Succeeding, Part 10 of 10

Jonathan, as always, is thinking bigger. He wants to expand—more computers, a larger building, a location on the street so that it is easier to access during the rainy season. With more laptops he could start a computer school that would offer classes on setting up email accounts, using Microsoft Word, and navigating Excel.

As donor enthusiasm for Liberia wanes, as it inevitably will, the presence of international development groups will fade. Their trademark large, white SUVs that have become a staple to the roads of Monrovia will start to disappear. The 15,000-person strong UN peacekeeping mission with its thousands of additional civilian support staff has already started to reduce its numbers. This dwindling attention from the international community will have many implications for Liberians. Those most cynical of international intervention argue that Liberia’s sovereignty will be restored. Liberians will be able to make their own choices. Farmers won’t have to grow bulgur wheat just because some UN agency wants them to. Liberians will develop their country on their own terms.

But the pull-out also will mean a loss of well-paying national-hire jobs. The many university graduates working with the UN and international non-governmental organizations will have to find a job in a country where there aren’t many. The creative and enterprising could follow Jonathan’s model and create jobs for themselves.

Inside Jonathan’s internet café, the light bulb dies out and a laptop’s battery light flashes on. “They’re adding fuel to the generator,” Jonathan explains, adding that he spends about $8 per day on fuel. “For a business to grow in Liberia, you have to be mean to your extended family,” Jonathan once told me. If he gave money to everyone who asked, the power wouldn’t go on in the morning.

Epilogue

Jonathan’s entrepreneurial ambitions have been put on hold. He has been working at a bank for the past year. He enjoys the job, gets paid an enviable salary, and has health insurance for himself and several relatives. Jonathan rents out his car to a friend, who has started his own driving business.

Jonathan can be reached by email: jsaah2001@hotmail.com or cell +231 (0)6 553 316.