I’m 
... on As part of PRI’s package about Liberia, Jason Margolis went to the Ducor Hotel and recorded some audio and I produced this slideshow with his piece and my images.
Those of you who read this blog regularly are probably sick of me posting about the Ducor Hotel, but I guarantee this will be my last post about it. I’m sad about that though. I’ve been out of Liberia for a couple of weeks, and while I was gone they cleared the building of the last couple of squatters and have started renovating the building.
That makes this piece my swan song for the Ducor. Maybe one day when it’s a new fancy hotel I’ll have a swim in the pool. But I’ll missing playing with the kids racing down the rough tile on flattened out jerry cans.
Tweets that mention Scarlett Lion | Audio Slideshow: Ducor Hotel -- Topsy.com says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by scarlettlion, scarlettlion. scarlettlion said: Hey @duckrabbitblog check out one of my first serious attempts at multimedia (even though I didn't record the audio) http://bit.ly/9cersT [...]
— July 9, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
Nana Kofi says:
I remember photographing in the Ducor Hotel once, my heart was broken just seeing such beauty wasting away. I’m glad it is finally going to come back alive since that’s going to mean a lot of jobs for many of Liberia;s unemployed youth.
[Reply]
— July 9, 2010 @ 11:00 pm
Glenna says:
Hey Nana-
I wish you were right that this did mean a lot of jobs for Liberia’s unemployed youth but I fear that it does’t. There will be some construction jobs but the Libyans are bringing in their own for most positions, and then the South Africans dominate the hospitality sector here so even once the hotel does open, there will still be limited opportunities. There will of course be jobs for maids, dish washers, trash collectors, etc, and of course a job is a job. But part of me wishes they had made the building into a museum about the war and Liberia’s past. In some ways, I think that would have more utility for the country.
And even though the Ducor will clearly not be made into a museum, I hope that sometime soon that one is made. All the new construction is just paving over the problems of the past rather than acknowledging them or honoring those who lost lives and loved ones because of them.
Maybe I’m over sentimental and this is a sign of moving forward, but maybe moving forward blindly is not what Liberia needs.
-G
[Reply]
— July 10, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
Bill says:
The unskilled workforce has more of a challenge in the job market. In Liberia, this would be a large percentage of the generally unemployed. Therefore, there is a need to provide low skilled jobs for that segment of the labor pool. Hopefully, this hotel and many of the labor-intensive investments will create jobs for the unskilled.
[Reply]
— August 18, 2010 @ 8:08 pm