Day 1 in Liberia

 

               Our second day of travel went smoothly, and we have now been at our lodging for 24 hours. We were welcomed to Liberian life as soon as we stepped off the airplane. To us it was chaos, but to them, it’s just normal life. We had to quickly find all 48 of our bags that we checked in Sioux Falls, and all of our carry-ons that had to get checked at different stops throughout our journey. Surprisingly to us, all of our bags were there! We exited the airport and were welcomed by many friends from our church partner, Abide in the Vine Church. Again, to us this felt like chaos.

               Our original plan for this trip was to divide into 3 groups each day and rotate between different activities. With 2 less days we decided to keep everyone together each day. Day 1 in country was the Historical Tour and Market Day. We started off by visiting a local Micro-Finance business. This business partners with a local church and offers loans and financial planning to local businesses. One thing that stuck out to all of us here is that when they offer a loan to someone, they raise their interest rate an extra 10%. This extra 10% goes into a savings account for that person. The reason behind this is to train new business owners to not be dependent on loans. This was very unique to us and gave a glimpse into the economic state of many Liberians.

From there we went to visit some of the business owners that they support at a local market. This was one of the first big eye openers for the group. This market was packed with tables in a small area, both inside and outside, but all dirt floors. This market had everything from clothes, jewelry, produce, baked goods, raw meat, and other random things. The market really stood out to many of us as it was nothing like any of us had ever experienced. Even those that went on the trip 2 years ago were amazed and shocked by this as we were unable to go there on our last trip.

Our next stop took us to downtown Monrovia where we stopped to see a national monument of Liberia’s first President. Here we heard the story of how the Republic of Liberia was started by former U.S. slaves being sent back to Africa. When these former slaves landed in Liberia, they took over the country and enslaved the natives living there. Liberia has a very unique and intricate history, and this was just the start of what we learned today.

After the stop at the monument, we went down to Unification Park. This park is very significant to Liberia. At the same site in 1980, 11 of their top government officials were executed. This was the event that started the Liberian Civil War. Today this park is one of the nicest areas in the country, completely redone with multiple turf fields, a basketball court, and lots of playground equipment. At the park we stopped for lunch and got to listen to Pastor Emmanuel Bibma share some of his stories. Pastor Emmanuel is the lead pastor of Abide in the Vine Ministries. He told us how he grew up in a rural part of Liberia as a farmer. By the age of 9 both of his parents had died, so he went to live with his grandparents. His grandparents were idol worshippers and people from around the village would come to his grandfather to sacrifice animals and asked to be blessed by him and their god. Pastor Emmanuel told us he never went to school and couldn’t speak English, only his tribal language. When he was 20 years old, he had problems with his knee so bad he couldn’t walk. No one was able to treat him and heal him. He told us he had a dream that he believed was real. A man walked into his room early in the morning, touched his leg, and told him to walk so he did so. He then woke up from that dream and was completely healed. He told this to a man he knew that was connected with his village and was a pastor. The man told him, “That was Jesus. The Lord wants to use you. You will be my disciple and learn from me.” It was striking to think about what Pastor Emmanuel has come from and where he is today. Pastor Emmanuel then told us the 3 times where he nearly died during the Civil War. These stories were unbelievable. It is crazy to think about the things that Pastor Emmanuel endured and is still always full of joy. With every story he told, Pastor Emmanuel made sure to give all credit to God. Every story he ended with, “that is how God saved my life.” This too stood out to a lot of guys and is something we hope to bring back with us. Instinctively giving credit to the Lord in all circumstances.

After lunch we stopped at the national museum.  Here we learned more about Liberia’s history, starting all the way back to the first tribes that settled in Liberia. It was very cool to see all the tribal artifacts dating back centuries. Here we also got to learn more about how the country was founded, the terrible leaders the country has had, the Civil War, and a little bit about the Ebola Crisis. After learning about Liberia’s history, specifically in the last century with all the corruption, war, and disease, it begins to make sense why 5 years ago the capital Monrovia, was named the poorest city in the world.

Our last stop of the day was at the ELWA Hospital. This hospital was ground zero for the Ebola Crisis. We got a brief tour from one of their doctors and at the end was able to ask him questions about the Ebola Crisis. This was another very eye-opening experience for us because every one of us remembers when Ebola broke out just over 10 years ago. A lot of us talked about how Ebola just seemed like something that was happening a world away and wouldn’t ever affect us. Thankfully none of us were affected, but hearing the stories of doctors really impacted us in a way that was different than anything else today, because this was something we all remembered. The coolest story we heard here was of a child not contracting the virus even though she was still being nursed by her mother who had the virus. This should’ve been a death sentence for the child, but the child never contracted the virus. The doctors could only credit God for saving that child.

Starting off the week with a day like today was super impactful and helpful. We now have a far greater understanding of the country we are in and the people we are with. In one day, we are already experiencing the uncommon faith of the Liberians. Their joy far exceeds ours even though they have so little compared to us. We are excited to see more of this throughout the week as we will get further emersed into the Liberian community.