Liberty Brought Us Here

Hi there from the Freeport: Monrovia, Liberia!!!

As expected the ship arrived safely into the harbour on March 1st, and we are slowly getting acustomed to life in this very different nation to Ghana. We arrived into the port at about 1pm last Thursday, met by a little tug boat that shall we just say - would not be able to operate legally in NZ! He tugged us up beside our dock - one of the only docks that is working here.

We were greeted by a huge host of people. Church officials, the Vice President, missionary families, the UN, and of course the advance team. The advance team are a group of five Mercy Shippers who left for Liberia in early January. They meet officials, organise screenings, organise venues for dental and eye clinics, organise water and garbage provision and generally pave the way for our arrival. One of the advance team was my boss, ward supervisor Martina - so it was great to see her face again from the dock.

We arrived to awesome African music and dancing put on by a local church. They had organised generators, and were able to sing loud enough for us to hear them on the ship at the entrance to the harbour. It was really stunning!! There are probably not many opportunities these days to arrive into a foreign port and be greeted by such a host of people. It was a little bit surreal. A great first impression of Monrovia!

From the ships nice position here in the port, we can see straight across to central Monrovia. I do not have the space to go into great detail about the recent history of Liberia - so I suggest that you widen your minds and check out the link I have posted on the right of this blog.

Basically the country has only recently come out of 14 years of civil war. Around 200,000 Liberians died in this time, most of them civilians and child soldiers. Liberia has had no electricity for 20 years, and a whole generation of young people have never been to school. The unemployment rate is 80%, and the infrastructure is next to nothing. Spot the blast holes in this building.....

However all is not lost for this 'land of liberty' - the newly elected president Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has brought hope to this hurting nation, and you can read more about her through the link I mentioned before. Liberians have high hopes for Africa's first female president.

Here is a photo of her visiting the ship on its last visit here in 2006. Having witnessed her address to the Mercy Ship crew - I think I can say that Liberia is in safe hands.

As we get used to our new surroundings, the UN presence, and tighten up security, we remain really excited to be here. The people of Liberia that we have met so far are just so pleased to have us here, and we are equally pleased to be able to help them. What we can offer is so small in the scheme of things, however it does show the people of Liberia that there is a hope and a future, plans to prosper Libeira and not to harm it, and that God and the world do care about this little nation and its people.

We watched a documentary about the civil war on Friday - the most poignant moment was when they asked a gun weilding rebel soldier during a battle what he wanted out of the war. Money? Power? Weapons? He shook his head at the film maker and said without hesitating 'pen and paper'.

A local pastor likened the current state of Liberia to the story of Nehemiah - the walls are broken, and they need rebuilding. Check it out! Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem (Liberia) is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.” Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” So they readied themselves for this good project. Nehemiah 2:17-22

Thanks for checking in. Catch you all later!