In previous episodes of The Vice Guide to Travel, we road-tripped through North Korea, shopped for dirty bombs in Bulgaria, and hunted mutant wild boars in Chernobyl. Little did we know that all of our harrowing journeys would leave us only semi-prepared for a recent trip to war-ravaged, godforsaken Liberia.
Since 1989, a series of brutal civil wars — primarily fought by drug-addicted, prepubescent orphans — has rendered Liberia one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Everyone has heard the stories of abject poverty, ubiquitous substance abuse and wanton violence taking place there, but we don’t really believe anything that we don’t see for ourselves. So, stomachs firmly knotted, off we went.
We arrived in Liberia with a small crew of three and quickly rendezvoused with a local journalist who would be our fixer and guide. Our first shooting location was the West Point slum, home to 80,000 people living in conditions that redefine squalor. Miles of rotting garbage surround the slum, which has no sewage system. Pretty much everyone — even the local government officials — defecates and urinates in the open. Drugs, prostitution and armed robbery are the main industries. We got to know some of the residents of West Point, who told us their stories as they smoked heroin and cocaine and begged us for money.
Next we visited a local brothel. The women who lived there talked with us about the U.N. soldiers who have sex with the child prostitutes and beat the older women, and then leave without paying.
Watch episode 2 from the Vice Guide to Liberia on VBS.TV
But perhaps the most revelatory portions of our trip to Liberia came from meeting the major warlords of the nation’s civil wars. There’s a tradition in Liberian militias of taking on extravagant noms de guerre. Hence, our subjects were named General Bin Laden, General Rambo and General Butt Naked. The latter, in particular, was one of the most notorious Liberian warlords. He claims to have personally killed 20,000 people including babies, and to have sometimes cannibalized his victims.
Today, General Butt Naked goes by his birth name, which is Joshua. During our time together, he told us that Liberia will surely implode into civil war again when the U.N. leaves next year. But in the meantime, Joshua wants to redeem himself. He offered us a glimpse of the Liberia that he wants to forge, and we found ourselves growing to like him. He took us to his church, where he rehabilitates child soldiers. We watched as he preached his way through Monrovia on a Sunday.
Is there a chance that his mission will succeed, and further civil war can be averted in this desperate country? That’s one of the many questions that we came away with upon our safe return from Liberia. Watch our documentary about our time there and see what you think.
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“There is something wrong with the african mind”? There is something wrong with your mind! Just thank God you were not born into such tragedy. Thank God that you were born into such privilege that you can’t even wrap your head around their struggles. Hitler was Liberian, right? Dahmer too? You make me sad.
People google freemasons and you’ll see the bigger picture.Racism is engineered to distract us all from the beast we should be united to destroy.My fellow humans,please unite.black,asian,white,muslim,christians,hindus and all the religions who believe in God the almighty.Unite for the sake of human kind.There is a bigger beast sacrificing our children in satanic rituals all over the world.People who try to speak out get murdered.Wake up people before it’s too late.I’m begging you to take this seriously.Peace and unity to my fellow human beings.
This is not a black, white or asian thing. It is about the heart of man in general. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9.
This verse refers to the whole world. Our only hope is in Jesus. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23.
“For God so loved the world that He give His only begotton Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
I agree with “saint” to draw attention to the obvious rift between African development and Europeans is nothing short of the most vile racism.
I too am Liberian and a professor of physics. My brother fought with honor under the brave General Skeletor as many other from my village also served in the Biggie Smalls Brigade.
I once was in Germany and saw with my own eyes three white women eating a black child in the basement laundry facilities. So do not only blame us for the cannibalism! Racists!
I once was in Germany and saw with my own eyes three white women eating a black child in the basement laundry facilities. So do not only blame us for the cannibalism! Racists!
You liar! You’re pathetic.
:-D JTJ you crack me up! I can only hope the kid went through a wrinkle free dry cycle brfore the feast! Ha!
I feel sorry for these people, first of all bc they are tortured, raped or killed in their homelands. Something wrong with african minds. Their instinct to kill, hurt or devastate, destroy is being part of their lo-wdeveloped brains.
I agree totally with those who say: blacks are inferior to other races such as Whites or Asians. Don’t even try to convince me about anything else.
I don’t agree with your comments that blacks are inferior to other races. If you are white, then you are racist, if you are black, then it is because your life is misery and you are a failure in life, your own fault. I am black and a Liberian in total. I live in europe and seen whites and asians eating people flesh practicing cannibalism. It is a well know ritual nowadays especially among whites who practice more evil than blacks.
War brings these things to people and we are just experincing the consequences of more than a decade of civil war.. I must admit that we are more developed in our brains than you because you use yours for evil and we do ours for good. Liberians are peace loving people so I will remain loyal to my country. If you are sorry feel sorry for yourself for being so narrow minded and closed in this DNA age.