A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

idges over streams that would allow a four-wheel vehicle to reach the
community–if not during the entire year, at least during the dry season.
Indeed, when Edward visited them the following year he was able to hire
a car that took him all the way to the village itself in considerably less time
than his first trip had taken.
On this second trip community leaders asked for Edward’s assistance in
establishing a small-scale lumber extraction business. Above all they needed
a chainsaw and funds to pay for a truck to take their first shipment of
lumber to the nearest market. On his return to the U.S. Edward purchased
a chainsaw and sent it back through relatives in Ghana. When the villagers
communicated back to him that the chainsaw was breaking down he paid
for a Ghanaian operator to go and instruct the villagers in the chainsaw’s
use and to repair the machine. Once he was notified that the first load of
lumber was ready to be sent to market he had a relative in Monrovia hire
an independent truck driver to go to the village. By his account a total
investment of $1500 USD had provided the village with the means to now
run a self-sustaining small-scale lumber extraction and milling business. 596
Diaspora Involvement in Liberia’s Political Fortunes
Liberia researcher Mary Moran
has opined that, to ignore
the role of the diaspora, par-
ticularly in the United States,
is to “tell only half the story”
when it comes to Liberia’s
decline into conflict and its
road to peace. 597 TRC statements
from the Diaspora
reflect a sentiment that many
Liberians in the diaspora
played a role in fomenting and
funding the conflict in Liberia.
One community leader in
Washington, DC, said that
“some Liberians blame ULAA
for the war” because it was founded by individuals who later played significant roles in Liberia’s civil
crises. 598 According to him, in the early days, ULAA collaborated with and “agitated” along with
home-based student organizations such as the Liberian National Student Union (LINSU), Progressive
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Chapter Thirteen