I'd hit 12 Liberian kids if I threw a stick in Monrovia. (No, I am not in the habit of launching sticks at children.)
As I've mentioned, there are many expats in Liberia (Westerners, Indians, Lebanese, Chinese) brought here by work. Where they send their children to school, I don't know: I never see non-Liberians in the 6 to 26 age group.
But today I saw an American preteen in a schoolyard and nearly pounced on her from the terrace. "What are you doing here?" I wanted to ask. "And where are the rest of you? Did you escape? Is there a fence?"
Yesterday I came across an old message board posting from a guy wondering whether he should move his wife (bursting at the seams with triplets, mind you) to Liberia. The response was a resounding, "No, dude. Keep your crazy ass wherever you are."
It's not that you can't raise children in Monrovia: you can. It's community-oriented and has plenty of inexpensive labor. (The 300 USD you're about to spend on a smartphone gets you a nanny, a driver and a housekeeper. For a month.) But imagine New York City. Take away all the parks and libraries. Keep all the concrete and add long, unlit dirt roads and notoriously inept drivers. Add occasional sidewalks with open manholes. Subtract top-notch health care. Add malaria.
Nothing puts you off procreating like a Dutch boy riding his tricycle in circles in the parking lot of a treeless compound.
As I've mentioned, there are many expats in Liberia (Westerners, Indians, Lebanese, Chinese) brought here by work. Where they send their children to school, I don't know: I never see non-Liberians in the 6 to 26 age group.
But today I saw an American preteen in a schoolyard and nearly pounced on her from the terrace. "What are you doing here?" I wanted to ask. "And where are the rest of you? Did you escape? Is there a fence?"
Yesterday I came across an old message board posting from a guy wondering whether he should move his wife (bursting at the seams with triplets, mind you) to Liberia. The response was a resounding, "No, dude. Keep your crazy ass wherever you are."
It's not that you can't raise children in Monrovia: you can. It's community-oriented and has plenty of inexpensive labor. (The 300 USD you're about to spend on a smartphone gets you a nanny, a driver and a housekeeper. For a month.) But imagine New York City. Take away all the parks and libraries. Keep all the concrete and add long, unlit dirt roads and notoriously inept drivers. Add occasional sidewalks with open manholes. Subtract top-notch health care. Add malaria.
Nothing puts you off procreating like a Dutch boy riding his tricycle in circles in the parking lot of a treeless compound.
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