The Pursuit of Liberty

The sun is starting to lower in the sky but I will not be able to watch this sunset. At least not in Liberia and not from our beloved dock in Freeport. I will see today’s sunset from the sky. I am sitting in a Kenya Airways airplane preparing for flight KQ0509 to Accra, Ghana. I have said goodbye to Liberia, to the crew on board the Africa Mercy, to my beloved patients on B Ward, and to some amazing friends I have made.

My goodbye was half-hearted, mostly because I can not believe that I am leaving Liberia. As I look at the items in the seatback in front of me I see the Kenya Airway’s motto “The Pride of Africa”. I wonder what South African Airlines thinks about that boast. But then I think about another motto I have become familiar with over the last year. It is Liberia’s motto “The Pursuit of Liberty Brought Us Here”. This liberty that originally brought freed American slaves back to Africa and subsequently to the shores of what is now called Liberia is still being pursued by Liberians living there today. They seek liberty from poverty, illness, and disease. To have a healthcare and an education system. To see their children grow and have children of their own.

I pray Liberia continues to chase this liberty until it is shared by all. I pray that they continue to seek what their ancestors and founders failed to establish: a free Liberia for all. As President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says “Liberia will rebuild”.