Friends and family! We are on our fourth full day here in LIB and oh man, there are a lot of things to unpack and process. My mom and I (Kelsie) have spent a lot of time over the last four days processing through conversation (and writing) about what we are doing here as well as for me, my first trip to Africa. I think it is safe to say that we all (those outside of Africa) have a general understanding of what life is like in Africa, the concepts of poverty, hunger, and lack of material things (there are certainly enough images online). My mom has been telling me about these things for most of my life but other peoples’ stories could never fully capture what it is like here. Same planet, different worlds.
On our second full day, we went to another nearby school (my mom was the guest speaker, which they informed her of the evening before). We traveled there mostly by keke (Liberian taxi, tricycle thing) and walked another portion of the journey. On this walk, we passed by someone’s home that was a literal metal shack, no bigger than 200 square feet. Slabs and scraps of metal pieces that were constructed in some semblance of a home. That was two days ago, and the thought of this “house” has essentially sent me into a spiral. And in full transparency, I broke down sobbing last night over this, it is gut-wrenchingly sad. My first thought when I saw this home was “How can anyone allow a family to live like this?” referencing free housing and more resources (but no one provided this dwelling for them). But my immediate thought to follow was, “How then do you create a thriving and sustainable nation?” This is the cycle of poverty. You can’t just give out free houses to everyone because there needs to be a structure of an economy. You can’t just toss money over to Africa because then you create a dependent nation, because without the aid, the country will collapse (and this is exactly what happens here). This has all led to processing questions like where are people getting money? How are people feeding their families? Is there any sense of true comfort? Do they feel their lives are hard or is this just life? What do they have to hope or work for when this is what’s at the end of the tunnel?
I think now seeing this with my own eyes, I am really understanding poverty and the cycle that it comes in. In America, yes, we have poverty, but not to these levels, nor is our country defined by poverty. When you think of America, you do not immediately think of poor and poverty as describing words, but when you describe Africa, these words are most likely in the first five used. Unfortunately. Because that takes away Liberians’ humanity. They are such lovely and welcoming people. If I could express something right now, is that what is important to understand is that money cannot just “fix” Africa. It will take commitment and drive from locals (and yes, money too) as well as education, government processes that are not corrupt, etc.
It has been an enormous amount to take in and begin processing and in just three days. It is Saturday (day 4) and we have taken a day of rest. We both can feel a cold coming on as well as just the emotional exhaustion I have felt in such a short time. Tomorrow is a big day with church, a birthday, meetings, etc. Rest is what we needed.
Please pray for:
- physical health and energy,
- cross-culture communication and understanding,
- finalization of the land purchase,
- encouragement in seeing God at work and clarity in purpose and next steps for Covenant International.