Radriffa slept sideways on the bed beneath barred windows, the morning light filling the room to wake him gently. His father, Peter Toby, sat beside him listening to the crackle of a handheld radio, taking in the day"s headlines. It was quiet that morning in Monrovia, and I stood in the corner of Toby"s one-room household processing that awkward feeling that comes when you peer into someone"s intimate moments. As a twenty-five year old grad student from the U.S. I felt more than out of … [Read more...]
The Radio is Coming to You
During our sojourn to the seaside town of Cestos, capital of Rivercess County, we launched the Soundbooth, an audio documentary project modeled on NPR"s StoryCorps. The idea is to have two people very familiar with each other - a mother and a daughter, a teacher and a student, a pair of friends - interview each other on a story or topic relevant to their lives. StoryCorps has been doing this for a while, and has a great archive of American stories, told in conversational, intimate style. We"re … [Read more...]
The Paradox That Is Liberia
A teenage boy lives with his family on the third floor of an abandoned office building on Broad Street in Downtown Monrovia, Liberia. Teenaged school children mingle during a break between classes at Cestos High School. The school district in Rivercess County offer one Primary elementary and one high school for the entire county. Often children walk several hours to attend or get a ride on small motorcycles to get them to school. A young girl sells fruit to residents and tourist … [Read more...]
Class Is In Session!
Our first class of students showed up Wednesday, and they put in a full morning and afternoon of work. We’ll be working with them at our headquarters in Monrovia all of this week; next week we plan to travel out into one of Liberia’s 15 counties to find stories to tell there. The idea is for our training and outing to serve as a template for two more rounds just like this one. We hope to equip our trainees with the skills (as well as some equipment) to continue this kind of work long after we … [Read more...]
