U.S. Response to Civil War in Liberia

Stanley Meisler’s column (“Neocolonialism’s Legacy: Liberia Wars With Its Past,” Opinion, July 29) brought to mind my own experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in that country during the early 1960s. It is with much sadness that I continue to read of Liberia’s political unrest because I can’t help but think of the influence we, as Peace Corps volunteers, knowingly or unknowingly exerted on that country.

Having arrived in Liberia ready to teach elementary school subject matter to Liberian nationals, my first “shock” was to learn we were to be taking the place of Liberian national teachers. No longer would the Liberian government have to assume the responsibility for paying their citizens to educate their own. We would do it for nothing. It didn’t take long for me to learn whose job I had taken, whose salary I had helped to terminate.

Secondly, it became clear to me that our purpose as Peace Corps volunteers was not to further the efforts of peace, but to motivate local nationals to change as a result of “helping them” (through education) become dissatisfied with the status quo.

I do have some very fond memories of Liberia. I have never seen earth more red than that in the Liberian countryside. I have never experienced a more colorful language than the local English spoken throughout the country. I have never met more loving and caring people than those of the villages and towns where I lived and taught.

CECILE MAURICE

Seal Beach