math 101...

In Africa there are too many pictures, too many contrasts. You can’t catch them all. It’s like sticking your head out of a fast-moving car—you suffocate; it’s too much to take in.

One minute you’re there—in it, stuck, stewing in the sadness, the loss, your shirt plastered to your back, your neck burned from the sun—then you’re gone, seatbelt buckled, cool air cascading down, ice in the glass. You are gliding above the earth, laughing. (Anderson Cooper---Dispatches from the Edge)

I don’t pretend to compare my own journey to the travels of CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper. But something about this statement resonates with how I feel right now.

11 short days ago I was in West Africa. My own clothes plastered to my body as I walked about in the intense heat of mid-day. I wasn’t filming the Iraqi elections or ducking through an exchange of gunfire. But I was living (on a ship that was docked) in a place where UN tanks, standard issue M16’s, and curfews were a normal part of life. So was intense suffering.

Liberia.

Today I sat in the Lausanne, Switzerland Starbucks drinking a 7.40-franc Grande Iced Mocha, doing some math on where I was and where I am.

*Liberian average annual income: $140 USD
*Swiss average annual income: about 170 times more than that on average
*Switzerland ranks 7th in the world on the Human Development Index
*Liberia has no current ranking…in essence it would be over the top...in development "lowness"
*Life expectancy at birth if you are born in Switzerland is about 81 years
*Life expectance at birth if you are born in Liberia is about 40 years
*HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate in Liberia is estimated at almost 6%
*HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate in Switzerland is estimated at less than a half a percent
*Average percentage of people over age 15 who can read and write in Switzerland is 99%
*Average percentage of people over age 15 who can read and write in Liberia is 58%
*Unemployment rate in Switzerland is almost 4%
*Unemployment rate in Liberia is 85%
*Population in Liberia living below poverty line is 80%
*Population in Switzerland living below poverty line is “N/A %”

I loved my Iced Mocha. Don’t get me wrong. It was perfect as I sat in the soft comfy seat by the window. I just couldn’t drink it without thinking…23 Iced Mochas is more than the average Liberian makes in a year.

I left the Starbucks and walked about 20 meters away when I saw this on beautiful display in a storefront window:








I think, Anderson Cooper is right. The car is going way too fast...I need to get my head back inside for a while.