Through the Eyes of the Liberian
The first thing you hear as morning arrives over Monrovia is the soft, rhythmic sound of a talking drum struckonce, mingled with the distant cry of a seagull at the coast and the scent of freshly made dumboy (cassavaporridge) and palm butter drifting from a nearby home. That drumbeat carries our story back to a time of freedomand return, when we lived as the Kru, Bassa, Grebo, Gola, and other peoples along the coast, and later as theAmerico-Liberians who returned from America. Our ancestors built villages by the sea, fished with canoes in theAtlantic Ocean, grew rice and cassava in fertile soil. The Kru knew their seafarers and their knowledge of thewaves, the Bassa their masks and initiation rites, the Americo-Liberians brought their hope for a new beginning.Every family knew the tales of the ancestors, the dances around the fire that filled the night with rhythm,communities where sharing was natural and respect for elders was law. That was our golden time: a land ofcoast and jungle, where people lived in harmony with the sea as mother and the land as father, connectedthrough return and resilience.
But then came the wave from outside, like a storm rising from the ocean. The Americans founded Liberia in 1822as a home for freed slaves, but tensions grew: the Americo-Liberians dominated, the indigenous peoples wereoften excluded. Every family knew the loss: an ancestor who fought in uprisings, a child who learned that equalitywas not for everyone, a culture that had to adapt. The military coup in 1980 with Samuel Doe, the civil wars from1989 to 2003: Charles Taylor, rebels, tens of thousands dead, children as soldiers, women as victims of violence.Every family knew the fear, the disappearances, the emptiness in the streets of Monrovia.
From that depth rises a pride that is warm and resilient. The talking drum that still beats in the villages, thedumboy shared with love, the music of highlife and hipco that fills the night. Our people who laugh throughhardships, our youth who rise for a better country, our hope that never dies. We have found our voice again: thepeace accords of 2003, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Africa's first female president, the democracy that grows.
Yet the truth colors magenta like a sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. The scars remain: the memory of civil wars,poverty in the villages, the emigration of youth, the corruption that sometimes returns. The outside world buysour rubber and our iron ore, but often does not feel the depth of a people that never broke.
Still, we remember in silence: around the talking drum where stories are told, during Independence Day on 26July when we raise our flag, in the villages where spirits still speak—never forgetting who we were. We tell ourchildren of the Kru and of Ellen, of the sea and the jungle, so they know: we were connected and strong beforewe were challenged.
And yet… the talking drum continues, deep and low, like a heartbeat that never falls silent. That is our secret: wehave suffered under colonization, civil wars, and unrest, but we were first a land of return and rhythm. For ourchildren we build no walls, but a village circle where everyone may join the beat. How do we let that drumbeatbring hope to everyone again, how does Liberia remain a home of unity and resilience?
January 2026
Manna Ori
Ka mahlo a Liberian
Ntho ea pele eo u e utloang ha hoseng ho fihla holim'a Monrovia ke molumo o bonolo, o nang le morethetho oa moropa oa puo o otloang hang feela, o tsoakaneng le mohoo oa seagull hole hole lebopong le monko oa dumboy e sa tsoa etsoa (papa ea cassava) le palm butter e tsoang ntlong e haufi. Molumo oo oa moropa o isa pale ea rona morao mehleng ea bolokolohi le ho khutla, ha re ne re phela re le Kru, Bassa, Grebo, Gola le lichaba tse ling lebopong, 'me hamorao re le Americo-Liberians ba khutletseng Amerika. Baholo-holo ba rona ba ile ba haha metse lebopong, ba tšoasa litlhapi ka liketsoana Leoatleng la Atlantic, ba lema raese le cassava mobung o nonneng. Ba Kru ba ne ba tseba bo-sailors ba bona le tsebo ea bona ea maqhubu, ba Bassa maske a bona le litloaelo tsa ho qala, ba Americo-Liberians ba ile ba tlisa tšepo ea bona ea qalo e ncha. Lelapa le leng le le leng le ne le tseba lipale tsa baholo-holo, metjeko ho pota mollo e tlatsang bosiu ka morethetho, sechaba seo ho arolelana e neng e le ntho e tloaelehileng le tlhompho ho baholo e neng e le molao. E ne e le nako ea rona ea khauta: naha ea lebopo le moru, moo batho ba neng ba phela ka tumellano le leoatle e le 'mè le mobu e le ntate, ba kopane ka ho khutla le mamello.
Empa joale ha tla leqhubu le tsoang kantle, joaloka sefefo se tsoang leoatleng. Maamerika a thehile Liberia ka 1822 e le lehae la makhoba a lokolotsoeng, empa likhohlano tsa hōla: ba Americo-Liberians ba ile ba busa, lichaba tsa matsoalloa li ne li atisa ho khesoa. Lelapa le leng le le leng le ile la tseba tahlehelo: moholo-holo ea ileng a loana lintoeng tsa bofetoheli, ngoana ea ileng a ithuta hore tekano ha e ea kaofela, setso se ileng sa tlameha ho ikamahanya le linako. Phetohelo ea sesole ka 1980 le Samuel Doe, lintoa tsa lehae ho tloha 1989 ho isa 2003: Charles Taylor, marabele, mashome a likete tse mashome a batho ba shoeleng, bana e le masole, basali e le bahlaseluoa ba pefo. Lelapa le leng le le leng le ile la tseba tšabo, ho nyamela, ho hloka letho literateng tsa Monrovia.
Ho tloha botebong boo ho hlaha boikhohomoso bo futhumetseng le bo mamellang. Moropa oa puo o ntseng o otla metsaneng, dumboy e arolelanoang ka lerato, 'mino oa highlife le hipco o tlatsang bosiu. Batho ba rona ba tšeha har'a mathata, bacha ba rona ba emang bakeng sa naha e betere, tšepo ea rona e sa shoeng. Re fumane lentsoe la rona hape: litumellano tsa khotso tsa 2003, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf e le mopresidente oa pele oa mosali Afrika, demokrasi e ntseng e hōla.
Empa 'nete e mebala magenta joaloka letsatsi le likela holim'a Leoatle la Atlantic. Mabali a ntse a le teng: mohopolo oa lintoa tsa lehae, bofuma metsaneng, ho falla ha bacha, bobolu boo ka linako tse ling bo khutlang. Lefatše le ka ntle le reka rabara ea rona le tšepe ea rona, empa hangata ha le utloe botebo ba sechaba se sa kang sa robeha.
Leha ho le joalo, re hopola ka khutso: ho pota moropa oa puo moo lipale li bolelloang teng, ka Letsatsi la Boipuso ka la 26 Phupu ha re phahamisa folakha ea rona, metsaneng moo meea e ntseng e bua—ha re lebale le ka mohla hore na re ne re le mang. Re bolella bana ba rona ka ba Kru le ka Ellen, ka leoatle le moru, e le hore ba tsebe: re ne re kopane ebile re matla pele re lekoa.
'Me leha ho le joalo… moropa oa puo o tsoela pele, o tebile ebile o tlaase, joaloka ho otla ha pelo ho sa kang ha khutsa. Ke lekunutu la rona: re ile ra utloa bohloko tlas'a bokolone, lintoa tsa lehae le merusu, empa re ne re le naha ea ho khutla le morethetho pele ho tsohle. Bakeng sa bana ba rona ha re ahe marako, empa re haha selikalikoe sa motse seo mang le mang a ka kenang ho sona. Re tla etsa joang hore molumo oo oa moropa o tle o tlise tšepo ho bohle hape, Liberia e lule e le lehae la bonngoe le mamello?
Pherekhong 2026
Manna Ori