Liberia is a small country in West Africa made up of 3.5 million people with most of them packed into the capital city of Monrovia. It is currently the poorest country in the world and the World Health Organization (WHO) recently published the fact that the Liberian infant mortality and morbidity rate is the highest in the world (with it increasing since their terrible war ended 6 years ago). Liberia is referred to as the 3rd world of the 3rd world, or the 4th world. Their 20 years civil war has ended and they are working hard to rebuild not only the structural damage but also the social destruction that comes from 20 years of chaos and war. This country has no electricity, clean water source, sewage system, school system, health care system and are completely reliant on international aid to survive. The illiteracy rate is in the 97th percentile and schools continue to cater to those who can afford them. Currently there are 15,000 UN troops in Liberia to help maintain the peace. This is the largest UN mission in history. The UN presence of machine guns, tanks and the blue hats can be seen everywhere, it's both comforting and terrifying.
The social destruction in Liberia is palpable. You may scrunch up your nose when you first see men peeing on the side of the road, or seeing the feces and garbage lining the streets that people are walking barefoot and selling food along, but what grabs your heart are the signs for the orphanages. There are more orphanages in this city of Monrovia than we have Starbucks coffee outlets. There are hundreds of broken down compounds where abandoned, orphaned, crippled or displaced children are kept. Most are Government run, and some are international church based.
Of these there are only 5 that are able to adopt the children out of the country. The poverty in these orphanages is simply indescribable and incomprehensible. Children pack the orphanages sometimes 10 to a bedroom. No blankets, no pillows and no mattresses. There are no clothes and very little food. I'm not sure if these are the lucky ones, or if trying to survive on the streets provides at least the hope of getting some schooling. The children that end up in the adoption homes are the loved ones. The parents of these children are poor beyond anything we can understand but want their children to have a chance. Instead of abandoning them on the streets they relinquish their children to orphanages.
I have been working for 3.5 months now helping the orphanage build a medical center in Monrovia. In those 3.5 months I have held 3 adopted infants and children and watched them die due to preventable illnesses. Liberians stop me in the street and thank me for helping their children.
The foreign adoption process involves family interviews, court appearances by the family members, medicals, and investigations of Social Workers by both the adoption agency as well as the Liberian Government. By the time a travel visa is requested, the adoption has been completed and the children are those of Canadian families.
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