There was no Ebola epidemic in Liberia 50 years ago. Liberia didn't have a Civil War.

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Liberia from 1965 to 1967 – a PCV administrator at Liberia's Public Utilities Authority (PUA). My pay: $145 a month.

Liberia was a creation of U.S.A. President James Monroe. Former freeborn American blacks and American slaves were sent to Liberia by President Monroe in 1847. The return to Africa was funded by the American Colonization Society, a philanthropic group, and supported by the U.S. Congress. Descendants of those 1847 founders were running Liberia when I arrived in 1965.

Sending former slaves back to Africa was not viewed as a bad thing. It's was a chance for a new life. The 1847 founders named their capital, Monrovia, after President Monroe. They had southern roots. They were USA-friendly. Their currency was the USA dollar. Their flag looked a lot like a USA flag. Many Liberia institutions reflected their USA roots.

Liberia was not a colony of the USA. But, in many ways, it was like a colony. However, without the benefits the British (e.g. Nigeria) and French (e.g. Ivory Coast) bestowed on their colonies. They created an educated middle class in their colonies. Liberia had no middle class. There was an upper class, descendants of the 1847 founders, and everybody else.

Liberian illiteracy rate was @ 90% when we arrived. The net result of those who came in 1847, and their descendants, was to keep local tribal folks uneducated and out of power while the sons and daughters of the descendants attended prestigious universities in the USA (e.g. Cornell). In 1965, President Tubman and VP Tolbert were two of those 1847 descendants.

In 1964 I graduated from Northeastern University (NU) in Boston, Massachusetts with a degree in Business. At NU I was also in the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps, training to become a 2nd LT in the Army Signal Corps. Just six weeks short of becoming a 2nd LT, I failed my physical. With my Army future gone, I applied to join the Peace Corps.

In 1964, the Peace Corps primarily wanted teachers. There was, however, a small group of Public Administration (PA) Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) who worked as administrators for foreign governments agencies. Extensive FBI background checks were needed to get in. Those background checks would take a year to complete.

In the meantime, I took a full time job at Marriott in Washington D.C. After a six months of restaurant training, I became an Assistant Manager in a Washington, D.C. restaurant. In May 1965, I was invited to join the Peace Corps (PC). I quit my Marriott job and flew to San Francisco State University for six weeks of PC training.

At San Francisco State, returning PCV(s) told us what it would be like to live in Liberia. We received medical shots, dental care, played soccer (Liberian national sport), were taught Liberian history, etc. Some of us toured the Pacific Gas & Electric HQ in San Francisco in preparation for later public utility work in Liberia.

In June,1965, with six weeks of training behind me, I flew out of New York's JFK with 148 other PCV(s) (125 teachers and 24 Public Administrators).We landed at Robert's Field (airport), 50 miles from Monrovia, Liberia's capital on the West Coast of Africa.

We were told in our training that we would initially experience “culture shock” on arrival in-country. We did. On the 50 mile bus trip from Robert's Field to Monrovia we saw, locals are peeing openly in the streets, open sewers, and dead dogs littering the streets.

The Peace Corps Manager for Liberia, on-loan from IBM, managed the 24 Public Administration PCV(s) and 125 teachers. Some PCV PA(s) worked for Treasury, Labor, and other government agencies. Teachers were assigned to schools in Monrovia and small villages throughout the country.

Dick and I were assigned to work for the Public Utilities Authority (PUA) in Monrovia – a utility that supplied electricity to the country. Dick was an Accountant at the PUA office in Monrovia. I was assigned as Business/Personnel Administrator on Bushrod Island.

PUA trucks were garaged on Bushrod Island. PUA work crews left there each day to install electric meters and transformers in Monrovia. Electrical parts were also warehoused there.

While Liberia's cost of living was high, our apartment was free – provided by the Peace Corps. All supermarket food came from abroad and was expensive. There was a 100% duty put on every item upon arrival in Liberia. Supermarket prices were double those of a typical USA supermarket. Liberia, at the time, had the 4th highest cost of living in the world.

There were no meat inspectors in Liberia, so we did not buy local meat. It was not clear to us where the meat came from, how it was stored, or what diseases it carried. We would not buy local market fish either. Fish were sold in warm open air markets and covered with flies. We boiled water daily to kill water borne diseases. We bought local fruits (e.g. bananas, pineapples) at the market near the waterfront.

The country was at peace. People were very friendly – always greeting strangers with a warm hello and a smile. It was not uncommon for locals to hold hands walking down the street, both men and women. Locals respected PCV(s). They knew we were there to help. We were easy to spot. The local term for PC was “pretty cheap”.

We were told during our PCV training to “stay out of politics”. If not, you risked getting expelled from the country. Much of what we learned about the Liberian government we learned from Liberian's we worked with or other PCV(s). We kept what we learned to ourselves.

Liberia was ruled by a benevolent and corrupt dictator - President Tubman. A lot of the money earned by the Liberian government (iron ore, rubber, diamonds), we were told, went into Tubman's personal bank account. We knew this because one of our PCV PA(s) worked at Treasury. Each year President Tubman would fly to Switzerland with 100+ people to deposit his cash.

While corrupt, President Tubman seemed to be well liked by Liberian's. He traveled around the country, handing out cash to Liberian's – stealing with one hand and handing out cash to locals on the other. He would drive around in a car tossing out cash – always giving Liberians the impression of a generous and benevolent leader.

I remember when President Tubman had an election. Yellow leaflets were dropped from an airplane above Monrovia. The leaflets said “Tubman and Tolbert for President and Vice President.”. It was clear to us that this was not a real election. President Tubman would win by 98% of the vote.

We were later told, that soldiers would stand at ballot boxes and ask people who they planned to vote for, before they voted. If they gave the wrong answer, you were carted away (not allowed to vote). We heard that someone who dared run against President Tubman had his house shot up. The appearance of an election seemed to be important to President Tubman.

Public Administration Peace Corps Volunteers were an unusual subset of PCV(s). Never before, had PCV(s) worked as administrators within a foreign government. Some PCV PA(s), like me, had backgrounds in Business. We also also had a former PGA professional golfer, a lawyer, and a judge in our PA group of 24. Most had joined the Peace Corps straight out of college.

My roommate was an Accounting major from the University of Michigan – an all “A” student (a very smart guy). Over the next two years there, Dick and I traveled everywhere together, both inside Liberia and to other countries.

I was a Business Management major from Northeastern University (NU) in Boston. I worked on co-op jobs for 5 years at NU, earning my own way through college. By the time I joined the PC, I had the equivalent of 3 years of work experience – more than other PA PCV(s).

The Public Utilities Authority (PUA) was created when President Kennedy (JFK) promised money to build a hydroelectric power infrastructure in Liberia. This project was managed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Liberia had two seasons - a rainy season and a dry season. Each season lasted six months. 200” of rain fell during the rainy season. In other words, it either rained every day for six months or it was dry every day for six months.

The goal of the PUA was to have water stored up during the rainy season so it could be used for hydro power year-round. A dam was built with USAID funds. USAID managers were hired from top USA utility firms to be managers of the PUA.

These managers were extremely well-paid – a larger salary than they ever would be paid in the USA. It was hard to get managers to go overseas. So, I guess they had to be paid well to get managers to go there. Think of it as combat pay – although, at the time, Liberia was very far from a combat zone – and the perks, for them, were great.

USA AID managers paid no USA income taxes once they were out of the USA for 18 months. Those who had been there that long could bank lots of money. They had luxurious homes, also a perk. Cheap Liberian servants, called “house boy's”, were the norm.

USA AID managers also received six weeks of paid vacation each year. This included expense-paid trips back to the USA for themselves and their families. Perks also included paid trips for family members to come to Liberia. It was a lucrative and comfortable life for these managers in Liberia.

Dick and I worked for those managers. We were middle management - paid a little bit less at $145/month.

During the first six weeks in Liberia, the PUA General Manager left for the USA for six weeks. He invited us to stay in his ocean side mansion while he was gone. We had a bar, an electric typewriter, and a “house boy”. While life in a seaside mansion didn't quite fit our image of PCV living, we enjoyed it for the first six weeks there.

Once our time in the mansion was up, Dick, Dan, and I moved into our apartment in downtown Monrovia. Dick could walk to work at his PUA office near our apartment. Dan worked as an administrator at the Department of Labor. I took a “Money Bus” to my Bushrod Island PUA office about two miles away.

Money buses are the way the local's traveled. These buses were crowded and cheap. They were the best way to get around in Monrovia.

While adult Liberian's were too polite to stare at a white person on a Money Bus, babies had no such inhibitions. Not used to seeing a white person on the bus, they would stare. I will also never forget two Liberian adults on the bus making fun of an Asian man on the street because he looked different than they did. They pointed at him and laughed.

I worked for Milo at the PUA on Bushrod Island. He was a USAID worker, a recent arrival from an USAID assignment in Alaska. He was white haired burly man in his 50's of Scandinavian decent. Milo barked out orders to Liberian utility crews. These work crews installed electric meters and transformers in Monrovia. In the Bushrod Island office, I was an office administrator. I was my own boss.

My first task was to take an physical inventory of all warehouse electrical parts. It the first time a PUA inventory had been done. I got on my hands and knees and counted every part in that warehouse. It was a dirty job, but a place to start. It was soon clear that parts had of way of “going missing”.

Arthur, a Liberian, was my right hand man in the office. He was in his 30's – short, a leader, educated, smart, and respected by the work crews. Arthur spoke with a distinctive gravely voice. He explained how things worked in Liberia and at the PUA. He was a go-between between me and the Liberian work crews. I remember him chewing something that looked like a chestnut each morning - a caffeine pick-me-up.

Common diseases in Africa, at the time, were schistosomiasis and malaria. We received lots of shots before we arrived. We took anti-malaria tablets. It worked. We were told to not to walk around in our bare feet to avoid getting schistosomiasis. This disease is caused by a worm that burrows its way through the soles of your feet if you walked around barefoot.

At my PUA Bushrod Island office I started checking miles-per-gallon on the utility trucks leaving the yard. I was shocked to find out that most vehicles were getting 4-5 miles-per-gallon. Trucks use lots of gas, but not that much. Gas was also “going missing”.

While traveling on a “Money Bus” one day in Monrovia I saw where some of the gas was “going missing”. I saw one of the PUA workers I knew siphoning gas from a PUA utility truck into his privately-owned taxi. PUA gas was being used for extra cash or for private use.

To track gas / mileage usage, I created a trip ticket for each utility truck driver. The drivers were willing to fill this out to keep track of their mileage. However, there was one problem. When a country has a 90% illiteracy rate, most truck drivers can drive, but they can't read or write.

I arranged for a PCV teacher to teach the drivers to read or write. When the PCV teach could not make the first class, I taught the drivers. I remember repeating the letters AAA BBB CCC over and over again to the drivers. The PCV teacher took the class over after that.

I processed paychecks for work crews on Bushrod Island. When I saw a large deduction coming out of each paycheck, I asked Arthur what it was for. He said, “President Tubman decreed that every Liberian must donate one month's pay to fund a new building in Monrovia each year in honor of his birthday.” Many buildings in Monrovia were paid for in this way (e.g. Masonic Temple). The Presidential Palace in Monrovia cost $27,000,000 in 1965 dollars.

Liberian's were not paid much per hour. I don't recall the exact amount. However, they had to donate one month's pay for a President Tubman birthday present each year. It was clear that they had to get creative (e.g. private taxis, selling electrical parts) to make ends meet.

For others, with the right access, it was possible to more than make ends meet i.e. to get rich. There was a reason that the PUA folks who had the “electric meter reader” jobs were driving around in privately-owned Mercedes Benz cars. They were making deals with local businesses in Monrovia for cash to fix their meters to steal electricity from the PUA.

One guy in the Bushrod Island office, responsible for repairing electric meters, had a tool that allowed him to open and reseal electric meters. He could turn the meters backwards to show a lower rate of use. This is a handy tool if you wanted to make money turning meters back for customers willing to pay for this service.

I confronted the meter repair guy. I asked, “Why are you sealing and re-sealing electric meters”. He threatened to kill me. Perhaps he had a deal going with the meter readers who drove their Mercedes Benz cars or perhaps he was on his own. Not sure. This threat did not pan out. I am still here. But, it did shake me up for a time.

It became clear that the Liberian government had their way of making money (e.g. siphoning government revenues into personal bank accounts). Ever day Liberian's also had to make their money any way that they could. It was a game. PUA workers could justify stealing: “you take one month of my pay for your presidential birthday building and I will siphon off your gas for my private taxi”.

Even guards in Liberian prisons, we were told, sold rice meant to feed the prisoners for personal profit. Bribes, know as “dash” were the norm. I remember once, a taxi driver held our luggage hostage in the trunk of his taxi and would not open it until we paid him some “dash”.

When the new USAAID General Manager arrived, a former AT&T executive, he would wander into a Monrovia bar and order a beer. The local bar owner didn't know who he was. He would strike up a conversation and ask: “What do you pay for electricity?” When the bar owner said they were getting it for free, he would go out back and cut off their electricity until they paid. PUA revenues started pouring in.

Before Milo arrived on Bushrod Island to manage utility crews, electrical transformers were burning out all the time. Utility crews had no idea why. Milo knew. Liberian utility crews did not know the capacity of installed transformers. They would keep adding homes and businesses to the same transformer, until it burned out.

Transformers are expensive. They had to be ordered from overseas. That took time. In the meantime, there was no electricity for those impacted. Milo stopped the transformer burnouts. He trained the Liberian's to test transformer capacity before adding homes or businesses.

Part of my job was as a Personnel Administrator for the Bushrod Island PUA workers. I set up a wage and salary system. Job titles, pay ranges, and job descriptions were written ( e.g. Mechanic A, B, & C). Each job had its own pay range based on skill & experience. This was the first PUA pay system of it's kind.

I was also able to get a $2000 life insurance policy approved for all workers. This was the first life insurance policy of its kind in Liberia. I also wrote a Personnel Policy booklet that explained PUA personnel policies, holidays, vacations, etc.

There were many ways to pass the free time in Monrovia. Each PCV had to make a choice how to spend it. Many spent lots of time in the local bars. I chose to stay out of the local bars. Although I did go to Dukor Palace Hotel “happy hours” on Friday nights from time to time. Many of the PCV teachers hung out there on Friday nights. This was the nicest hotel in Liberia.

The Peace Corps also gave us a book locker of over 400 books. I read most of them over the two years. We also had free magazine subscriptions (e.g. Time) to keep up with world news.

I learned to play chess. After getting thrashed several times (Fools Mate worked on me), I bought several chess books. I was able to hold my own after that. Although I had to quit playing chess with my roommate Dick, when he started taking 15 between every move.

Many weekends were spent using the sandy ocean beaches on the outskirts of Monrovia, particularly during the dry season.

Movies were cheap in Liberia, at the only movie theater in Monrovia. Movies were two years old by the time they arrived in Liberia. We enjoyed them nonetheless.

There was also a Lebanese ice cream vendor near the movie theater. We spent lot of money here. I remember this vendors distinctive way of using his ice cream scoop to give us the exact minimum amount of ice cream per scoop. The ice cream he sold us was the exact shape of the scoop itself. He scraped it to make sure we did not get more than the exact minimum.

Lebanese merchants dominated the business landscape in Monrovia. Most had been there so long that they spoke with a distinctive Liberian dialect. If you wanted to do business in Liberia, it was usually with a Lebanese merchant. My guess is that they owned 90% of the business in Monrovia.

Bartering was the norm in Liberia. We bartered over the price of everything. Ebony wood carvings were nice. I used to barter over a price of a particular carving for several days, before settling on a price with a local Liberian vendor. If you walked away, they usually lowered the price. I once bartered for a lower price on a meal at a Monrovia restaurant, after I ate it.

We PCV(s) used to laugh at USAID workers and other European workers or visitors who paid the initial inflated price that locals would throw out at them for artwork (e.g. ivory, wood carvings). Liberian's, for example, are excellent painters. They made some beautiful scenic oil paintings. We PCV(s) would pay $4 for a painting that an expatriate would pay $100 or more for, because that was the initial price quoted. Locals knew that. They also knew when it came to us that PC meant “pretty cheap”.

When you go to Africa, people always think about the animals of Kenya. We did not see a lot of animals, although we heard about lots of monkeys in the interior. There were pygmy hippo's in the wetlands near Monrovia, but we never saw them. What I remember most was the poisonous snakes that would come out from their holes when it rained during the rainy season. Green Mamba's, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world, were one of those snakes.

One PCV teacher I knew, who taught in a small village up-country, was scared to death when he went to the outhouse one night to take a dump. He walked in, and saw a snake poking its head about the seat hole just as he was about to sit down.

In addition to my day job at the PUA, I took on a teaching job at the University of Liberia. I taught Business Management to a class of about six students. To give them some local business experience, I took them on a tour of several Lebanese businesses in Monrovia, and had them interview the owners of these business. It was fun.

When leaving Liberia, my University of Liberia students gave me a book on African History. They also gave me a 25' long boa-constrictor skin. It still had two holes in the skin used for the stick used to carry the dead boa-constrictor.

We also spent a lot of time traveling, both inside and outside of Liberia. Weekend travel in Liberia was usually to visit other PCV(s) located up-country.

On Sundays, several PCV(s) from Monrovia would travel up-country to the Firestone Rubber Plantation to play rugby. We played with British expatriates who worked for Firestone. This was my first introduction to a sport I called, football without the pads. If you had the ball, you had to run like hell, or pass it, as 11 people were chasing you ready to tackle you – a strong incentive to pass the ball.

We also played golf at the Firestone Rubber Plantation golf course a couple of times. I have no idea why I did this, but I was the only PCV to bring his golf clubs to Africa. Strange now, when I think of it. What was I thinking? What I remember most about the golf course is that that greens were primarily like mud pits (rainy season)...and the holes were the size of a peach basket (tough to miss a putt).

Liberia is sitting on mountains of rich iron ore. Iron ore is everywhere. I remember picking up iron rocks in the streets of Monrovia. Liberia was known for its rich iron ore with high concentrations of iron close to the surface. As the story goes, someone flew a plane over mountains in Liberia and saw the compass go crazy when passing over where there were rich iron deposits. He followed up on the ground. Mining of iron ore in Liberia was born.

Dick and I took one weekend trip to Bong Mines, a German iron mine. Bong Mines was in the mountains of northern Liberia near the Sierra Leon border. It was much cooler and far less humid than Monrovia – 40F degrees at night. We toured the mine. We also took a side trip to the Mano River nearby – the river that represents the border between Liberia and Sierra Leone. Diamonds, we were told, could be found along the river.

While we didn't find any diamonds, I did foolishly try to swim across the Mano River. After I swam across and back a Liberian, with an amazed look on his face, told me how brave I was. I asked, “Why do you say that?” He said, “There are electric eels in the river. If they shock you, you can drown.” I told him, “If I had known that, I never would tried to swim across.”

Once Dick and I traveled to visit a PCV friend of ours we knew at a small village in central Liberia. He was a teacher. He took us on a tour of the village. I will never forget what he said: “I am walking you slowly around the village. If I walk too fast, you will have nothing to do the rest of the weekend.” We usually slept on a cement floor when we stayed for a weekend.

PCV teachers were held in high regard in these villages. Teachers usually had the best accommodations villagers give them. PCV teachers came with first aid kits. Anyone with a first aid kit was considered the village doctor. Huts were built with bamboo and clay with thatched roofs. Some villagers, if well-to-do, had tin roofs. Women were bare-breasted as they went about their chores (collecting water, or pounding grain into flour).

We found several religious missions in Liberia. Missions had an excellent reputation in the country. They were doing a great job teaching and caring for Liberian children. My impression of these religious missions was nothing but positive. PCV(s) were there for 2 years at a time. Religious missionaries were there for the long haul.

In one small village we visited, I remember asking a youngster to get me a bunch of bananas up a banana tree. I gave him a quarter. He climbed the tree, came back, and handed me a large bunch of green bananas. I carried the huge stock of bananas back to Monrovia and ate them over the next couple of weeks as they ripened.

I also ate some of the sweetest oranges I have ever eaten in one small village. These oranges were not colored with orange dye like USA supermarket oranges are, to make them look orange. These oranges were ugly on the outside (more green than orange), but the best oranges I have ever tasted.

One weekend trip took me to Robertsport on the coast. It had the makings of a Liberian Cape Cod. A beautiful spot with clean white sandy beaches and rolling ocean-side hills. When I was there, I could picture tourist hotels going up there. With the right political leadership and investments, that could have happened. I also remember the children, suffering from hunger and disease, with distended stomachs.

So, on the weekends, we traveled a lot up-country, particularly during the dry season. On Monday-Friday, we worked at the PUA.

While at the Bushrod Island office, Milo approached me one day and said, “The Public Utilities Authority” will be looking for Liberian's that we can give engineering scholarships to, who can later come back and work for the company.”

This was not an easy task for a country with an illiteracy rate of 90%. One village in Liberia was identified of having extremely brilliant villagers. Perhaps a PCV teacher identified them. Not sure. Anyway, a number of the men in this village were given tests to demonstrate their capacity to become electrical engineers at the PUA. Harry was one of these candidates. I remember him building an elaborate model bridge out of toothpicks.

Harry and Soni were the brilliant up-country villagers who were selected to attend engineering school in the USA. Both had a full scholarship, paid for by the PUA. I was asked to pick the college they would attend. We were able to get Harry and Soni accepted as electrical engineering students at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Soni was late for his plane to the USA. That should have been a sign. He was considered by the PUA to be smarter than Harry, but did not have Harry's maturity. Harry was married. Soni was not. Both went to Boston and attended Northeastern University.

Soni, flunked out. He, I later found out, was more interested in playing ping-pong than studying. Harry, on the other hand, did very well. He later graduated with a four year degree in electrical engineering. He returned to Liberia to work for the PUA. Lost track of him after that.

It's a shame what happened to Liberia in the 80's (Civil War) and in 2014 (Ebola epidemic). The people of Liberia deserved better. Their country's leaders failed them. The 90% illiteracy rate spoke volumes. Liberian politicians it seemed to me, got into politics, not to help the people of their country, but to enrich themselves. President Tubman and Tolbert for example, in addition to collecting monies from Firestone Rubber, had their own personal huge rubber plantations.

Liberia had the largest rubber plantation in the world (Firestone), rich deposits of iron and diamonds, a large shipping industry, 100% duties on all imports, large forests of wood (mahogany), etc. There was no reason why some of these resources, over the 50 years since I was there, could not have been used to build infrastructure and an educated middle class. This did not happen. Civil War and Ebola, I am sure, only compounded the problem.

Liberian's are a very warm and friendly people. My experience there is something I will never forget. I thank them for broadening my view of the world. I wish Liberia and it's current and future leaders well in overcoming the Ebola epidemic and their corrupt political past. Liberia, I believe, still has the resources to build a strong and well-educated middle class. I hope they do and wish them well.