Civil War

Many African countries have faced civil war, and Liberia is no exception. In the late 1980s economic riots brought about political killings and unrest. In the early 1990s rebels, led by Charles Taylor, traveled across the country fighting the Liberian army and West African peacekeepers. Charles Taylor became president in 1995 and a peace agreement was signed. Fighting broke out again four years later in 1999 and other West African nations became involved. Taylor stepped down and went into exile in Nigeria in 2003. Political stability was sought and finally achieved in the 2005 elections. The BBC writes up a short review of this war on their site. 

Sierra Leone was caught in its own civil war during the 1990s. Charles Taylor had a part in that war and was arrested in Nigeria in 2006 and put on trial in The Hague. In April of this year he was convicted on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including aiding and abetting one of the rebel groups during the war. He was said to be paid in blood diamonds mined by slaves of the rebel group that also kept sex slaves and forced children into becoming soldiers. Taylor is the first African ex-head of state to be sentenced by a world court and the no other head of state has been sentenced since the Nuremberg trials in 1946 and the first African ex-head of state. Read more about it here.

But, I digress. Since the 2005 election (where Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected, more on her in a later post) Liberia has been stable. There is a CNN writer and producer who grew up in Liberia and was able to leave the country during its time of war and recently went back to visit. She did a short piece with on the ground footage about where the country is now as opposed to when she left over ten years ago. This gives a great picture of the country and shows the city, Monrovia, where I will be going. Check it out.

Why girls?

Some of you may be wondering "why girls? what about the boys?" In the Western world a lot of opportunities in life (education, health care, etc.) are given to both boys and girls but the same is not true for developing countries. There is a myriad of research and information out there about the disparity between growing up male and growing up female. I could share lots of stories and statistics about this with you but frankly, they are really depressing. Instead, lets focus on the positive. The awesome thing is that research is not only showing this disparity but now is able to show what can happen when girls are given a chance.  

The Girl Effect is an organization that provides a lot of information about what can happen when girls are given a chance. According to their fact sheet, there are 130 million youth out of school and 70% of them are girls. The thing is, in developing countries, when girls are educated they marry 4 years later and have 2.2 fewer children, they earn higher wages (10-25%), and they reinvest more of their income into their families (90%) than males do (only 30-40%).  

They have also made an amazing 2 minute video. Check it out... 

In order to effectively change the brokenness of our world we must realize that girls are the key. This needs to be on the agenda whether it is with international organizations providing aid, countries creating laws to protect, or individuals giving opportunities. The Coalition for Adolescent Girls has done a ton of work and is a great resource for more information.  

Watch the video, do the research, read the material, and have the conversation with others. Education is power for everyone and once you have it, its one thing no one can take away from you.

Awesome Video Clip!

I cannot explain how excited I get when I watch this video!! It shows the area I will be going to, the West Point slum, and some of the girls I will get to hang out with! You have GOT to watch it! It also talks about the organization and what More Than Me is all about.

If you want to support my trip and the work I will be doing with MTM, please use the donate button on the right side of the page.

Liberia Trivia!

In exactly 2 months from today I will be boarding a plane for Liberia! When I talk to people about my trip I find out that most of them know very little about Liberia, if anything. In the spirit of my favorite hobby (hosting trivia shows) I will try to make learning about Liberia a little fun.

First, we must establish where exactly it is. Liberia is on the West Coast of Africa. In the bottom picture it is a small yellow country on the left.

TRIVIA TIME!!

Liberia means "Land of the Free" and was founded by freed slaves from what U.S. states?

South Carolina and Georgia. The Gullah community in this area of the U.S. has a lot of African influences but in turn, when resettlement happened in Liberia, a lot of American influences went along as well. The U.S. and Liberia have a lot of connections.

Monrovia is the capitol of Liberia. What U.S. president is it named after?

James Monroe, our 5th president.

The Liberian flag (also red, white, and blue) is similar to the American flag except it only has how many stripes and how many stars?

11 strips and 1 star (I told you there are a lot of correlations.)

Even though English is the national language, how many people actually speak it?

One-fifth! There are 16 indiegnous languages and most people speak one of those.

I leave you with my favorite factoid...

Liberia is 43,000 sq. mi. in size which is a little larger than what U.S. State?

My home state of O-HI-O!!! (That, of course, is said in a singing manner.)

If you'd like to read more, here is where I got most of the information as well as here.

Mother's Day

Mother's play many different roles and those roles vary for everyone. For some they make dinner and do laundry. For others they provide advice and guidance. Yet for some, the only role their mother has played is giving birth them.  This can be because, for whatever reason, they choose not to raise their  child or maybe the unfortunate happened and they died during birth. 

Orphans is a topic I will certainly speak more on in the future because anyone that knows me knows it is something that is near and dear to my heart. Today, however, the focus is on the moms. A number of women literally give their life for their child when they die during childbirth. The leading cause is hemorrhaging and the countries with the highest maternal mortality rate are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

With a higher number of midwives and more training and facilities, the majority of these deaths can be prevented. Check out this short clip on maternal mortality.

If you want to know more here is information from UNICEF.  None of this is intended to be a downer on Mother's Day but to shed light on the ultimate sacrifice some mothers make for their children.

UPDATE: There is a new report out about trends in maternal health, how the numbers are reducing but are still too high, and what can be done to save more lives. Check it out! 

More Than Me

Ever sit back and think to yourself... "there really is more to this world and my life than just myself?" Well that is exactly the idea behind More Than Me. As the organization's founder, Katie, put it, "life is about living for more than just yourself every day.”

MTM was started three years ago and works in Liberia, West Africa. The goal is to provide an education to young girls in the slum of West Point located in Liberia's capital, Monrovia. According to UNSECO statistics, an estimated 73% of primary-aged children are out of school in post-conflict Liberia. Can you imagine? High unemployment rates and mass poverty contribute to these statistics. Due to this, a lot of girls end up in prostitution before they even become a teenager. MTM has fought hard to work against these odds and currently has 100 girls in school and 10% of them are the 1st in their class! People will thrive if you give them the opportunity to do so.This summer MTM is launching a new project to provide an outlet for the girls in the after school hours. Here they will do art, play sports, learn vocational skills, receive tutoring, and find counseling.

Check out more about More Than Me on their website...  More Than Me

So what is my connection to this organization? Through some awesome networking and God's placement of people in my life I have started to work with Katie. I have been offered the great opportunity to put my social work skills and love of Africa to work for MTM. This summer I will be spending some time writing the psychosocial aspect of the after school program. I will then travel to Liberia for six weeks to finalize the program and start it! 

With MTM being a grassroots NGO it works fully on grant funding and donations. My work with them is volunteer and my trip there is up to me. The total cost for the six weeks in Liberia is $3,500. This total will cover the flight (unfortunately, flights to Africa do not run cheap!), visa, and food and lodging while there. If you would like to support me in this effort please find the donation button on this blog (you do not need a Paypal account to donate). Thank you in advance for your support!