Mike’s Liberia Journal
Feb 13, 2021
After a full year of being out of Liberia, Scott and I returned last Friday. This is the longest we’ve been out of Liberia since I started working here in January of 2010. Being such a challenging year in the rest of the world, I feared that Liberia would feel different, that I would have catching up to do. Oddly enough, Liberia has managed to stay largely unaffected by Western politics and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was my first international travel since COVID-19 and I expected many changes. Liberia mandated negative COVID-19 PCR test results that were obtained within 96 hours of arrival to Liberia, meaning we had to have the swab done no earlier than Monday night and had to have results before we left the States. This is trickier than it sounds, particularly for Scott who was coming from Oregon.
Normally it takes around 24 hours to get from the US to Liberia. Due to COVID-19, there are less flights and much longer layovers. Scott had to fly from Portland to Denver and Denver to DC (I just flew from Indianapolis to DC). Then we flew from DC to Brussels, where the normal 4 hour layover has become 8 hours long. Then 9 hours from Brussels to Freetown and another 2 from Freetown to Monrovia. For me, this was 30 hours of travel; for Scott, it was almost 40. This left a two day window to find a PCR test AND get results. We both managed to get them but it was quite a challenge (most rapid tests are not PCR).
The airplane experience was fairly similar to that before COVID-19, but with masks. Brussels airport was a ghost town, with one bar/coffee shop open in the entire airport. At least we had each other’s company, otherwise it would have been an amazingly boring 8 hours. After almost two days of travel, five airplanes, and a few small hassles at the airport about our testing, we made it to Liberia. We checked into the airport hotel and promptly passed out.
Our first morning was met with a great surprise. While having our breakfast, I heard someone shout my name from across the hotel yard. It was my friend Jenny carrying Mary Beauty. Mary Beauty is a three month old chimpanzee!
Jenny and Jim founded and run Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection (LCRP). Liberia has one of the largest remaining groups of chimpanzees in the wild and they are still targets of poachers for bush meat. When hunting chimpanzees, mothers are an easy target as they are weighed down by the baby chimps they are protecting. Poachers kill the mother for meat, then collect the babies to sell as pets (to ultimately grow big enough to be eaten). Orphaned baby chimps cannot live on their own in the wild, so, the only real option for them here before Jim and Jenny arrived was death or the pet trade.
LCRP works closely with the Liberian government and communities to prevent hunting and protect the chimps in the wild. They have been hugely successful; when I started coming to Liberia, bushmeat and live endangered animals were at major intersections for sale daily in Monrovia. Within a year of Jim and Jenny coming here, that vanished. However, hunting and bushmeat/pet trading continue to happen, just less frequently and more underground. When someone is caught with a baby chimp, the chimp needs somewhere to go. LCRP has built an incredible sanctuary that now houses over 60 chimps between infancy and adolescence. It isn’t as great as if they were in the wild, but it is pretty wonderful. And hard work…Jim and Jenny have over 60 wild and rambunctious kids, effectively.
Like humans, chimps get sick. Respiratory illness remains a leading cause of death in humans in Liberia and is the same for chimps. The only three chimps they have lost since opening LRCP have died due to respiratory illnesses, including the one I helped bring to them in 2017. When the chimps get sick, I consult on respiratory treatments options. This trip, I was able to secure some respiratory therapy equipment and medications to have on hand for the next time (special thanks to our friends at Tender Hearts Home Health Care for the equipment!). Sure enough, right after we arrived LRCP received a new baby chimp with a respiratory infection. After treatment with the nebulizer and drugs we brought, this chimp (named Scout) is stable and moving in the right direction. It is a great way to start the trip.
We headed to town after meeting with Jim and Jenny (and Mary Beauty). On our way in, I was struck by how much hadn’t changed. It really is like Liberia has been spared of the pandemic. For the first time since March, I felt like I was in a place that somehow dodged 2020.
Liberia is no stranger to pandemics. Even though it has been five years since Ebola, it is still fresh in everyone’s mind here. When COVID-19 started, Liberia took it seriously. They completely closed the borders in mid-March and kept them closed until the end of July. The economy suffered, but, they effectively dodged the pandemic. They had a small surge (a few hundred cases) in March/April, quarantined the suspected and ill patients, and it largely went away by the end of May. By that time, the rest of the world had largely stopped travelling and Liberia was able to nearly return to “normal”. People wear masks indoors, don’t hug or shake hands, but other than that it is just normal life here. I worry that as travel becomes more normal there will be a big outbreak here and I’m grateful people are still being fairly careful, but, it is incredibly relaxing to be in a place without the shadow of last year. Here’s hoping Liberia can stay out of the pandemic.
The rest of week 1 went as expected – getting set up. We have a new apartment, had to get running water and electricity set up there…Trusty Rusty, our pickup, needed some service…and we had meetings with all of the staff at the hospital to set up plans for the rest of the trip.
The hospital has held up well over the past year. We see more patients every week and have received national recognition as a Center of Excellence by the Ministry of Health. Since I was last here, we have opened up our inpatient units, have overnight patients regularly, and established both OB/GYN and surgical programs. Everything at the hospital is great. Our only downer is that we lost Dr. Mercedes, our Cuban specialist, at the end of March. Cuba called her back indefinitely due to COVID-19. Fortunately, we found Dr. Efosa, a Nigerian infectious disease physician and surgical specialist. Our main focus at the hospital this trip is expanding the laboratory.
There was also a national holiday on Thursday this week (Armed Forces Day), so, we only had a four day workweek. But, things are set up nicely for next week and the rest of the trip.