Monday, January 01, 2007
The Season
The thought of spending "the Season" as it is affectionately and widely called by the folks on the ground, Christmas and New Year that is, at home in Liberia amongst love ones and friends was overwhelmed and filled with nostalgia and excitement, that my body was in overdrive during the weeks leading to the due date of arrival, December 10, 2006. The last time I was home was November of 1999 and the first time I left my country to seek refuge in Sierra Leone due to the senseless war was on September 28, 1990, about twenty days after the late president Samuel Doe was captured and killed.
After about 24 hours of flying time and about seven thousand miles from Sacramento, California; Houston, Texas; Newark, New Jersey; Brussels, Belgium and arriving in Monrovia, Liberia, the next thing on my mind was a cold bath. My day-to-day experience from sunrise to sunset was mixed with emotions and concerns. The visible and pronounced contrast between the haves and the have-nots is so vast and scary that I was very uncomfortable walking and or driving on the streets of Monrovia.
Getting home and seeing the reality on the ground was stunning and mouth gapping. The general outlook of the country tells its own story but it was the look in the eyes of the common folks that hit me hard in the deepest core of my being. Because of my philanthropic nature, I became penniless just at the edge of my second week of my proposed five weeks stay. My personal expenditure was full of perplexity because when one hundred Uncle Sam’s dollar was changed to the “LD” as it is called, Liberian Dollar, it literally vanished in an instant and no stranger or visitor who is a free spirit giver can phantom how quickly a hundred dollar disappears before his very eyes.
The executive branch of government is working and doing everything in its power, using the cards that were dealt from a complex deck to it to run the government; however, it is difficult to see the change because the change will never be realized overnight due to the massive 14-year destruction of the country and its people.
This is the time for all the would-be politicians to show themselves to the people and lend their helping hands. There are so many areas of life improving measures that the would-be politicians could engage their time, energy and effort to change the lives of the common people to help the government serve the common folks and build the country.
After about 24 hours of flying time and about seven thousand miles from Sacramento, California; Houston, Texas; Newark, New Jersey; Brussels, Belgium and arriving in Monrovia, Liberia, the next thing on my mind was a cold bath. My day-to-day experience from sunrise to sunset was mixed with emotions and concerns. The visible and pronounced contrast between the haves and the have-nots is so vast and scary that I was very uncomfortable walking and or driving on the streets of Monrovia.
Getting home and seeing the reality on the ground was stunning and mouth gapping. The general outlook of the country tells its own story but it was the look in the eyes of the common folks that hit me hard in the deepest core of my being. Because of my philanthropic nature, I became penniless just at the edge of my second week of my proposed five weeks stay. My personal expenditure was full of perplexity because when one hundred Uncle Sam’s dollar was changed to the “LD” as it is called, Liberian Dollar, it literally vanished in an instant and no stranger or visitor who is a free spirit giver can phantom how quickly a hundred dollar disappears before his very eyes.
The executive branch of government is working and doing everything in its power, using the cards that were dealt from a complex deck to it to run the government; however, it is difficult to see the change because the change will never be realized overnight due to the massive 14-year destruction of the country and its people.
This is the time for all the would-be politicians to show themselves to the people and lend their helping hands. There are so many areas of life improving measures that the would-be politicians could engage their time, energy and effort to change the lives of the common people to help the government serve the common folks and build the country.
When I traveled from Monrovia to other parts of the country to see the destruction at first hand and to talk with the common folks who are still traumatized and skeptical of the future for themselves and for their children, what I gathered from my layman’s naivety, is that the life expectancy of the common people right across the board seems to be right around the corner. Due to the highs and lows of the past various conflicts or world wars, as the folks on the ground may call them, the general public is still skeptical and edgy and I am of the opinion that the people believe that the spark to ignite another “world war” is hanging in the air right above the heads of all. Because of the skepticism and the fear, no one really wants to take the next bold step to make any change to their present status quo and therefore live life licentiously.
