West Africa

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will end her final term in office as Liberia’s – and Africa’s first elected woman – President in January next year. She will be 79. If she manages an orderly transition, she would have capped an extraordinarily successful political journey.

In some African cultures, travel is an initiatory act. One becomes a man when he leaves his family to go far to discover other people and other cultures, to confront the real world realities. This means going away from the comfort and care of a mother, far from the protection of a father.