I’m feeling rather African tonight. I’m sitting
around a table with 4 UN soldiers from Gambia, drinking green tea and listening
(involuntarily I might add) to Gambian music. Never mind the fact that the tea
is so “green” that I can practically taste the grass in it and that the music
sounds like the same line repeated over and over again about twenty times –
it’s still an interesting experience. I’m in a guesthouse, by the way – I’ve
been staying here since I got back to Liberia two weeks ago. The UN guys are
staying here for a while as well – they just came to Liberia a week ago and are
doing some training in the city before being deployed somewhere else in the
country. They are all Muslim and we’ve had a couple interesting conversations –
pray for them please!
I’ve restarted most of my usual workload since
returning – Sunday School, Bible Club, Reading Club, music lessons, and
teaching at the Christian School. I was very encouraged to find that the
children’s work in the church went on well in my absence, under the direction
of Nathan Barco (the young man who’s the official leader of the Sunday School
and has been working alongside me since I came here a year ago). There was a
slight decrease in attendance which I had feared, but Nathan didn’t let it
discourage him. He told me today that he didn’t mind how few kids were there,
he was determined to start each meeting on time. He’s been teaching the Bible
Club lesson each Wednesday since I returned, and he’s doing really well. Please
keep praying for this young man – he certainly has a heart for the children’s
work.
I’ve been teaching my Bible class at the Christian
school the story of Noah and was reading again of how the earth in those days
was corrupt and filled with violence. I got a very dramatic glimpse of the
violence and corruption of Liberian society on Sunday after church. I was just
getting into the car to head home when a lady who was getting a lift home with
me suddenly shouted, “Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him!” For a minute I thought
she had gone crazy but then I also looked across the road and saw a crowd
gathering. We ran over to find that the men in that house had caught a thief on
their property, caught him apparently red-handed, and were now taking justice
into their own hands by stripping and beating him.
It took some time to calm them down, but we eventually
convinced them that they should send the man to the police station to be
charged for his crimes. An off-duty policeman came on the scene and showed us
his ID and then took the man off to jail. We haven’t heard anything since
Sunday so I don’t know if the offended parties actually decided to prosecute
him or not. They were protesting that the reason they were beating him was to
teach him a lesson because the police and court system are so corrupt that they
would never get justice from them. Sadly, they were right about the corruption.
What really astonished me about the whole episode
was the absolute violence and cruelty that exploded in front of my eyes.
Certainly, the men had a right to be angry with the thief, but they actually
seemed to relish beating him. And the crowd of young men who gathered were
eagerly joining in on the beating, even though they had no idea if he had done
anything to deserve it. I asked one of our church men afterwards if he might
actually have been killed if we hadn’t been there. He said yes, it was very
likely. He said that Liberian “mob justice” often results in the person being
beaten to death, and then his body is thrown on the road. As I said above, I
was astonished at the violence and cruelty, but I was also scared – not for
myself, but for Liberia. Not just because of the potential for physical
violence that was evidenced, but because the episode gave a glimpse into their
hearts. There is much talk of peace and reconciliation here, and education and
moving forward and “building Mama Liberia”, but the bottom line is that nothing
but the Gospel will change Liberia for the better, because nothing but the
Gospel can change the hearts of wicked and violent men.