"How do you bear yourself" asks my mum, who is visiting Liberia and who is genuinely overwhelmed by the contradictions of it all.

Yeah. How do you live confronted with extreme poverty? With the consequences of war, disease, aid-dependency at the worst possible time? How do you face the immensity of your own privilege? Your full closet, the crazy number of kitchen appliances and of toys accumulating in the kids rooms? The sheer fact that when you get tired of all this, you can actually leave the country and go rest somewhere in Europe?

Truth is I feel embarassed, both because I am not used to it and because I am not consumed by it. But also because even though I personally chafe at the idea of so many lives depending on the will of do gooders - rather than on sound and sustainable revenue management, good governance and no corruption or avoidance - I am coming to think that sometimes, helping to fix a leaky roof so that a school can reopen will actually make a difference.

So here it is, I am helping fix a roof for a methodist school in Robertsport, so that it can reopen its doors for the school year 2025&2026.

I have met the pastor in various occasions and feel right now that I can vouch for his character, his commitment and his accounting and program management skills.

Read more about our life in Liberia and my considerations on the people, the nature and the economy in my blog Umudugudu Appunti di Viaggio