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Volunteer Liberia
With a
population of just 3.5 million, Liberia was a relatively peaceful nation until 1980 when the president William R. Tolbert Jr. and most of his cabinet were executed in a military coup headed by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe. A civil war erupted that saw the newly installed President Doe later captured, tortured and killed by one Charles Taylor. In 2006 Taylor
himself was found guilty of crimes against humanity and
sentenced to fifty years in prison. The life sentence he
left behind for Liberia was much more severe.
250,000 lives were lost, infrastructure destroyed, 84%
of its population living in poverty and Liberia itself
being ranked in 174th place out of 186 countries and
territories in 2013 in
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terms of life expectancy,
literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards
of a country. Today the after effects of the long civil
war are still being felt with one in ten of the entire
population being an orphaned child in a country where
there simply aren't enough adults to care for them, and
a country where serious mental health problems as a
result of the war are epidemic. This is hardly
surprising when you consider that 87% of all children in
Liberia had witnessed a family member killed, 60% had
seen other children beaten to death whilst 84% reported
that they had experienced being "surrounded by, lying
underneath or stepping on" dead bodies. As one girl
reminisced "When I close my eyes, all I can see is the
war. I often think about taking my own life."
There are many volunteer work placements in Liberia
focusing on education, mental health and orphan care
however we would recommend that only older, experienced
volunteers go there. Yes Liberia is much in need of
volunteer help, but the challenges there are so severe
they can be overwhelming for a volunteer not used to
such conditions.
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