Thangs fall apart - November 2004

Depending on your affiliation -- congratulations or condolences on the election outcome. I cast my absentee vote from the US Embassy a few weeks ago. But it looks like it all hinged on Ohio rather than “Absentee Votes from Liberia”.Things are fairly calm here for the moment. Today is Liberian Thanksgiving – all the National staff have the day off. The international staff (myself included) just are working because there is nothing better to do. Last Friday was crazy with looting and gas station burning all over Monrovia. A gas station right next to my house was set on fire and another nearby gas station/convenience store/pharmacy was looted and burned – we watched the whole thing from our office, which has balconies on the front and side. My house filled up with smoke and I took out all my “important papers”, including several soda receipts from Duane Reade. The tensions are religious and there is much animosity among Liberians against “Mandingos”, economically successful Muslims from the Northern part of the country, Liberians. Clearly someone is stoking up the rhetoric and encouraging the lootings, mosque and church burnings, rapes and murders – probably Charles Taylor. Many of his former ministers, bodyguards, etc. are still here and he is more than capable of pulling the strings from exile in Nigeria.Two weeks ago I was in Zorzor, Lofa County in northern Liberia. I travelled up to assist with an OFDA Health & Hygiene Kit (plastic buckets and soap) distribution to about 2,000 families. We are targeting communities were we have installed or are installing wells and pumps. My role was to gets quotes for the kit items, analyze the quotes and then purchase the items, arrange transport, store and dispatch the items and supervise the distributions, keeping all relevant records in case of an audit. I have a team of 2. The Program staff (about 20 people) is responsible for registering and verifying the beneficiaries. They also decide the “methodology” which I assume to be who should get soap and how much. As you can see I am developing a huge resentment. The chief difficulty was transporting the kit items up to Zorzor. I contracted for the items delivered to our office up-country so the transport headache was borne by the vendor. The first shipment, a 20-foot container filled with buckets and soap, took 5 days to travel 180 miles from Monrovia to Zorzor. There are places in the dirt road that are virtually impassable due to mud. Trucks are stuck all the way from the Lofa County line to Zorzor.The distribution was somewhat disorganized (not my fault) but, I the end, everyone was happy. It is a chance to see the beneficiaries directly benefiting and there is a tremendous amount of gratitude. I find myself amazed at how poor the beneficiaries are and feeling a little guilty about the disparity between my situation and theirs but at the same time strangely wanting to flaunt my “bling-bling”. In one village my driver pointed out to me that the ground was littered with spent AK-47 shell casings and the one decent building in the village had no roof, doors, windows and was riddled with bullet holes. I certainly cannot identify on any level with the trauma that the people have been through. In 2003 and early 2004, there was apparently a series of battles between the rebel group LURD and government forces for control of Zorzor. Each group would take the town for a few days and then the other would take it back. This went on for months and, needless to say, there is nothing left but destroyed buildings. It apparently was a thriving regional town with nightclubs, hotels, and electricity. Now there are only a scattering of families back here from the refugee camps in Guinea and the IDP camps near the coast. Some men are here preparing shelter so that their families can come back. They seem genuinely happy to be home but I can’t help but think that they must not have much confidence that the peace will last long. They have been down this route a few times in the last 15 years and there is talk that the disarmament is not going well, that there are organized rebels across the border in Guinea, and that unless Charles Taylor is prosecuted he will be coming back. I should try to put my own pessimism on the back burner while I am here.One of the program staff, Alfred, was telling us about how he lost his parents and was being cared for by his sister who got a scholarship to study in the US. Alfred was a young boy and his sister sent him to live with an elderly Americo-Liberian woman. He only knew his tribal name and when she heard it she said that wouldn’t work in her home so she called started calling him “Heathen”. He had us rolling when he described how she would yell “Heathen, come here” and he would come running saying “Yeah, Mom”. He said he was 13 before he found out what “Heathen” meant. He was proud that she had given him an “American” name. It sounded like slavery to me since he mostly worked around the house and got whippings but he pointed out that she did send him to a good school. It is very strange but only people about 35 or older have formal education. The chaos of the last 15 plus years has completely sidetracked the school system. Part of the UN mission is the retain of a civilian police force but they cannot find anyone to recruit because the only people with the right educational credentials exceed the maximum age for recruits.The sale of co-op apartment closed the other week and I feel a strange sense of freedom – no fixed address. I am fantasizing about living in strange and interesting places -- Buenos Aires, Capetown, Tucson……. My sister Jane really stepped up to the plate to represent my interests in the sale. I am very grateful. Also, if you are thinking of selling (or buying) in Park Slope/Prospect Heights I can recommend Barbara Stewart of Corcoran Group on 7th Avenue. She handled the listing, marketing, open house, and bidding skirmish brilliantly and helped me get the best price for my place. When there were virtually no phone lines working in Liberia Barbara would get through to give me information to make the closing happen.I have a major distribution of “Family Kits” (Blankets, sleeping mats, lanterns, pots, plates, utensils, lapas, jerry cans, etc.) up in Lofa County which I want to complete before the 2nd week of December when I mark my 3-month anniversary here and take my first “R & R”, which will be combined with a week of annual leave and the Christmas Holiday. I will be gone for almost 4 weeks. I may try to ship Andy home to Baltimore before then or he will be looked after by one of my colleagues, Arthur, the transport manager.That’s all from here. We are watching the security situation closely and hopefully the recent trouble was just a bump in the road. Keep me in your prayers and remember that, no matter who’s President, we have it a whole lot better than most people in the World.Philip