By Bridget Johnson, your guide to Journalism

Imagine being suspicious of the government to begin with after years of strife, and then somebody comes along and marks your house, then your neighbor’s, then on down the block. Well, this is President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Liberia now, and the census is key to her effort to rebuild the country. More from the Associated Press:

“For more than a year, over 9,000 census-takers have combed the densely forested nation mapping every structure. For three days starting Friday, they will revisit each dwelling and count the inhabitants.


The preparations, including the marking of dwellings, have given birth to rumors. Some wonder if its part of a military recruitment drive, a potent fear in a country where boys as young as 5 were handed machine guns and forced to fight. Others believe it’s in preparation for new taxes.


To try to dispel these and other rumors, the government commissioned a pop star to compose a catchy tune about the census. It’s been translated into Liberia’s 16 languages and is playing daily on the radio, urging Liberians to ‘stand up and be counted.’


Throughout the country’s interior, billboards have been erected reminding villagers to stay home for three days starting Friday to properly be counted. Schools are closed through the end of the census.”

Liberians should take note that it could be worse: They could instead have to sit home and fill out the tedious supplemental questionnaire that many Americans got saddled with in 2000.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)