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Divided We Fall

Is Liberia cursed?

Between 1979 and 2003, my homeland, Liberia, spiraled into an ever deeper cycle of political violence.

The rockets and AK-47s have fallen silent, but Liberians remain deeply divided and our national psyche battered.

The Liberian government and its foreign partners have largely ignored those wounds, while spending $$ billions on legislative salaries, NGO on-the-job learning and first-class travel accommodations to discuss rebuilding. The Ebola crisis ripped off the scab to expose a festering sore.

How to explain this gross failure?

Most Liberians fault politicians. Nine times out of ten, we blame the political party we already dislike and always distrusted. Some simply damn all politicians. Others have given up on Liberia, believing it to be cursed.