INDEPENDANCE

July 26, 2006


Just heading to bed. Thinking about history. Never took it past grade 10, I took all those science and math courses...ugh. The odd thing is, when I think back, my favorite part of any assigment was always the title page...Well back to the History thing. Wednesday here is Independance Day. We like to laugh, becuase Liberia never really gained independance from some domineering country like the US did. The country was settled by freed slaves, or men and women en route to becoming slaves that were freed and dropped off on the shore. I am not sure of all the details, I will have to ask my local historian friend. When I think of the word independant, I think, strong willed, wealthy or self-sufficient, able to make good choices, not afraid of putting your neck out there. We all have pictures of say, and independant woman, or an independant child, or and independ Aunt (teehee). I never wanted to be an independant woman, it sounds like so much work, but when I was little always wanted to be independantly wealthy.
Liberia I think needs to have a new Independance Day. Right now, she is not independant. When we drive about 5 minutes down the road, you come to the first UN checkpoint. Just beyond that, is a stadium where I believe some UN battalions live. I don’t even know how many in a battalion. I’ll find out tomorrow. On certain days if you pass at the right time you can see them marching in their ceremonial gear, with swords none the less. If you go to the beach on a weekend, again you will see the UN, but this time, they are in speedos and looking for a good time. We avoid the beach on the weekend. Driving down the highway, probably 40 percent of the vehicals are taxis, the major form of transportation, 25 percent fo the vehicals are UN, 20 percent are NGO’s (non-government organization, for example, World Vision, or Save the Children or Oxfam, or MSF, or Living Waters, or Samaritans Purse, or the list goes on and on) and other mission organizations, and the remaining 15 percent, private vehicals and government vehicals. I have never done an exact count, and it is possible that these counts are way off. But the point is, there is a lot of UN and a lot of NGO’s. These people are here to a. keep the peace (I believe there is around 70000 UN here) b. for development and relief. In a few years they will all be gone, but for now they are here helping out. The country needs help, help to get power in the country again, help to get running water in the country, help to rebuild schools and Universities....the list goes on. My point is, on July 26 this year Liberians celebrated 159 years of independance, and part of this celebration was turning the power on at the JFK hospital...the main hospital in town with plans to broaden this to the whole city, everyone was so excited and happy, but won’t it be an even greater celebration when Liberia can live without the need of soldiers to keep the peace, and the government will be stable and can invest in the education and health of the people, and does not need outside countries and agencies to run these program. The journey has started, I am praying that it continues, and that Liberia will become a strong, vibrant, self-sufficient country, just like an independant woman. Well, again, just my thoughts and opinions, I’m no expert, just an observer.