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Church worker finds displaced Liberians in dire need

11/21/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.

This story is part of a weeklong Close Up series on how the United Methodist Church is helping Liberia recover from war. Photographs, video reports and other features are available.

By Joni Goheen*

MONROVIA, Liberia (UMNS) - George Barrolle's job puts him into daily contact with the many faces of suffering in this war-torn country.

Barrolle is director of the Human Rights and Peace with Justice Program for the United Methodist Church's Liberia Annual Conference. He travels to displacement camps in and around Liberia's capital city of Monrovia, searching for violations of human rights. During his assessments, he looks at humanitarian and security issues, food, shelter, health care and education.

"We share this information with parties of the church," he said. The church will draw up a proposal for addressing the situation. "Since the church is involved (in relief), we feel that the church would want to get information precisely as it occurs in order to be able to lobby and continue to share the information with (its) partners for additional aid."

One recent day, Barrolle headed out to the Findel camp, about an hour's drive from Monrovia. He had heard rumors of sex being traded for food in the camp. The long red clay road leading to this camp was muddy from the incessant rains, and the potholes were like small ponds. Lush landscape surrounded row after row of thatched huts. The straw roofs were partially covered with white tarps to keep out the rain.

Findel is a 2-year-old permanent camp that once housed more than 16,000 people. Africa for Assistance and Concerned Christian Community are managing the camp. The Red Cross is also present, trying to reunite separated families.

Upon arrival, Barrolle discovered the camp had no security, so his stay would be short, no more than 60 minutes. The rest of his assessment team was nervous, since the camp had been looted and was in an isolated area, making it an easy target for rebels yet to be disarmed.

According to camp managers, Findel had been without food for nearly eight months. In July, occupants fled to Monrovia because of the fighting. They left everything behind. Their camp was looted and structures were destroyed. Relief agencies will not deliver food to camps without shelters for residents or structures for storage nor will they deliver food to camps without security. The fear of ambush is too great.

Barrolle asked how the people were managing to eat. Said William Pala of the Concerned Christian Community: "If you eat it tomorrow, you start preparing today. People go in the bushes and they dig for root. If you don't cook it the right way, it causes chaos in your stomach."

People are slowly returning to this camp as they find their homes are no longer habitable. More than 7,000 have returned, some only to find that their living conditions are not much better. Shelters were destroyed and need to be rebuilt, but materials are often in short supply. Clothing and cooking utensils were stolen.

"The condition is very bad because we don't have food, we don't have food," said a 17-year-old camp resident, who identified himself only as Joseph. "We don't have clothing; we don't have clothes, slippers. We don't have nothing; we are suffering."

Barrolle didn't find cases of sex being traded for food, but he did find people starving, without clean water and with very little hope. There was talk among the camp managers that relief could come as soon as security forces were brought in.

The security situation was precarious on several fronts. The rebels in the area had not been disarmed, and everyone was scared that the camp would be raided again. The Economic Community of West African States Military, installed by the United Nations to assist with securing the country, does not want to deploy troops because of the possibility of ambush.

While no rapes had been reported in the camp, Barrolle checked out the medical clinic to be sure. The clinic, operated by Doctors Without Borders/MÃ©decins Sans FrontiÃ¨res, treats 75 to 80 people daily, he said. "The cases that they treat are mostly respiratory cases with children. This is the rainy season, and most of the children sleep on the floor so the respiratory infections are high among the children."

A U.S. military helicopter passed overhead. "The American presence means the resuscitation of life for most of the Liberians, most of the IDPs (internal displaced persons)," Barrolle said. "When they see the helicopter, I don't know what goes through their minds. Those are American planes. â€¦ The planes just fly over; if they would just land and bring some food or something. I can't imagine what goes through their minds when they look at those planes."

Getting ready to leave, Barrolle gave his assessment. "The need is desperate. In fact, the people have not been given rations for like eight months, (which) tells you that these are hungry people," he said.

"It's terrible," he continued. "They've been looted. They don't even have eating utensils. They don't have clothing. Clothes were taken away as a result of the crisis. We understand soldiers came in and they just ripped off (the people's) belongings. These are desperate people. They have been uprooted. So the need is severe. There is a serious human crisis.

"In the security situation, even if they were to distribute the food items, the fear is that the armed men would visit them and they would take away the food. So there's a need to extend the security situation. They need to have a military presence in the camp. Words cannot describe the urgency of the need. Some 50, 60 (displaced people) are returning daily, and most of them don't have any place to stay."

Barrolle said he would write a report that would be shared in the church and among its partners. "We collect the information to raise awareness from the church's prospective and then to use the information to create awareness with the hope that we get some relief assistance."

Contributions for ministries in Liberia may be designated for the United Methodist Committee on Relief's Liberia Emergency, Advance #150300, and dropped in church collection plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. More details are available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/liberia.stm.

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*Goheen is a freelance writer living in Morrison, Colo.

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