United Nations Humanitarian Information Center, Monrovia, Liberia, Fall - 2003.

On this project I was sent to Liberia through the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) to work with the United Nations Humanitarian Information Center (UN HIC) in the capital of Monrovia. The job of the HICs are to work with Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) developing GIS, GPS and other database products. Most of my work centered on capacity build activities - training governmental and NGO professionals in GIS and GPS, setting up a roads assessment project and providing general mapping services for NGO's.

I can't say enough about the professional Liberians I worked with at Fauna and Flora International. Liberians for the Forest Development Authority (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Planning. These people were very knowledgeable, easygoing and patient despite sever disruption in their personal lives, offices completely looted and had worked several years without pay. Additionally, I worked with log truck drivers who had never even seen a computer. After a couple of days of training these guys were soon downloading GPS points and digital photos, filling out complicated road assessment forms and doing this in dangerous parts of the countryside.

Despite what was on the news, Liberia is a beautiful country, Monrovia has great pubs, nice tropical beaches, amazing women. The people are cheerfull, hardworking and professional. Thats a lot for a country that has been under the dark clouds of civil war for over 14 years. The experience was a great one and I would like to go back!

VVAF Website