Upon Landing

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Upon Landing



After almost 24 hours of arduous journey we have finally arrived in Liberia! Stumbling into the clustered and chaotic Monrovian airport we received a gracious welcome from The Lutheran Church of Liberia, the organization we will be working with throughout our stay here. Their hugs and kind words truly made us feel at home. We crammed into their minivan with our piles of luggage and we made safe tip to the guest house where we were fed (Spicy Jileef Rice (sp?) and Fried Chicken), given a tentative itinerary for the month and sent to bed (On an exciting note we saw President’s motorcade on the way to the guest house!).

As most of you, don’t know much about this country (and neither did I prior to coming)Throughout this blog Ill try to give you the rundown of the country. I thought Id give you a very very brief history (very very brief) on the country of Liberia for all those unfamiliar. In short, the country itself was established following the American Civil War in an attempt to transplant freed slaves back to Africa… hence the name “Liberia” (Liberty, freedom and all that). In actuality though the country is predominantly made up of indigenous peoples whereas only about 2.5% of the population are actual descendants from slaves. (As a side note the city of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, was named after President James Monroe. ) In 1985 civil war broke out and lasted in various waves until 2003. Currently the country is in a state of rebuilding and development.

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