Western
Jurisdiction
United Methodist Volunteers
In Mission
By Jeni Gregory
April, 2005
I spoke yesterday with a young woman. While she is 32 years old, she really seemed so much older. The war has cost her a great deal. She is the oldest of 8 children.
She was running for her life along with most of her family and stopped to get her mother. While she was in her parent’s home, a rebel came in and shot the mother directly and then left. The mother fell to the ground, grabbed the 32 year olds hand and said “I simply cannot go on, God be with you, go be with the children”. That 32 year old who had 2 of her own children, instantly became the mother of 9 children...7 brothers and sisters and her 2 children. They were exiled for many months and only recently could afford to come back to Ganta from the Internally Displaced Camp they were at.
She works for $1,800 Liberian Dollars a month in a kitchen. That is a little more than 3 dollars (US). A bag of rice barely goes for that. Feeding a family of 11 on a bag of rice and what ever her husband can make is pretty difficult.
The classes our team taught yesterday were received well. Not only was there a session for the “mission students” but also for hospital staff. We spoke about the trauma that the whole community has experienced. It got personal very quickly. People seem to instinctively move towards solutions when they are presented, even though they are presented by folks from other countries.
While Liberians speak English, it is clipped so that our team struggles to understand them…it is good to have translators there. One would think that translators wouldn’t be necessary, but it is very similar to the “pigeon” talk spoken in Hawaii, and until you get used to it, it is very hard to follow.
The programs are followed with individual counseling. Yesterday there was not many of the youth. However, I am told that today, there will be selected youth from the school, from the ex-combatants, and from the hospital staff. While we are willing to see everyone, I think it is more likely that we will do a lot of therapeutic work with youth in group settings instead of one-to-one. There are simply not enough hours in the day.