Blogs

... after reporting on Malian musicians against malaria, I returned to Liberia and suddenly the M-word was everywhere. more...

... it can only mean one thing: Help.

Seven years of postwar assistance from a steady stream of international NGOs have conditioned local residents to expect a handout -- or a "hand up" -- from people who look like me. So on my first visit to Sierra Leonean clay makers, I was greeted with guarded optimism by a group of women and children sitting around piles of clay on their front porch.

The effortless beauty of Liberian gospel music is something to behold. In my first weeks here, I witnessed it in many settings: a small teenage chorus sings Mama Liberia in a schoolhouse church; a university choir debuts a special Protect the Environment ensemble at a lecture on climate change; the sounds of Sunday morning worship filter in through my bedroom windows; and the voice of a Liberian friend leaves me speechless.

I never expected her to die. When I saw little Fatmata's rotten leg up close in the operating room, and heard her painful screams in bed, I knew she was in bad shape. more...