"Emmett manages Mercy Corps programs for Grand Bassa County, and is Liberian.  Mercy Corps puts a high priority on hiring local or ""national"" staff, as opposed to non-Liberians. Emmet ended up being our oracle of wisdom -- on the country, the war, the ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation and Mercy Corps' innovative investments in the country. We realized, as we bumped along the back roads in our jeep, that he served as our guide on a human safari of sorts. With chagrin, we wondered if he saw us similarly: as eager, wide-eyed, poverty tourists. His tone as he related information and answered our inquiries was filled with a quiet knowing of things we can't know. He both challenged and comforted us as we fumbled along, as a good guide of the exotic does. ""Freedom is heavy,"" he told us, shaking his head at the array of concerns facing Liberia going forward. Photo: Cate Biggs And Nancy Farese Nanc, Photophilanthropy"
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