Cestos City – Students in Rivercess County are learning less than half of the curriculum each semester because of untrained teachers and a broken pay system that forces teachers to abandon schools for days, even weeks at a time. The first of a 3-part series on Liberia’s rural schools crisis by New Narratives fellow Mae…
Journalism
In Liberia, silencing press critics through libel lawsuits
From NN executive: We are reposting this article from July 2011 in light of the Liberian Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold the $1.5m libel verdict against FrontPage Africa. During Liberia’s 14-year civil war, the press was silenced through violence. Journalists now say they are the victims of a more subtle assault. They say a…
NN’s Rodney Sieh Spells Out the No Bribe Policy at FrontPage Africa Newspaper
Paying Off – The problem of bribes in the Liberian press After two civil wars, Liberian journalists are enjoying unprecedented freedoms but struggling to maintain independence. The business of news is not yet financially viable there: the media market is oversaturated, advertising is weak, and readership is low with a low-hanging ceiling—only 58 percent of the…
NN’s Mae Azango profiled by Internews for UNESCO World Press Freedom Forum in Costa Rica
A Fierce Champion for Women Braves Death Threats and Job Loss She has a broad smile and open, friendly face. But Liberian journalist Mae Azango has the fierce and courageous heart of a warrior. Although she has received death threats and lost her job over her discussion of sensitive topics, she remains a staunch advocate…
Breastfeeding Myths: Liberia in Top 5 for Baby Deaths, ‘Difficult Problems’ linger
Forkpah Town, Clay Ashland, Tiny Pewee Wamah tries to hold the piece of boiled cassava his mother hands to him, but his tiny trembling hands soon let go and the cassava falls to the bright red earth. The 14-month-old baby tries to find strength to cry but his voice soon fades. By New Narratives fellow…
NN’s Robtel Pailey makes The New York Times with her piece on Children’s Role in Changing a Culture of Corruption
MONROVIA, Liberia — I remember the first time I stared corruption in the face. It was 2010, and I was chairwoman of a Liberian government committee responsible for reforming the awarding of international scholarships. We discovered that a group of 18-year-old boys had forged their national exam records to become eligible for a scholarship to…
Living in Fear: After Liberia’s First FGC Conviction, Victim Still Harassed, Haunted
In January this year Ruth Berry Peal and her family thought their three year ordeal was over. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that made the Bomi mother-of-eight the first woman in Liberia to win a conviction for forceful initiation into the Sande society. Three months later Berry Peal is still separated from…
Women Entrepreneurs Take Liberian Business to a New Level
It is often said that the growth of a nation depends on the economy and the ability of its people to venture into the private sector. Since the war, petty trading is fast becoming the main form of employment for many Liberians. Some are taking it to the next level – entrepreneurship. But this new…
Rapists’ Nation? Rape Still Stalking Liberia’s Kids; 1 in 10 Victims Age 5 And Under
“The boy is my neighbor’s son,” says the grandmother. “We eat and play together. They came to me begging I agreed not to go to court. That court thing can waste time and money. I just want my little girl to be all right.” – A grandmother to rape victim. Published in FrontPage Africa on…
‘Dialogue, Not a Monologue’: Liberia, Africa Youths Yearning to be Heard
I watched in amazement as stately Cameroonian 30-something, Mamadou Kwidjim Toure, founder of pan-African youth movement “Africa 2.0”, slipped former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo a note on the elevated stage. Overhead, two wide-screen projectors magnified this exchange to an audience of over 200 at the recent Mo Ibrahim Foundation Governance weekend in Dakar, Senegal. See…
NN Executive Director Prue Clarke argues aid world undercuts development by ignoring media
By not supporting local media, the donor world fails to engage local populations in the development process and give them the information they need to drive change themselves. By Prue Clarke, Executive Director, New Narratives | Wednesday at 3:18 PM See original post here. Mae Azango is one courageous reporter. But she is also a…
Wildlife At Risk: Experts Warn Hunting, Deforestation Killing Liberia’s Future
Monrovia – Dalida squirms on the lap of a woman at a restaurant bar on Tubman Boulevard. (See original post here.) The young chimpanzee was captured just two weeks after her birth. Now four weeks old she wears diapers and a T-shirt instead of sleeping with her mom tonight in a tree in Liberia’s fast-diminishing…
Crisis Point? In Monrovia, Half A Million Gallons Water Lost to Broken Pipe
The Liberian government submitted information to the World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program that estimated eight percent of households in urban areas have pipe borne water and 88 percent have access to an improved water source. Ironically the nation’s capital has been out of water for a long time, which, coupled with other…
‘Wrong Side of the Dice’: Ballah Scott’s Death Shows Health Care in Liberia Is No Care at All
Monrovia – Hospitals have always been an eerie place for me, with their sterile walls, bright blinding lights, and shadowed cracks and crevices. Despite my wariness, I am convinced that hospitals can be (and should be) safe havens. In most places around the world, hospitals are where the sick go to get better. In Liberia, however,…
165 Years Young And Counting: What Have We Really Got To Celebrate?
We Liberians know how to throw a good party. Whether we live in zinc shacks or in immaculate mansions, we thrive on celebration. I’ve been back in Monrovia from London only three weeks now and have already attended four graduation parties and one baby shower. For us, life is an endless party. That’s what…
Voices Against Genital Cutting: Survivors Speak Against Controversial practice in N.Y.
New York City – A young girl stood weeping while women danced happily around her. A grand celebration was already underway for the girl’s rite of passage. It would end with her circumcision and the women rejoicing. Against her will, the young girl who they called Ekankama, was knocked to the ground and held down by…
Going Home the Same Way They Came: Buduburam on My Mind as D-Day Nears
Perched on vast acres of land dotted with concrete buildings marked in colorful chalk, Buduburam Refugee Camp on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana, has always been a place of transit for Liberians. Camp dwellers are like expectant passengers on a flight whose destination is still undetermined. Most of them hope to land in America, or…
NN’s Mae Azango on her time in hiding after reporting on FGC
One would never know how real or powerful fear is unless he or she experiences it. I lived with fear for over three weeks after I did a story on female genital cutting that was published on March 8, 2012. I knew this story would attract attention because we published it on International Women’s Day. …
Starting Small: Liberia’s Women Entrepreneurs Boost Agriculture Industry
Monrovia — On the outskirts of this capital city, Martha Partor runs what passes for a food processing business in this war-weary west African nation. It’s not high tech or big business. She packages local agricultural items such as pepper sauce, cassava leaf flour and potato greens powder in vacuum bags that are sold at…
NN’s Wade Williams on Liberia’s Entrepreneur Women
MONROVIA, Liberia — On the outskirts of this capital city, Martha Partor runs what passes for a food processing business in this war-weary west African nation. It’s not high tech or big business. She packages local agricultural items such as pepper sauce, cassava leaf flour and potato greens powder in vacuum bags that are…
Liberia’s Water Woes: Why Clean, Safe Water Is Still Out of Reach for Many Liberians
Monrovia: “Water! Water!” Eugene Seoh shouted from his three-story apartment building on Benson Street, a main avenue in the center of Monrovia. From across the road, water vendor Jerry Worlogar looked up and nodded. Seoh hurried down the stairs. He stood before Worlogar’s hand-drawn cart full of white five-gallon containers. “Thirty-five \[Liberian] dollars for one…