And They Call This Place a Mine!

At the Bong Mine town lake

So I took a trip to an old mine city called Bong Mines and the adventure there was more fun than the actual town! It is approximately 2 hours "up country" so instead of driving a Rover (land rover that is) and wasting gas we road the train. But since you do need a vehicle once you get to the end of the track (quite literally) we tied the truck onto one of the "flat bed" cars of the train! It was awesome to say the least.


Our truck strapped to the train

First, we left the ship and drove to the train tracks, which are filled with run down, rusty train cars. Finally, after almost 2 hours of waiting, the train arrives on schedule (African time is something I will never be able to explain or get use to). We are the first truck in line to load onto the train and once we secure the vehicle we wait for all the other passengers to load. The train yard is full of Liberians, selling their food and items, but most are not going to ride the train. Instead, they load the rice, wood and gas that they are sending to people in villages along the way. Once the train is ready we are off.

On top of our truck, which is on top of a train, with some of the gang!

The country is so green and every couple of miles a little village comes to life yelling at the passing train. Instead of riding in a passenger car, which was occupied with UN soldiers, we rotate between standing and walking around our truck and riding on top of it. It is something that would never happen in a Western country: passengers responsible for securing their vehicle to a train! And we were completely free to walk around the moving train with no guard rails or rules other than the obvious one: do not fall off! This rule was almost broken a few times by members of my group, including myself, once it began to rain. I know it was dangerous but how many times in a person's life will they get to ride in the rain, on top of a Land Rover, that is strapped to a moving train! So minus the scary moments, when I almost dropped my camera and slipped trying to get something out of the truck, it was perfectly safe and so much fun.

Don't worry, I held on tightly!

Our train also made a few stops, some planned, along the way. We had food and goods to deliver and the children would attempt to talk to the "white man", which is a common phrase they continually screamed. After saying hello to me they quickly recognized me as a "black American", which was surprisingly more interesting than the 20+ white people. The best was at one stop when 7 children came running naked from their communal bath. We all enjoyed a good laugh at that stop: them because everything we said was pronounced funny and us because there were 7 naked children running at the train and their moms shouting at them to come back.

Bong Mine Town's train depot

By noon we reached the Bong Mines which was a booming mine town up until the 1980's. Now it is full of dilapidated buildings and rusted equipment that the miners and foreign managers left behind since they were evacuated so quickly at the start of the war. We have to be careful and stay together as we travel towards the lake because this is one of the towns where rebel forces fled to once peace keepers took over 4 years ago. Throughout the day I thought about the war and how much of Liberia was affected by it. The mine, which along with the port, made Liberia the richest African country in its prime and is now run down town full of ex-soldiers and poor villagers. I imagined the forest as our train rode through it and thought of how terrifying it must have been for the hundreds of Liberians who fled there to hide from the rebel forces for years. And I know that there is so much that still needs to be done within this, and so many other African countries, but I will continue to press on.