Yesterday (July 26th) we celebrated Liberia’s 167th
Independence Day. In 1847, the Republic of Liberia declared their independence from the American Colonization Society as a sovereign state in order to gain self-governance and the respect of other nations which were violating Liberian customs policies in particular. The Declaration of Independence itself was based quite heavily on the American Declaration of Independence. While many countries immediately
recognized and accepted Liberia’s independence, the US didn’t officially recognize it until 1862. Obviously that is an incredibly simplified
version of the story, but hopefully that will suffice to give you a little history lesson
for today and hopefully made you want to know more! If that's the case, just ask :)
I was very honored to be invited to the government ceremony
in Centennial Pavilion, the site where the Declaration of Independence was
signed. We heard an inspirational speech
about service to the country and leadership (which made me want to go back and
join the Peace Corps again) from this year’s national orator, Dr. Davis-Russell
(President of William V. S. Tubman University) and a very honest speech from
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf about the difficulties the country has faced
this year and how it will move forward.
After the ceremony was finished I went over to a friend’s
house for lunch and then came back to my apartment to lounge around in
bed. I had woken up with a sore throat
that morning and I’ve been trying to fight it off ever since. With the Ebola epidemic raging on here (I’m
planning to write a post about that sometime soon), I am not thrilled to have
my immune system in any sort of weakened state!
Hopefully tomorrow morning I’ll wake up ready to start the week off
healthy!
No comments:
Post a Comment