This trip to West Africa is bringing back a lot of old memories – and voices – from years when I lived in another part of the world where ward had taken away years of progress and thousands of lives. Liberians have reminded me on multiple occasions that conflict takes a toll on every sector of society, and puts its stamp on those who lived it and those who will inherit its impact.
I met a man yesterday who talked openly about what price Liberia had paid for the years of civil war. I would call him a “regular guy.” He isn’t a professor, a part of the country’s elite, and didn’t have a particular agenda. Circumstances pushed us together in a setting where we could talk about his country and his opinions of development and progress. He told me, “War puts all of your progress to sleep. We here in Liberia are just starting to wake-up this country’s progress and open its eyes. Look around and you can see the parts of our country that have been sleeping. It’s got to wake-up. We have to get it moving!”
My colleague and I looked at each other. These phrases were total gems of wisdom. While he was unaware of the powerful word pictures he was drawing for us, we were learning a lot about what it’s like to live and operate in a place where so much social, economic and human potential has been overlooked or underfed or repressed.
In some ways, the conflict just begins once the shooting starts. As a communicator in a very global, very delicate word, we have to be sensitive not to forget the conflicts while telling the story of what lies beyond it. My new friends in Liberia are reminding me that both are part of their hopes, and their reality.
A note: I realize this is a bit “heavier” than what I usually write/will write, but I think this story is so important to tell. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of understanding the situation in conflicted and post-conflict nations.