Living in Liberia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Liberia is in East Africa

Liberia is situated on the West African Coast, between Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire. It is just a few degrees north of the Equator.
The area appears to have been inhabited since the 12th century and tribal peoples such as the Kpelle, Gio, Mano and Vai tribes still form the majority of the population. Settlement by former slaves was promoted by the American Colonization Society (founded in 1822) as many whites were fearful that emancipated slaves would not become fully integrated in the United States. Descendants of these settlers became known as "Americo-Liberians". Slaves freed from captured ships after the abolition of slavery and those from the Caribbean also ended up in Liberia and were known as "Congo" people. Together these two groups made up about 5% of the total population and the 20th century saw tensions between them and the indigenous groups.
Liberia's less stringent maritime regulations have led to many ships registering under its flag. Apparently Liberia holds the record for the most issues of triangular stamps with more than 30.

Answer: "Journey Without Maps" by Graham Greene

"Journey Without Maps" recounts the story of a 4-week trip Greene made with his cousin in 1935. He passed through Nimba County, where I worked, and his descriptions of the places he visited did not differ greatly from what I found in the late 1980s. This book proved to be the most accurate and informative preparation for living in the area. "Heart of Darkness" is a work of fiction set in the Belgian Congo where Conrad had worked. I read William Boyd's hilarious "A Good Man in Africa" when I was in Liberia and could recognise many of the characters and situations. Karen Blixen's "Out of Africa" is the story of her life in what is now Kenya in East Africa.

Answer: 200 inches (5000 mm)

Fortunately for me, the annual rainfall in the northern highlands in Nimba County was about half this, most of which fell in short, heavy cloudbursts during the rainy, or monsoon, season. The first indication of a storm would be a rushing wind as the ground level air was pushed out of the way by the falling rain.

Then you heard the rain coming as it hammered on the corrugated iron roofs of the houses. I used to collect the water as it ran off my roof - mainly for washing and cleaning but it could be boiled for drinking and cooking as well.

Otherwise, I had to attach a jerrycan to the back of my motorcycle and travel to a village with a safe well installed by the project I worked with.

Answer: Logging companies

Both of the major mining companies, Bong Mining Company and LAMCO (later NIMCO), transported ore by rail. Each had a large expatriate community and good amenities such as hospitals. Liberia does not have an oil industry and the quantity of diamonds mined could be transported without heavy vehicles.
However, much of Liberia has its original rainforest cover and timber is a major export. Companies need licences to cut logs but in the remoter areas deals are done with local people and much illegal logging takes place. The logging companies would regrade the roads at the end of the rainy season but it did not take long for them to degrade.
My work took me into many remote villages and I made good use of the Suzuki 125 motorcycle I was allocated by the project I worked for - I have never ridden on a metalled road!

Answer: Laterite

Lateritic soils arise when rocks weakened by high temperatures are leached of their more soluble minerals leaving insoluble compounds of iron (which give them their red colour) and aluminium. Haematite is an iron oxide and kaolinite is an aluminium-rich clay mineral. I couldn't resist "Soonerite"! Before the soil can be made into bricks, or used directly as a covering for wooden-frames, it must be "puddled" which removes air trapped between the clay particles and rearranges them so the material becomes waterproof. I had the opportunity to observe a house being built nearby - family and friends turned up to prepare the clay by wetting the earth near the house and dancing in the mud until it was the right consistency at which point it was gleefully slapped on to the already prepared framework.

Answer: Coffee

The other main cash crop was cocoa. In both cases the quality was poor and prices tended to be low. Some farmers derived an income from sugar cane which was distilled locally into the alcoholic beverage known as "cane juice". Surplus rice was sold but quality and prices could not compete with those of white rice imported under the terms of the US Public Law 480. Cassava was cooked and made into a glutinous mass called "fufu" - not recommended. Corn cobs were dry roasted over charcoal and were a delicious snack.

Answer: Pepper soup

The Liberian local peppers are hot and I could not eat this sauce which seemed as though it was just water heavily laden with ground chili peppers. The peanut sauce was delicious and I occasionally make it at home. Palava sauce was typically served at feasts and contained meat, usually goat but sometimes beef. "Greens" were the chopped up leaves of cassava plants, boiled until tender in water seasoned with a "Maggi cube". Along with tinned tomato paste and Coca Cola, Maggi cubes (small stock cubes) were about the only products you could reliably find in local stores. Empty tomato paste tins were used as measures for small quantities of goods in the local markets. Kerosene for stoves and lamps had a standard measure as well - a Beck's beer bottle! The project where I worked was run by German expatriates who imported their own beer - the discarded bottles soon found a use, as did many other articles we would consider waste.

Answer: Atlantic

The Liberian coastline is characterised by mangrove swamps and lagoons. The beaches are spectacular but difficult to reach and only the strongest swimmers would venture into the sea where the surf is high and the currents strong. The Organisation of African Unity held its summit meeting in Monrovia in 1979 and a special village and hotel were built along the coast to house the delegates.

When I was there, just 10 years later, the sea had eroded so much of the land that the lampposts were under water with only the tops visible. 10 years after that, many of the the bungalows built for the Presidents had also been destroyed by the waves.

Answer: Abidjan

Conakry is the capital of Guinea which borders Liberia to the north; Freetown is the capital of Sierra Leone which is Liberia's neighbour in the west and Yamassoukru has been the official capital of Cote d'Ivoire since 1983. Prior to that date, Abidjan had been the capital and it remains the centre of much commercial and government activity.
Liberia's relations with its neighbours were strained during Charles Taylor's Presidency as the proceeds of various activities such as diamond mining are believed to have been exchanged for arms with his help, the so-called "blood diamonds".
Many of the people I met in Liberia were killed during the invasion, or joined the rebels. It was an opportunity to settle some old scores among the tribal peoples. The project itself folded within weeks and its assets were looted.

Answer: Rubber trees

The Harbel Plantation was operated by Firestone who, in 1926, bought the rights to a million acres of land for 99 years. It is estimated that at times 100,000 people may have relied on the plantation for their livelihood. During the Second World War, Allied forces were dependent on the rubber from Harbel as British plantations in Malaysia were in the hands of the Japanese.
Roberts International Airport originally formed part of a US Air Force Base and is an emergency landing runway for the Space Shuttle.