RoadMap To 2022
A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT:
THE APPALLING CONDITIONS OF UNDERPRIVILEGED KIDS IN LIBERIA’S SLUM COMMUNITIES
Even with access to education for a Liberian child, a quality education with modern school facilities does not exist. Also, for underprivileged Liberian children they will struggle to eat two square meal a day. Does this sound like an exaggeration, perhaps a typo? Well, it is not! In fact, it is termed zero, zero, one. This means no breakfast, no lunch, and something to eat late in the afternoon. This is a normal routine for many children who live in slum communities are can still attend a school. Even the slums in Doe Community and Soe-nee-wen (near Liberia’s capital of Monrovia) are of no exception. However, there is hope and some success stories to draw inspiration from. For example, Liberia’s current President, George Weah, grew up in the slums of Doe Community and rose above his despair.
Over the years, not much has changed for underprivileged kids living in such conditions. Their caretakers or parents still struggle to provide adequate meal and shelter due to impoverished living conditions. Imagine, if communities just a stone throw from Monrovia still face these awful conditions, then what is happening in those communities and counties that are hard-to-reach? At Rose Organization for Advocacy and Development (ROAD) we use these adjectives: despicable, shabby, dilapidated, and dismal.
ROAD Media Team travelled to many of the inaccessible communities and counties to get first-hand experience of what underprivileged kids go through daily. Liberia currently has 15 counties with many administrative districts. The cheapest educational facilities are ones offered by government. A majority of these school facilities lack libraries, desks, chairs, and playgrounds, among other standard amenities for a school. The kids lack book bags, uniforms, tuition, etc. Privately owned learning institutions are doing well but extremely expensive for kids living in slum communities, resulting in many of these kids having to forego an education.
Despite those underprivileged kids appalling conditions, they continue to have big impossible dreams. Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf reminds us that “If you dream does not scare you, that dream isn’t big enough.” This is true of a dream but survival should not be a dream, it should be an expectation. ROAD is committed to helping these children learn the ways that they can help themselves and ensure a brighter future.
These kids are amazing and have big dreams. Teenager Joseph Kamara has told ROAD that he wants to become a pilot. Korpo Freeman, Vice President of Solo Isaac School Student Council Leadership says, “I want to be a medical doctor to help save the lives of many people.” Joseph and Korpo are both in grade 6 and they share a single classroom with 4th & 5th graders. There is no space adequate enough to accommodate the high demand of educating underprivileged kids whose parents cannot afford high cost of tuition. This dire reality highlights one school’s plight but the problem is real for so many Liberian schools, many which ROAD has visited.
How do we solve this problem? Your donations are the first step. ROAD does good work and your donations help to solve the most basic pressing issues: lack of tuitions, book bags, feeding programs, playgrounds for kids, children’s toys, etc.
The current conditions underprivileged kids go through require immediate intervention. Since the formation of Rose Organization for Advocacy and Development (ROAD) in 2014, the organization continues to advocate for less privileged children in Liberia. The deadly Ebola virus in 2014 devasted Liberia’s porous health system. After the fight against the deadly virus in 2015, many children were left orphans. Those Ebola orphans needed immediate shelter, clothing, feeding, and education. Based on ROAD’s advocacy and personal donations, the organization launched its scholarship program. This program is vital for the mission we carry on to this day.
ROAD’s intent is to go beyond advocating alone by forming part of the solutions to some of the problems through small interventions. These small but meaningful interventions have started to deliver results. We have seen more than 5 kids back in school, free from worrying about tuition, uniforms, school bags, and other necessary supplies. This may feel like a baby step to many of us, but it means the world to Liberia’s less privileged kids.
Fast forward to 2020.
The COVID-19 global pandemic left many families sitting home and jobless. The Liberian government closed all the schools, and the entire country was under lockdown to help curb the spread of the virus. Any help in the form of a COVID-19 stimulus package did not arrive on time for most communities, and for others it never came. Another failed promise with dire consequences.
ROAD’s independent assessment shows that underprivileged kids were the worst affected during the lockdown. Those kids survived solely from humanitarian donations. ROAD was a part of this solution and partnered with First Meal for First Responders to provide food for those doctors and nurses who gave so much personal sacrifice to save others’ lives.
ROAD also distributed book bags and copybooks to kids at Solo School System (Margibi County) after the government ordered all schools to reopen. Parents had been sitting home throughout the lockdown and many could not afford basic school requirements for their kids, or perhaps lacked the education to keep the kids on pace. With the school reopening’s came the demand for tuition. Three less privileged kids were at the verge of being sent home due to lack of tuition. ROAD stepped in and paid their tuition in full.
ROAD’S Impact and Plans for the Future
Radio is a powerful tool and can reach thousands of people at once. ROAD currently sponsors a live radio program (Generation Next) at the Voice of Firestone with relays on other community radio stations. Generation Next inspires current and future generation and talks about issues affecting kids. This flagship program is part of our youth mentorship initiative, which is focused directly at impacting the lives of young people in Liberia.
ROAD has transformed the lives of some less privileged kids in two counties of Liberia. This intervention has provided 100% tuition, uniforms, and school bags. All of this is made possible through personal sacrifices and donations from ROAD members. We can do more if you join us in contributing something, even if it is just a dollar!
The organization’s strategic five-year goals include
(1) increasing the total number of fully funded scholarship (tuition, uniforms, etc.) to more than 500 underprivileged students across Liberia.
(2) providing modern hand pumps for safe and clean drinking water to the 15 counties of Liberia,
(3) sponsoring the first youth summit targeting over 500 young people in Margibi County, and
(4) constructing a modern school building to cater to over 300 underprivileged kids in Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties, among others.
In addition to these four main initiatives in our five-year plan, we continue to focus on all ways to make a positive impact in the lives of Liberia’s underserved children.
ROAD 2021 – 2022 Scholarship Recipients
ROAD Five-Year Strategic Road Map: 2021-2026
Year | Activities | Targets/Beneficiaries | Expected Outcome/Results | Estimated Budget |
2021 | Provide 100% full scholarship to 50 persons | Less privileged kids | Help more less privileged kids whose parents are struggling to keep them in school | Cost of educating 1 child per year (books & uniform included): US $275.00 |
2022 | Provide 100% full scholarships to additional 100 students |
Less privileged kids | Help more less privileged kids whose parents are struggling to keep them in school | Cost of educating 1 child per year (books & uniform included): US $275.00 |
2023 | Build modern handpumps in 7 of the 15 counties of Liberia | Women, children, elderly people, etc. | Provide safe and clean drinking water to communities | Cost per hand pump: US $2,500.00 |
2024 | Build modern school facility on 5 acres of land | Underprivileged kids that cannot afford tuition | Educate and empower underprivileged kids that are out of school and those struggling to pay tuition | Cost of constructing a modern school: US $125,000.00 |
2025 | Build modern handpumps in 8 of the 15 counties of Liberia | Women, children, elderly people, etc. | Provide clean and safe drinking water to communities | Cost per hand pump: US $2,500.00 |
2026 | Build safe homes for children that are victims of sexual assault or rape | Molested kids and rape survivors | Provide counseling and safe homes for victims of sexual violence | Cost for the construction of safe homes: US $85,000.00 |
A Single Handpump Could Save 88-Year-Old Great Grandfather & Over 500 Residents
88-year-old great grandfather Johson Glanyon, who along with over 500 residents, have had one drinking water source since 2014—a pond with unfiltered water.
ROAD is dedicated to The Sustainable Development Goal which addresses ensuring all Liberians access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
It’s the 21st century! Did you even realize that people still drank from unsaved ponds and wells? Mr. Glanyon, along with the community leadership, has appealed to central government and humanitarian for assistance since 2014 but is yet to receive help.
The main water source flows from rocks and other unsanitary places. Surrounded by valleys, burial sites, and pit latrines has made the water even more unsafe for human consumption. During rainy season, ground water empties into the only source of water for the community.
Born November 12, 1932, Mr. Glanyon relies on his grandchildren to fetch him water down in the valley. “We use this water for bathing, washing, and drinking,” says grandfather Johnson Glanyon, adding, “We often suffer stomach and other illness.”
ROAD assessment shows that this water crisis is not unique to grandfather Glanyon’s residence in Barclay’s Farm Community. Many less privileged communities across Liberia still struggle to get safe drinking water. Student Bendu Freeman of Montserrado has taken matter into her own hands by using science lessons to filter dirty and contaminated water for household use. She puts sand in an empty rice bag to purify water collected from these sources.
Apart from lack of tuition, these are some of the numerous challenges underprivileged kids experience daily. It is against this background that ROAD seeks your support to build modern handpumps in every county of Liberia. Help ROAD achieve this 5-years strategic goal by donating to this non-profit organization.
The Community Forum:
She Needs Your Help, Speak Out!
The issue of rape and sexual violence against women, girls, and boys in Liberia are heinous and barbaric crimes. The horrible nature of these crimes makes it the lowest, most defiling crime that can happen to a human being. In the annals of the Liberia jurisprudence, the act is classically criminal in nature, characterized as a capital offense, and therefore not bailable when proof is evident and the presumption great, as provided under Section 13.1 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia.
Section 13.1 states: “Capital offenses – A person in custody for the commission of a capital offense shall, before conviction, be entitled as of right to be admitted to bail unless the proof is evident or the presumption great that he is guilty of the offense…” Due to the serious nature of this crime it is punishable to the severest extend of the law.
Despite these rigid laws the number of criminals committing these violent acts has not diminished. From as far back at the 17th century, innocent women, girls, and boys continue to be victimized. It is a tragic reality that reveals the lackluster nature of the criminal courts as well. Many of these cases hardly made it to court for various reasons, including the traditional perception of shame, disgrace to the family, lack of financial support, and so on. Those that managed to reach to court have been burdened with unjust challenges in convicting the sex offenders due to bureaucratic and systematic court procedures which requite sufficient evidence to meet the basic standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Although people typically want justice served the typical Liberian society has not developed an understanding and appreciation for these standards. Consequently, only a handful of rape cases have managed to survive these standards.
Former Justice Kabineh Ja’neh noted in Gardea v. Republic of Liberia [2014] LRSC 28 that even the Supreme Court of Liberia has admitted and recognized the challenges to the production of direct or positive evidence in rape cases. Despite this, the Supreme Court of Liberia has maintained that a rape victim’s testimony alone, without other supporting evidence, is inadequate to sustain a conviction. This means that perpetrators walk free and repeat their offenses, further decaying the heart of humanity—the Liberian people. When people are without hope, they suffer.
New compounded problems have led to Liberia being listed as a country with an increased rate of rape cases. Some have argued that the fourteen years (1989 – 2003) of civil conflict impacted this rise. Yet, we are fifteen years past that and there has been no decline. This is not due to a lack of effort. In spite of the rise in advocacy against sexual assault and other domestic violence and the strengthening of the Rape Law to first degree felony and making it nonbailable, the crime is still unabated. Back in 2014, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the UK based think tank, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) stated that rape remains one of the most frequently reported crimes in Liberia, and the incidence of sexual violence against women in Liberia is among the highest in the world.
According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection from that same 2014 timeframe, 708 cases of rape, including gang rape, were reported to law enforcement officials, health care providers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs); in 2015, this number rose to 803. Out of these 1,511 cases, only 836 that were reported by MOGCSP were registered by the police, and the police sent only 259 cases to court. According to data collected from circuit courts by the Human Rights and Protection Service of the United Nations, only twenty-four individuals were convicted in 2014 and thirty-four in 2015 by the court. It is worth noting that a high number of the reported cases of rape in 2014 and 2015 were children. Of the approximately 150 cases monitored and documented by HRPS, United Nations Mission in Liberia in 2015, at least 78 percent of the victims were minors, some of whom died as a consequence of the rape. Even more alarming are cases of young boys being sodomized (seven cases reported in 2017 with all of the victims below the age of seventeen), which brings cases of rape to a new level in the country.
According to the Front Page Africa News Paper, “A review of statistics from the Bureau of Corrections at the Ministry of Justice for the months of January to June 2020 shows that more than 600 cases of aggravated assault, sodomy, sodomy with animal intent and rape were report and are currently being investigated.”
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection 2017 Gender Based Violence statistics account for a further increase in the violence across the country with a total of 1,685 GBV cases reported, of which 69.2 percent were sexual violence and 59.8 percent were female survivors who were under the age of eighteen. From the 835 cases of rape reported in 2017, Montserrado, Bong, Margibi, Nimba, and Sinoe recorded the highest number of rape cases as follows: Montserrado – 519; Bong – 53; Margibi – 42; Nimba – 36; and Sinoe – 36.
In November 2017, UN Women reported “Liberia is grappling with rising incidences of sexual and gender-based violence. Children as young as six are being raped, with devastating impact on their health and wellbeing.” The Ministry of Gender 2017 Report highlighted that only 56.5 percent of the total victims of Gender Based Violence received treatment, with two victims dying.
The heinous statistics could go on and on. What we really need are solutions that hinder rapists and violent criminals, while empowering victims of such crimes to come forth knowing they will have emotional and legal support.
Project Design and Implementation:
This project is titled: She Needs Your Help, Speak Out! It is designed to serve as both an educational and media outreach campaign geared toward sensitizing, creating awareness, and propelling the population to speak out against rape across the fifteen counties of Liberia. The foremost objective is to ensure that communities speak out and report every form of sexual based violence and stand ready to pursue to a logical end any reported case of rape or sexual violence in a court of competent authority. The project will engage and conscientize a cross-section of community members, including community leaders, key stakeholders, and MOST IMPORTANTLY ordinary men, women, boys, and girls, who are the ones who live in these dangerous communities and suffer the most impact from the violence of rape and sexual assault. Their role is vital in deterring perpetrators.
The Community Forum will educate the public-at-large not to compromise rape cases for any reason and sensitize the communities on the legal remedies available at the county and national levels. It is designed to draw the attention of relevant stakeholders, including local county authorities, the Gender Coordinator of the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, the Ministry of Justice, the judiciary, and the media, so that appropriate consolidated action is taken to help reduce the continuous increase in the cases of rape across the country. The project will benefit the entire county at all levels, as it will bring sanity/respect to women and other victims of rape and sexual violence and strengthen trust in the justice system.
This project will run for a period of three years (3) beginning January, 2022 and ending December 2024, targeting the following Townships in Montserrado County: 1) Barnersville, 2) Caldwell, 3) Cheesmanburg, 4) Old Congo Town, 5) Dixville, 6) Gardnersville, 7) Johnsonville, 8) Louisiana, 9) Millsburg, 10) Mount Coffee, 11) New Georgia, 12) Royesville, 13) Tolbert-Ta, 14) Tubmanville, 15) Virginia, 16) West Point, 17) Kingsville, 18) Crozierville, 19) White Plains, 20) Harrisburg, and 21) Garworlohn. Emphasis will be placed most in the rural townships of the county where there limited focus.
The project will conduct at least one reflective training targeting seventy-five stakeholders in each of the twenty-one townships where women, girls, and other marginalized groups concerns will be aired, challenges will be identified, and practitioners (AFELL and MGCSP) will provide expertise to address challenges.
A participatory decision is made to take a stand in the fight to alleviate violence against women and children to enhance the fulfilment of their human rights and to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels. The project will bring together local county authorities, including but not limited to County Superintendent, Commissioners, Town Chief, Paramount Chief, and justice actors, which include prosecutors and judges. The goal is to also have representation from all Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), plus Women and Youth Groups. At least ten communities in each township will be visited and a day long engagement will take place via the medium of the Community Forum. The Curriculum for the engagement shall be designed and delivered by the ROAD in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. The entire planning, preparation, and operation of the engagement—including logistical arrangements and selection of participants—shall be conducted by the ROAD project team with support from local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), and other county authorities across the country.
