My wife Joanna and I have been professors at ABC University in Yekepa, Liberia since September of 2009. The artist statements from 2007 and 2009 document the thinking behind our moving here. But to summarize, if you believe the Bible as we do, it forces you to live life with the knowledge that heaven and hell exist, and there is beauty forever if you know God, and ugliness if you don't. This knowledge has forced us to live differently, trying to make as much impact in this life as we can, because if these facts are true for us, then they are true for everyone else too.

Liberia is a country that has had a couple years of peace out of the past 20 years due to civil war. Out of a population of about 2 million, somewhere around 250,000 people died in the conflict. The war was devasting to a country that was already poor after decades of mismanagement. There are a ton of problems in the country as a result: huge gaps in education, wiped out infrastructure, rampant corruption, 85% unemployment, and poor to no medical care to name a few. This is by no means an accurate synopsis of the country because it leaves out anything about Liberians and Liberian culture, but hopefully it is enough to give a rough sketch of what kind of obstacles the Liberians face.

One of the things that is easy to see anywhere you look in Liberia is the influence of Christianity. It is even ingrained in the language. But to repeat a description I've heard a million times before, it is a Christianity that is "a mile wide and an inch deep." I'm convinced that the best way to rebuild Liberia is to not just have nominal Christian leaders, but to have educated and mature Christian leaders, who will do their job in such a way that every part of it could be examined and shown to bring glory to God. That is why Joanna and I wanted to come, because ABCU is all about producing that kind of person.

At ABCU I've been teaching Philosophy and Ethics, Church History, English, and General Science. Joanna has been teaching all of the computer courses and helping out with general logistics. And we haven't only been teaching, but we've been able to do all sorts of things we never would have gotten to do otherwise: speaking engagements, campus design, architectural design, graphic design, mentoring, I'm the Dean of Academics, and the list just goes on. We've been incredibly blessed in getting to use all of our gifts here.

My new body of work is centered around our time here and how it has changed our thinking. You can read a little about it in the text for my statement from 2010. There's a proverb that sums it up well, though: “A stranger has big eyes but sees nothing.” We have a social responsibility, derived from our calling from God to accept Him and then manifest Him to the world, to make where we live better; but I think we need to take “where we live” in a global way.  I think it is important that we try to not be strangers to the global situation anymore, because if we have big eyes but also see, then we will have a more realistic perspective on life, and we can use our enlightened perspective to help where it is needed.

Please email me if you have any questions or comments about either our work at ABCU or my artwork. I love correspondence. delongvaughn@gmail.com