LIBERIA 2025!!

Liberia lies in West Africa, just north of the Equator and just east of the Prime Meridian. It is surrounded by Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast.


 

......We left Grand Rapids on Saturday March 15 and arrived in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia on Sunday evening, a door-to-door journey of about 31 hours. We are serving for a month at ELWA Hospital, an 81 bed facility located about an hour outside of the capital. Things are quite different than when we first served here in 1977!!

The old hospital, started in 1965, was replaced in 2016 by a new building built by Samaritan's Purse. The radio station, which at one time broadcast throughout West Africa, now is more of a local station.

The ELWA base is right along the Atlantic Ocean and occupies a 100 acre compound that includes the Hospital, a Dental Clinic, the Radio Station, and ELWA Academy which includes grades K-12.

Our home for the next month - hot water, good kitchen, reliable electricity, and reliable internet through the cellphone carrier Orange!

 

Here is the view as we leave our front door.

The beautiful Atlantic Ocean!!! We have been to the beach several times - the waves at high tide are incredible!!         

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LIBERIA – a few facts! (thanks to Wikipedia)

**Population: 5.5 million

**Area: 43,000 square miles, slightly less than half the size of Michigan

**Language: officially English but there are about 20 indigenous languages used

**Religion: 85% Christian (various Protestant denominations and Catholic);

                     12% Muslim, 3% other

**GDP: ranks about #179 poorest out of 186 countries

**Brief history:

The American Colonization Society was formed in the US in 1816 to support

repatriation of free people of color and emancipated slaves. Some claimed that this would give them a chance for freedom and prosperity in Africa but some thought that these people might not integrate well into American society and some white Americans believed that African Americans were inferior. In any event, the African American community opposed this project, believing that what appeared to be altruism and philanthropy was actually racism.

 Between 1822 and 1861, about 15,000 freed and free-born African Americans and 3000 Afro-Caribbean people were located to Liberia. Many succumbed to tropical diseases.

 Liberia declared independence in 1847 but was not recognized by the United States until 1862; it is the oldest modern republic in Africa.

 Americo-Liberians did not integrate well with the indigenous tribes and formed a small political elite that was in control for many years. This dominance was broken in 1980 when a violent military coup ended Americo-Liberian rule and a dictator from an indigenous tribe took over. In 1990, this dictator was assassinated in the midst of a civil war which lasted until 1997 when a rebel leader was elected. A second civil war erupted in 1998 and lasted until 2003 when the rebel leader was overthrown and went into exile.

 During these coups and civil wars, about 250,000 Liberians were killed, many were displaced from their homes, and the Liberian economy tanked by 90%

 Democratic elections were finally held in 2005 and there has been political stability since.

The country was rocked again from 2014-2016 when Liberia was the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. The 3 Americans med-evacuated to the US urgently all served at ELWA Hospital.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------