Introduction.  Liberia has emerged from a fourteen year civil war and now is entering its third year of peace. The war left Liberia a legacy of 85% unemployment, an illiteracy rate of 50%. One of the highest infant mortality rates in the world and a devastated economic infrastructure. Even in the capital city of Monrovia there is no electricity or running water. Most Liberians live in grinding poverty. The progress of recovery is slow but it has begun. Both UNICEF and the World Bank have an abundance of information on family life in Liberia.

Signs of Hope.  In January 2006 a civilian government lead by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected.  President Sirleaf is a determined woman of 69 years of age.  With wide experience in international banking and in the UNDP she brings many skills to her position. More important is the integrity, respect and determination she brings to the office of President.  From well educated and highly skilled Liberians living abroad she has recruited the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Education, Finance, Labor and Agriculture. Progress is slow but President Sirleaf follows the Chinese proverb: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Grass Roots Initiatives.  This section will deal with Maryland County in Southeastern Liberia and in particular development efforts under way in the town of Barraken and the city of Cape Palmas. Attention will be focused on Education, Health, Agriculture and Poverty Alleviation

Education.   During the years of civil unrest schools were destroyed. No new schools were constructed and no teachers were trained.  In Barraken a town of about 2,000; elementary school enrolment in the past two years has gone from 210 to 330 students.  No new classrooms were built and no new teachers were added. Six teachers receive a salary of about $25 a month. A bag of rice costs $50. Three teachers are volunteers. When I asked one the teachers why he would work without pay he said: “These are our children if we don’t teach them they will never have a chance in life.”

Classrooms are overcrowded.  Most classes have 50 or more students. Some have as many as 90.  No educational administrator in Liberia will state that this is acceptable. But literally children bang on the school house doors to be admitted. The government is trying to help students thirsty for education but it will take a decade to accommodate all students and bring the level of education to acceptable standards.   Through the generosity of family members and friends I was able to assist 297 students during the just completed academic year.

The only criteria for acceptance for financial assistance are that the student has an acceptable academic record.  There are no religious or ethnic criteria. School fees range from $8 a year in a government elementary school to $60 a year in a Catholic high school.  Many students prefer Church related schools because the class size is smaller.

To ensure safety all fees are paid directly to school authorities. Students are never given cash. Experience has taught that when some students are given cash they will use part of the money to purchase school uniforms or footwear for school and then pay only part of their fees. While this is understandable the scholarship program cannot support these items.

Students will face any hardship to go to school.  Given a choice of daily food or school fees the vast majority of students will choose school over food.

Health.  Through a UN backed program health care is free in Liberia. In Barraken the Government of Liberia operates a health clinic.  A nurse practitioner and two registered nurses provide basic heath services to the people.  Malaria, which kills one million Africans each year, is the most common complaint.  Prenatal and postnatal care is deeply appreciated.

Once or twice a month the director of the clinic will ask to use the Catholic Mission pickup truck to carry a patient who is suffering from complicated birth conditions to the JJ Dossen general hospital in Cape Palmas.  Most of these problems are solved by caesarian operations.  It is gratifying that in almost every case both mother and child survive.

Food Production.   Food is scarce.  Small family farms were destroyed during the war.  Every morning men and women from Barraken go out to their farms. However, the only tools they have are basic hoes and cutlasses that their ancestors used one hundred years ago.  The Liberian Government has ambitious plans to work with farmers to increase food production but so far these plans have not been implemented in the area of Barraken and Cape Palmas.

St. Anthony Parish in Barraken is offering breeding rabbits and ducks to the town’s families.  Rabbits have a gestation period of less than two months and have litters of five or more.  Ducks sit on eggs for 32 days and hatch ten or more ducklings.   The program is slow in catching on. Villagers do not have a history of raising animals. They are farmers and hunters. A concerted effort is being made to enlist students in raising small animals.

The Parish offers tomato, pepper, cabbage and collard green plants to villagers.  The seedlings are raised on special beds behind the parish house. Small banana and plantain plants are also available.

Poverty Alleviation.     There are many widows with school age children in Cape Palmas. Their husbands were killed in the war.  They were not soldiers or rebels but happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I am assisting about ten of the families left behind.  About five or six times a year I leave a supply of rice, tomato paste, flour, sugar and other food items with these families. The cost for one family is about $80.  I do not make regular gifts for two reasons. One is that the funds are not sufficient. The second is that I do not want to make these women dependent on regular supplies of food.  Most of them sit in the market all day long selling food items. Most days they make less than $1.

Often students from Cape Palmas walk 11 miles to Barraken seeking food.   They are greeted with a four ounce loaf of bread and a tin of sardines. Before leaving they ask for a supply of food and personal items.  Most of the time they receive 2 kilograms of rice, four tins of tomato paste, three tins of sardines, a bar of bathing soap and a roll of toilet tissue.  These are hardly gifts you would offer an American high school student.

Students are more than willing to work for what they receive. During vacations they come to Barraken and work for a week so they can provide for themselves.  While there is some work available on the parish farm there is never enough to accommodate all who seek employment.

Conclusion.   Liberia has a long way to go before it recovers even to the level of the 1970s.  One wonders if small efforts mentioned above make a difference.  It would be easy to propose that on the national effort what is described above is not even a drop in the bucket.  I probably could argue that myself.

But for the families and children who do receive a helping hand it is crucial. Every day a child goes to school is a gift for that child and for the nation, Liberia.   Most of all it is a sign of hope, a sign that someone, somewhere cares for what happens to Liberian children and their families.   A helping hand ensures that a Liberian child’s hopes and dreams for a better future are attainable.

Rev. Ted Hayden, SMA                                                              July 2, 2008