My Recent Trip to Liberia - Part 2

Before I continue on with the recap of my recent trip to Liberia, I want to Thank all of you who provided comments about last week's blog post! Your feedback is very much appreciated and gave me the incentive to keep blogging! Now let's get back to business...

Well, the main purpose of this trip was the healing and reconciliation conference. While Liberia has maintained peace for over eight years, the healing has just begun and it will take more than this two-week trip to mend the wounds that were inflicted in 14 years of war.

Granted there have been attempts to bring this nation together since the war ended in 2003. For example in 2005, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established, which was similar to the ones in Rwanda and South Africa. The purpose of these commissions is to gather the stories of the victims and give them a chance to face the individuals who either caused them great harm, and/or killed someone they loved. Usually, these proceedings will give amnesty to those who admit to the atrocities they have committed. However, there are exceptions for those deemed the worse perpetrators, which they could be tried for crimes against humanity at an international war crimes tribunal.

For about four years, the TRC worked tirelessly on interviewing countless people in Liberia and the Diaspora in the U.S. They submitted their final report in July 2009 with their findings and recommendations. I happened to be in Liberia when the news broke about this report. From what I observed, there was cause for confusion, anger and in some cases fear. Majority of the Liberian people had no access to the entire report, so they were limited to what was being disseminated through the media. They got to hear some of the disturbing finding such as the list of the most notorious perpetrators and the heinous acts they committed. Also, it listed individuals (included President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf) who should be banned from running for any political office for a 30-year period, and people/businesses (included Firestone Corporation) that are still being investigated for economic crimes that sustained the war.

Up to now, none of the recommendations have been implemented. In fact, no one in Liberia has faced any criminal charges for the atrocities committed in this 14-year civil war that included torture, rape, kidnapping, dismembering, killing, forced conscription of child soldiers, and other egregious acts. This has allowed certain former war lords and key perpetrators to freely run for all levels of political office including president, which some were elected in the 2005 elections. Some of you might be aware that Former President Charles Taylor is currently on trial at the Hague, but this is for alleged war crimes in the neighboring country of Sierra Leone...clearly not Liberia.

It would seem our arrival to Liberia, shortly after the results were announced from the October 11 election, was nothing more than miraculous. As a result, we would be on the ground for the November 8 run off presidential election since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes. This seemed like a perfect time to talk about healing and reconciliation as the Liberian people prayed and hoped for a peaceful outcome to their second post-war election cycle.

We spent our first week in Kakata, a thriving small city in Margibi County that is located about 15 to 20 minutes from the Firestone Rubber Plantation. It is the home of prominent education institutions such as BWI (mentioned in last week's blog) and Cuttington University. It is also the training center for the newly recruited Peace Corp volunteers.

We were warmly received by the people of Kakata from the first night we arrived. They had been eagerly waiting our arrival for the past couple months. Their enthusiasm made our first week in Liberia a joyous time.

We officially started the conference on Wednesday, November 2, which was held at the Kakata's City Hall. We offered a variety of daily workshops in the morning and afternoon. Then during the evenings the revival meetings were held, which included a fundraiser for the people of Kakata to partner with the LMA on completing some important initiatives. These projects included a public library, microphones for radio stations, grating primary dirt roads, and a motor bike for the police station.

During our stay, we were graciously hosted by the Kakata's Police Chief Douwe Goldoe and her staff. Chief Goldoe had the opportunity to visit Minnesota this past year and was able to participate in some training sessions with the St. Paul police department. She is amazing woman with a strong spirit to serve her nation. She went out of her way to ensure that we were well taken care of during our stay in Kakata. Mid-week she invited us to the police station where she gave us a formal greeting. Click here to watch a short video clip of her introducing some of her staff during our welcome visit. Right after this meeting, she took us to her place for amazing lunch that included Togbogee and Rice plus some fresh, sweet pineapple--never tasted anything like it in Minnesota.

 Kakata's police force (taken by Pastor Destaye Crawford)

 Kakata's police force continued (taken by Pastor Destaye Crawford)

 One of my teammates Rev. Zephaniah Kauffey standing by 

Chief Goldoe in her kitchen. (taken by Pastor Destaye Crawford)

Going back to the conferences, we were successful in engaging the people of Kakata. We offered a variety of presentations that focused on forgiveness, praise and worship, church leadership, healing and reconciliation, and much more. We had originally planned for four days of conferences, but changed it to three. Each day, the first presentation was for the entire audience and then we offered two during the three breakout sessions. I delivered my presentation "Transforming a Shared Suffering into a Shared Healing: on the first day during the second session. I will dedicate one of my future posts on showing my PowerPoint presentation and briefly explaining each slide.

Here I am presenting in Kakata wearing a dress given to me 

from one of my teammates, Pastor Destaye Crawford!

The nightly revival meetings were very impressive. Liberians know how to praise and worship by singing and dancing with great joy! We watched in amazement as the crowd grew each night-- from Wednesday to Saturday--to where it was standing room only. Also, the fundraising was a huge success, because each night the people exceeded that day's goal. I believe the first night the goal was to raise $10,000 (Liberian dollars) and the final total was $15,000 LD. This amount in USD is about $214, which may seem like a nothing to us. However, for people who live on meager budgets, this amount was quite amazing. Their effort supports something I have learned from my experiences in Liberia is that 'those with the least have the most to give. '

Here are some pictures from the nightly revival meetings:

 

These are the ushers for the nightly revival meetings

Dr. Rev. Josef Howard, LMA's Executive Director was the team leader. 

He was very instrumental in ensuring our teams success.

 Dr. Rev. Francis Tabla, LMA's Asst. Executive Director gave some 

powerful sermons and engaged the audience in the nightly fundraisers.

Another plus about our trip was the food! While in Kakata a few of the local pastor wives cooked our daily meals. We usually ate our breakfast at the guest house before heading to the City Hall. We broke for lunch at 1PM, right after our last breakout session and ate at the conference site. I must say, these women did an outstanding job in preparing our Liberian cuisine. I got to enjoy some of my favorites such as Jollof Rice, Potato Greens, Check Rice and Gravy, Cassava Leaf and many more. I should mention that the LMA provided a free breakfast and lunch for all attendees, which probably gave many the opportunity to have more than one meal a day.

Here are pictures of us enjoying some Potato Greens and Rice, which these photos were taken from my teammate Pastor Destaye Crawford's camera (she is from Ethiopia and now a U.S. citizen).

 More of my teammates (from left to right) 

Rev. Zephaniah Kauffey and Rev. Daniel Goba

 Rev. Destaye Crawford and me (wearing a borrowed 

Africa dress from another teammate Naomi Hard)

 Conference attendees

 Me and Rev. Alexander Collins

 Some of the women who cooked and served the food

 A pot full of sweet potato greens

 Serving the rice, which is a major staple in Liberians diet

Enjoying a break (from left to right): Naomi Hard (our teams RN), 

Rev. Goba, Rev. Crawford, and Ref. Kaffey.

Now one of my favorite things to do while in Liberia is interacting with the young people. I came prepared with some beach balls to give out to kids that I came in contact with. I tried at first to blow these up for them, but soon discovered their young lungs were much better for the task. Below are two young boys who were quick to inflate their new balls and gave a victory smile when they were done.

For the most part, the children of Liberia love getting their picture or video taken. With the advent of the digital camera, this has made it more fun since the kids are eager to see their picture or watch their video. I recently published one of my videos on YouTube where some of the local children gathered together to wave and smile at my captive audience. Please click here to watch these beautiful children say hello to you!

I had posted this video on my Facebook page on November 23 with this comment: "Life is so precious and the children of Liberia always remind me of this fact! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. So, as you watch this video and see these beautiful smiling faces waving at you, please realize that these children probably have one meal a day, living in a home or hut with no bathroom, and too poor to attend school. These children experience more misery that most of us, and yet they still can smile and have hope!"

I believe this is a good place to end and we will continue next week about the second leg of this trip. Until then, I wish you all good health, warmth and happy times!

My Recent Trip to Liberia - Part 1

I had an unexpected surprise this fall when I was invited to be part of a two-week mission trip to Liberia that was organized by the Liberian Ministers Association (LMA) of Minnesota. I was overwhelmed with excitement of the possibility of going back to Liberia, but was also faced with having limited funds and little time to prepare. So, I took the bold step and found 19 thoughtful and generous sponsors who helped me with my travel expenses. Fortunately, our team was able to minimize our accommodation expenses so I donated 20% of what I raised to the LMA for the mission's purpose, a Healing and Reconciliation Conference.

Now many of you might be shaking your head and wondering what this post is about since I had not publicly announce this trip to Liberia. This was clearly not a leisure trip and it did not allow much free time to visit my friends in Liberia. So, I apologize for those who are reading about this for the first time and hope that you will forgive me.

This trip was my shortest, but also had some interesting twists. I landed in Liberia on October 30 without my two checked bags--one was donated to the medical team from Community of Angels and the other was my clothes and personal items. These bags somehow decided to travel the world and had stops in Paris, Casablanca and who knows where else. This was not a pleasant surprise, but fortunately my team mates were able to supply me with some clothes as the saga of the missing luggage lingered for the next ten days. To keep this story brief, the donated bag was picked up on November 2 and I received my bag on November 9, which I was leaving in four days.

Luckily one of my strengths is adaptability, and I was able to make the most of the rest of my trip without my things. We spent the majority of the first week in Kakata, a small city about 90-minute drive from Monrovia (Liberia's Capital City). For seven nights we stayed at the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) Guest House just on the outskirts of Kakata. This institution was founded in the same spirit as the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama by its founder Dr. Booker T Washington.

The following 12 pictures are of the campus and my guest room:

 Entrance to BWI

 The main building near the entrance

 View of the campus

 Another view of the campus

 And another view of the campus

 BWI Guest House. My room was on the second floor on the 

left side...the air conditioner was not hooked up.

 Second floor dining room where we had our breakfast and evening meals, which 

were prepared by the some of the pastors' wives in the community.

 Second floor living room where had our morning meetings

 The room I shared with another team member

 I am always happy when there is fan.

 Bathroom with running water

 The water pressure was quite low, so bucket baths were the way to go

One of the main highlights of our trip was meeting the U.S. Ambassador--Linda Thomas-Greenfield--to Liberia. As one of my first assignments, I was able to arrange our meeting for October 31 prior to our departure. Since our team was so large, we met at the Public Diplomacy Building on the second floor in the Colin Powell Conference Room. This change in venue meant that there was minimal security and the opportunity for photographs. Here is a picture of our group with Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.

This was an insightful meeting, because the Ambassador shared with us about their activities with the elections. They had been actively engaged with the young people sensitizing them on the meaning of democracy and how their vote should not be bought or manipulated. She and her staff kept in close contact with many youth leaders so that they could diffuse any non-peaceful acts being instigated by any of the political parties.

The Ambassador also mentioned that she and her staff were part of the many observers of the October 11 Election at some 50 voting sites. She personally oversaw the vote count at Waterside, which is a section of the City of Monrovia. She was quite dismayed by the accusations of voter fraud when each site had both national and international observers present to ensure transparency with the counting.

She also shared some of the other activities the Embassy has been involved in. One of the main ones is education. They had about 39 Peace Corp Volunteers with all but four teaching in 24 high schools in Liberia. These volunteers were also training and certifying Liberian teachers.

The Peace Corp's return to Liberia in 2008 was one of many signs that the peace is progressing in the right direction. The Peace Corp had served faithfully in Liberia from 1962 to 1990, but were disbanded during the civil war. Another positive sign that was shared by Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield was the return of the families to the Embassy. Her face lit up when she commented on the number of babies that have been born to the staff members and how nice it was to have children back at the Embassy.

The Ambassador stressed one interesting point that aligned with our mission's purpose--healing and reconciliation. She stated that most, if not all, Liberians were dealing with trauma issues. This prompted me to remember an article I had read over a year ago titled "One Psychiatric Hospital for 3 Million People, Liberia Plan for Change." So, I asked her "isn't there one psychiatrist for the entire nation?" Her response was that person was not practicing, because he was working at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. This inspired one of our team members, the LMA's current executive director, to reconsider getting his PhD in psychology.

Clearly, 14 years of civil war would not only leave physical scars, but also mental ones. This reality made our mission to promote healing and reconciliation even more important. The task at hand was not easy, because the elections opened some old wounds and those hurts still impact the lives of many Liberians.

This is where I will conclude this post. Next week, I will continue with part 2 and share more about our conferences in Kakata and Monrovia. Until then, peace to all!

Empowered Women and the Nobel Peace Prize

We just witnessed a great moment in human history as three strong and courageous women--President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman--were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. These women represent developing nations that have not always valued and respected women as leaders and advocates for change.

This pivotal moment will, if it hasn't already, galvanize the sisterhood of women all around the world. Unlike the other prize holders, these honorees represent women of color, women of all faiths, and women fighting for social justice and human rights in all nations.

I celebrate the recognition of these three women and all women, who value love and compassion as a means to making this a better world. We are living in time where more and more women are taking an active role in democracy movements, standing up to tyranny, and fighting for their rights. There are three great examples of this movement in 2011 that are worth noting.

Let's not forget the women of Egypt, whose voices were lifted earlier this year as they demonstrated for a peaceful change of power. These women followed in the footsteps of their Liberian sisters by demonstrating with love. For instance, many of us were captivated by the image of the woman kissing the police officer on the cheek, which left him dumbfounded. The Egyptian women risked their lives to speak out and advocate for change, because they are tired of the status quo and wanted their children to have what they have been denied.

Let's not forget Dr. Hawa Abdi in Somalia, who stood up to rebels seeking to destroy her hospital and harming the people she was helping. Here is a woman, who used her land to build a clinic, school and feeding program to support 100,000 people who have been displaced by a 20-year war in Somalia. This selfless women on May 5, stood her ground as about 750 militants entered her property. She was placed on house arrest for five days shuttering operations causing two dozen children to die. Quickly the women in her community responded and began to protest followed by the condemnation of the Somalian diaspora. This is when Dr. Abdi demanded a written apology for their deadly intrusion, which they begrudging gave to her.

Let's not forget the women in Saudi Arabia, who are defying an unjust law that denies them the right to drive. These women have risked being arrested and even flogged by openly driving vehicles and posting video of being behind on the wheel on Facebook for the world to see. Recently the King gave them the right to vote and run in municipal elections starting 2015. Also, the King revoked the flogging penalty on women who were arrested for driving after a great deal of international outrage for this inhumane punishment.

These are just a few of the many women who are dedicating their lives and livelihoods to non-violent movements in their nations. The three Nobel Peace Prize winners have empowered women around the world, who stand for justice and peace, with new hope and motivation to continue their journeys in being force of change.