I am Liberia.
My story begins in an unlikely past. Some of us were freed African-American slaves, left in this new land in 1800 to start again. Others of us were born here. All of us joined together; with hopeful eyes and hard-working hands we built a government based on the principles of freedom. We called our home Liberia — Land of the Free. (liberiapastandpresent.org)
Then, in December, 1989, civil war came. We had troubles in the past, but this was newer, uglier. War ravaged us until 2003. By then, 250,000 of my friends and neighbors had died.
In the aftermath 80% of my countrymen were left unemployed, and the downward spiral of poverty began to take it’s hold.
But this isn’t the end of my story, because this is where you became a part of it.