Another trip to Liberia (Part 1)

'tis the season in Liberia: the rainy season that is. Think of a hard hard downpour, one in a summer thundershower in Texas or NYC. Now think of it going on for 12, 18, or even 24 hours at a go. Feet of rain falling from the sky.

I know what you're thinking, because it's what I was thinking too: flooding (ok, so maybe only nerdy water engineers would ever think that, but I am at peace with myself). By a miracle, rather than by careful planning and maintenance of infrastructure (this is Liberia, remember), this city somehow doesn't flood, and people don't loose their possessions in the rains. They just huddle and shiver (it's only about 25C or 75F), the streets empty, etc... As soon as the sun shines, everyone pours out into the streets again, dry their clothes, and they go back as if nothing had happened, as you can see below.


On 26 July, it was also Independence Day, celebrating 160 years of a free Liberia. Some ill-mannered people pointed out that there's not much to celebrate, but they were shushed. The President went to Buchanan for the celebration, in an effort to show that there is something outside of Monrovia. Once you get over the Xmas-like shopping crowds, and the fact that everyone will ask you for "my 26" (which is a gift given on that day), then you can start to enjoy the ambiance of celebration. People are out, dressed to kill; it's a good show. Children run around, screaming and playing in the streets. They go to their relatives for small gifts (5 L$, or about 1/3oth of a USD). See the shopping crowds below, remember that these are streets, and that I am taking the pictures from inside a car trying to plow through this mass of people...

Trip to Liberia, Part Deux

I took some more pictures of posters, because they have been popular so far.

This one is part of the project that I am working on (Electricity and Water Sector Rehabilitation). The order of the flags on the lower right is according to who gives more, or, in this case, according to who makes the poster. This was made by an American company named IRG, who is funded by USAID, and so the first flag is the USA, even though the EC is giving more... The person in the center of the poster is the president, Ellen Shirleaf-Thompson, who is plugging the country in, just as she promised in her inauguration speech.



There is a new campaign of cheaper posters made of tarp materials. You can see that most of them are financed by the government and some donors, except one below. My guess is that you can pick which ones. It's interesting that someone is piggy-backing on the format of the government's communication campaign to make their own political statements.

As you can see from the logos, the EC is not involved in telling people to rat on their neighbors...
At the risk of sounding like Stalin or Mao...



I think everyone can agree on these two.

I am not sure that this is what Liberia needs most right now, but then again...
Really?

Liberia, more posters

If you are bored, please skip to see picture of Greece and whatnot.

I apologize for the quality of some of these shots, as I take them from inside a car, sometimes driving at high speed, and then have to blow up the pictures to get to the part that matters.

Technically, this is a statue, but still: "Even wars have limits" ?!? (does this mean something?)Click on this one to see the artwork on the face of the child and woman. Notice the two solutions to the problem: conciliation and litigation.
Now you know why your mother wanted you to vacuum your room when you were 13...
In the great "rape is a crime" tradition, I bring you:
Click to see the child soldier on the upper left. The trauma is still there...
In a completely different style, sponsored by the UN, who have the money for these large-format photo posters. There are a few others like this, such as "Peace through justice" or "Justice for all"


"The Process is On", which is the reconstruction motto launched by president Ellen S-T. Note that one of two things featured here is streetlights. This was a major demand of the Liberian people, not least of which because of street safety (Monrovia is still very dark at night), but also because people who can't afford electricity can still enjoy light by hanging out outside under the streetlights.

"Prevent malaria during pregnancy", sounds like a good idea to me... it encourages women to take malaria medication while they are pregnant. Makes me wonder what our crazy risk-averse doctors would say about that...
HIV-AIDS Education:

Trip to Liberia, the end

Some random pictures, including several of murals and adverts, and field trip to the Mount Coffee hydro plant.

First, the Bong Mine Express. (I don't know either...)
The gates of the army barracks, currently occupied by UN MIL troups engaged to train the new Liberian army and police.

This is so random, complete with Lassie and the weird suburban development in the back, that I just had to put it up.

Greg standing in the old engine room of the now-looted Mount Coffee hydro plant. What you see behind me are falls on the old over-flow channel. This is about 1.5 hours out of Monrovia, about 1/2 of which is spent driving at less than 10mph because the roads (well, they are really dirt tracks once you get past some former president's house) are so bad.
The view from the dam of the hydro plant. You can see a great gash between that little hill and the concrete structure: that is where rebels blew up the dam in order to disable the hydro plant. It was a decision whose strategic intelligence escapes me.
These guys work as "security" in the old engine room. Behind them, you can see the wrecks of the turbines, which they have been scrapping as raw steel. They claim that they have a contract with a company in Monrovia, who sells the scraps to the Chinese. hmmmm..... To understand the magnitude of their work (and the destruction that they've wrought), you have to realize that the great big hole to the left of the guy in yellow once contained a giant cylinder of steel, 10 m high (30 ft) by 5 m diameter (15 ft), and that they work with a small blowtorch with a 5 gal gas canister...

We passed an empty market on the way out to the hydro plant. Note that the stall is made of bamboo, which grows plentiful around there.

Mudhuts in a village on the way to the hydro plant.



The oldest (and prettiest) church in Monrovia.
Another ad for drinks...

Bertrand and Katherine Visit

Michele's friend from UT visited us in Paris. She's on a Fullbright doing research in Rome and Spain (some people have it rough).


Bertrand paid us a visit that same weekend, and got a chance to learn how to be a father...

Of course, we know what's baking in there, but we can't say it in a public forum, since my dad has decided that he wants to be the only person in the world not to know...