I met Comfort Freeman (a Liberian) in Ghana. We shared different experiences after Comfort honestly didn’t  believe that I am from South Africa. Any country on the African continent must surely be inhabited by blacks only. It is extremely hot and humid where we are while the copious amounts of “Stone Strong Lager” goes down like water.

Liberia is a country in West Africa which was founded, established, colonized, and controlled by citizens of the United States and ex-Caribbean slaves as a colony for former African American slaves and their free black descendants. Thus one of only few African countries not colonized by Europeans.

Comfort was a younger man during the Liberian rule of Charles Taylor. During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone War (1991 -2002). Domestically, opposition to his government grew, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War (1999– 2003). By 2003, Taylor had lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted. That year, he resigned, as a result of growing international pressure, and went into exile in Nigeria. He was found guilty in April 2012 of all eleven charges levied by the Special Court, including terror, murder and rape. In May 2012, Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Reading the sentencing statement, Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said: “The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting as well as planning some of the most heinous and brutal crimes in recorded human history.”

Like always, I want to understand better, and I ask many questions. One thing bothering me was the fact that Liberians under Taylor’s rule apparently view him as a hero, and would actually like to have him back as their President. I keep this question for later and first want to understand more about the suffering endured by Liberians under Taylor’s rule. Comfort goes into deep detail of horrific cruelties suffered by citizens, as dished out by Taylor’s army and rebel soldiers. Amputations, rape, murder and other seriously uncomfortable atrocities. Comfort tells about him and his parents having to stay indoors for weeks, demolishing their shack from the inside to provide for enough firewood to cook and survive – not daring to go outside, or otherwise be slaughtered like chickens.  He also tells about a time when you could not find a single chicken in Liberia. Chickens and eggs apparently had to be imported from Kenya.

The time is right and I ask Comfort, how on earth can Liberians ask for Taylor’s return with all these atrocities still fresh in everyone’s minds? How can he be viewed as a hero? Comfort’s reply is mindboggling: “Charles Taylor is our hero, he made us suffer, he taught us how to survive amongst suffering. Today we can handle suffering better than ever before – thanks to our hero, Charles Taylor”.

How on earth does anyone comprehend this? Is suffering the only thing left in some parts of Africa? Is suffering the one and only thing to overcome? Is this what Presidents are there for? It was Friedrich Nietzsche who quoted: “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering”. But is this not taken to literally in some parts of Africa?

Mark Manson describes man as – “Who you are is what you are willing to struggle for”. If this is how certain Africans make sense of life, let it be. And maybe, just maybe the rest of us are simply missing something very important here??