Local Charcoal production in Liberia involves several hard laborers, felling down trees, cutting them into pieces, packing the pieces together, setting them ablaze, and picking the coal. Despite the arduous nature of the job, it serves as a source of income for many people. On the other hand, it has many harmful effects that are unrecognized. Firstly, there are two popular means charcoal producers in Liberia use to fell trees; power saw and ax, with the most widely used being the ax. Felling a tree involves a skill that enables individuals to fell medium and large sizes of trees within a short period. Therefore, laborers have developed a skill for knowing which branches and sides of the tree
Introduction It has always been my passion to become a medical doctor. However, being from a traditional background creates a dilemma for me. Because of this, it is like being caught between scissors; an internal conflict immediately starts to pull me in opposite directions. In a famous African proverb, it is like holding the tails of two lions at the same time, which of course, is impossible to do. I had to decide which kind of medical education to choose and let one go for a moment. I decided to relinquish the traditional education for now. However, as I grow more into western education, I have begun to realize that I can enhance and contextualize this knowledge with my traditional natural
Introduction Liberia is a small country located in West Africa; it is bounded to the North by Guinea, to the West by Sierra Leone, to the East by Ivory Coast, and to the South by the Atlantic Ocean. Today, Liberia receives the highest rainfall and equal sunshine in West Africa, a natural condition suitable for agricultural activities. Usually, the rainy season lasts for six months, but due to over-harvesting, there has been a downward shift. Today, increased deforestation is negatively affecting Liberia in numerous ways, some of which include biodiversity loss, scarcity of water or drought, low crop yields, higher intensity storms, coastal erosion and flooding. Nevertheless, Liberia has a fe
On September 5, 2020, the Voinjama team had the opportunity to visit various towns and villages we have been working with to follow up on th
As a child growing up in my grandfather’s village, one of my favorite fruits was guava. The village was surrounded by guava trees, orange tr
Our natural environment had an abundance of trees and oxygen, wildlife making noise everywhere you went, lakes and streams flourishing and n
One cool evening I decided to go to a local market to get some food, located about 3-5 minutes away from my hostel. I climbed down the stair
As I was receiving numerous emails from Ana, Lidia, Ma Cyndie, and phone calls from Mulbah concerning my trip to Tanzania and Kenya, I was also receiving calls from my school about my graduation. At that point, I needed to focus harder to ensure that everything went right. Three days after the graduation event, I then realized that I was traveling alone, which was my first time to board a flight alone. I immediately began to determine how I was going to navigate the terminals beginning with Robert’s International Airport. As we drove to the airport that morning, I said to myself, all I need is to ask security personnel, or other passengers, to read directions and signs, and to listen to ter
