Editor's note:Journal Staff Writer Philip Marcelo is spending two weeks in Liberia this August to report on that country's progress 10 years after the end of a devastating civil war. This is the latest installment of an online and print series called "Rebuilding Liberia: The R.I. Connection."The project is funded by the International Center for Journalists, in Washington.
MONROVIA, Liberia --- Rhode Island potholes have nothing on Liberia's during rainy season.
Imagine two-lane roads serving as the main arteries to and from the capital and largest city to a country's rural hinterlands.
Now close your eyes and imagine these roads are, at best, moderately paved and pockmarked by a steady line of potholes not unlike New England urban roads in winter.
But worse.
At other points, envision this highway as nothing more than a clay path with even bigger craters filled with red-tinged rainwater.
Add to that a steady mix of pedestrian traffic, fast-moving motorbikes holding multiple passengers and the occasional broken down truck, bus or tractor-trailer in the middle of the road.
Then imagine driving this minefield in a 1994 Toyota Corolla taxi that has seen better days (yet whose odometer, improbably, reads 78,000 miles).
Your reward for surviving? Do it again on the way back, this time in darkness and rain. No spare tire.
This was the road to Bong County, which I inadvertently found myself visiting late Thursday afternoon as I took a ride with Esther Dahn, founder of the Liberian Concerned Women Development Association, a group focused on rural women's issues.
We visited an orphanage that the women's group helps. Here are my photos.
The ride should have taken an hour and a half. It took about double that.
No fault of my driver, Eric Johnson, who came highly recommended by a number of Rhode Islanders. He has proven himself a great resource.
Thursday was my fourth full day in the country.
To recap: I arrived Sunday afternoon and took a whirlwind tour through Monrovia's surroundings, including a rubber plantation.
Monday I visited a private housing development on the city's outskirts. Tuesday I connected with a number of sources and laid out a battle plan for the week.
Wednesday I was in various parts of Monrovia, meeting with local reporters, including those at the Daily Observer, one of the country's largest newspapers, to talk about government corruption, free press and more.
I'll have more to post on those conversations soon, but here's some photos in the meantime. More here.
Thursday I spent the day with the Liberian Concerned Women Development Association to get more insight into the issues facing women in post-war Liberia.
The morning started at the organization's Monrovia headquarters, located in a hard scrabble area called Red Light, a bustling marketplace area that got its name because, until recently, it was one of the few traffic-lighted intersections in the city.
I'll have more to say on rape, prostitution, domestic violence and other issues women face in Red Light in a later post, but here's some pictures, including me wearing two shirts that the women insisted they make for me while I was there. (They fit amazingly well!)
Then it was on to Mount Barclay, a rural community about 45 minutes past the city limits, where we talked with women that are part of a local chapter of the Concerned Women.
Unlike their Red Light counterparts, who are focused on learning computer skills, sewing, tailoring and baking, these women were mostly subsistence farmers trying to improve their cultivating techniques to sell more of their goods in the market. Here's my photos from that visit.
Where do I go from here?
Friday I'm heading into three of Monrovia's most challenging slums - West Point, Clara Town and New Kru -- to report on water and sanitation issues.
John Kumeh, a local radio reporter who has focused on those issues, will be my guide into that world. I've also recruited a local freelance photographer, Augustine Kimba, who has also done some work in and around the slums.
Saturday and Sunday, I'm going deeper into the interior of Bong County. So don't be surprised if this is my last post for a few days.
There, I'll be visiting Christ Children's Home, an orphanage founded by former Rhode Islanders. I'll also be learning about other issues the region faces.
The city of Gbarnga, after all, played a key role in the country's troubles. It was the base for Charles Taylor's rebellion against then-President Samuel Doe during the country's first civil war in the 1990s.
It was there that Taylor -- a New England-educated Liberian who would ultimately become the country's president -- amassed an army that included child soldiers, allowing him to eventually push into the capital city and overthrow President Doe in a bloody coup.
And Bong County, as I'm learning, still has strong ties to Taylor, who is now serving a 50-year prison sentence in the Netherlands for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In fact, the county is represented in the Liberian Senate by Taylor's ex-wife and former Liberian First Lady Jewel Taylor.