Election fever!

**the views on this post do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer**

It is election season in Liberia!  Tuesday, October 11th will mark the first nationally led elections in Liberia in over 20 years.  Six years ago,  elections were held, but were lead by the United Nations.

It is definitely an exciting time to be in the country, as campaigns are being made and political debates are everywhere!  

Most of you probably know that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the current president of Liberia, and is the recent co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize!  One of her fellow recipients, Leymah Gbowee, is also a Liberian woman, known for mobilizing the women of this country to stand for peace.  They prayed (and are still praying)  daily for peace and also blocked the doors of the peace talks in Ghana before the war ended, to insure that the violence was going to stop.  I am proud to be working in this country where these two women are making a difference!

With elections early next week, the country is inundated with billboards campaigning for the SIXTEEN- yes sixteen, different political parties for Liberia's next president.  It definitely makes driving through Monrovia more entertaining! 

Here are a good number of them-  I'll let you guess who has more funds for campaigning!

 I love the use of Liberian English in a lot of the sayings-

Unfortunately, this still happens quite often.  Traveling through-out the country the last weeks I heard many conversations about how certain parties will offer cash for votes.

"Monkey still working let baboon wait small" has become one of Ellen's slogan for 2011- meaning, she is still working hard for Liberia- let the others candidates wait until she has finished what she set out to do!  As you can imagine, this has also created much stir for the "baboons"...

And my absolute favorite-- I'm not sure if its the Liberian saying or the photoshop job of putting captain hats on Ellen and Joe!

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, Leymah Gbowee mobilized the women of Liberia to stand for peace.  Prior to the end of the war in 2003, these women could be found praying for peace- rain or shine, on the football field in Monrovia.  Some of them were able to travel to Ghana to barricade the doors of the peace talks that were happening there- pushing the warlords who were enjoying a nice vacation to actually end the war and the atrocities that were happening back in Liberia. (If you want to know more about these amazing women, check out the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell.)

In the past few months, the women have been back on the football field daily praying for peaceful elections.  They have been praying in the form of the cross, with the Liberian flag in the center, asking God to hear their pleas.

"The Daily Talk" is a news board found on the main road heading into Monrovia.  This was today's headline:

It is my prayer that Liberians do think before they vote- and vote for the rightful candidate.  It is also my prayer (and the prayer of my co-workers) that no matter what the results are, they will be accepted.  The last thing this country needs is to go back to violence.

As far as my safety and security are concerned, SP has been planning out our evacuation plan in case of  violence for weeks now.  In fact, I have packed my first "go bag" to be ready at any time in the next 6 weeks.  It is not something I intend to use.  We are prepared, but we are not anticipating anything out of the ordinary to happen.

These are exciting times in Liberia!  It is a great time to be here and to watch history unfold around us.  Will the first woman president of Africa be voted for a second term?  Will the former Liberia football star be the next Vice President?

So, as of today, three more days until elections.  Please pray with me and the women of Liberia that peace will reign over all.