| Liberian Life Style and Pictures |
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Living in Liberia with the people for a couple of years provided some insights
into the Liberian life style. Guess the way to talk about this is to discuss
major areas about Liberian life styles along with my thought on these matters.
These are just my opinions and it may be a different way, but we have to start
somewhere.
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| Liberia is a country of very rich, and very poor. When I was there, the average annual income was $200 a year. I took these pictures on the same day from the front of the Ducor hotel, and the other from the back on the same floor. Prosperity and poverty exist side by side. Poverty is the dominate economic condition. |
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Transportation is difficult, there are no passenger trains or long
distance buses. There are a few air fields but most can accommodate
only small planes. The majority of the roads are made of unpaved dirt
and are often washed out. The major mode of transportation is what is
called a "Money Bus". A small pick up truck with a cover. They cram as
many people who can fit into it (some times more who hang onto the
back, or clutch to the top) This is a picture of a "Money Bus", with some new PCVs. |
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Clothes are usually made of cotton because of the heat. Short sleeves. The
woman in blue is wearing what is called a "flamingo" dress, very
popular. The woman bending down is wearing several
"Lapas" wrapped on and tied. The "Lapas" is one by two meter piece of
cotton cloth. The formal dress for men is the "Swearing in suit" which
has a top like a dashiki and matching pants. It first became popular when
politicians wore them during their swearing in ceremony. In the villages both men and women wear a lapa wrapped around their waist. Woman often wear no clothes on top. Children are usually naked. Nobody wears shoes or sandals. |
| Housing in the city is almost exclusively made of cement blocks with corrugated terrazzo tile roofs. In the country, houses are made of horizontal sticks for walls, with the spaces packed with mud and plastered over with a finer material such as cow droppings. Roofs are made of either thatch (laces palm leaves) or corrugated tin. The thatched ones are often round, the corrugated roof ones square with a steep four side roof (they need it because of great rains). This would be a typical house in the town of Bombaja. |
| Shopping is limited and depends on the location. Cities have stores such as food, medicine, general Mondingo stores. All the ex patriot concessions, such as "Fire Stone" have their own stores and are a community unto them selves. Rural tribal areas have a kind of informal shopping system in which someone takes a "Money Bus" to town (or walks) and buy what they need and what their neighbors ask them for. They than sell them (make a few pennies profit). Rural tribes have 2 possible sources of income. One: selling food crops, which the women carry to the market in town on their heads. Two: Some tribe members work for one of the concessions, such as "Bong Mines" or "Firestone" and trade money for goods. |
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In this picture, the father and daughter are preparing a meal while the
"Old Ma" is in the background getting a piece of sugar cane.
Work in the village consists mostly of food growing, house construction, and other life support activities. The main thing is growing "Up Land Rice". This is done by forming a "Coop", a group of your neighbors who clear the land and preparing it for farming. Generally the members of the coop are provided with palm wine, sing and chant while working. This is done just before the "Rainy Season". People going to the city, and unable to find work may become "Rogues", (criminals) since there is not a lot of economic opportunity there. |
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In this picture is of the "Dry season"
There are two seasons, the Rainy season and the dry season. The average temperature is usually 85 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Almost all rain falls in the rainy season, about 196 inches. There are times in the rainy season when it won't rain for several days. Other times it will rain heavily all day and all night. |