Worst…
-dealing with clothes that seem to constantly have a mildewy odor since it is difficult for clothes to air dry effectively during the rainy season
-serving as the catalyst for a domestic dispute
-arriving at work, on several occasions, being soaked as a result of the sudden downpours that are common here during the rainy season
-getting into an argument with an immigration official over a ‘mandatory’ $20 fee-all in order to get a stamp in my passport
-finding my backpack chewed through as a result of mice and then, trying unsuccessfully, to keep them out of my room

Best…
-riding on the back of Sekou’s motorcycle to eight villages in and around the North Loma rainforest in Lofa County
-drinking palm wine and eating cola nuts with various town chiefs and community members as I was welcomed to the various villages
-interacting with the children in Konia during my stay at the guesthouse
-sitting with my friends Joscee and Karpo at the ocean-side drinking spot in Congo Town reflecting upon life while seated under a palm-thatch umbrella and a full moon
-eating fresh mangos, bananas, coconut and pineapple

Children in Tubmanburg...the future of Liberia

Children in Tubmanburg...the future of Liberia

I have come to realize that my worst experiences were often mere annoyances to most Liberians who deal with these challenges on an almost daily basis.  And thus, I cannot call them bad experiences but rather, learning opportunities.  Having heard many stories from Liberian friends about the atrocities they witnessed during the war-from beheadings to rape, it seems that while there are still numerous daily struggles, most people are happy that there is no war and are optimistic about the future.

The greatest lesson I have come to learn is of the dire need for education.  Whether from seeing university students who still have trouble reading at the level of an average American 5th grader or learning of the lack of awareness of the importance of forest conservation despite the fact that, according to the Forest Development Authority, 90% of Liberians depend on the forests for their livelihoods, education is key to Liberia’s future development.

Whether teaching mothers about the potential health effects of drinking alcohol while breast feeding or teaching men and women about how to sustainably harvest non-timber forest products, as opposed to cutting down entire trees for a one-time benefit, my summer has helped me to learn of the need for improved educational systems and infrastructure.  I hope that our ongoing collaboration to develop and implement an environmental and conservation education program will be a modest investment in that effort.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TFcJwJAnlU

On a recent visit to the Forestry Training Institute (FTI), it was readily apparent that the basic infrastructure of the school was in need of repair.  From buildings without roofs to desks that are almost too small to take notes on, the basics needed to hold classes are limited.  The school grounds were home to a contingent of UN Peacekeepers who helped to rehabilitate a few of the buildings but given that the school used to have nine dormitories, staff housing, a cafeteria, and several classrooms, it is disheartening to see the lack of resources now available to students.

Site of former library/resource center at FTI. The contents of the library were looted during the war.

Site of former library/resource center at FTI. The contents of the library were looted during the war.

As the only forestry school in the sub-region (constituting Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast), FTI was a well-regarded establishment before the war.  Recently, the school has begun to again offer courses.  With limited funds from the government, the director was attempting to provide teachers and resources for 120 students.  Now, there are about 75 students remaining as they have either been disheartened by the limited capacity of the school or have decided to pursue other options.

The director expressed the need for qualified instructors to teach curriculum.  Currently there are 19 instructors but only nine are provided any salary.  The rest are volunteering their time-as they understand the importance of training future forestry technicians.  Being that the public and private universities here do not offer environmental science or forestry degrees, this school is vital to the proper functioning of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in the coming years.  The FDA is the ministry in charge of overseeing the country’s forests and wildlife.

Patrick Garteh teaches botany and dendrology at the Forestry Institute in Tubmanburg

Patrick Garteh teaches botany and dendrology at the Forestry Institute in Tubmanburg

Even with the paid and voluntary instructors, students do not have textbooks or a library in which to study their coursework.  And the texts that the teachers are using seem largely outdated.  I recently perused the botany text being used by instructor Patrick Garteh, which was dated from the 1960s and only had black and white photos.  With no color photos and limited ability to study tree species in the field, the ability for students to identify tree species correctly seems limited.

Director Florma hopes that a partnership with an international logging company or an American university could provide some resources to help augment the current capacity of the school.  Additionally, through some advocacy work, hopefully we can ensure a post or two can be created for a Peace Corps Volunteer to teach at the school, as occurred prior to the war.

As the future budget allocation from the government does not look to be increased substantially, it seems new partnerships will be vital to the ability for FTI to graduate qualified, knowledgeable forestry technicians and mechanics.

Therefore, we are working in partnership with colleagues here in Liberia to identify and create lessons that help to build an appreciation for nature and the basic biological functions that forests provide.  Since science curricula is very limited and often non-existent in most schools in rural areas here, community awareness of environmental issues often needs to begin at the basics.

We are working to develop lessons on the value of biodiversity-that is, the importance of plants, animals, climate and people to a functioning biological system.  Then we hope to explain the idea of a food chain and food web.  Creating awareness about how water circulates through various channels will also be important since rainforests rely upon and are important for the proper functioning of the water cycle.

Many people do not understand that the soil on which they farm-that which was recently rainforest, will only provide adequate nutrients for one or two years of agriculture.  Without fertilizers or natural organic matter to use to increase the productivity of fields, slash and burn clearing of rainforests will continue as farmers seek soil with more nutrients as their current fields fail.  Helping increase community awareness about soil limits and how best to augment the current agriculture system is important (i.e. through agroforestry-a system combining tree crops and more traditional crops so as to preserve forest cover and still provide food production for families).

Another component of clearing of the forests that relates to both water quality and the productivity of soils is the lack of awareness of how erosion occurs.  Creating awareness about what happens when soil is exposed without cover, especially in a tropical country where rainfall is high (nearly 4,300 mm per year in the interior of Liberia), is an important lesson that needs to be better understood amongst rural Liberians.

Children as well as adults are important players in forest conservation efforts

Children as well as adults are important players in forest conservation efforts

A colleague at Flora and Fauna International has helped us to remember that even as we attempt to design lessons for children, we can often use these same activities for adults since often the adults may be illiterate or lack the basic science knowledge that their children also need.

Our goal is to help communities realize how dependent they are upon the forest-something many stated they understand but yet it appeared most do not fully appreciate the intricacies of the relationship.  We believe that once communities understand their relationship with the forest and the limits of ecosystems, they will be better able to manage the forest sustainably.  As animal species decline as a result of hunting, slash and burn clearing of forest areas for planting increases and cutting of trees for building escalates, communities will be the key monitors and enforcers of conservation.  As Liberia aims to expand the presence of community forest ownership and management, environmental awareness will be vital to its long-term success.

While SADS shares an office with Conservation International (CI), which affords it a somewhat reliable electrical source and internet connection, even this proves sporadic.  A recent story will help to illustrate.

Two generators power the office.  Often, midday the one generator that is used overnight runs out of fuel and the office temporarily loses power.  The next generator is usually then booted up to bring lights and computers back to life.  A few weeks ago, when the switch was made, the staff in the SADS office were largely unaware of the loss of power and when the second generator was turned on, the surge of power ended up blowing the battery charger for the organization’s laptop computer.

After a few days, SADS was able to find some funding to pay for a new power strip, which was a considerable expense ($80).  Then, late last week the internet stopped working.  Apparently there were some problems with the server and the connection into the CI office.  For five days the office had no functioning internet connection.

Yesterday we were delighted to get the internet working again only to find that after 15 minutes the server crashed.  And thus, we were unable to write emails or search for potential funding sources.  Nor were we able to research the curriculum we hope to develop for the upcoming environmental education project.

Michael and Josephine work on a computer in the SADS office

Michael and Josephine work on a computer in the SADS office

Thus, Peter and I decided to go to an internet café so that we could at least catch up on email correspondence.  We began browsing but after 10 minutes the connection was lost and we had to wait 20 minutes for the staff at the café to reestablish the connection-which remained quite slow in comparison to most connections in the U.S.

And thus, is the story of the day at the SADS office and in Liberia.

In addition to the challenges posed by the power supply and unstable internet service, there are staff members who lack basic computer skills.  I have begun to train Franklin on basic computer skills but when the computer cannot be turned on and when there is only one computer for three staff persons, the ability to conduct an intensive training is limited.

These issues related to basic infrastructure for a functioning NGO are great challenges as SADS attempts to develop projects, acquire funding and build their own staff’s capacity.

As families reestablish their fields and rebuild their homes, there is, as of yet, little ability to raise livestock.  Therefore, most families rely on hunting of various animals in the forest as a source of protein.  While almost all people interviewed recognized the animals as a valuable food source, few acknowledged the decrease in presence of many species.

The forests hold a valuable traditional use as a source of medicines to cure a wide variety of ailments.  In the same vain, the male and female secret societies that permeate the rural culture depend on the forest for their meeting place.  These meeting places are hidden amongst towering trees and winding vines.

Nearly all of those interviewed, whether children or elders, iterated the importance the forest provides as a source of timber, both for building homes and for selling to market.  Related to logging, some families have begun to harvest non-timber forest products, but for the most part, this harvesting has been conducted in unsustainable means, involving cutting down of the entire tree instead of selectively harvesting to allow the tree to produce more fruit over the coming months.

Another key component of our assessment was to determine the awareness of the communities to the proposed protected area as delineated by the Forest Development Authority of the Liberian government.  Some were aware of the proposed boundaries while a few knew that they were not to harvest or hunt within these boundaries.  Many women and young people were completely unaware of the proposed boundaries all together.

It was apparent from our assessment that basic environmental and conservation concepts are needed in Lofa County, especially near the proposed protected area.

In our meetings, I did find one individual, Mulbah G. Mulbah, who was well aware of the challenges faced by global warming, declining animal species and the need for education related to conservation and the environment.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYU7EWMUM_E

SADS hopes that with a concentration on education and skills training, more people in Lofa County will become aware of the need to conserve forest resources.  Simultaneously, SADS aims to provide people with new skills so that they can begin to make a living without having to rely exclusively on forest resources.

Traveling to Lofa County in the northern-most portion of Liberia is no simple task. Transportation in Monrovia—the capital of Liberia—is challenging enough, let alone trying to arrange transportation to a county on the border of Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Public transport means sharing a taxi with several others and their cargo, plus frequent stops to unload passengers and cargo as well as subsequent stops to fill the taxi where they left a void. The other option, renting a private vehicle, is costly due to the distance and road conditions which require a 4-wheel drive vehicle.

The road to Konia town in Lofa County. Photo by Adam Welti for SADS

Timber waiting for market alongside the road to Konia town.

After the most recent election, peace has brought cautious optimism to the country along with a flood of international development organizations. With this influx of international work comes an influx of foreigners needing transport to carry out their programs throughout the country. Private, all-terrain vehicles are a prized possession and the rent for these vehicles is high (as much as $150 per day for travel to distant counties). SADS, operating on a small, largely grant-funded budget, has to rely on specific project funding in order to be able to travel to Lofa or Nimba counties to do their capacity building and training work. Thus, high transportation costs such as these limits the ability for SADS staff to carry out their work.

During the rainy season, roads are covered in water and suffer from numerous potholes. Once off the paved roads, gullies and washouts are commonplace. For these reasons, our trip to Lofa County took nearly seven hours. With a late start we arrived to Konia, the main town in the Ziama Clan in Lofa County, late in the night.

While non-governmental organizations are often under funding constraints, what is readily apparent is the challenge for those people living in Lofa County is the difficulty in getting to a major town to be able to buy and sell goods, receive medical attention or attend high school (as most often only elementary schools are located in small towns).

With a national government budget of just over $100 million, funds for infrastructure development are limited. In a country attempting to rebuild their entire electric, transport and market systems, funds for road improvements in remote areas are quite limited. At the same time, further development of roads into forested areas often means greater deforestation, which is a challenge SADS is working to abate.

Village of Vetesu, near the border of Guinea

Village of Vetesu, near the border of Guinea

Despite these challenges, I was able to spend two weeks in Lofa County, meeting courageous, optimistic people. In the coming blogs, I will highlight these people and their stories.

As we rode in a bus bound for Cape Coast, Ghana, site of a former slave-trading fort, my friend Carly pointed out the Liberian refugee camp as we passed. The camp, located on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana, was one of many camps established during the 14-year civil war that claimed an estimated 300,000 Liberian lives. At the time, I did not realize the many connections this camp would have with my work in Liberia.

Having arrived in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, after visiting Ghana for one week, I quickly came to see just how fragile the peace is here. As our plane landed, I noticed a dozen UN helicopters as well as UN emblazoned trucks and various supplies locked in a secure compound just near the country’s international airfield. It was a sobering sight, but one that reminds me that the international community has acted so as to provide a security force in the country.

Currently I am staying with a host family in Monrovia. My host brother Joscee spent nearly 15 years in Ghana, from the time he was a young child until just a few years ago. His mother and six sisters had to quickly leave the country as the fighting moved toward the capital.

While most of the refugees in Ghana have returned to Liberia, or decided to establish a new home for themselves in Ghana, some families remain at the camp.

The peace in Liberia is fragile, largely due to the fact that many former combatants are now living amongst those who fled. The challenge has been developing employment opportunities for this largely young population.

My work with Skills and Agricultural Development Services (SADS) will be focusing on helping rural communities claim their rights and find means of income, so as to mitigate the challenges posed by deforestation. As the civil conflict occurred throughout the country, this work will hopefully also contribute to creating a sustainable means to development while forging a new means of peace.

As families begin to rebuild their lives, and often, quite literally, their homes, I think back to the incredible challenge life in a refugee camp must have been. The optimism that I see in Liberians is humbling given the atrocities they have seen and challenging life they have lived. I look forward to a fruitful collaboration with SADS and rural communities. Hopefully our work will create a positive way forward for the communities with whom we work.

In the coming days I will depart for West Africa—a region of historic volatility but now showing glimmers of hope. The countries in this region are attempting to increase their communities’ standards of living. Despite the history of challenges in this region, the people have a sense of optimism that allows them to look toward the future for hope.

It is this optimism that will drive my work this summer with Skills and Agricultural Development Services (SADS). Through my fellowship with The Advocacy Project (AP), the volunteers of SADS and I will work to educate rural communities about the importance of environmental protection. Simultaneously, for those communities well aware of the repercussions from deforestation or mining pollution, we will collaborate to empower these communities to organize and defend themselves from injustice. A main component of my fellowship with AP will be to work with SADS to build their organizational capacity and help publicize their work, through blogging, photography and video content of those with whom SADS works.

Training in Washington, DC

Training in Washington, DC

These are challenging goals, but it is through the collaboration of Liberians that these goals will be realized. As much as this fellowship is to benefit me with experience organizing communities, at the same time, and equally important, this work will move only as far as the community members with whom we collaborate wish or hope to see things progress.

After a few days of training in Washington, DC, I am headed to Accra, Ghana for a brief visit before arriving in Monrovia, Liberia. And so the journey begins to a region I have been yearning to explore for several years. I hope this partnership proves intriguing and educational for me, but most importantly, helpful and useful for Liberians.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e53JYTZMOOA