We said good by to the Philanthropy Secretariat and the wonderful staff that thought of everything to make our visit truly exceptional. We ventured out with the founder of one of Eleos partner companies, Chid Liberty.
One of the problems with the Liberian economy is how little industry there is to employ people. Chid founded the first fair trade manufacturing company in Liberia called Liberty and Justice. The women own 49% of the t-shirt manufacturing company. Liberty and Justice provides them professional and personal training, a health savings account, a one to one match for ever dollar saved, and a bag of rice as incentive for being on time. Many of the women live in West Point, the poorest slum in Liberia which makes it the poorest slum in West Africa.
With their first dividends the women decided to rebuild the recently condemned bamboo one room school. We also drove the see the school. Driving through West Point there is mass chaos and dust everywhere. There are giant pot holes of water in the center of the dirt road. We stopped on the side of the road and walked through a labyrinth of falling down tin shed homes. Wedged among the sheds is a door leading to the recently rebuilt one room school with concrete walls and a tin roof. Inside were 50 excited school children with bright smiling faces, singing with pride to welcome us. They happily smiled for the camera and performed song after song for us. These children live in one of the poorest slums in the world and yet are considered elite because their parents can afford this little school!
We spent the last couple of days traveling to a beachside community to let everything we had seen and learn sink in. I felt like I had been on a wild ride of intense cultural travel combined with a year's worth of global studies crammed into a week.
Next and final Liberia post will tie my trip into the "Everyday" part of my blog title.
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