When Radio Kergheamahn reporter Chester Dolo decided to tackle the taboo subject of female genital cutting (FGC) – also known as circumcision or mutilation (FGM) – he became the first reporter at his radio station in northcentral Liberia to talk on-air about FGC. Other reporters warned him against it. He was nervous, and even a bit scared. Most women refused to speak with him. It took courage and determination because this traditional practice is deeply-entrenched in the ‘secret societies’ of this West African country.

Chester Dolo receives first place at jhr’s Liberia Human Rights Reporters Awards

To report on this sensitive and secretive practice, Chester had to grapple with his own beliefs in witchcraft.

Chester describes the challenges in this audio feature:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

For more, read a Q & A by jhr trainer and journalist Bonnie Allen with Chester Dolo.

Q: First, introduce yourself and explain why you decided to do this documentary.

A: I’m Chester Dolo. I’m 22 years of age. I presently work at Radio Kergheamahn. Ganta, Nimba County, Liberia. I work as a journalist and I’m doing a story on FGM. FGM is simply Female Genital Mutilation or circumcision. I decided to do this story because this is one of the traditional practices that is taking place in this part of the country. Liberia has signed an agreement with the international community to ban FGM totally, but yet Liberia has not yet signed that law [nationally] to reenforce [abolishing] the practice.

Q: Why don’t journalists in Liberia report on female genital circumcision?

A: For me, at this age, I feel very scared because this issue of FGM is a very sensitive topic or issue in Liberia. This issue is never spoken about. People say that it is a taboo. People who go through that process, it is an agreement amongst those people, before they could come outside [leave the bush school], an agreement that if they go out, there should be no one to talk about it. And even if you are not part of it, you are not allowed to talk. Sometimes, if you talk about it, we have witnessed so many instances where people who talk about this female genital mutilation, they have been witched.

Q: Witched?

A: Yeah, witched – witchcraft. for example, they use juju as we call it in our setting.

Even presently as I speak, I feel very much threatened, I can say. One of the persons I interviewed, she later phoned me, telling me that I shouldn’t disclose her name because she feels very afraid. So even for me, as I speak, doing a story on this I feel my life is not even secure.

Q: So why take the risk?

A: I care about it because it is one of the violations of rights of women. Some people’s children are taken – from the age 5 and upwards – to be circumcised. I feel it against the rights of the children.

Q: Do you think you are brave for reporting on this story?

A: [laughs] I’m not too brave. Yes. Practically, I’m not too brave. But it would be very much difficult to go in the deep rural areas where these practices are well practiced. If you go in the rural areas to actually interview, it would be difficult. If you are not careful, you will even lose your life. Because the real people who go through this process, the real people who are doing this thing, have lots of demonic attitudes. They have lots of things in their hand [powers], that if you are not careful they will witch you.

Q: Do you actually believe someone could harm you with witchcraft?

A: For our setting, for our African setting, there are so many things that people do. People transform themselves into so many things to hurt other people. So witchcraft as a whole, most people believe it in Liberia, and even myself, I believe it.

Q: What reaction have you received from other journalists, or women?

A: Some are saying you don’t have to talk about this. Some are saying you don’t have to talk about this because it is the tradition of the people. Some are also saying people, the western world, wants to impose, or wants to get rid of the culture of the people in Africa so they are using so many reasons, so many strategies to get the culture of people out. And which they are saying FGM is one of the cultures of the people in Africa. So doing a story on this is is denying people of their culture.

Q: How do you feel about that?

A: For me, my thought is, as a journalist, we are to do, is to report on fact. To report on issues not because it is an African issue or an American issue.

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Author: Bonnie Allen
Source: jhr
Original Publication Date: Jan. 22, 2010

A recent investigation carried out by SALONE TIMES has indicated that many schools don’t have an adequate number of books and teaching materials for all the students they have enrolled.

“It’s difficult, very difficult. You can’t teach without books,” a teacher at a Government Assisted School tells us.

He goes on to say that many of the children in his class must share the books they have.

“Not all us of have textbooks so we read together in class. I am lucky because my grand-mother bought one for me,” a student in the same school tells us, “they should supply more books to us.”

Most of the books in many school libraries are provided for by various NGOs like, Plan International. There aren’t any Government teaching materials in the Government Assisted schools we investigated.

The teacher SALONE TIMES spoke to admits that when it comes to examinations, many of the students may have poor results because they don’t have access to books outside of school to study. He says he has heard from several people that books are either being stolen from the Ministry of Education, or people involved with the Ministry are selling them, therefore a smaller number of books are ending up in schools.

The Head of the English Department at St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Miss M. Smith-Turner, tells us the situation has been like this for decades now.

“You must not wait for the Government. It’s a matter of priority and it is negligence on the part of parents. Books should be a priority,” she says.

She goes on to say that a big problem is that the previous Minister of Education made buying textbooks optional for students. According to her, it’s impossible for children to learn without books.

“Government doesn’t supply us with any books at all,” she says.

The school has a book store, where they sell books to the children.

A bit further down the road is the Municipal School Dr. June Holst Roness This School received books from Government during the last academic year. They distribute them when they have classes and then gather them up at the end of the class.

“We have enough for a class at a time, but if we allow the books to go home with the children, most of them will go missing,” says Mr. Abu Bakarr Kamara, Vice-Principal of the School.

He says they do not receive reference books from the Government, and the school must buy those themselves. He admits results could be less on examinations because of the lack of teaching materials. He shows SALONE TIMES the books they receive, which are stamped with their school logo, and that of the Ministry’s to ensure if they are found being sold on the streets, they will be able to trace the books back.

In Waterloo District, the Western Area Rural District Council is currently in the process of distributing books to all the schools.

“We make sure all teachers sign, stamp, and date them so we can track them and not have the books end up being sold on the street,” says J.J. Blacki, Head of the Education Committee.

He admits that in the past thieves have broken into schools in the district and stolen books.

“The police also need to help us monitor the books being sold in the streets,” he says.

He also calls on members of the press to give information of any books they see on the streets to the authorities.

Education Officer for Freetown City Council Henry Fyfe, tells SALONE TIMES about the ongoing exercise of distributing teaching materials to the schools.

“All books must be stamped by FCC and the school itself,” he says.

He went on to say they are making announcements on the radio saying that books should be kept in the schools. They also communicate this practice to the councilors.

“If we see the books in the streets, we know where they came from,” Fyfe says.

——–

Author: Ibrahim Joenal Sessay
Photography: Ibrahim Joenal Sessay
Source: jhr
Original Publication Date: Nov. 20, 2009

A dozen street children living and working around the King Jimmy market in the central part of Freetown have expressed dissatisfaction over their current conditions.

“I was in Class 6 when I lost my dad and my mother refused to pay for my school,” says Mohammed, an11-year-old selling water.

His mother is currently in the northern part of the country and he ended up in Freetown working for an aunt. He no longer attends school and is living in Kroo Bay.

“I would really like to continue school if somebody can help,” he says.

Many of the children in the area spend their time gambling, smoking and drinking to pass the day. But not all of them. Ibrahim is a boy of about 11-years-old who lost both of his parents last year. He spends his days making toys and radios out of materials that he finds in the surrounding area. Quiet, and shy, the other children tell us he is different than most. He doesn’t spend his time engaging in bad activities.

“I find it difficult to survive. If anybody can help me I’ll go to school,” he says.

Sheku, a boy from Lungi, left his parents and came to Freetown with the hope that he can be a good child by going to school but he let his sister down and came to the streets.

He was arrested by a Metropolitan police officer in front of Central Police Station due to a new bye-law proposed by City Council trying to stop children from selling in the streets during school hours.

“I was released immediately because they knew me from the King Jimmy area,” he says.

They did not press any charges.

None of the children are aware that there is a proposed new bye-law by Freetown City Council that states any children caught selling during school hours should be arrested.

According to the Deputy Education Officer for the Freetown City Council, there is a high-influx of children coming to the city from the provinces.

“We caught them for a while and sent them to education facilities but there are still many children on the streets. We aren’t sure if they are the same ones or if more children are coming from the provinces,” says Reverend Cooper, Deputy Education Officer.

He goes on to say they have not fined the parents for having their children working. He says they have children coming in every day that have been apprehended and they make sure they are given money for school.

“Yesterday alone we had five children come in,” he says.

The Council is also offering grants from primary to tertiary for schoolchildren.

According to Henry Fyfe, Education Officer for the Council, the bye-law still needs to be sanctioned by the Attorney General after which it can be implemented.

“We currently aren’t forcing the children using aggressive methods, we are simply trying to put them in school,” he says.

He says they try to find guardians for children who are without parents in addition to enrolling them in school.

“We want to get children off the streets whether they have parents or not,” he says.

According to UNICEF, more than 30 per cent of children of primary-school-age in Sierra Leone are not enrolled in school. There are also moderate transition rates from primary to secondary and tertiary education.

Child labour is an area of concern for UNICEF’s Child Protection Department.

“As an institution we frown on child labour. We try to educate communities to stop child labour, especially the worst abuses of it,” says David Lamin, Child Protection Program Officer for UNICEF.

UNICEF looks at all children trying to access education and the factors preventing them from accessing it. They work through partners, child welfare committees and community structures recognized by the government.

“In a country like Sierra Leone, where poverty is rife, child labour is a big problem,” says Lamin.

UNICEF also supports the roll out of the Child Rights Act. Sierra Leone ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in June 1990 and its two Optional Protocols in September 2001 and May 2002. These commitments to international standards were all enshrined in national legislation through the 2007 Child Rights Act. This act supersedes all other national laws and is also compatible with the Convention on Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

—–

Author: Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
Source: jhr
Original publication date: Nov. 23, 2009
Photography: Nikki Whaites

In a bid to meet the challenge of rising crime in the city, Lumley Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has called on partners to offer more support.

“We already have many resources such as vehicles and fuel supplied for by Government but we could use additional resources,” says CID Inspector Kamanoh.

He has worked as a police officer in Sierra Leone for 20 years. He sometimes ends up having to pay for food for the detained suspects of crime held in the cell at the division out of his own pocket.

“That is my duty as the officer in charge to do that. I have to make sure I take care of prisoners and that they are in good health,” he says.

Three months ago the UN donated four containers to try to ease the congestion of the division. One is being used as a Support and Operational office, another for Traffic and two for restrooms. The structure of the division is too small to accommodate all the offices they need to run the operations. The land on which the Division lays is large, and could accommodate more structures.

“The Division is too small for the amount of crime we see,” says another Inspector.

In that day alone when SALONE TIMES visits, they have already apprehended three suspects. The only cell the prison has is tiny, not even big enough for prisoners to lie down in. Inspector Kamanoh stresses that the officers in the division always do things according to law.

“In our Division, we respect Human Rights. We don’t arrest indiscriminately,” he says.

He goes on to say that the Division’s main aim is for people in the area to be secure.

“We do this by being proactive. We prevent crimes from happening. We also work with Military officers and police patrol the beach at all hours of the night,” he says.

Lumley Police Officers also face many threats from accused criminals.

“We are the public enemy,” says Inspector Kamanoh.

On the day that SALONE TIMES visits, the Inspector has already received one death threat from a suspect they had apprehended that was released by the court.

He would like to see the courts support the officers more in bringing criminals to justice.

“Sometimes we arrest suspects, they are released by the courts and then we become targets,” he says.

——–
Author: Ibrahim Joenal Sessay
Photography: Ibrahim Joenal Sessay
Source: jhr
Original Publication Date: Dec. 4, 2009

Children watch as blind carpenter Robert Kpadoe saws through a board at his outdoor workshop in Buchanan, Liberia.

Blind carpenter Robert Kpadoe laughs as he shaves the rough side of a board with his plane tool.

jhr trained journalist Emmanuel Wheinyue is a winner of the “Good News for Africa” competition. The International Federation of Red Cross awarded Emmanuel for covering positive developments in Africa and is providing him with a free trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cover humanitarian issues. Emmanuel’s story focuses on a blind carpenter in Buchanan, Liberia. He was assisted by jhr overseas trainer Grant Fuller. Click on the link below to listen to the award winning broadcast.

Click here to listen!

The prolonged civil war in Liberia over the years has disrupted the process for a generation of youth, and caused a low net enrollment of students in Liberian school.

Since the launch of UNICEF, back to school programs some years back and the pronouncement of free and compulsory education by the UP government, there has been some level of improvement in the enrollment process.

The MDGs report 2008 has enshrined that the gross enrolment of primary education stands at 86.3 % for the year 2007 which is much encouraging as compare to 200 to 2002 school year raging to 56.2%. Nevertheless, the report also indicates that there has been considerable improvement in the enrolment process since the launch of free and compulsory education.

The free and compulsory education however has its own side effect which needs to be concentrated upon by the government: too many children in the classrooms. The over-crowdedness of public schools and even the University of Liberia  are all drowning in the sea of denseness.

“The over-crowdedness of public schools is an age-old phenomena and the inheritance of the Madame Sirleaf’s Government,” Mr. Abraham Nyounway, Secretary General of the Teachers’ Association of Monrovia consolidated School System and registrar of Newport Jr. High School revealed.

Despite the compactness of schools, many students are seen every day roaming the streets selling for their parents as bread winners, while some said that they are selling to complete the payment of their school fees before returning to school.

However, Mr. Nyounway blamed the denseness on the unavailability of structures to contain the number of students.

To date, students opting to attend private schools can be turned down by many public schools due to space problem. This causes some parents to have to choose to send their kids to private school – which is too exorbitant – or leave them alone without school. This is also contributing to the roaming of school aged children on the streets.

Some years ago, some 64 countries converged to Dakar, Senegal in an effort to improve learning standards in their respective countries. At the conference, a specific target was reached in a consensus that each country’s representative should encourage a free and compulsory education back home; that by 2015 every citizen in that country must at least complete primary school. This same target has been set by the MDG 2008 report, “ensuring that by 2015 children everywhere boys and girls alike, will be able  to  complete a full course of primary education.”

Even so, the 2008 MDGs report indicates that Liberia is far from achieving the goal of providing the level of school enrolment agreed on: this is not an encouraging sign. According to the report the level of enrolment to meet the target is actually deteriorating. “Based on current trends, the net primary enrolment ratio will be approximately 40% by 2015. Hence, it is likely that Liberia will achieve the MDGs of 100% net primary enrolment by 2015. Similarly, while the gross enrolment rate is impressive, it must be placed in the proper context,”  MDG’s report states.

The realities of these statistics are being felt by the people of Liberia.

“I hardly find food for my children to eat; sending them to school is a problem. I can’t even get money to give them for recess so it is better for them to be with me and help me sell to met our daily supply of food,” Rebecca Garley, Chicken Soup Factory.

Many parents and teachers agreed that school feeding would be necessary to encourage some poor parents to enroll their kids to school where they will not bother them enough for breakfast.

The executive Director of LETCOM, an educational advocacy organization that was organized following the end of the Dakar conference to make education a priority or a human right issue said the monitoring, evaluation and compulsory aspect of educational performance to promote and sustain the quality of educational system is very poor.

Photography by Myles Estey.

With a little less than two years before the conduct of a general and presidential election, voters have begun boycotting the polls – a situation that sends out wide signals and has sparked debates in all sectors of society.

Why is it so, what were the expectation of the voters? Have they lost confidence in their leaders due to apathy? These are some of the questions posed to voters at several polling places around the city on Election Day.

Empty polling station

At the Joseph B. Tate Jr. Memorial Institute in Congo Town, polling started on time but the first voter did not cast their ballot until thirty minutes later. The center was very quiet and there were little sign of voters.

Similar situations were observed at the Seventh Day Adventist High School at the ELWA Junction and the Paynesville Community Jr. High School in Paynesville Joebar Community, up to the Paynesville Central Academy High School along the Somalia Drive.

Even though a holiday was pronounced by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to afford eligible voters to exercise their franchise, many did not turn out to vote.  People were instead seen at entertainment centers and others market places around the city, while many were busy at vaccination centers to be immunized against the Yellow Fever disease.

Yellow Fever vaccinations

At the Paynesville City Hall, which played host to seven polling centers, many were seen queuing-up for the Vaccine, leaving the voting precinct absolutely empty. Satta Siafa, is one of those administering the vaccine. “The Vaccination process is very fast. Many people are polling in to be vaccinated, as you can see, the queue is very long and we are expected to serve up to five hundred person just today.”

Beatrice Cooper, a health worker who seems very hard working, said she is doing everything possible to reduce the long queue of people who have turn out for the vaccine. “I don’t want to talk, as you can see, the people are very plenty and I am working to reduce the load on me. They are really turning out for the vaccine. I don’t know if they are doing the same at the voting centers, but I am hopeful that I will serve up to 450 persons before the day ends.”

Some of those at Vaccination centers around the city expressed more interest for the vaccine, and said they ‘care about their health and not politics.’ “The Politicians have failed us, why should we vote someone who has no interest in the country?,” asked Justine Doe, a resident of Barnesville Estate.

At the E. Jonathan Goodrich High School in Barnesville Estate and other voting centers covered, polling staff and election observers expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the election, describing it as peaceful. However, many expressed frustration over the low turnout.

Political analysts believed the inability of those elected to political office’s failure to deliver on the promises made to voters contributed to the poor turnout, while other believed the lack of sensitization led to the poor turnout.

What ever the case may be, election is a constitutional right of every citizen of the nation, and it is also the responsibilities of those elected to public offices, to work in the best interest of their electorates.  With this poor turnout, many are of the belief that the 2011 general and presidential election will turn a new page in Liberia, a nation coming out of 14 years of civil conflict.

For now, the National Election Commission (NEC) has received   praises from many sectors of the country including political leaders, voters, as well as civil society grouping for the successful conduct of the By-Election Run-off on November 24, 2009.

The NEC, which was criticized in the first round by-election, realized it mistakes, and put its house in order. A few weeks before the election, the NEC conducted civic and voter’s education trainings, coupled with a rehearsal workshop for polling staff.

These efforts will surely need to be accelerated to ensure a robust turnout for the 2011 elections.

Photography by Myles Estey.

Water is one of the most wasted resources in the world as a whole. Liberia has six major rivers, two lakes, and a heavy rainfall running from April to October each year.  Yet, people all over the country struggle to find clean drinking water.

A recent study put out by Afrobarometer, a non-partisan research institute measuring social indicators across Africa, reveals that across the country, only 50 per cent of people report that they never have enough water.  Equally worrisome is Afrobarometer’s report that only 8 per cent always have enough. For a country so abundant in water, that so many people reporting that they lack the right to clean water should be of grave concern.

Water, this gift of God, is very important to all human around the world, with many governments and non governmental organizations spending millions of dollars annually to provide safe drinking water. Some of these funds are said to be spent in Africa – with Liberia being no exception – to provide safe drinking water for people who cannot find it.

Lack of safe drinking water in some places causes illnesses, that sometimes leads to death among poor people who can not access clean water, even though it is in abundant in Liberia.

The lack of safe drinking water is not only a problem in the hinterland of Liberia, but it is also a problem that needs to be address in the nation’s capital, Monrovia and its suburbs. The gravity of this problem is real:  steps needs to be taken to address the situation.

This is exactly the issue in Flahn Town,  along Somalia Drive, where over five thousand people probably are affected every day in Liberia by lack of access to safe water. Like many places elsewhere in Liberia, most have limited knowledge of prevention of illness, and there does not seem to be a possible solution to the problem.

The people of Flahn Town lack safe drinking water. Community members buy up 25 gallons of water a day from water sellers in the community – a strain on the low amounts of money in the community.

Water buying is not the only problem in the community; residents developed methods just to have safe drinking water to keep up their family.

“We wash the beach sand and placed it into a rice bag, hang it on a stick,” Jestina Kromah a resident of the community explained. “We then fetch the dirty water from the open well and dump it into the bag of sand for about 10-15 minutes to have it filtered.”

“We do this every day of the week, without this process, we can not have clean water to wash, take bath and cook our foods, our children sometimes drink the water only because they can not fine a saver one,”

Kromah said that her family spends a combined 6 – 7 hours collecting the water that they need for their daily living.

She added that to access water for drinking, they send their children access the street 15-20 minutes walk away from the community. Our children are being risked and no one in the country cares to address this issue, Jestina continues.

“The problem of water in this community is a very big, the water from the wells around here is not clean, it is not good for human consumption,” explained Lucky Adogbo, standing in the doorway of the small store he runs. “We filter the dirty water and use it to wash, take bath and cook. We purchase drinking water from water sellers on a daily basis. Water from hand pump is also the same as the wells, no one has come to test the water to find a solution.”

“We have the right to clean water, since our right can not be given, we just have to accept what is being given,” he added.

Entering deeper into Flahn Town, the hanging bags of sand kept appearing in nearly every yard and the people kept expressing the same problem about water: they complained of running stomach and itches whenever they the drink or use the water for shower.

“We put water in the bag to filter it, because it is very dirty, we use it to take bath and wash clothes. The water sometime itch my skin and cause running stomach in this community,” Beatrice Togba, an elderly woman explained.

What makes matter worse for the people of Flahn Town, the newly constructed hand pump can not even be use for drinking. The water is brown and appeared rusty, but it is sometime consumed by little children only due to the lack of a clean and a safe water, and a lack of education about water purity.

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The interesting part of this investigation came minutes after the interview with Beatrice Togba, when two men came in with a giant size wheel barrel full with gallons of water for sale. They explained exactly why they were during such business in Flahn Town.

“We are water seller; we do this every day to support our families, said Ballah Gayflor of the work done by he and his business partner. I bring in 42 of these five-gallon containers into this community and we do this two to three times daily for almost a year plus now.”

We get this water from the Liberia Water Sewage line around the Jamaica Road Bridge and roll it to this community in wheel barrel for about 45 minutes to an hour. Each gallon is sold for ten dollars and everyone buys from us,” Gayflor, noted, adding that he can earn up to one thousand dollars every day.

The presence of outsides in Flahn Town attracted lot of attention with many people asking questions whether we were from some NGO  that is going build hand pump in the area; we told them they we are journalists.

Kids on their way home from school stop to tell us what they knew about water problem in the community.

‘Water business is very hard in this community; the water is dirty and can   run our stomach when we drink it. Our parents told us not to drink the water from the hand pump but when no water we can drink it.’

Madam Victory Jlopleh is the Chairlady for the women in Flahn Town and lives next to the only hand pump in the town, she had these words to say.

“Since 1991 we came in this community there has been serious problems of water here. We walk long distances in search for clean drinking water; we go across the water to Darque Town to get clean water and we have being doing this for a long period of time. The people build us a hand pump but the water is brown, sometime we boiled it before we use it. We are calling on the government to come to our aid,” she pleaded

‘Under pillar IV of the government Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), the government intends to increase access to safe drinking water (from 25 to 50 percent by 2011 including 45 percent of the rural people population and ensure the sustainability of 90 percent of water and sanitation facilities in the country.)

As reflected in the PRS, clean and safe water is a resource that needs to be accessible to everyone.  Looking at the situation in Flahn Town brings into question whether or not this right is being addressed for Liberians.

It is a sunny day in West Point, one of the many slum communities in central Monrovia. This community is not only noted for crimes and violent acts by some former ex-combattants who have now turned into drug addicts, but is also noted for it’s filthiness. Many residents here are living in a deplorable state, something they say will create a health disaster if urgent measures are not taken to combat the growing wave of illness and disease in the area.

The Star of the Sea medical clinic is the only referal health center in West Point. A woman only identified as Mrs Bryant is one of the chief medical officers at this clinic. She says that the cases most commonly reported are malaria and diarrhea, which are caused by mosquitoe bites and contaminated drinking water.

“The huge pile of garbage and the pollution of the air as a result of some detroyed latrines are the major factors contributing to the increase.”

Mrs Bryant also noted that access to clean drinking water, which is important for every living being, is one of the problems facing the residents here. As a result of lack of safe drinking water, both children and adults are constantly diagnosed with diarrhea.

“Some of these illnesses are sometimes referred to bigger hospitals because of the lack of proper drugs to treat patients here,” she explained.

Mamie Gbarto is a patient at the clinic, who recently gave birth prematurely. She has been here for nearly three days. She says the health conditions in West Point are deplorable, and she is calling on government and humanitarian organizations to come to their aid.

David Mulbah works at a nearby drug store.

“Since the inception of the government of President Johnson-Sirleaf,” he says, “no concrete steps have been taken to address the many health issues confronting this community.”

Mulbah believes that the health conditions in the area will not improve if Government continues to abandon the plight of the people.

Most of the housing facilities in West Point are make-shift – something the residents say is further contributing to the health disaster looming over the community.

“My daughter is always sick because our house is leaking very badly,” says Monica Lee, a marketeer. She says mosquitoes, cockroaches, and flies have infested the area, spreading germs which contribute to high fevers in residents.

“The unfortunate thing is children are always the victims.”

Photo credit: David Vaucher (http://www.panoramio.com/user/166000?with_photo_id=3869193)

As Global Economic Meltdown Continues

“For two months I have not been receiving money from my mother and sister in the States. Every month they used to send something whenever I called them; but this time no way,” 54-year-old Nathaniel Vaker, told The Journal at a commercial bank in Monrovia recently. He is one example of a direct victim of the global economic meltdown.

Nathaniel, a student of the teacher college at the University of Liberia, is part of a household of 11 family members, excluding extended relatives, who prior to the acute drop in remittances from abroad, used to benefit from overseas’ support. Since his sister became one of the many who recently lost jobs in the US, however, Nathaniel, like many other Liberians, has been directly – and negatively – impacted by the worldwide economic backwardness.

There is no more telling scenario that the 54-year-old teacher college student could highlight than when he took sick and only had L$300 to afford medication. He had to pay L$150 for lab test and other fees, and because the balance L$150 could not buy him the required drugs, he was compelled to credit from friends to meet his health needs at the time.

At the same token, banking institutions in Liberia, with whom customers both within the country and abroad transact businesses, are experiencing a drop in remittances – personal transfers of money from abroad, sent through businesses such as Western Union. This equally affects the banks’ operations as commercial financial entities longing to maximize profits.

In an exclusive July 23 interview with the Comptroller of Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI), John B. S. Davies, at his Ashmun Street office, the seasoned accountant confirmed that there is a drop in remittances coming into the country as a result of the global recession.

Though he could not give the exact percentage of the drop, the Comptroller said financial institutions also feel the impact, because once their clients are affected there is a trigger down effect on the commercial banks.

Mr. Davies attributed the global financial crisis to what he called “bad business practices accumulated over the years”. He said when the financial crisis first hit the world, it immediately affected developed countries because they have giant industries that manufacture raw materials into finished products shifted back on the world market.

According to him, it is now that the second wave of the economic marauding has begun to affect poor countries, including those in Africa, because, unlike the countries manufacturing finished products, developing countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda, among others, depend their revenue generation on the resources exported abroad by investors. 

Photo credit: Nikki Whaites