Expatriates Live Large in Liberia

Imagine working with one of the several NGOs in Africa.

If what you see is an existence devoid of the little goodies of life, but full of anguish, dangerous encounters with wild animals and bandits, and popping dozens of preventive pills weekly.

Then you are way off mark! Expats can afford to eat sushis cooked by Japanese chefs, and do have access to Starbucks!. The Washington Post captures the lifestyle of NGO expats in post-war Liberia:

As this impoverished country climbs its way back from 13 years of civil war with the tiniest of steps, a boom is underway in the industries that cater to the rarified tastes of thousands of mostly European and U.S. expatriates who have come to help since peace arrived in 2003. The increasingly visible splendors available to this relatively wealthy group have left some Liberians wondering whether the foreigners are here to serve the nation or themselves.

“They drive the best of car, go to the best of entertainment center,” said Allen Weedor, 42, the Liberian manager of a modest bar in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of town. “You can’t really see what they’ve done.”

The offices for aid groups and U.N. agencies that line major thoroughfares evoke as much discontent as gratitude in Monrovia, the capital. Their signature white trucks offer vivid contrasts when most vehicles on the road are worn-out old coupes with broken windshields, torn upholstery and thoroughly battered bodies that bespeak the troubled times Liberia has endured.

But not all the expats are oblivious of the disparity. Van De Velde, a Belgian public information officer for the U.N. mission remarks: “It’s completely insane. The whole city doesn’t have electricity. There’s not a water plant. And it has two sushi bars, air-conditioned sushi bars,” Van De Velde said. “You wouldn’t think you were in an African country.”

There are some 600 nongovernmental agencies operating in Liberia. “Their missions included tending to nearly every facet of national life: food, health, education, forestry, farming, religion and rebuilding the electrical grid, water systems and roads”, basically helping to restore the nation back to its prewar status.