Peter's second post!

Liberia is in a phase of reinvention with a very ‘00s spin. Everything is about participatory-ness. Let’s hear from the “cross-cutting” issues of gender and HIV/AIDS while we plan which roads we need to build. Let’s take time to call the small number of entrepreneurs into a room with the Minister of Finance so that she can hear their concerns. Let’s acknowledge that there was a brutal war and lay our feelings on the table so we can move past it. Perhaps all of the touchy-feeliness is inevitable in a country whose new leadership spent most of their adulthood in the US, but it surprises me every time. Every other aspect of our setting drips with reminders that we are in Africa. (The UNICEF consultant leading the workshop I was in yesterday morning was literally drenched with sweat. His pants too—- where he’d rested his elbows on his knees when he sat down briefly.)

When I first traveled to Monrovia 6 months ago I had what I thought was a simple job: to write a new set of HIV/AIDS treatment guidelines. What a unique opportunity, I thought. To be involved in something from the beginning. But no. It turns out that there’s an opportunity like that just about every week: poverty reduction, social welfare, adoption, telecom, mining, education... The policies are all being started from nothing. It’s crazy. There’s scarcely been a law written here since 1979.

This week I am writing the Terms of Reference for a consultant to assist in creating a safe blood supply system. As far as I can tell I am one of two people in the country who is willing to put time into making this effort happen. It is not that the Ministry of Health or the government doesn’t care-- the Chief Medical Officer has expressed support for my activities when we’ve discussed them in private. But how many issues can take priority at one time? She’s got less than 40 doctors to serve the whole country. The infrastructure is lying in ruins around her. Blood supply? Yes, please make it safe for us. I have no pathologist to assign to your team. No hematologist. No modern transfusion laboratories. No money to pay for quality assurance or to advertise for voluntary blood donation. If you know anyone who is interested in helping-- yes, please have them come.
...

And they better come quick— cause we’re already onto the next plan. The Malaria Control Program had its workshop to develop its strategic framework yesterday. No doubt they started off their meeting with a song and a discussion of the impacts of the war as well.

alternative holiday gifts

If you celebrate year-end holidays by exchanging gifts, and if you, like me, dread the last-minute retail binge, try one of these sites:

www.globalgiving.com

www.kiva.org

What I love about these is that they allow you, very directly, to make a difference in someone else's life. According to a 2006 story in the Economist, Christmas/holiday spending by a typical US household is about $1600. Rather than consuming more books, toys, socks, sweaters, DVDs, books, and gadgets, why not ask for $25, $50, or even $100 of your gift to be given to someone who really, really, really needs it?

For the New Yorkers - I know you can do this. $25 is two drinks at one of the city's numerous overpriced bars. Give up a martini. Or two. It's not much to us, but a it goes a really long way in poor countries.

thanksgiving

A couple weeks ago, I celebrated Thanksgiving in Monrovia. Here are a few pictures, courtesy of our friends Jim and Amanda :

As you can see, our stovetop is, well, small.




We are extremely lucky to have an apartment large enough for 25ish:






Here are the two physicians, putting their surgical skills to good use:


And perhaps my favorite photo of the lot, here we are examining the Showtime Rotisserie. We did not, per Mr. Popeil's suggestion, "Set it and forget it."

East African underwater fiber-optic cable

On Monday, an IFC-led consortium announced the signing of loan agreements to build a new fiber optic cable along the eastern coast of Africa.

This is terrific news. Let's just hope they actually start it in mid-December, as planned. According to an article from Red Herring, construction had originally been scheduled to start in 2006.

The Red Herring article also mentions what I've heard a number of expats in Liberia say- that there *is* already a submarine fiber optic cable along Africa's western coast but that "Liberia doesn't have access." I don't have the full story yet, but it seems as though those who control the cable haven't done enough to improve sub-Saharan Internet access. For example, the cable "lands" at neither Freetown nor Monrovia.

More to come on this as I start digging around...

World Aids Day...

...is December 1. I'm sorry to say that I'm not doing much to commemorate, but check out this amazing 13 year-old kid, who has helped to raise more than $150,000 to build a school for AIDS orphans in Zambia:


Hope for AIDS orphans

So while he's motivated by his faith, and I'm not particularly religious, I feel somewhat heartened by people like him. He's an ordinary kid who has taken the time and effort to involve thousands of other ordinary kids. Together, they are helping someone other than themselves. Bravo.