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LIBERIA - STRUGGLING TO REBUILD IN
2009
by Tarma Johnson
Issue 1 February 2009
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Everyone should have an event in their lives that they can
say was a “change of life event”. We go through our daily
activities year after year, never wondering what it would be
like to live in a country after a 14 year war without
electricity, running water, cooking facilities or even a job
to go to. Well, there are many people living under these
conditions in the small West African country of Liberia and
my 13 day trip to Liberia was a life changing event for me.
Touching down on the ground with the temperature at about 85 degrees was a shock. When we left Boston, the temperature was probably at or below freezing. We walked off the airplane to the ground and walked to the terminal, with sweat running down my face and neck. After going through the customs and security, we headed to the city of Monrovia.
The scenery was so beautiful - green leaves, blue sunny sky,
palm trees, and people walking along the road. A feeling of
excitement filled me as I began to contemplate on the
temperature difference between Boston and the beautiful
country I’ve just landed in. That feeling, however, started
to fade quickly as we drove toward the center of Monrovia,
the nation’s capital. There were so many people walking or
riding on motorcycles and in taxis. There were no traffic
lights, stop signs or speed limit. This made traveling
through the city very difficult.
 As
we continued to our final destination, we saw people in
traditional dress and others in dungarees and tee-shirts,
children in their school uniforms, pink tops and navy blue
skirts, or yellow tops and green skirts moving along the
roads. Then I noticed the buildings devastated from the war.
They were in shell-like condition - with no windows or doors
- but people were living in them. These buildings were once
offices or commercial buildings now being used as primary
living quarters for many families. The buildings were also
covered with a black substance, which I later learned was
mold from the frequent rain during the rainy season.
As we reached the area where we would be staying, the
neighborhood was a mixture of cement homes with grass and
fences around them and homes that were shacks - made out of
whatever material the residents could find. Children were
running around with worn clothes playing in the dirt without
shoes. Many teenagers were selling phone cards, fruit,
biscuits or newspapers; while others were just hanging
around doing nothing. Motorcycles are numerous around the
city. They are used as taxis or just for riding around. They
weave in and out of the traffic, causing a lot of havoc.
Before we reached the house, I was convinced that the work
we wanted to do in Liberia was very much needed.
The Rural Liberian Health Care and Development (RLHDI)
started in 2005 as a dream of my husband who is from Liberia
and that dream is to help rebuild his country. We gathered
some of our friends and colleagues to seek their help in the
effort. We started to meet monthly since January 2006 and
the organization has grown to over twenty members. We have
completed all the official paperwork to be a legitimate
organization in the state of Massachusetts and have received
our 501(C) (3) status as a tax exempt organization.
 Before
traveling, we wrote letters to the Liberian government
officials to set up meetings and to hear from them directly
on what the situation is in the country. Our intention was
to talk with the government officials and the people to ask
what they think they needed, in order to progress to a
better Liberia. We did not want the Liberian people to think
we were trying to change things without their input or that
we knew what would be best for them. Thanks to our
pre-travel correspondence we were well received by the
officials.
Our first meeting was with Dr. Bernice T. Dahn, the Deputy
Minister/Chief Medical Officer for the Ministry of Health
and Social Welfare. She referred us to Mr. S. Tornorlah
Varpliah, Deputy Minister Planning, Research and Development
who would be the contact person at the ministry. We were
then introduced to the County Officer for the Ministry of
Health. He is a medical doctor and was very happy to give us
a tour of his area. We visited two hospitals - Redemption
Hospital in New Kru Town, Benson Hospital in Paynesville and
three clinics -Duport Road, Bensonville and Careysburg.
The first hospital was Redemption Hospital. It was fairly
busy but the condition of the hospital was appalling. Many
patients were lying on cots with plastic covered mattresses
with no bed sheets, no pillow, no bedside table and no
privacy curtain to pull around the bed. There were eight to
ten people in a room with only some beds having a mosquito
net to protect the patients from malaria infected
mosquitoes. The pediatric area was no different. The
children were there with one parent or caretaker in street
clothes on the bare cots. The hospital is receiving
medications and immunizations but equipment and hygiene
appear to be a serious problem. There was no smell of
alcohol or disinfectant as we walked through the dimly lit
halls.
The next health care facility visited was Duport Road
Clinic. This clinic is in a densely populated area in
Paynesville, Liberia. This clinic did urgent care and also
delivered babies. They had nurses and midwives working with
the patients. The clinic had no electricity and limited
supplies of sheets, pillows. There were no privacy curtains
even in the Labor and Delivery room. The Labor and Delivery
room was the size of an ‘8 x 10’ bedroom with two delivery
tables and two cots for those in labor. If there are two
women in labor at the same time they are lying next to each
other without any curtain for privacy. The administrator
that provided the tour stated that the deliveries at night
were usually done by flash light and sometimes in the dark
with candles. They were praying that they could get solar
panels that would provide light at night.
 Duport
Road Clinic also had a “Special Gender-Based Violence
Center” which in the United States we would call a rape
crisis clinic. The three women that run the center stated
that they were in jeopardy of being shut down due to lack of
funds. They were pleading for assistance because they know
that the work they do is very important to the community.
They interviewed women and children as young as 3 years old
who had been raped. They also go with them to court to
assist in the judicial process. This center needs to survive
so that the work they do can be replicated in other clinics
and in the hospitals. We learned that there is no standard
protocol for victims of rape and often their evidence gets
ruined during the process of providing care to them in the
hospital from people who do not know how to collect
evidence.
The other clinics were similar to this clinic each
struggling to serve the community regardless of the lack of
electricity, supplies and staff. The clinics outside of the
city also have the added problem of being distant from the
city and the lack of ambulances.
The RLHDI delegation also met with Dr. Joseph Korto,
Minister of Education, and we met with a County Senator and
other Counties Representatives. We discussed our plan to
build reading resource rooms at several schools to enhance
the reading skills of the children. During our second week
we visited two schools, one that was a part of an orphanage.
The children were dressed in pink shirts and blue skirts and
trousers. They looked between 6-16 years of age. All
appeared eager to learn and very happy we were there. The
classrooms were in very poor condition. Their seats were
wooden benches with another piece of wood angled to hold a
book. The blackboard had a hole in the middle of it and
there was no chalk or eraser. There was one book shelf with
some books but not enough for the whole class to use.
The ultimate goal of the Rural Liberian Healthcare and
Development Initiative is to build the first public library
in the country and to have a section where medical students
can come and study and have access to medical books without
traveling long distances from where they are studying or
working in the hospital.
This trip lasted 13 days but the memories will last a
lifetime. Our organization has collected about 5,000 books
from friends, co-workers and students for our
“Library-for-Liberia” project. We want to collect 20,000 by
the time we are ready to ship to Liberia in preparation for
the library. In order to accomplish these goals, we are seeking
financial contributions and grants to provide health care
and health education, as well as donations to help build a
volunteer center. The volunteer center will be a place for
people to stay in while visiting and volunteering their
time.
We are looking for people who are willing to work with us in
the U.S. or to go to Liberia with us to volunteer their
services. We also need businesses to invest in the economy
of Liberia by providing jobs. We realize that Liberia has a
long road to get back to the thriving country it use to be.
It doesn’t take a lot to make a change; it just takes a few
people willing to help.
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