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.