{"id":4589,"date":"2023-11-22T22:02:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T05:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/?page_id=4589"},"modified":"2023-11-22T22:02:13","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T05:02:13","slug":"liberia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/liberia\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebuilding Liberia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Women continue to lead struggle against violence and poverty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">By Paul Jeffrey<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Published in <\/em>Response <em>magazine in September 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Like many Liberian women today, Tomrah Topka has gone back to school. Every morning the 25-year old settles into a high school classroom in Monrovia, the African nation\u2019s capital, surrounded by much younger girls. But she\u2019s not embarrassed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI moved to the city so I could complete my education,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need more ways for people to go back to school, people like me who couldn\u2019t get an education because of the war. If we don\u2019t get an education, we won\u2019t get knowledge, and nobody will help us improve our lives. If we\u2019re not educated, we won\u2019t be able to educate our children. And if we can\u2019t do that, things will never change in Liberia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children186-950x632.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4591\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children186-950x632.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children186-590x393.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children186-768x511.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children186-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children186.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Tomrah Topka, 25, walks her 3-year old daughter Maropue home from a day care center in Monrovia, Liberia, sponsored by United Methodist Women. While her daughter is in day care, Topka studies in a local high school. Like many young Liberian women, her education was interrupted by the country&#8217;s civil wars, and she is working hard to catch up.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Change is what Liberians all want. After more than two decades of war that began with a 1980 coup, today the country continues to wrestle with the legacies of that conflict: chronic poverty, physical and emotional wounds and lingering resentments about who was responsible for the violence. Yet under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a United Methodist who was elected to lead the country in 2005, and reelected to another term in 2011, the West African nation has made slow but steady progress away from the horrors of its recent past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Yet progress in Liberia isn\u2019t simply a matter of the president, Africa\u2019s first woman head of state, prescribing the right macro-economic measures prescribed by her former employer, the World Bank. Change is coming because of the commitment of people like Ms. Topka, who lost three brothers during the war and still wrestles with painful memories of forced dislocation, sexual assault and hunger. It is the willingness of ordinary people like her to make the necessary daily sacrifices that will insure a better future for all Liberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Every morning, Ms. Topka drops her 3-year old daughter Maropue off at a preschool in Monrovia run by United Methodist Women. Then she goes to school herself, hoping to soon finish her studies and enroll in the university, where she wants to study biology. In the afternoon, she picks up Maropue and heads to the market, where she spends the afternoon selling oranges. Her husband studies agriculture at a university in the morning and also sells in the market in the afternoon. At night they count their earnings, carefully setting aside what they need to pay school fees for all three people at the beginning of each semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Say no to poverty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A couple of hours outside Monrovia, several dozen poor rural women work together to farm cassava on a six-acre plot near Mount Barclay. They come from nearby communities and speak several different languages, but they\u2019re united by a common struggle to improve their families\u2019 quality of life. They say unity is the key to making change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhen we are scattered, each of us thinking we have to make it on our own, nothing happens,\u201d said Helena Mensahn, one of the group\u2019s leaders. \u201cBut when we are organized in a group, and other women come to help us, then we will get rid of our poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"641\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen028-950x641.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4592\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen028-950x641.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen028-590x398.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen028-768x518.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen028-1536x1036.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen028.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Helena B. Mensahn, 37, and other women prepare the ground for planting on a six-acre farm where several dozen women are farming cassava in Mount Barclay, Liberia. The income-generating project is administered by the National Federation of Women Employees and Allied Workers, with financial support from United Methodist Women.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Most of the group are widows, a common status in a country where hundreds of thousands of people died in more than two decades of fighting, but because of the farm project they can now send some of their children to school. \u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019re getting rid of poverty,\u201d said Ms. Mensahn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The farm project, dubbed \u201cSay No to Poverty,\u201d is sponsored by the National Federation of Women Employees and Allied Workers, and funded in part by United Methodist Women mission giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">According to Elizabeth Addy, the program coordinator for the federation, the farm is more than simply an income-generating scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIt also provides an opportunity for the women to feel important, to see themselves as in charge of their lives. With what they harvest they can go to the market, buy what they need and pay their children\u2019s school fees. That gives them dignity, and that makes possible a better life ahead,\u201d Ms. Addy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"600\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen262-950x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4593\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen262-950x600.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen262-590x372.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen262-768x485.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen262-1536x969.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen262.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Marion Zenneh, 23, is one of several dozen women who work together to grow cassava on a six-acre farm in Mount Barclay, Liberia. The income-generating project, called &#8220;Say No to Poverty,&#8221; is administered by the National Federation of Women Employees and Allied Workers, with financial support from United Methodist Women.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">By making it possible for women to have their own income, Ms. Addy says the project is enabling participants to craft their own responses to a society-wide move back to school. Yet the choices they face aren\u2019t always easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cA lot of women in Liberia look at our president and they get motivated to go back to school. But they also have to sustain their families. Some go to night school and get literacy training, but after a day of working hard in the fields and selling in the market, when they get to class in the evening they are too tired to pay attention. And if they don\u2019t have money to send their children to school, they feel guilty for wanting to go themselves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>My Daughter\u2019s Place<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Beatrice Nelson lives in the countryside outside the town of Buchanan. She didn\u2019t go to school as a girl, because fighting kept the schools closed and her family on the run. When she was 13, rebels showed up in her village and demanded money. Then they announced they would take the teenager with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMy mother cried, and she said, \u2018My daughter is too small to go with you.\u2019 But they said they\u2019d kill her if she argued. They grabbed me and carried me away. They did bad to me. But one day when they sent me to fetch water for them, I ran away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation002-950x632.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4594\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation002-950x632.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation002-590x393.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation002-768x511.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation002-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation002.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Beatrice Nelson works on her sewing machine outside her house. She was kidnapped and mistreated by rebel soldiers during Liberia&#8217;s civil wars, but today she&#8217;s a mother and entrepreneur near Buchanan, Liberia. When she graduated from My Daughter&#8217;s Place, a program for war-affected girls at Camphor Mission, she received a sewing machine and two goats, and leveraged that capital into a successful small business which today supports her family. My Daughter&#8217;s Place is supported by United Methodist Women.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ms. Nelson, now 34, wasn\u2019t reunited with her parents until after the wars ended, and her mother died soon after. Ms. Nelson then came to live near Buchanan, where she met Frido Kinkolenge, a United Methodist missionary from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was starting a program for young women at the nearby Camphor Mission. Called \u201cMy Daughter\u2019s Place\u201d and funded by United Methodist Women mission giving, it gave young women affected by the war a new start with training in vegetable cultivation, pastry making, tie-dying, soap making, as well as counseling and education in reproductive rights and family planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMy Daughter\u2019s Place helped us learn the importance of our own selves, and helped me know I could do things myself,\u201d Ms. Nelson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">After a couple of years in the program, Ms. Nelson left with a sewing machine and a pair of goats. She started sewing clothes for her neighbors, and quickly repaid the machine\u2019s cost. She also gave the goats back to the program but kept the offspring. She now has eight goats. Some of them jumped the fence and her neighbors brought them back. She repaid the favor by lending a pair of goats to her neighbors, who after a while gave the goats back but kept the offspring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation010-950x632.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4595\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation010-950x632.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation010-590x393.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation010-768x511.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation010-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation010.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Beatrice Nelson and one of her goats. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ms. Nelson says she now feels in control of her own life. When she got sick and was hospitalized, she sold a goat to pay the bill. Given the income from her sewing, she says her husband treats her better and gives her equal say in family decisions. And she is making sure her five children go to school, especially her 11-year old daughter Yadrin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHer future will be different than mine. She has clothes to wear, and she has support for going to school. I know she has a future. It\u2019s different than before,\u201d Ms. Nelson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Building trust<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Mr. Kinkolenge came to Liberia in 2000 to supervise a rural school, but fighting in the countryside kept him in Monrovia, where he met kids roaming the streets who\u2019d been damaged by the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI saw the boys and girls in the streets, and they were devastated. There were some Catholic programs to work with them, but they couldn\u2019t absorb everyone. So we started gathering kids from the streets, teaching them to read and write and how to love and be loved again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"545\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation036-950x545.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4596\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation036-950x545.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation036-590x338.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation036-768x440.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation036-1536x881.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation036.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Frido Kinkolenge is coordinator of children&#8217;s ministries for the United Methodist Church in Liberia. Here he walks with youth at the Brighter Future Children Rescue Center in Buchanan. The center carries out rehabilitation work with ex-combatants and other war-affected children.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In 2003 Monrovia was engulfed in fighting once again, and Mr. Kinkolenge had to flee the country. When he returned several months later, he began working in Buchanan, a port city to the east of Monrovia which didn\u2019t attract much attention from aid groups. At a center he started with support from the United Methodist Church in Germany, he again started working with children, many of whom had been forced to join rebel armies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cBefore we could get very far with counseling, we had to build trust with the kids. We did that by being present with them and assuring them that we\u2019d never disclose the things they told us. All the time I worked with them they never heard their stories retold. When we\u2019d built up their trust, they opened up to us about the terrible things that had happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Besides providing counseling and training in basic literacy, carpentry, soap making, typing, computer skills and cosmetology, Mr. Kinkolenge said he also had to defend the children against those who sought revenge for the role they\u2019d played during the wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cPeople would recognize some of the boys who\u2019d been involved in atrocities. They wanted to do them bad. In Africa that means lynch them or beat them or do some other bad thing. They saw them come to our center, and they\u2019d follow children onto the campus. So we had to defend the kids. I went to police for help, and some days they\u2019d understand and some days not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThe kids were feeling that danger. The majority of them lived in a camp outside of town, and they started using remote paths rather than the main road to come to the center. Some would come early in the day, even if we had no activities in the morning. They didn\u2019t want to go very far away, because they felt safer here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation025-950x632.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4597\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation025-950x632.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation025-590x393.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation025-768x511.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation025-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation025.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Youth participate in a class on hair styling, one of many skills training opportunities at the Brighter Future Children Rescue Center in Buchanan, Liberia. The center, supported by the United Methodist Church in Germany and United Methodist Women, carries out rehabilitation work with ex-combatants and other war-affected children.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The United Nations had carried out a process of disarmament in the country, but Mr. Kinkolenge said even more was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe haven\u2019t truly ended war until we\u2019ve disarmed the minds of the people who fought it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can give children weapons, but if their mind is disarmed they won\u2019t use those weapons. So even though they\u2019ve today put down the machetes and assault rifles, their mind still has to be disarmed. Otherwise their thoughts become words, their words become actions, and their actions become a habit. They will solve every daily problem with violence. And the war will never really end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Mr. Kinkolenge, who came to the United States in late 2013 to enter seminary, warns that individual rehabilitation is not separate from the country\u2019s overall economic recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"660\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation032-950x660.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4598\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation032-950x660.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation032-590x410.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation032-768x533.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation032-1536x1067.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-rehabilitation032.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>A young woman who participates in a class on hair styling, one of many skills training opportunities at the Brighter Future Children Rescue Center in Buchanan, Liberia..<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThe healing process is directly linked to the country\u2019s economic sustainability,\u201d he said. \u201cThe country is recovering, but there are still too few job opportunities. Today you have a job and tomorrow you lose it. The young people we\u2019re training won\u2019t easily find work once they leave the center. They have changed. That\u2019s clear. After being so devastated by violence, today they can laugh and talk to people politely. They\u2019ve come a long ways. But the country has a long ways to go in accompanying them to wholeness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>\u201cThe war had made them nobodies\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Given historical gender-based discrimination in many poor countries, parents who can\u2019t afford to send all their children to school will often send only the boys, while they keep the girls at home. Yet according to United Methodist Bishop John Innis of Liberia, having a woman as president makes it easier to argue for girls to go to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe ask the parents, \u2018Who is the president of the country today?\u2019 We tell them their daughter can be the president someday, or a political leader or businesswoman, but to get there they\u2019ve got to go to school first,\u201d said Bishop Innis, whose conference serves more than 40,000 students enrolled in several schools and a university. As a result, he says more than 60 percent of graduates from United Methodist schools in Liberia last year were female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHaving a woman as president has made for a big change in the political landscape, but also in the way parents look at their daughters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen003-950x1439.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4599\" width=\"475\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen003-950x1439.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen003-590x894.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen003-768x1164.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen003-1014x1536.jpg 1014w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen003.jpg 1188w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><figcaption>A girl in Mount Barclay, Liberia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">President Sirleaf isn\u2019t the first example of women taking a highly visible leadership role in Liberia. During the country\u2019s bloody civil wars, it was a coalition of Christian and Muslim women\u2013armed only in white t-shirts\u2013who took to the streets in prayerful protest that brought about peace talks to end the war. It was a victory for ordinary women\u2013Ms. Topka remembers going with her aunt to pray with the women in the Monrovia fish market\u2013that culminated in the election of a woman president, and later a Nobel Peace Prize for Ms. Sirleaf and two other women activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWomen were instrumental in bringing about peace in this country. They woke up, stood up and said, \u2018We are all God\u2019s creatures.\u2019 They committed themselves to defend the helpless, the hopeless and the marginalized so that they will become somebody, because the war had made them nobodies,\u201d Bishop Innis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Women\u2019s leadership in Africa (there are now women presidents in Malawi and the Central African Republic) has been characterized by greater transparency in government. \u201cThe men were never accountable, they never led with justice, so it\u2019s a wholesale change in the political landscape to have women leaders,\u201d said Bishop Innis. \u201cMost leaders we have in Africa don\u2019t love their countries. They exploit, they victimize and brutalize people. But the women are today saying that\u2019s all over. They want everyone who lives in God\u2019s world to enjoy the benefits of God\u2019s creation. They come to power not to promote themselves, not to rule over others, but to promote the people they work with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children225-950x632.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4600\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children225-950x632.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children225-590x393.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children225-768x511.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children225-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children225.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Children clap as they sing during class in a day care center in Monrovia, Liberia, sponsored by United Methodist Women.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">According to Alfreda Anderson, the coordinator of United Methodist Women in Liberia, her country\u2019s women have gained a lot of political space in recent years, but they\u2019re going to have to fight to maintain the advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIt used to be that there was no space for women in government. Women were looked down upon. We were told to stay in the house and serve our husbands. But we stood up for our rights, and things changed,\u201d she said. \u201cIt will be tough when President Ellen leaves office. Right now there are a lot of women in government. The agriculture, justice and education ministers are women. The port authority and gender ministries are headed by women. We are up there. But some men are saying that Madame Ellen is just there for women, and that when she leaves office they\u2019ll be able to get back the power they think they\u2019ve lost. So we\u2019re going to have to continue to fight hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Sex for grades<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">One of those fighting hard to make change is Catherine Myemawo, the coordinator of the Young Women\u2019s Network of the Liberian United Methodist Church. She tries to keep young women involved in the life of the church, and offers training programs\u2013when she can find the funding\u2013in skills like tailoring, pastry making and interior design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">One obstacle to involving young women in the church, Ms. Myemawo says, is the need to talk about reproductive politics, a discussion that many pastors aren\u2019t comfortable with. But Ms. Myemawo insists the conversation needs to take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got to talk about violence against women, which is very high, and talk about it not just with women, but also with men. We\u2019ve got to talk about HIV and AIDS, and how most of the carriers of HIV in Liberia are women who\u2019ve been infected unknowingly by their boyfriends. We do education, we distribute condoms, and we talk about the importance of abstinence. And we need to talk about teenage pregnancy. Eight of ten women in Liberia have a child while still a teenager. That\u2019s a serious setback to development, because once a girl has a child she no longer wants to go to school. She sees herself as inferior to others. We help her understand she can still make headway in life,\u201d Ms. Myemawo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia-2013-jeffrey-misc03-950x632.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4601\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia-2013-jeffrey-misc03-950x632.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia-2013-jeffrey-misc03-590x393.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia-2013-jeffrey-misc03-768x511.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia-2013-jeffrey-misc03-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia-2013-jeffrey-misc03.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>Isabella Washington (left), 26, and Catherine Hill, 28, walk across a street in Monrovia, Liberia, after attending class at United Methodist University. Both women are studying with help from scholarships from United Methodist Women.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Liberia\u2019s post-war poverty encourages transactional sex as a survival mechanism, Ms. Myemawo says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cEconomic conditions are hard, and many girls see having boyfriends as the only way to survive. If you don\u2019t have the skills yourself, you turn to others for support. Some parents even ask their girls to go out and find someone to help them, to get money and bring it back, essentially to look for men who can support the family financially in exchange for sex. That\u2019s one of the major causes of teenage pregnancy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ms. Myemawo says sexual politics remain a common theme at church gatherings of young people, despite the reservations of some older church leaders. \u201cWhen we talk about HIV and AIDS, many older people in the churches would rather we not talk about sex. They\u2019d rather condemn people than educate people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">One place where transactional sex is being discussed in Liberia today is in public debate about the practice of \u201csex for grades\u201d in the country\u2019s universities, including United Methodist University in Monrovia. A 2011 survey by ActionAid of three Liberian universities found that 85 percent of female students had been sexually harassed or involved in transactional sex while they studied. Some women were forced to keep repeating classes if they refused to have sex with their male lecturers. If a woman reported her lecturer and he was sacked, the teacher would often simply move to another institution, the survey showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMany females don\u2019t even pay attention in class because at the end of the day you have a teacher who wants to have sex with you and give you free grades. The boys do all the studying, while the girls are relaxed. Some don\u2019t even come to class,\u201d said Ms. Myemawo. \u201cWe try to help them understand that they\u2019re not helping society. What happens with a girl who\u2019s studying nursing and she graduates without the skills she\u2019s supposed to have?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen232-950x1427.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4603\" width=\"475\" height=\"714\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen232-950x1427.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen232-590x886.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen232-768x1154.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen232-1022x1536.jpg 1022w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-farmwomen232.jpg 1198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><figcaption><em>Vabrah Weekie, 54, is one of several dozen women who work together to grow cassava on a six-acre farm in Mount Barclay, Liberia. The income-generating project, called &#8220;Say No to Poverty,&#8221; is administered by the National Federation of Women Employees and Allied Workers, with financial support from United Methodist Women.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ms. Myemawo\u2019s young adult group works to combat the practice, making placards for schools and raising the issue in gatherings. She admits the issue reflects larger challenges for her country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOne girl shared with me that she couldn\u2019t study because she had no food to eat, and sleeping with her teacher got her not only grades, but food as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Catherine Hill says she has resisted trading her body for better grades. The 28-year old university student, who witnessed her parents\u2019 murder by rebels during the war, was placed in a foster home and then ended up on the streets of Monrovia. Yet today she\u2019s studying thanks to a scholarship from United Methodist Women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIf we\u2019re not educated, we\u2019re not up to date. Our president is encouraging women to go to school. So we\u2019ve got to stop the abuse and get our sisters into school. When a teacher wants to sleep with you to give you a grade, we\u2019ve got to say no. We\u2019re smart, and we\u2019re going to fight inequality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ms. Hill is studying social work at the United Methodist University. \u201cI want to talk with people who are traumatized, people who have no one to talk with. I want to help them restore their strength and experience hope for themselves and their nation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She looks forward to graduating in 2015, but has one lament. \u201cWhen I graduate, everyone will have their families there. But my parents won\u2019t be there. I\u2019ll miss them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>\u201cWe Liberians don\u2019t have a culture of our own\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Just graduating from university doesn\u2019t guarantee a job, however, especially in a country where who you know often matters more than what you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ms. Myemawo says she was thrilled when the country elected a woman president, but over time she\u2019s grown somewhat disillusioned with the possibility of profound change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cToo many youth today are just hanging out, doing nothing. They don\u2019t have jobs. You can graduate from college but you often can\u2019t get a job unless you\u2019re part of a certain class or you have some sort of personal relationship to the president or someone close to her. You can submit your application 100 times, but if you don\u2019t have the requisite contact, no matter how qualified you are, you won\u2019t ever get a job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"950\" height=\"764\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children311-950x764.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4602\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children311-950x764.jpg 950w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children311-590x475.jpg 590w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children311-768x618.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children311-1536x1236.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/liberia2013jeffrey-children311.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><em>As a teacher points to the blackboard, a girl recites her lesson during class in a day care center in Monrovia, Liberia, sponsored by United Methodist Women.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Much of Liberia\u2019s history is interwoven by a struggle between Libero-Americans, the descendants of the first African-American settlers, and indigenous Africans. It was Libero-Americans who controlled the government from independence in the 19<sup>th<\/sup> Century until the beginning of the civil wars in 1980. Although the trauma of the wars has allegedly pushed Liberia beyond such distinctions, Ms. Myemawo says the class system remains in force, enabled by a cultural confusion about Liberian identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhat music do young people here listen to? It\u2019s not African music, but rather reggae or Snoop Dog or 50 Cent,\u201d she said. \u201cI sometimes think we Liberians don\u2019t have a culture of our own, we just imitate U.S. society. So much so that we forget where we\u2019re from. Some young people prefer to use their father\u2019s first name as their last name, because it\u2019s an English name, rather than their African family name. They want to feel more American than African, even if we\u2019re stuck here in Liberia. And it might help in getting a job. Because if you\u2019re not a Dennis or a Jackson or a Johnson, forget about holding a high-level position in the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Despite her frustrations, Ms. Myemawo remains hopeful that President Sirleaf\u2019s tenure is a game changer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m happy a woman was elected. If one woman can do it, then any of the rest of us can,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re happy and proud, but we call on her every day to make even more changes, and to incorporate some of the people she doesn\u2019t know. If they don\u2019t try us, they\u2019ll never know what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>The Rev. Paul Jeffrey is a United Methodist missionary and senior correspondent for <\/em>response.<em> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women continue to lead struggle against violence and poverty By Paul Jeffrey Published in Response magazine in September 2014. Like many Liberian women today, Tomrah Topka has gone back to school. Every morning the 25-year old settles into a high school classroom in Monrovia, the African nation\u2019s capital, surrounded by much younger girls. But she\u2019s [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4589"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4604,"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4589\/revisions\/4604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kairosphotos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}