For True?

"Is it for true?" This is the Liberian version of "for real?" and I like it a lot better. This morning we had a real "for true" moment.

Around 2:00am in the morning the cellphones across Liberia, all the way from the sprawling capital of Monrovia to the most remote reaches of cell coverage, started buzzing and ringing. People rolled and stumbled out of bed and groped around for the object that had cut the dead silence of the African night. On the other line were worried friends, concerned employees, and pleading relatives. The rumor was passed on; the warning given. All around the country people dropped the cellphones, grabbed their pails, and ran for the nearest well.

What secret whispered in the dark would galvanize a whole country into action in the dead of night? It was simply this: After 6:00am (some reports said 5:00) all the drinking sources in all of the Republic of Liberia would be simultaneously poisoned, and anyone who would drink from them in the next three days would die. Most people spared only a few minutes to pass on the warning to their most loved ones, before rushing out of the door with as many pails as they could carry.

This wasn't just limited to fussy old women in superstitious villages buried in the bush. These were people with high school educations and office jobs; people who honestly knew better.

Dave went out to the yard to witness the commotion of the neighbourhood running around. He posed a question to our security guard, John. "You think the people are smart or stupid to believe this?"
"They stupid-o," he replied, knowing the right answer.
"But you got enough water yourself, right?" Dave asked sincerely.
"Oh, ya. We drew plenty, plenty!" John quipped.

This might be a ridiculous and amusing example of the power of superstition and beliefs in Liberia, but often it can be deadly. People won't sleep under life-saving mosquito nets because they believe that at night their spirit turns into a bird and will be trapped by the net. When a mother watches her child fade away from any number of diseases, she doesn't go seek help at the clinic, but blames it on the fact that someone must be practicing witchcraft against that child. People with leprosy, albinism (which is surprisingly common), or deformities are cast out from society by their obvious signs of devilry.

The more one is surrounded by this startlingly perplexing mindset, the more you realize just how devastating it is. It seems to me that the main reason why Liberia is in such a place of suffering is because of these lies that undercut all common sense and rationality.

Giving someone an education or good health care is very possible, but to change an entire country's worldview is more then a struggle, if not impossible.