Liberia, Day 3

From Where in the World is Dad?

Hi Ruth! I'm still in Liberia, in Monrovia.

Today we had some better luck than yesterday. This morning, we went over to the University of Liberia, to visit the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation. The campus is very busy - people everywhere, and lots of construction. But they still don't really have enough room for everyone - Miss Susan and I had to walk quietly to not interrupt a teacher who was teaching the in the hallway. We got to talk with a man who came back to Liberia from the UK right as the fighting started - he landed in Liberia the same day that Miss Susan left. He spent a long time trying to help young people were were part of the fighting go back to school, and then he worked to help people with his church out in the rural areas before coming back to work at the new University. We also met another teacher, from Germany, who knew a lot about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was a process set up after the fighting so that people could apologize to each other and try to stop being angry. But, unfortunately, we also talked a lot about how many of the people who were fighting were still getting to keep the things they took by fighting.

After talking to him, we went over to speak with a woman who is part of WONGOSOL, a group that helps to organize groups of women in Liberia who want to make things better, especially ones who work to stop fighting. We talked to her for a while about things that people did during and after the fighting to stop it, and how women - who, in Liberia, were often told that they could only be mothers and wives - decided to do so many other things.

Then we went to a restaurant where the internet worked, so I could talk to Mommy. I get lonely when I can't talk to you and Mommy.

From Where in the World is Dad?

When we were there, I called someone we were trying to meet, and she said that we should come right away! So we did. She runs another organization that helps groups of women learn about how to talk to the government (it was set up by Congresswoman Margolis, who Mommy might know). While we were there, she had a surprise guest - a woman who was very important in rural Liberia came to visit. This woman had done a lot to help people hurt by fighting in the rural areas - she ran a school that she paid for herself, and had started a business where people could come and weave shirts and cloth and still go to school, so that people who were fighters could also do other things instead. She invited the lady we were meeting with to go see her school graduation on Sunday, and invited us too, which was a great honor. I'll take pictures!

I hope everything is better now - I didn't know you had such storms! Just remember the storm can't hurt you, and Mommy and Grammy are there. Now I'm back in my hotel room, doing some work, and writing to you. I love you, and I'll see you in just 6 days.