HAMPDEN – A wooden carving sits on Harvey Shue’s bedroom desk.

The two hands carved in the light- and dark-colored woods represent a black and white man engaged in the Liberian handshake.

“You’re supposed to snap your fingers at the end,” Shue said. “They all know it. They wouldn’t do it with me at first, figuring I wouldn’t know to snap, but at the end they knew I had caught on.”

During his monthlong stay in Liberia this summer, Shue caught on to more than just the handshake. The Hampden Academy senior studied Liberia’s history, taught in its school systems and spoke with locals about the country’s delicate economy. As Shue journeyed through the cities and villages around the country’s capital of Monrovia, he brought his video camera, documenting the country’s desperate condition.

“A lot of people didn’t want me to take video of them,” Shue said. “They didn’t want me to see them struggling.”

Recently, Shue trimmed more than five hours of taped footage to create his latest documentary film “Lessons from Liberia.” The 14-minute film traces the country’s history to the two freed American slaves who colonized the country in the 1820s, through two tumultuous civil wars to today’s stalled economy in which farming and peddling are the main sources of income for many of the families Shue encountered.

He hopes the documentary will prompt awareness of Liberia’s great need and spur Americans to get more involved in international aid. Shue even set up a donation account for the cause at Hampden Academy. Shue has posted the film on YouTube, he has held public screenings and submitted the film to Maine Public Broadcasting Network and the National Black Programming Consortium.

In his documentary, Shue shares startling statistics about the West African nation. The most recent civil war left 90 percent of the country’s economy destroyed, Shue narrates. The average daily income is equivalent to one U.S. dollar, and one cup of rice costs 25 cents. The life expectancy is 42 years, and 98 percent of the country doesn’t have public utilities or a potable water supply. The country’s adult literacy rate, at 37 percent, is higher than the children’s, Shue said.

At the end of his film, Shue tells his audience that $5 would buy a child’s school desk, $200 would start a family farming business and $10,000 would bring clean drinking water to a village of 5,000 people.

The documentary, his fourth, was a great way to wrap up his trip, Shue said. He also has produced a film for a Liberian presidential candidate, a music video for a New York Film Academy summer project, and “Veterans Remembered,” a documentary for the Cole Land Transportation Museum that features interviews with local war veterans. Shue appeared briefly on the big screen in the Hollywood film “Gracie,” which told his family’s story, particularly that of his older sister, Elisabeth Shue. “Gracie” is an independent film that tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who loses her protective older brother in a car accident. Vowing to take his place, she fights her way onto the boys’ varsity soccer team, overcoming big odds.

Harvey Shue was in Liberia from late June to late July with his father and sister Jenna, a sophomore at Dartmouth College. The siblings taught a summer school program for students in fourth through eighth grades at the Isaac A. David Memorial School, a private school in Paynesville, Liberia. While teaching academics, Harvey Shue became a student of Liberian culture.

He recalled how people would line the city streets pushing wheelbarrows full of anything that would sell, such as hair products or food. Most people peddled these small goods for a living, and sought only to feed their families once a day, Shue said.

“So many of the people were trying to make their way back and get back on their feet,” he said. “They have been so resilient.”

One evening, Shue had dinner with a friend named Victor, who had worked his way up the economic hierarchy and was considered financially stable. Victor, who was in his 30s, had created a successful business making charcoal, but had started as a peddler on the city streets.

One week after their dinner, Victor’s one-bedroom home was robbed of his life savings, and a few days later, his business was destroyed by fire. To help his friend through the desperate time, Shue gave Victor $40 American, or $2,480 Liberian. The businessman took the money, bought two large bags of rice and took to the city streets, peddling to earn a gradual profit.

“In a week, he lost everything,” Shue said. “He is starting over again. He was more at the top, and then went right back down to the bottom again. He will slowly build back up, just a little a day.”

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