When Nature Calls . . . Call on the Great Outdoors
ZORZOR, Liberia -- For the past several days, I have been working at our field office in this town, about two hours from Voinjama, where I am based. The office is small, and there are no other ex-pats stationed here, so normally I have the office guest house to myself. Not so last night, when the health team attached to our humanitarian organization brought into town a host of my bosses, including our country director ("the big boss lady," as we say here), my own supervisor and two project coordinators. Accompanying them was a British photographer on contract to document one of our ...
Delivering a Baby: A Little Something I Learned in Liberia
MONROVIA, Liberia -- When I accepted a yearlong fellowship as a grants intern with a humanitarian organization in Liberia a year ago, I had high hopes for my return to West Africa. Dreadfully nostalgic for my time as a Peace Corps volunteer -- when every day felt meaningful and interesting and pushed me to my limits -- I told myself I had to get back to Africa. So what if I'm not really interested in grant writing or donor reporting, I told myself. Even if my day job is somewhat mundane, the time I spend out of the office getting to know the culture and people of Liberia will make it all ...
As Sudden Violence Hits Liberia, Aid Worker Holds Out Hope
MONROVIA, Liberia -- On Tuesday morning last week, I was making the nine-hour drive to Monrovia to meet up with my boss and have some R&R after two months in Voinjama, the town where I work for a humanitarian organization. As I stared out the window and contemplated the lives of the people around me, I was optimistic. With the rains over and the heat increasing by the day, new houses and buildings are being erected everywhere. Construction, I thought to myself, is a symbol of progress -- a sign that Liberians feel safe and hopeful enough to invest themselves again in their country, just seven ...
Oh, Pakistani Peacekeeper, 'My Titty Is for Me!'
Shortly after I arrived in Liberia last autumn -- I am here for a year working for the International Rescue Committee -- my town of Voinjama participated in the international "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence." To demonstrate our support for the cause, my co-worker and I assembled along with the locals at the beginning of the march. Were we in for a surprise. Two teenage girls with megaphones started to lead a song about not beating your wife, and the parade started to move. After only a few minutes of the first song, the parade leaders decided to switch to something much more ...
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