Why We Can't Engineer a Sewage System

Okay, another break to my semi-real self.

If you have not watched VBS.TV's The Vice Guide To Liberia — it's time you watched it!

Every phrase uttered in their 8 series program warrants thought and commentary, but I am going to skip all that and let you think about it for yourselves. What I will do is post part 3 of the series for you to watch here on this blog and below that a comment I posted on their board.



"Dear VBS team,

I am a great fan of your journalistic work! I want to praise you for going to those locations that even we Liberians (of slightly better circumstances) try to avoid. However, I would also like to correct a slight misunderstanding of our unique culture and practices. You may follow my blog to learn more. Jdkato.blogspot.com

Ghandi came up with passive resistance and Martin Luther King Jr. with the civil rights movement. Not to be undone, we Liberians have come up with collective-public-shitting as a means of protest. Some of us would rather do it closer to the central symbols of national and international authority but we can't afford transportation fees.

Thank you and please keep up the good work!"

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VBS.tv is an online television network owned by the Vice media conglomerate. The network produces original, short-form, documentary-style video content. Subject matter includes humanitarian issues, music, insider travel guides, and news. I recommend signing up on their site and watching their programs. And it's FREE!

The producers of VBS make no claim to being objective; in fact they stress the fact that they are subjective. In my opinion, this in no way negates their relevance. Although the picture they present is dramatized and grim, I for one am happy they took the trouble to visit Liberia. It shows several sides of Liberia many of us never take the trouble to see. What they don't do is make a constructive argument as to how to remedy the situation. But then as Liberians, that is up to us.

Although this program tarnishes our image, at the risk of much criticism I will state plainly it exposes 2 issues I completely agree with.

1. The UN is NOT doing a good job.

2. Neither is the current Liberian government.

Both of the above claim that they lack sufficient budget and I am sure they are right. Still, that does not excuse them from not doing more with the little they have. The people are unemployed. How much does it cost to have them dig a sewer and fix a military style mass latrine with 20 planks of common wood? Even those small limited funded NGO's in the interior are doing it in dozens of towns and villages. It doesn't take a doctorate degree. Instead of wondering why the inhabitants don't do it for themselves, educate and put those poor hopeless people living at West Point or put those useless troops and their heavy machinery to work before they pull out.

Either the UN or the people themselves if properly organized could do it. And please, PLEASE... I beg you, PLEASE don't think of opening a national bid, so that you can waste a lot of time, and somebody can be dashed to spend even more government money, so that more people can eat the money and worst of all - the job still not get done.