NIMBA-BUCHANAN RAILWAY, Liberia (Reuters) - In the muggy forest of central Liberia, a gang of workers is inching its way along a railway track, cut long and straight through an otherwise impenetrable mesh of trees and vines. The drone of insects is interrupted by a high-pitched drill and the clang of hammers as workers put the finishing touches to the perfectly aligned steel tracks.
Casting a watchful eye over the crew of workers is Lewis C. Dogar, a veteran of Liberia's railway. Dogar and a handful of colleagues have been brought out of retirement to help reclaim hundreds of kilometres of track from the jungle. The softly spoken 64-year-old remembers Liberia's booming 1960s and 1970s, when trains laden with iron ore wound south from the mine on the mist-shrouded Mount Nimba to the sweaty port town of Buchanan. That finished with the outbreak of fighting, and two back-to-back civil wars that lasted 14 years. The conflict, which finally ended in 2003, left more than 200,000 people dead and Liberia's finances and infrastructure in ruins.
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
