Liberia
Africa · Country #155
Did you know?
Liberia is the only African country that was never formally colonized by a European power and was founded by formerly enslaved African Americans in 1847.
My Experience
My time in Liberia got off to a stressful start. I normally avoid checking my duffel bag at all costs, but the airline in Sierra Leone insisted it was oversized, so I had no choice. When I arrived in the capital, Monrovia that night, it never appeared on the baggage carousel. Convinced I’d never see it again, I had a complete meltdown in the airport. Thankfully, just as I was beginning to lose hope, an airport employee walked into the baggage hall with my duffel bag slung over his shoulder. They’d simply forgotten to unload it from the plane, which was about to continue on to Belgium.
In most countries I visited, I tried to plan a day trip outside the capital to get a better sense of its beauty and culture. For Liberia, I chose Blue Lake after seeing photos of it online. After a three-hour drive, I discovered the area had been fenced off because of mining operations by American and Chinese companies. Whether through corruption, poor governance, or a combination of both, it was hard not to feel that Liberia’s natural beauty was being sacrificed instead of protected. While unsuccessfully pleading with the security guards to let me pass and see the lake, I learned there was an abandoned United Nations peacekeeping base nearby. I hopped on the back of a motorcycle taxi and headed there instead, where I learned more about the UN’s mission during Liberia’s devastating civil wars, which claimed an estimated 250,000 lives and left lasting scars across the country.
The highlight of my visit came back in the capital. Before arriving, I’d connected with a young man named Windell, who ran an organization called Four Hunger that built clean water wells in the West Point slum of Monrovia. I’d recently founded Humanity Effect, and after seeing his work in person, I announced to the local community that we would fund the construction of his organization’s tenth well. It was a meaningful moment, and I was grateful to support Windell, whose determination to improve the lives of people in his own community left a lasting impression on me.
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