The kerosene lantern was one of my best friends growing up. Even though the doctors warned that it was just as much a threat to my eyesight as the candles, at least with the lantern I couldn’t test how many times I could run my finger through the fire without getting burned. So yes, candles were prohibited by mom and the lantern was allowed. Those were the only two home lighting options we had so it was logical to choose the safer one. We needed light at nighttime... I needed light at nighttime. I was always studying, or reading something, or drawing the ugliest versions of my brothers I could find in my imagination; there was just no separating me and my books.

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The war had just ended and we were trying to put back together the ruins of our lives. And for us children, that meant reading your books and going nowhere near former child-soldiers. I was so close to the lantern, I was the one who always kept it clean and safe during the day. Oh, how I loved the smell of burnt kerosene... it was the aroma of the night that kept my hopes and dreams alive and awake. I was a child trying to find my way out of the dark.

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It has now been almost two decades since the war and things are much different in my country. We have electricity from the grid in most parts of Monrovia, our capital city. Even though it’s not reliable, at least it’s present sometimes and that matters. We no longer have child-soldiers, even though there are thousands of boys and girls that lack access to proper education. Liberia is now a peaceful nation, and peace is paramount to the improvement of people’s lives.

"I am now an entrepreneur whose mission is to educate and empower..."

There are certainly some things to be grateful for. But despite all of it, there are still thousands of people where I come from— thousands lost in the dark, and thousands more trying to find their way out. As a nation, we are hopeful. As a people we have learned to be resilient. My generation has learned that it is up to us to become the lantern in the dark helping others find their way out, and this is a responsibility we hold dear to us.

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I am now an entrepreneur whose mission is to educate and empower, and I am hopeful that together we will all roll into a brighter and sustainable future… a future created by us for us.

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