Dec. 2, 2006
Hello all!
I apologize for my lack of communication lately. Our internet was down for several weeks and since it came back up the internet café here has been such a zoo that I haven’t brought myself to face it. As it is, I’m writing this today and I probably won’t send it until next weekend when we go to Monrovia. A lot has happened while I’ve been incommunicado but I’ll just tell you about a couple of high points.
First and foremost, I have to tell you that I’m writing this in my office! I just acquired it and let me tell you, it’s a beauty. It has a door (which even locks!), glass in the window, a curtain and…a wastebasket! I never thought I’d get so excited about these little luxuries but seriously, this has to be one of the nicest faculty offices on campus. It belongs to an instructor who is away from campus for the year and apparently he put a lot of work into getting it set up nicely. When I moved in there was a large table and 3 chairs (all luxuries as well). But yesterday I walked in to find a brand new, real desk complete with drawers and…I still can’t believe it myself…an office chair! Yes, one of those nice soft chairs with wheels and armrests and everything. I don’t think I’ve been so comfortable since we got to Liberia! I am telling you, I could die happy right now!
This past week I had two really interesting days. Phebe Hospital, where the Cuttington nursing students do their clinicals, is absolutely choked with students from various institutions; to alleviate the congestion we decided to send some of our students to hospitals in other parts of the country for a month in January. I had the opportunity to go along with some of my colleagues on site-assessments for four such hospitals. The first two were in Buchanan which is way down on the coast, southeast of Monrovia. The next two were the opposite direction, way up north on the border with Guinea, near a town called Sanniquellie. That area is mountainous (relatively speaking) and absolutely beautiful. Untouched tropical forests as far as you can see. In Bong County, where C.U. is, the forests are mostly rubber plantations so it’s not quite the same. I really enjoyed getting to see two such different parts of this country. Most of the facilities were pretty nice and we met several Cuttington grads who were overjoyed to see their former instructors.
The traveling was quite an experience all by itself; we were traveling Liberian style. Our chariot was a beat-up old Isuzu Trooper which was filthy and wet inside because the roof leaked. We were sitting four across in the back seat, which was quite cozy, especially given the heat. We broke down several times each day and for the majority of the two days we had no brakes. I used to think the road between C.U. and Monrovia was bad, (they say that to drive it you need to be a P.h.D.—Professional Hole Dodger) but now I know it’s a gem. I have never experienced a road like the one to Buchanan. I think our driver was a Professional Hole Hitter because he always seemed to pick the worst section of the road to drive on, and with no brakes we were hitting these monster holes and ruts at about 30-40 mph. I literally felt like I had whiplash by the time I got home that first night! And on the way up-country we encountered some ruts that were literally 3-4 feet deep. That’s where we broke down—for a change of pace this time it was the alternator rather than the brakes! We were in the oncoming “lane” since the ruts were so bad on our side of the road, so we had to push the car out of the way of a big Mack truck that came barreling toward us. Each day entailed about 10-12 hours of driving, but with all the breakdowns—four hours in Ganta, two hours in Kakata, etc.—each day became about 18 hours long. Talk about exhausting! Very few of the roads we took were paved and as this is the dry season, the dust is almost unimaginable. I have never been so filthy in all my life and I don’t want to know what my lungs look like. But the dust around here is very red so by the time I got home it looked like I had a beautiful copper tan. People in the States pay big money for bronzers to get the same effect!
In my travels I saw three prime examples of the way Liberia is being exploited by outsiders. The first day we drove through the largest rubber plantation in Liberia, owned by the Firestone Corporation. The one thing I appreciated was that those were the best roads we drove on all day. We drove for about 40 minutes and saw nothing but rubber trees in every direction, and my companions said you could drive for hours in there. It’s enormous. Firestone makes millions and millions of dollars off of plantations like those, yet none of that money stays in Liberia. The tappers (the workers who tap the trees for rubber) are destitute and the Liberian government recently had to force the corporation to agree to build a school on the compound for their children. Firestone is dragging its feet, knowing full well that for every child it educates it loses a tapper.
Two of the hospitals we visited are run by Mittal Steel, a European corporation which has a contract to mine the iron-ore in the hills here. The contract was negotiated under the interim government before Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected and it’s absolutely terrible for Liberia. The company will not pay taxes for seven years and it will reserve exclusive rights to the port in Buchanan (which is a major one). If the government wants to use it they’ll have to ask Mittal Steel for permission and probably pay a fee as well. The company has not yet begun operating and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has told them to stop all preparations until the contract can be reviewed.
The third illustration of the abuse of this country and its resources came when we were almost to Sanniquellie; we drove through a small village that looked much like any other, with tiny houses and naked children running around in the dirt. This village was home to the workers of a nearby diamond mine. Once again, millions of dollars are being drained out of that area with none of it trickling down to the people or even the government of this country. That was so frustrating for me. After seeing these three places I was thoroughly disgusted with the “modern” world. It made me want to never buy tires or steel products again. I’ve never bought diamonds but I’ll think twice now before I do!
Still, for all the frustrations, dust, and breakdowns it was a wonderful experience. I really loved seeing more of the country and spending some time with my colleagues off-campus. It was definitely a bonding experience! J I’m glad I agreed to go and I would love to do it again. Maybe we’ll have to go check on those students in January…
Okay, enough for now. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your Christmas is even better. Please drop me a line whenever you have time!! I love hearing from everyone back home. J
