Liberia Going Down

DG9-17-13

Liberia is on the decline. Of the African countries and indeed on the world scale Liberia’s economic indicators are going down. It is extremely marked even when you graph Liberia against other Third World countries.

A 1965 Liberian Peace Corps Volunteer recently came back to visit his former high school and spoke with a current Peace Corps Volunteer. He asked how things are going. When the current volunteer explained his housing without water or electricity, the former volunteer was amazed. He talked about running water, flush toilets, electricity, and even a washing machine in his village house, things today the current volunteers never have hopes of seeing.

The same can be said for schools in general and Cuttington University in particular. The Good Old Days before 15 years of civil war ripped this place apart were “The Good Old Days”, certainly for the few who could trace their lineage back to America.

One of the questions I hope to answer is what is the future for my students. After all they are the ones who suffered the most as young children during the war years.