There are no coincidences.

I met Joseph over a Summer, 2005 Youth for Human Rights conference in Ghana. Off the flight from his native Liberia, two coastal countries over to the west, “Jay” was death-camp survivor thin.

With a bootlegged DVD of Liberia, An Uncivil War, “Jay” spun out his life. He was eight when the genocide broke out, aged 22 when it ended. Fighting hit his Monrovia neighborhood toward Christmas, 1989, forcing him and family to largely walk the 50 miles to the Sierra Leone border. A 14-year- old commander confronted them at the last checkpoint, in charge of fighters twice his age by being a stone-cold killer. It was eight-year-old Jay who begged and bargained for his remaining family’s lives.

On that Ghana conference’s last day, Jay asked me a question: Would I help him? While the idea was outlandish – how are one (older) L.A. lawyer dude and one (much younger) survivor of the killing fields going to make any difference? – I heard myself say, “Yes.”
***
Then, ten months later, came this journal entry, Monrovia, Liberia, Sunday, June 4, 2006:

“We arrive at Kokota International at 11:00, way early for the 2:30 Accra [Ghana] to Liberia flight, Slok Air. Contrary to assurance in town, Slok GM Kofi insists he will only accept cash, no AmEx, no Visa, no MasterCard, no nothing.

“It is of course Sunday. No banks are open. Our only hope is an ATM and my one Mastercard. We are going to need over $900 U.S. for a round trip, or 9M Ghanian cedis. By taxi, we find an off-site Standard Bank. That ATM will only go up to cedis 800,000 ($80) and doesn’t like my card in any event. So, no go. We hit nearby Barclay’s (broken) and Ecobank (Visa only, no Mastercard). Still, no go.

“Now, I count up the travelers’ checks, nearly $1,000. Cool. I call GM Kofi back at Slok Air. Ex-nay on AmEx travelers’ checks. However, the lady behind airport money conversion window will consider it, but only $400.

“We take the plastic bag bulging with resulting 7,000,000 cedis back to Kofi. ‘Super!’ he says. It’s now 50 minutes to wheels-up. There’s no time to count 7M in small bills, so he takes our word and writes the tickets. [Kofi will later be first at the stairs when we return five days later to accept my payment in full.]

“… Two-plus hours later, we come down over beautiful beaches into Robertsfield, Liberia. It’s around 4 p.m. UN helicopters – maybe 30, including heavy lifters and gunships – are parked in a bunch. A UN passenger jet is disembarking. Through the tiny terminal, Joseph and his cohort greet us in the chaos street side.

“There is a pall over the people, not exactly a poverty of spirit, more like a semi-speechless shock after the last and very recent shots in 13 years of barbaric armed conflict. The buildings are grey drab concrete, black-stained from age and mold. This is a near-end of humanity, stomped-on hard by the unforgiving boot of some insane giant that found the population an annoyance like so many ants, with the few pockets of persons not fully exterminated slowly gazing about to see whether the coast is clear.

“We head the 40 miles to town. The sun is before us, descending gracefully through bright hazy sky and scattered clouds.
“The road for first half is hardly populated. Joseph says it is all government-owned land and thus off-limits for settlement. While it could well be cultivated for rice, Liberia cannot feed itself and must import. When rice hits the streets, it is $30 per bag, way more than most people can afford.

“We pass three UN checkpoints – the real deal, gun towers, sandbags and badass Nigerian troops -- and then suddenly, the thickening masses of Monrovia. In the sinking darkness, there is a large billowing black-smoked fire up on the hill (burning tires to soften the rock for gravel).

“We are through Congotown where exiled warlord Charles Taylor’s empty hulk of a house backs right up onto the street; now we’re by the burned out shell of assassinated President Samuel Doe’s defense ministry, War of the Worlds ruins; presently past Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s unpretentious presidential house; and finally to our modest digs, Corina Hotel.

“Post-dinner, Joseph takes his leave with the rule: ‘open the door for no one, see you in the morning.’”
***
Now almost 20-years on, we have come to recognize West Africa’s struggles -- bloody civil wars notorious for child soldiers, Ebola, endemic poverty, entrenched corruption -- are stark demonstration of illiteracy as the most destructive human rights violation. With decades-long partnerships in government and civil society, we train educators and students through Applied Scholastics International. “APS” is uniquely qualified to offer the solution to illiteracy through the proven effective learning methods of American author and innovator L. Ron Hubbard, widely known as “Study Technology ” or “Study Tech.” Our challenge is not demand, it’s enough capacity to meet the demand.

The plan back in 2005 was one week in Ghana, take some pics, head back. Thanks to him, I’ve never really returned.

… and so, we work. No coincidences.

Tim Bowles
May 1, 2026