about liberia


LIBERIA and KOLAHUN

Liberia is Africa's oldest republic. 

In 1989 a bloody civil war began and lasted until 2003. 300,000 Liberians died.  Much of the country’s farmland had been abandoned and was now overgrown by jungle.  

After the war, Liberia began to slowly rebuild itself. Its health care, educational systems, and food supply were being restored. 

Then the Ebola epidemic hit 2014.

Ebola killed thousands of Liberians. 8,000 children in Liberia lost at least one parent to Ebola and many lost both parents. Ebola's actual toll may have been two to three times the number of reported cases.

Liberia's fragile health-care system collapsed. 500 health care workers died. And Liberia already had the fourth-lowest per capita ratio of doctors and nurses among all countries in the world—fewer than 4 per 10,000 population, compared to the World Health Organization recommended minimum threshold of 23 per 10,000 population.

​Once again the economic, agricultural, and educational systems were ravaged. Sanitation and clean water were nearly nonexistent.

ebola in liberia

In 2013, the Reuters news agency reported that Liberia "spent just $44 per citizen on health... half of the average for sub-Saharan Africa."  

Kolahun was one of the districts most grievously affected by Ebola.

Liberia was declared Ebola-free in January 2016, but it will take years for Kolahun and the nation to fully recover.

And RESTORE HOPE: LIBERIA is a vital part of that recovery process.  We hope you will be part of our success.