Poverty and Industry

The above photos show some of the gritty scenes that are common in Monrovia. These kinds of photos show a little of the challenge that the people of Liberia face in surviving and giving their children a future. The photo below of the men trying to jump start a taxi with the word "challenge" on the window sort of sums it up to me. The recent civil war here is much to blame for the immense scale of poverty in Liberia. It is not so much just the visible signs of poverty, but the scale of it in this sprawling city that is so striking and difficult to digest. What is clear is that many people here are making an effort to do what they can to improve their situation, but many are barely surviving. I met a Liberian fellow named Franklin on a walk around town this past weekend and he had something interesting to say about the situation: " Those who are not determined to face the challenges of the future say that there is no job or 'this job is not fit for me'. Those who are ready to see a brighter future for themselves and for the next generation to come will seek whatever job comes their way." It is encouraging for me to see, even though it is done more out of necessity due to scarcity, rubber being recycled and used to make replacement parts for cars (as the man is doing in the photo below) and soles for sandles. At least something is being slowly done with this particular mound of "trash". Another place where people are hard at work is Rock Hill in Paynesville. There people dig up large rocks and pound them with hammers to make gravel to be sold. This is a very hard way to do the job and very dangerous since no one has safety goggles. There are many eye injuries, as a result, in this area. Machines are just not available to do the job. Another common sight are the gas stations where gasoline is sold in glass jars. The fuel is stored in a below ground tank and the fuel is pumped with a hand pump into a barrel and the barrel is emptied into glass jars. When someone pulls up for fuel the jars are emptied into the tank with the use of a funnel. In a place where the infrastructure has been so devastated by war, many of the things we use to make our lives easier are not available and so people have to use what they can to make things work however they can. It's quite a hill to climb though. One thing that is so sad about Liberia is that so many of the children here are not in school because their parents can't afford to pay their school fees. Instead, they are out on the streets selling whatever they can find in order to make a little money to live on. Education is certainly a major part of the solution for Liberia, but many times immediate needs win out. May God give Liberians the strength to move forward into a better future.

John