Welcome to Liberia Sir (Luke Nephew - Liberia)

“Welcome to Liberia, Sir.” Even though it’s weird to be called sir, I feel that strange anxiety in my chest start to come undone with the warmth of his smile. We’ve just landed in a small country on the west coast of Africa called Liberia. It was ‘founded’ by freed slaves from America in 1822. The lineage of these ‘Americo-Liberians’ runs clearly into the present day as they control most of the countries economic and political power, despite constituting only five percent of the national population. Even today Liberians of all ages show an intense interest in all things American. The country was recently ravaged by a 14 year Civil War that ended in 2003 after taking the lives of 300,000 Liberians and displacing 1 million. The country only had roughly 2.1 million people. But five years later, Liberia is bustling and moving forward, and here we are to sit and listen.