Liberia’s long wait to turn on the lights

Jun 22 2012 under liberia | 1 Comment

A version of this article was originally published at Al Jazeera English on June 22, 2012.

Bessi Marshall sits outside her home in near-total darkness. Around her, four young grandchildren huddle close, never venturing more than an arm’s length into the surrounding shadows. Despite living just a few houses back from the main road in Jallah Town, in central Monrovia, Marsha’s family has no electricity. The only light comes from a small cooking fire.

During the night, Marshall fears for her family’s safety. “I can’t sleep,” she says. “I stand at that window and am very afraid.”

In addition to security, Marshall, says that electricity – or current, as it is colloquially called – would let her children devote more time to their studies. In the evenings, one of her older sons, Sekou, goes to the main road to do his homework under a street light connected to the city’s electrical grid. But the traffic there is constant, making the area noisy and unsafe for younger children.

The family owns one small LED flashlight – a “China light”, as Liberians call them. But it doesn’t shine brightly enough to let everybody study at once, and Marshall complains that its dim-white glow is painful on her eyes.

“I pray to God for help, for us to get current here,” she says.

Only 0.58 per cent of the residents of this West African country have access to public electricity, according to a 2011World Bank report. Outside the capital city, public power is practically unheard of. Those who do have access to the Liberian capital’s electrical grid pay $0.43 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), likely the highest rate in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of businesses and some private homes run on diesel generators that carry a price of $3.96/kWh.

Liberia’s energy sector was devastated by 14 years of civil conflict that only ended in 2003.

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Liberia heading to Rio+20 looking for a sustainable economic future

Jun 17 2012 under liberia | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at Inter Press Service on June 15, 2012.

Deep in the forest in Gbarpolu County, northwest Liberia, a group of men working a surface gold mine are asked what will happen to the land when they are finished with it.

They laugh, and shoot each other confused glances.

Gbessay Musa, who says he left Sierra Leone in search of work three years ago, delivers a cheerful response.

“We will leave the place when there is nothing left,” he exclaims. “We will find another site where there is money. The land here, it will just be here.”

Happy for a break from digging under the day’s hot sun, the young men are in good spirits, and more laughter follows. Musa is asked if he cares about the land, or just his gold.

“The people down here, they are getting by,” he answers, not fully understanding the question. His only consideration is for the livelihoods of the men who work with him.

The miners’ indifference is understandable. After 14 years of civil conflict that only ended in 2003, opportunities for education and meaningful employment in Liberia remain limited. The war devastated this West African nation.

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Press conference in Liberia: Sirleaf and Blair duck questions and leave

Mar 16 2012 under liberia | Leave a comment

On March 7, 2012, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former British prime minister Tony Blair held a joint press conference in the nation’s capital of Monrovia. Blair was in town for his work with the Africa Governance Initiative.

After reporters had waited more than an hour, the politicians made their opening remarks, pledged their support for the efforts of the other, and then took four questions from a mix of Liberian and international reporters.

The first question was about gay rights in Liberia and was put to Sirleaf. She responded: “We have been trying to focus our work on the substantive things that drive our development agenda. Liberia will continue to preserve its traditional values.”

The second question was about gay rights in Liberia and was put to Blair. He said a lot of things, but nothing about gay rights.

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Gay in Malawi: 14 years for the “supposed crime of loving each other”

Nov 4 2011 under malawi | Leave a comment

This is an excerpt from a feature article that was originally published in Canada’s Toronto Star on October 17, 2011.

In Malawi, revealing that you are gay is a very brave thing to do. David Chibwana recounted the day he told a carefully selected few.

“My older brother by four years, he said that whatever happens, he will support me,” whispered Chibwana. “But others said that they do not want to be close to me. That they were afraid that other people would associate them with what I am; that I am gay. So they shun me.”

Since then, Chibwana (not his real name) has suffered through worse circumstances than simply being ignored.

“One evening, I was walking home and somebody shouted, “We do not want you here,” he said. “And then a group threw stones at me. I had to run away so fast.”

In the southern African nation often touted as one of the continent’s most-peaceful, gays, lesbians and transgender citizens face up to 14 years in prison for, in the words of the editorial board of the Guardian, “the supposed crime of loving each other.”

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Malawians protest a nation in decline

Sep 6 2011 under malawi | Leave a comment

This is an excerpt from a feature article that was originally published in Canada’s Toronto Star on September 6, 2011. It was coauthored with Archibald Kasakura.

By Travis Lupick and Archibald Kasakura

BLANTYRE, MALAWI—A silent line of cars and buses rolls down a hill leading out of Blantyre, Malawi. It’s an eerie thing. So quiet, save for the faint sound of rubber rolling over asphalt. Every vehicle’s engine is turned off — their drivers, desperate to save every drop of fuel.

There are much louder signs that this southern African country is missing out on the continent’s slow climb from poverty. On July 20, demonstrations caught the world’s attention, when protests turned to riots that left 19 dead.

Since then, a shaky UN-brokered dialogue between civil society leaders and President Bingu wa Mutharika has begun. But a second round of nationwide demonstrations is scheduled for Sept. 21, and the anxiety surrounding that date is palpable.

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Ten days training in Toronto, then on to Malawi

Jun 26 2011 under canada | Leave a comment

I left Bhutan on June 8. A few days in Kathmandu, Nepal. Then it was back to Vancouver. A week or so there. Then, June 18, Toronto. June 28, we leave for Blantyre, Malawi.

I’m in Toronto with Journalists for Human Rights, an international ngo that promotes human rights through media development. They’re sending me to Blantyre—Malawi’s second-largest city—to work with a newspaper called the Daily Times. I’ll be in Malawi right through until the end of December.

Malawi is one of the world’s “least developed countries”. The United Nations Human Development Index ranks it 156 out of 170 listed nations. But on the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Peace Index, Malawi places just 39 from the top —higher than any other African nation save Botswana.

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