Tired of Running, Liberians Lack Basic NecessitiesDate: August 25, 2003 
Monrovia, 08/24/03: For the people of the Liberian capital Monrovia, July 19 this year will be remembered as the day the third world war broke out. That's how locals refer to the most recent battle of a protracted civil war that has plagued this West African Nation for more than a decade. Hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands of people displaced before a ceasefire was brokered and President Taylor left the country. New reports in, however, now indicate that fighting has broken out in some parts of the country as well as continuing in the second largest city, Buchanan.
Humanitarian assistance cannot come soon enough for the hundreds of thousands of Liberians uprooted by the war-- some 300,000 people in the capital city alone and at least another half million people scattered throughout the rest of the country. The Liberian people desperately need basic necessities to begin making life bearable: Plastic sheeting, blankets, toothpaste, cooking utensils, food, and clean drinking water.
With a peace accord signed, members of the global alliance, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International can now deliver much-needed assistance. ACT members working in Liberia include the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC), Lutheran World Federation's World Service (LWF-WS), Lutheran Church of Liberia, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), along with local partners Concerned Christian Community (CCC), YMCA Liberia, and Christian Health Association Liberia. A Norwegian Church Aid water and sanitation team is also on the ground, helping with assessments of needs in this vital area.
Today, Monrovia still has some 110 centers crammed with the displaced-- all live under the most appalling conditions imaginable. The heavy rain bucketing down every day adds to the misery of people who have lost everything they owned to looting and now live in cramped quarters. Each family stakes out a small area in which to sleep, cook, eat or just lie quietly.
ACT has already started to distribute basic food and non-food items, a daunting task after weeks of not being able to assist people. The work gets done, step by step, day by day. On Saturday, some 14,000 people patiently waited in a downpour at Tubman High School to receive small humanitarian relief parcels that contained a blanket or quilt, a bar of soap, a towel, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and BP5 high protein biscuits. Mothers with babies were also given a layette, which includes clothes for the little ones.
The camps for displaced people outside of the city are not faring any better. As rebels took command of strategic bridges linking the countryside to the city, residents of the camps who had already been displaced countless times before, were once again forced to flee their small homes. Slowly trickling back, the residents of Jahtondo and Sawegbeh--two of several camps managed respectively by LWF-WS Liberia and CCC-- found upon their return that the relief items that had been distributed during the lull in fighting, were all taken, looted by soldiers on both sides, rebels and government.
The loss of the plastic sheeting that covers the roofs of their houses was devastating. Made of no more than a frame from tree branches and mud bricks for the walls, the houses simply cannot withstand the pouring rain, breaking up or dissolving as the weight of the water in the mud bricks drags the walls down. Mana Kone, whose wife had turned their small shelter into Ma Sondo's African Food center, wants people to see the damage inside his house. Walls crumbling, thatched roofing collapsing, the inside of their shelter is a mess of clumps of mud and damp. In spite of his despair, Mr. Kono is cleaning the small patch-garden in front of his home. He looks up and says, "Please remember my house, A1056 Jahtondo."
Thomas Wise, co-chair of Sawegbeh Camp and one of the leaders who represent the residents, said the rebel soldiers came at 8:00 in the morning, setting fire to several shelters as an example to anyone who might have thought of resisting them. "You don't think," he said, "you just run." Everyone in these camps have a terrible story to tell. All you need is the time to listen. It is a chilling list of horror: People beaten up, threatened with their lives, women and children raped, young girls and women abducted by rebel soldiers, and desperately hungry people forced to eat leaves and, in some instances in the city itself, dogs.
With relative calm having been restored to parts of Liberia, one can only hope that this very fragile peace will hold, spread throughout the country and that "people will recognize the foolishness of war," says CCC's Patrick Ackatia. "We are tired of running."
Source: Action by Churches Together (ACT), http://www.act-intl.org. ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is a member of ACT.
Photos: 1. Liberian civilians flee bullets in the streets of Monrovia, July 27, 2003. Credit: Reuters/Luc Gnago, courtesy of www.alertnet.org. 2. In Monrovia, people wait in line to receive a quilt, a packet of BP5 high protein biscuits and soap from ACT member Lutheran World Federation. At least 300,000 people are believed to be displaced in the city itself. 3. Jana Kia, a young girl living in Jahtondo IDP camp, helps fix a shelter that is collapsing under the weight of recent rain. The tarpaulins that normally protect the shelters during the heavy rainy season were looted by LURD soldiers on July 19,2003 when they attacked the camp and forced people to run away. People are slowly starting to return. Credit: Callie Long/ACT International, August 2003. Click on any photo to see a larger version.
Your gifts to UMCOR's Liberia Emergency, Advance #150300 will enable UMCOR to respond to this latest crisis with humanitarian assistance and continue its ongoing development work and other ministries in Liberia. You may also designate "child soldiers." One hundred percent of your tax-deductible gift will be used for this emergency. The generous giving of United Methodists to the One Great Hour of Sharing supplements the cost of Advance gifts. Give through a local United Methodist church or send financial contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation.
