Exodus
The children and teenagers in this photograph are just a few of the thousands of Liberians who fled their civil war-riffed homeland for the United States in July 2003, when Liberia’s capital Monrovia was under siege by rebel forces. I took this photograph with my friend’s 35 mm camera earlier this year after 11:00 mass at St. Patrick’s Church. The parish of St. Patrick’s has undertaken assisting the assimilation of those Liberian refugees who wish to seek a new life in the United States rather than return home to Liberia. Moses, the aptly christened leader of this clan, is only related to a few of the children depicted. Separated families and abandoned children have come together, accepting each other not as surrogate families, but as full-fledged mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. The church has worked together to provide basic amenities such as housing, clothing, food, and water, but this is only the most easily attained fraction of the aid that is required for a successful transition. They must also learn and fluently speak English, obtain higher levels of education, and acquire occupations that will provide sufficient pay to become independent. Although the exhaustion of becoming American citizens is apparent in the faces of the children portrayed, also present is the exuding hope in new opportunity and the kindness of others. This photograph gives evidence to the beacon of hope that thousands of Liberians cherish; that human rights and social justice still reigns in the United States.