Sunday, September 11, 2016

PS - Weekend in Ghana

After I wrapped up in Liberia, I took the short flight over to Ghana for a three-day visit. It was very interesting to see the relatively high level of development in Accra (the capital city), as opposed to Monrovia, and it was another reminder of how a war can really set a country back decades in the development process. What was really striking to me were the suburban houses and communities that surrounded the city and how that doesn’t exist at all in Liberia. Of course there is still poverty in the city and in the rural towns, but progress is being made.

Suburban homes leaving Accra

While in Ghana, I took the two-and-a-half-hour taxi to Elmina and Cape Coast. Here, I toured the famous castles which once housed slaves before they were sent to the Americas. The castles were stunning, but the thought of the buildings as houses of horror was a sobering reminder of the evils of slavery.

Elmina Castle



 
Elmina fishing port

Door of no return at Cape Coast Castle




Cape Coast Castle











































On my trip outside of Accra, I also visited the Kakum National Park which includes a 1,150-foot canopy tree walk with stunning views of the tropical rainforest.

Kakum National Park
Kakum Forest



























On my last day in Accra I checked out the Kwame Nkrumah monument – a tribute to Ghana’s first post-colonial president and explored more of the growing city.

Kwame Nkrumah Monument

Wrapping Up

View of Zorzor community from my guesthouse
In my second to last week, I was back in Zorzor – the small town in which I spent my first several days in Liberia. I remember that during my first visit, the culture shock of living in rural Liberia completely consumed my thoughts and actions. I was struggling to understand Liberian English; learning how to take a bucket shower, flush toilets without running water, and shut off the light in my room; worrying about mosquitoes and malaria, and trying to enjoy my sardine and mayonnaise breakfast sandwich. But this time, after nine weeks in Liberia, I was much more comfortable in Zorzor, appreciated my spaghetti with ketchup and mayonnaise, and enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of crickets and the (relatively) cool mountain air.

Cornerstone of Guinea and Liberia
During our last night in Zorzor we met with a community leader Yeela, a small community right on the border with Guinea. We enjoyed some fresh palm wine and tobogee soup – a regional specialty. Afterwards, we ventured across the Liberian boarder with Guinea with the permission of the Liberian border guards.

Standing in two countries

After another successful training, on our way back to Ganta we stopped just outside of Gbarnga to meet some very important catfish. According to legend, all of the people who die in the nearby community are reincarnated as catfish in the adjacent creek. Out of respect, nobody eats these fish, and supposedly if you catch and sell the fish for consumption, then you will contract a life-threatening stomach ailment. My co-worker said that while at first he was skeptical of the story he became a believer during one Independence Day in which he noticed that none of the fish were hanging out at their normal spot. When he inquired to a local woman where all of the fish had gone, she said confidently that they had all gone into town for the celebration.

The catfish coming up for a snack along with all of the wrappers left by people who feed the fish

Saying goodbye to some of the restaurant staff at Jackie's.
Because I was so busy traveling in the preceding weeks, my last week in Ganta really snuck up on me. I spent the week hard at work in the office catching up projects, but also saying goodbyes to my friends in town and buying lapa to have custom clothes made. Saying goodbye was a little harder than I thought it would be – kind of like the last day of summer camp growing up. Everybody kept asking me when I was coming back and the honest answer was I didn’t know.


Saying goodbye to MLDL staff
When I left Ganta, my internship still wasn’t over. I spent that last six days in Monrovia to finish my last project, meet with some colleagues, eat at some really nice restaurants, see some of the nightlife, and do a little sightseeing. During this visit to Monrovia, I stayed at the very affordable apartments below Tides restaurant in Riverside. The restaurant is fantastic and has a great view of the ocean and West Point. My room also had an ocean view and it was pretty cool how close (literally on top) it was to the water. The only negative part is that while the thought of hearing the ocean waves all night might sound soothing, the ferocious roar of the water crashing up against the wall right below me was a bit unsettling.

View of the ocean from Tides restaurant
Staff feeding the chimps in the background
On the first day in Monrovia this time, we made it to the “Monkey Island” that I had mentioned in a previous post. From 1974 to 2005, the New York Blood Center conducted research on hundreds of chimpanzees to develop a number of treatments for humans. While medical advances were made, the chimps were kept in inhumane conditions, and many were left crippled and traumatized by the research. When the center ceased operations in 2005, it abandoned the chimps on several islands in the nearby river with little access to food. Recently, an American couple has set-up an impressive operation to safely feed the chimps and begin to fundraise to build a sanctuary for them. Part of their fundraising efforts includes tours where you can watch their team feed the chimps. I had never seen a group of chimps outside of a zoo up close before, and I was fascinated by how human-like they are.

Visiting United Christian Ministries
The second day, I attended church at United Christian Ministries at the Friends United for the Education of Liberia (FUEL Youth) school. This school and church was founded by a Liberian friend of mine who also lives in Washington, D.C., and attends the same church as I do – The District Church. We had the fortunate of meeting in church about a month before I left and he was excited to hear that I was going to Liberia and put me in touch with the pastor and principal of United Christian Ministries in Monrovia. The entire church welcomed me with extraordinary hospitality and even presented me with an African shirt as a gift. It was a surely an unforgettable experience.


As my days ticked downed in Monrovia, I spent time reflecting on my time in Liberia. It was an amazing cultural experience, an opportunity to break away from seeing everything through the Western perspective. I also learned some valuable professional and personal lessons. Among them is the question of how do you intervene without causing harm, doing damage, or creating dependency? As an American from Washington, D.C., what is the best way to position yourself as an “expatriate” in a small rural town in Liberia? What is the best way to address the root causes of poverty? I know that questions like these are common in the development community, and I’m sure to be grappling with them for quite some time.


In closing, my summer internship in Liberia was undoubted success. I am so grateful to the Conflict Resolution program at Georgetown University for the grant, The Kaizen Company for allowing me to intern one of their projects, the staff of Mitigating Local Disputes in Liberia for taking me under their wing and showing me the world of development and peacebuilding implementation in the field, the staff at Jackie’s Guesthouse for their hospitality, and my family for their blessing to go on this trip. Hopefully, my work on the project will contribute in some way to its success, but I’m thankful for all of the people I met and lessons I learned. 

View from my apartment window: Sunrise on my last morning in Liberia