Praises about Liberia

I had asked for prayer for the founder of ACFI, Ed Kofi, who was suffering for several months with severe back and leg pain. He was able to have surgery a couple of weeks ago and though it wasn't expected for him to have relief from the pain for a couple of months, he is already feeling 80-90% better. It has brought me so much joy to talk to him the last couple of times and literally hear the pain lifted from his voice. Thanks be to God who arranged for this surgery to take place despite major obstacles and has brought great healing!

It's also no small miracle to hear about Liberia's election process that was carried out peacefully and transparently on Tuesday. If you follow much political news in Africa, you know that it's rare in the last couple of years for a country like Liberia to hold a peaceful democratic election. There will be a runoff election for the President's office in November since none of the candidates had a simple majority of the vote. The results are still unofficial, but it looks like the runoff will be between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf/Joseph Bokai and Winston Tubman/George Weah. Here's a Wall Street Journal article about it that's worth reading.

I've asked friends in Liberia for their perspective and the theme I'm hearing is that they are thankful for peace surrounding the voting, but they are still anxious. The cost of most goods, particularly food, has gone up very high because of the political uncertainty. That's never good in a country with 80% unemployment. They are tired of being so poor, and even though there has been some progress with the international community forgiving their debt and continuing peace in the country, they are tired of corruption in the government going unpunished. They are also tired of seeing American educated Liberians getting all of the good jobs. These are similar frustrations that led to war in the first place. Whoever wins the election will have to show that they are working for the common Liberian pretty quickly or it seems likely that Liberians won't be patient for much longer.