 Liberians See New Signs of Hope and Restoration |
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by Kathleen LaCamera |
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Pittsburgh – Liberian United Methodists say they are daring to hope that their war torn country is turning a corner on the destruction and violence that has devastated their country. Among the hopeful signs is the April 14th reopening of the Ganta Hospital which suffered near total destruction in fighting between government and rebel forces in mid-July 2003. Founded in 1926 by Methodist medical missionaries, the hospital and mission compound serves a population 450,000 in Liberia and the surrounding border regions of Guinea and the Ivory Coast. The ratio of doctors to the general population in Liberia is 1 to 1000; that translates into 3000 doctors serving the challenging health needs of the country’s 3 million inhabitants. Some sources estimate as many as 60% of children do not reach five years of age. “When the hospital was destroyed, the people were completely depressed,” reports Liberia United Methodist Bishop Innis from the 2004 General Conference of The United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh. “It’s re-opening symbolizes hope, restoration, peace and the aliveness of the Church who is the custodian of God’s creation and God’s people.” In addition to the hospital, the mission compound includes a primary school, nursing and vocational training facilities, agricultural production, homes and a church. The hospital had only just undergone a major renovation with the help of General Board of Global Ministries funding before the last attacks in summer 2003. Almost every part of hospital compound, with the exception of the leprosy unit, was destroyed or rendered inoperable. Today with the help of funds from numerous groups - among them UMCOR and United Methodist churches in Germany - 37 hospital staff are back at Ganta providing outpatient care, pre-natal, maternity and child care, eye clinics, emergency surgical procedures, and short stay ward care. The hospital’s prosthesis and orthopaedic workshop is not yet able to resume its work. Only eight months after the ferocious attacks on the Ganta compound, Bishop Innis says local people have the confidence to begin rebuilding because the political landscape has changed and now peace and stability are real possibilities for Liberia. What has changed is the departure of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in August 2003 and a peace process which includes a 7,500-strong UN peace keeping force helping to disarm nearly 45,000 soldiers, as many as half of whom are children. A total of 15,000 UN peace keepers have been pledged. The exiled Taylor, whose militia is blamed for starting Liberia’s 14 years of civil unrest, has been indicted for crimes against humanity by a UN tribunal. Rev. Erlene Thompson, senior pastor at the oldest United Methodist church in West Africa, says she too sees a confidence in Liberia’s future she has not witnessed in years. Rev. Thompson has been a part of Monrovia’s First United Methodist Church congregation since she was a baby. “Lots [of people] are beginning to come home. Some who went away years ago come to me and say ‘I’ve come back to help rebuild the Church,’ ” said Rev. Thompson who also is in Pittsburgh serving as a General Conference delegate. “People are rebuilding their homes ... There is more hope now that the UN has started disarming. Our citizens are relieved they are taking the guns away. And soldiers are happy to give guns up.” That is exactly what UMCOR, The United Methodist Church’s relief agency, is preparing for. In partnership with the United Nations, UMCOR is opening a Demobilization, Rehabilitation, Disarmament, and Reintegration camp (DRDR) in Liberia. Soldiers come to the camps voluntarily. They give up their weapons and begin a process of stepping away from the violence and fighting that has so defined and, ironically, sustained their lives. Once UN officials have disarmed soldiers, they are fed, given a place to sleep and receive counseling and vocational training, including literacy training. The UMCOR camp has a full time recreation director who organizes activities for soldiers undergoing the reintegration process. “They also receive $300 and important official UN ‘demobilization certification’ which can help smooth the way for their return to communities and lives left behind during combat.” “Soldiers want to leave but are afraid without proper documentation someone will come after them and arrest them and worse,” explained UMCOR Head, Paul Dirdak. While UMCOR has a proven track record with “demobilization” work, this is the first camp it has undertaken to manage. Its success will help shape similar efforts the agency has been invited to take on in Central Asia and Congo in future. A previous UMCOR literacy demobilization project in Liberia’s Gbazon Town saw over 360 demobilized child soldiers graduate from high school and receive vocational training. Some 13,000 soldiers are expected to be processed at this new camp. UMCOR is acutely aware of the complex needs of child soldiers. According to a recent Human Rights Watch Report, How to Fight, How to Kill: Child Soldiers in Liberia, the use of children as soldiers dates to the start of Liberia’s conflict in 1989. Charles Taylor’s militia became infamous for the abduction and use of boys in war and other factions soon adopted this practice. In many cases children as young as 9 years of age were kidnapped, sexually abused, and forced to kill or be killed. Girls and boys are among the estimated 15,000 children who were “recruited” into service. They have witnessed terrible atrocities, some of which they were forced to carry out on members of their own communities. The use of child soldiers under the age of 15 is a violation of the Geneva Convention. In the UMCOR camp, child solders are separated from adults when they arrive. In addition to the standard care and reintegration support, they also receive assistance that helps them to reunite with family members. Many of these children are eager to return to education, but the cost of school fees can make such a move difficult, or nearly impossible. This situation is one that Bishop Innis feels the Liberian United Methodist Church could help change. He hopes that school fees at United Methodist sponsored schools can be reduced or eliminated through scholarships so child soldiers and others can get the education they need to keep them from drifting into militia activities. According to the Human Rights Watch report quoted above, children with an education, “those that can read and write,” are more difficult to recruit. “The Church is the extension of Christ. Wherever Christ was, people were healed, fed, clothed, redeemed from imprisonment, had demons driven out of them,” said Bishop Innis. “We must continue to be the extension of the love of Jesus Christ so that people’s lives can be made whole.” Your support in prayers, materials and funds enables the continuing ministry of Ganta Hospital. Give generously to UMCOR Advance #150385, Ganta Hospital Emergency.
Date posted: Apr 28, 2004 |
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