Working together

One of the things that you notice in Liberia is the wide variety of organizations and nationalities that are represented.  There is a literal alphabet soup of acronyms on people's ID badges and shirts.  Many are the usual culprits like WHO (World Health Organization), UNMIL (UN Military Liaison), USAID (United States Agency for International Development) etc and, of course, the many NGO (Non Governmental Organizations) such as Direct Relief, MSF (Medisin San Frontier -  Doctors without Borders), and IMC (International Medical Corps).  Heart to Heart is also an abbreviation, usually listed on rosters as HHI.  However, many people still have their national uniforms even when they are working for other organizations.  There is a UN police presence in Tappita that includes police from Jordan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, all wearing their national uniforms.  Many Other African countries are represented with people from Zambia, Congo, Kenya and Uganda.  Conversations between the different nationalities is usually conducted in accented English.  Some countries are over represented on the military side such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the governments of which earn significant money renting out their soldiers to the UN.  There are some combinations that make you wonder.  While waiting on a UN flight back to Tappita, one organization loaded ahead of us onto a different aircraft.  Two of the members wore their countries military uniforms, Russia and the Ukraine.  I wonder how that works with them having to work together.  Although, maybe that is what is what they have needed, working  together to help someone else in need.   Hopefully a little good can come, one way or another, from this epidemic.