talkin about census

Yesterday when we were walking through the center of town we saw a large crowd gathered around an outdoor stage. About eight musicians armed with keyboards, a saxophone, electric and bass guitars, were standing on the stage in matching Liberian flag shirts. Behind them was a large cotton banner with red and blue sprayed on letters that said

"Concert in Support of Census."

At first, my western thinking thought they were having a concert to raise money for the upcoming census. But instead, they raising awareness that a census was happening soon and encouraging people to take part.

Even an experienced google-er like myself has difficulty finding good statistics on Liberia. And that's because there really aren't many. They war has destroyed the countries infrastructure to the point where it is extremely difficult to gather reliable data.

But this March, Liberia will be holding it's first census since 1984. Another exciting, though it may be small, sign of the progress being made in Liberia.

As we drove by the stage in the taxi and heard the beautiful saxophone and the reggae style singing we could not help but laugh a little at the chorus;

We're talkin about census.
We're talkin about census.
All will be counted.
Rich and poor.
Blind and lame.

I don't think this would be a very effective strategy for change in Philadelphia but it truly does work here in Monrovia.

And I really have had "We're talkin about census," stuck in my head for the past 24 hours.