality faced by its recipients or actors. Taking the word ‘developing’ for example, and all the others listed above could be analysed in a similar manner, let me present some hopefully though-provoking questions that will ultimately lead into how our current paradigm is fundamentally wrong.

What initially comes to your mind when you hear the world ‘developing’? Perhaps acquiring new technologies? Something related to eradicating economic poverty? My question would be “…developing towards what?” In order to be ‘developing’ there must be a goal in mind. The paradigm in which we currently find ourselves has defined our goal as economic maximization and the creation of ‘wealth’. If anyone questions this notion, one only needs to look at the use of indicators such as per capita GNP as monitoring tools or gauges of the ‘development’, or financial success, of a country. I would argue that there are more factors at play that ultimately determine the well-being of a country. On numerous occasions I find myself questioning our current paradigm when I see local Liberians, a lot of whom have recently lost family due to the fourteen year civil war, markedly happier than our brothers in the ‘developed’ world whose per capita GNP is arguably far higher. According to 2004 statistics, Liberia was tied for having the second lowest per capital GNP of any country in the world - $110 USD/capita (http://internationaltrade.suite101.com/article.cfm/world_s_poorest_countries). GNP lacks in the sense that it does not account for the social, physical, and spiritual well-being of a nation and therefore is not an adequate indictor of the true well-being of a nation.

Separating the world into the ‘developed’ (the North – Canada, the United States, Western Europe, and arguably parts of Asia) and the ‘undeveloped’ creates a reality in which the citizens of ‘undeveloped’ nations are placed on a lower pedestal and therefore looked upon as objects needing to be ‘developed’. Ashamedly enough, us as NGOs often carry the same mindset into projects that are implemented on the ground and at the community level. For many reasons, but I believe largely due in part to this current paradigm we find ourselves in as well as the fact that African culture is not a written culture and therefore we don’t know much about its history, we often approach communities with a God complex thinking that our projects have the solution to some or all of their problems they are facing.

A large reason why projects and programs are looked upon in this manner is that in many ways they are strategically driven by large multilateral organizations such as the United Nations. Their various development arms each carry burdensome development agendas of their own and ultimately misjudge the true problems faced by communities in the field. I have always been sceptical of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and these recent insights I have discovered have cemented my previous thoughts on the subject. I find in them a weakness in that they do not directly address the issues of social and spiritual well-being.

So if you are reading this and wondering to yourself, “…who is this guy and who does he think he is? If he is so critical of the current paradigm then let him suggests some changes.” Well, and hold onto your seats folks, I don’t have a magic wand and I’m not going to pull rabbits out of hats because I believe that if anyone in the world had the formula to ending global poverty they would have written a best-seller book about it by now. Up to now, what has been exercised in the past 50-60 years as far as ‘development’ in its known context has not worked!

Some discussion, please.

A Packed Fishing Boat - Robertsport, Liberia

2007-07-31T23:27:00.000+00:00

A Liberian fishing canoe waits packed and ready for its next outing to beat the breakers at Robertsport, Liberia. Prior to the civil war, Robertsport was a former tourist destination and busy fishing village located near the border of Sierra Leone.

Sliding Liberia Trailer

2007-07-11T18:16:00.000+00:00

Here is the trailer for the newly released Liberian surf film called Sliding Liberia organized by Britton Caillouette. They really hit it good when they were here!

LACES Football Program Update

2007-07-09T11:23:00.000+00:00

Please check out the LACES Football Program and the strides in making it a reality for the war-affected youth of Liberia.

Be an agent of change in the lives of Liberian youth. The development of Liberian youth starts from the grassroots level and this a great opportunity to get involved.

www.lacesport.org

Surfing Poopy Point, Monrovia

2007-06-11T20:37:00.000+00:00

The Poopy Point Break [aka Rocktown and the Mamba Point Break (even though its not actually Mamba Point] is arguably the best wave in the greater Monrovia area. In the rainy season this point break can produce some gnarley lefts that come with speed. When its big, the rips at this spot will force you to constantly paddle to stay in the same location, much less make any progress in getting to where you want to be to catch a wave. I would suggest hiring a 'ca-noo' to taxi you back and forth between rides.

Keith Chapman and his bodyboard are locked in on this one.

Community Reconciliation & the DDRR Process in Liberia

2007-06-04T16:28:00.000+00:00

The challenge of community and national reconciliation is one that the present government of the Republic of Liberia is currently facing and a process that has been directed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the DDRR (Demobilization, Disarmament, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration) process. As the DDRR process comes to a close in mid 2007 the long-term direction and benefits of the programme in the overall goal of the reconciliation of tens of thousands of Liberians, namely ex-combatants or child soldiers, to their families, communities, and the Liberian society as a whole is questioned. What follows is a brief reflection of the DDRR process in Liberia and how it fits into three distinct phases in the reconciliation process.

Reconciliation Process Stages & Significant Developments/DDRR Stages

Genesis Stage

Signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (August 2003):

- Government of Liberia (GOL)

- Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)

- Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL)

Transformation Stage

- Disarmament

- Demobilization

- Rule of Interim President Gyude Bryant

Readjustment Stage

- Rehabilitation

- Reintegration

- Rule of Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Within a country in which an entire generation of Liberians have been marginalized by the 14 year civil war the Readjustment Phase is proving difficult for President Sirleaf and as well as the international aid agencies and NGOs responsible for the implementation of this process. Commonly understood is the idea that in order for ex-combatants to be fully reconciled and integrated by into Liberian communities and society, they need to become fully productive citizens through education or gainful employment. The real question to be asked is how do we transform brainwashed human beings, trained as ruthless killing machines, into upright, moral, and spiritually productive individuals in society? Also, how do these ex-fighters begin to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and go forward, returning to their villages, often villages in which they carried out thoughtless murders?

I am currently involved in managing the finances for UNICEF-sponsored Skills Training programs; programs that teach skills such as Carpentry, Masonry, Auto Mechanics, Pastry, and Cosmetology. As part of the Rehabilitation and Reintegration phases of the DDRR process, Children Affected by the Fighting Factions (CAFF) are traced and encouraged to enter into either Skills Training programs, such as the ones that I financially manage, or reintegrated back into school free of charge. The problem with these programs, if it doesn’t lie in the methodologies that UNICEF uses to identify these children, lies in the inequality experienced by children who did not get involved with the fighting. They have essentially not been offered any assistance to the level that the ex-fighters have been. Cantonment sites in Tubmanburg, Buchanan, and Monrovia left ex-fighters in very underdeveloped urban settings which provided them with ample opportunities to squander their disarmament benefits which amounted to a mere few hundred US Dollars each. Many of the ex-fighters squandered their benefits leaving them with no financial means of transporting themselves back to their home villages in the surrounding countryside and forcing them into unskilled market jobs or begging in order to find their ‘daily bread’. Very little reconciliation is happening on the community level due to the number of ex-fighters, in a sense, ‘stuck’ in Monrovia.

As the goal of reconciliation and reintegration is pushed by the United Nations, through UNDP, a very important element is essentially missing in the secular development community’s perception of reconciliation in Liberia. This element is the role that the message of Christianity has to offer with regards to forgiveness. As with any free gift, it must be accepted. In the Liberian DDRR reconciliation process, the important question that needs to be asked is whether these ex-fighters are searching for genuine reconciliation (or if they even know what that means) in their own lives or is the war just over? There is a substantial difference between the two and in my experiences there are defined moments which point to the latter.

Entrance to Marshall Island

2007-05-27T22:28:00.000+00:00

Belleh Kalata - From the Outside Looking In

2007-05-14T22:36:00.000+00:00

A turtle in Belleh Kalata looks for his daily bread.

L.A.C.E.S. - A Soccer Program for Liberian Youth

2007-05-14T22:25:00.000+00:00

The following is a video shown at the L.A.C.E.S. benefit dinner in Chicago in April 2007 raising money to develop Liberian children through the use of sport.

For more information please go to the L.A.C.E.S. website by clicking here.

A Solitary Liberian Child

2007-04-17T20:37:00.000+00:00

This picture was taken in the village of Belleh Kalata. The forgotten Belleh people are only accessible by helicopter in the rainy season in

Liberia

and due to inaccessibility have been left out of much of the relief and development aid that has flowed into

Liberia

. Untouched by most outsiders, the Belleh people have learned to become extremely resourceful – a small child with what I like to call the ‘Bamboo Barbie’. I took this picture because I find beauty in simplicity and I believe this picture personifies simple beauty.

Rural Education in Liberia

2007-04-14T16:29:00.000+00:00

The Mississippi in Africa

Rural Liberian children in the Belleh District are still taught about the American heritage of their forefathers.

Mathematics: A Great Divide in Liberia

A young Liberian Belleh girl looks to the heavens as she tries to figure out why six won't go into twelve three times. Math is a very difficult subject for many Liberian children who have just begun to start down their educational path after Liberia's 14 years of intense civil conflict.

The Rights of a Child

An rural elementary school teacher in Belleh Balema teaches grade five students their rights as Liberian youth.

Rainfall in Monrovia, Liberia

2007-04-04T21:28:00.000+00:00

When it rains in Monrovia minature waterfalls can be seen all over the city and streets get deserted in a hurry.

Rainfall in Monrovia, Liberia

2007-04-04T20:44:00.000+00:00

In a Western setting a picture like this would be labelled as 'explicit', but not in Liberia. When it rains in Liberia it really rains. Monrovia has the highest annual rainfall of any city in the world - 200+ inches a year and rain is an excuse for young Liberian kids to rip their clothes off and play in the torrential flood of water.

LACES (Life and Change Experienced through Sport) – An Opportunity to Help and Support Liberians

2007-04-01T21:46:00.000+00:00

In my 3^rd year of a Business Degree at the University College of the Fraser Valley I took a Managerial Economics course that taught a variety of economic principles, one of which I will draw on today. The principle has to do with commitment and the setting of expectations. The context in that course was within the business world and how the idea of commitment sets expectations of your customers and competitors. Although the context in which I will discuss is very different, I believe that the principle still holds.

My girlfriend and Program Director, Seren Frost, has recently embarked on a courageous step of faith by creating a program designed to reach the war-affected children of Liberia. Through sport, and more specifically soccer, or ‘football’ as it is known outside of North America, ‘LACES’, Life and Change Experienced through Sport, has been designed to teach Liberian children discipline, respect, and teamwork as well as an opportunity to spread the saving power of Christ.

After returning home from a three-month stint in Liberia in 2006 in which she played professional soccer in the Liberian Football Association (LFA), Seren saw a need and the impact that soccer can have on the lives of everyday Liberians. After exploring options of working for various sports-related NGOs in Liberia she realized that none of them ran similar projects or shared similar visions. This provided her the opportunity and challenge to design a program that she feels called to run and believes will be effective. Through her time playing in the LFA she met a lot of valuable connections which will undoubtedly prove to be valuable in implementing this project.

So where is the commitment/expectations analogy going to come? In late February Seren officially quit her full-time job to completely dedicate her life to this project. The fundraising campaign has now begun. Her goal for the first year of this three-year program is to raise at least $60,000USD. The next three months will consist of meetings with a variety of interested individuals and organizations, fundraising events, securing of donated sports equipment, logistical support, and other necessary project planning. With all the committment she has put into this project I can only expect big things from this project.

How many of you would quit your only source of income to embark on a journey like this? Quite a few of my blog readers have asked me in the past how they can get involved and contribute to the work going on in Liberia. Well, here’s a very tangible opportunity for you to get involved in a very exciting endeavor. You can find out more about her project and donate online via Paypal through her website by clicking here.

The Paradox of Development Work – Is there Any ‘Relief’?

2007-03-29T22:41:00.000+00:00

I recently looked at the last time I devoted time to sit down and write a contribution to my blog and was almost appalled at what I saw - thirty five days and counting. That happened to be a few days ago so today it must be closer to forty now.

In the Bible, there is an un-refuted significance of 40 days because, after all, it was 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness and 40 rain-filled days and nights that Noah spent floating about on the ark. What is it about that 40-day time frame that offers such significance and potential relevance in our daily lives? My own 40-day hiatus from the blog-o-sphere has allowed me to ponder various thoughts to a level that I feel comfortable sharing with you all. A lot has happened in these past 40 days – major events that will inevitably change the course of my life.

In the beginning of March I was accepted into a Masters of Arts in International Development through Eastern University. The program is such that I will be able to study the paradoxical issues that I face on a daily basis. Every July I will be attending a 3-week residency at Stellenbosch University just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. If anybody ever thought that my love for international work was an infatuation, think again. On one hand, this is a program that will invariably open many doors with regards to the type of positions I will be able to secure. On the other hand, and I think more importantly, this program is going to assist me to better under stand the paradoxes that I face on a daily basis while in the field. Often, field work can be so strenuous and tiresome that if often doesn’t allow for time to sit, reflect, and ponder the significance, or lack thereof, of the work that you carry out. My last 40 days has given me the opportunity to formulate thought, but not necessarily come to a conclusion, around the idea of the goal of ‘development work’. The argument is as follows:

A very basic understanding of the problem is that there are tens of millions of people around the world in a situation which is being coined ‘extreme poverty’, or earning less than one USD/day – be it in part to corrupt government, lack of infrastructure or adequate social services, conflict, natural disaster, and the list could go on and on. A commonly understood rudimentary idea is that there are two types of assistance/aid that is given by various organizations, large and small alike: relief aid and development aid. One could argue until the cows came home about relief vs. development, and that is part of my discussion today, but before that happens, a brief description of how they differ I believe is necessary.

A ‘relief’ scenario would be typified by a disaster or conflict situation, post or present, where death is imminent or even at hand. These situations are usually characterized as chaotic and filled with very intense emotions due to the circumstances that most people find themselves in. There is a very fine line between the realization of life and the inevitable arrival of death. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, in his book The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, paints this portrait of ‘development’ as being a ladder with societies moving up the rungs of the ‘development ladder’. I’m proposing that if development is a ladder then people in a relief situation are at the bottom of their ride down the snake’s tail.

The term ‘development’ on the other hand can be characterized by a situation where a society is getting back to living a normal life, people are grabbing hold of the first economic rung, institutions are being put in place, and the idea of imminent death is being erased. There is a common understanding that the transition from ‘relief’ to ‘development’ is a very grey area and often misunderstood and misread by many professionals in this field of work. With the transition comes a transition of organizational strategies which are based on profoundly different needs of the population.

So how does this discussion lead us into the personally-experienced paradox between relief and development? Here’s the paradox in a nutshell, a rather large nutshell at that:

Relief and development work seems like a very ‘sexy’ job from the perspective of North Americans, or those of us in the Western world. You’re usually in an exotic location, the pay isn’t very good, but after all you are serving the poor and that is usually viewed upon as a ‘good’ thing to do – you’re bettering society and reaching out to a world in need. Some of us in the relief/development field doing this type of work find it reassuring that we can leave the materialistic Western world behind us and come serve a people who actually have genuine needs and less materialistic wants. Let me take this time to clarify something – wants still exist in Africa. Having said this, there is a profound difference between a suffering Africa population in a country such as Liberia and a very glamorous, relatively easy lifestyle that societies of the Western world life day-in day-out. I find Liberians generally happier and more content with the nothing (in material terms) that they have.

So the paradox begins. Where does the ‘development’ stop? From the urgent feeding, shelter, and healthcare programs characterized by a relief setting to the more, I feel, materialistic programs focused on economic growth and prosperity. I have a hard time reconciling the difference between ‘need’ and ‘greed’. I have heard numerous examples of this economic progression propagated by NGOs, my favourite being the economic progression of transportation for a common Liberian. It goes like this: First you walk, then you’re financially able to acquire a bike, then a ‘kpang-kpang’ (small scooter-like motorized bike), then a 100CC AG100 motorcycle, then at last an automobile. This is a very typical progression but I hope that isn’t what our work is coming down to. The very thing that drives a lot of us away from Western culture, the acquisition of goods (or the perception that this must happen in order for societal acceptability), is what we are teaching the poorest of the poor? What a shame it would be to be teaching such lies to a people who are so content with what they have – which is nothing. The notion that we are here to help the poor, if what we are promoting is this idea of the acquisition of goods, seems very contradictory to me at times. As I said earlier, there is a very fine line which divides the wants from the needs.

A true economist would say there are no needs, there are only preferences. (Ex. You don’t need oxygen to breathe, you would just prefer oxygen over no oxygen. In essence, people make choices). I find that claim very theoretical and difficult to fathom in the face of a broken humanity. What do humans honestly need? At what point does one stop needing and start desiring, or wanting things? And at what point does that start turning into greed and materialism? These are all questions that I definitely don’t have answers to at this moment and questions I constantly continue to ponder.

The more I ponder these questions, the more I am attracted to the relief side of relief and development work. For me, I can truly see the need that people have when a tsunami has only recently swept through a village, killing scores of civilians, their families scattered abroad, their belongings washed away, and hopes and dreams close behind. When the hunger strikes, disease sets in, and death toll begins to rise I can see an uncompromised, unadulterated need. I would like to believe that it is at this moment in people’s lives when true need is shown and human greed is put to the back burner.

Who draws the line between relief and development? More specifically, who draws the line between need and greed? It may possibly take another 40 days of silence and reflection to come to a better understanding of it all.

Even Wars Have Limits - Broad Street, Monrovia

2007-03-29T20:58:00.000+00:00

The Geneva Convention: August 12, 1949 - August 12, 1999

Liberian Civil War Cannibalism

2007-02-21T20:54:00.000+00:00

Rule of Law and the Liberian National Police

2007-02-17T18:12:00.000+00:00

In any country you live, work, or travel in there is always an element of adventure. Some countries you have to create adventure, where as others adventure is created for you. Take for example a 'simple' trip into downtown Monrovia, a trip that was supposed to be as simple as riding into town snapping a few pictures to share with you all.

What started out as 'simple' has left me pondering the simpleties of a developing nation and idiosyncrasies that hinder national and international respectability. Power is something that I view as necessary in society. Without the notion of power, anarchy is soon to rear its ugly head. With an abuse of power, the same is often the outcome.

Let me introduce to you the Liberian National Police, otherwise known as the LNP. This is a group of individuals just as desperate as the majority of Liberians, speaking of financial and social stability, and often taken advantage of by the ruling governments of the past. Presently, this problem has receded marginally. According to the Manager of Police Statistics, a member of the LNP himself, and a man I spoke to for twenty odd minutes in Robertsport over the New Years, Liberian National Police Officers earn $90USD/month legitimately. Those who chose to 'earn' extra income through using their position of power illegitimately, earn a fair bit more than that.

If you have lived or worked in Liberia, especially Monrovia, anytime in the last three years, for at least six months, chances are that you've encountered the LNP in some way, shape, or form. This post will outline my recent encounter with the LNP and how it has left me questioning the precedents that the LNP are setting by their actions.

It was a Saturday afternoon and I had just left the Liberian National Museum where I talked to the Curator about tours and various artefacts that the museum has to offer. I headed down Broad Street, leading out of the city, and it wasn't two blocks before I stopped at an intersection while I waited for the traffic police officer to wave me on. He took one look at me and walked towards me. "You na wearin' da helme'! Das a violation a da law."

I do realize that riding motorcycle in Monrovia is a dangerous thing there is no doubt about it. Riding without a helmet can be potentially fatal, just ask my friend Marcel. I decided to not wear a helmet that day due to the fact that I didn't want to deal with taking my lid off and on after shooting pictures. You be the judge how smart that was. I have no comment. I was not aware that it is illegal to not wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle. There are many states in the USA in which it is perfectly legal to wear a helmet. In its history, Liberia has tried to duplicate a number of American ideas and laws so whether it is legal or illegal to wear a motorcycle helmet is up for debate. If one is to assume that the mass majority of a society actually follows the laws of their country, a quick glance at the Liberian population would lead an outsider to assume that indeed it is legal to ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. Back to the encounter…

Instead of starting a 'palava/palaver', or heated debate, because that never works with a Liberian, I decided to question the officer on these rules, partly to find out what exactly the rules are, and partly to see if he knew what he was talking about. After talking to him I have come to the conclusion that he could very well be making up a lot of what he was passing on to me. Take for example the question, "Officer, does both the driver and the rider have to wear helmets or is it only mandatory for the driver to wear a helmet?" He was adamant that it was only the driver of the motorcycle that was required to wear a helmet. His rationale was that it was my duty as driver of the motorcycle to protect my rider in the event of an accident. That line or reasoning still has me scratching my head. So when I am flying head over heels through the air when I ‘T-bone’ a car that has just inadvertently pulled out into the middle of the road, the first thing I should try to do is play Superman and rescue my rider? Hmm…

What I did find out is that there is an actual book that I can get to learn the rules of the road. I am very curious to get this book and find out how many drivers actually maintain the rules of the road. I’m positive that the bus full of LNP officers driving over the double yellow lines into the oncoming lane in order to pass morning rush hour traffic and then trying to cut back into traffic when they’re about the get into a head-on collision aren’t those actually following the rules. What is it in a person that makes them act so irrationally? Power perhaps?

I tried to convince the LNP officer that I quite frequently see LNP officers riding motorcycles without helmets (see picture at left). If individuals are to look up to the LNP as an example of law-abiding citizens, one would think that they would want to do the best possible job of standing above the average citizen as far as ensuring that laws are being followed. After all, these officers are here to “Serve and Protect”. I would assume they are protecting others from those who harm people by breaking the law.

Society looks to leaders. Whether they be social, academic, spiritual, or political, leaders provide individuals with a focal point in which to aim towards. What will it take for the LNP to become respectable among not only expatriates but Liberians alike. A recently returned Liberian refugee colleague of mine explained to me that before the civil war the Liberian National Police were individuals that the public respected, individuals not looking to squeeze a buck out of an unsuspecting victim, individuals that waited their time in traffic just like the majority of society, and individuals that people were drawn to for help, not driven away from fear of being extorted. After returning to Liberia after 15 years of refugee status in countries such as Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nigeria, he was blown away at the current state of affairs within the world of law enforcement in Liberia. I thought maybe it was just me.

On my ride home from work today another sight caught my eye that really got me thinking and drove me to share it with the world - another LNP Officer riding a motorcycle with a helmet - another LNP Officer breaking the laws that are in place for them to patrol. This time I have it on film.

Surfing Robertsport, Liberia - Perfect Waves

2007-02-16T13:35:00.000+00:00

Back by popular demand, here is another picture of the waves at Robertsport. This is a rather small one but still unbelievable form.