everyday gandhis Newsletter Winter 2015

ISSUE XVI • WINTER 2015

The Ebola of Greed by cynthia travis

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oday is a rainy day in Los Angeles – such a blessing after two years of drought! The New Year has just begun and my mother and I are sorting through old photographs and papers. This morning, we came across a note written more than 25 years ago, with a question that my daughter asked when she was four: What is the difference between germs, bacteria and viruses, and how did they start? It seems to me that we’ve been asking ourselves this question since the start of the Ebola outbreak, especially the part of the question that wants to know…and how did they start?

What does this kind of balance look like? It begins with the understanding that we cannot take more than we need, or more than our fair share. We must consider the needs of others, including the plants and animals that feed us. We must protect the sources of our sustenance.

We should show gratitude, appreciation, concern and respect.

The Europeans who colonized the Americas, Africa and Asia had lost this understanding. Their relationships with the natural world were already broken. This is why they had to leave their homelands in search of more land and materials.

They had stopped listening to the earth and her spirits. They had used up all their forests to build ships and cities. They disrespected the water and the land, and threw their waste into the streets. The humans and the animals that arrived from Europe brought their diseases of imbalance and brokenness with them - diseases that were unknown to the Indigenous people and animals they met.

Diseases are messages that things are out of balance. Any body can experience disease – including the body of the earth. Imbalances occur in our physical bodies and in other areas of our lives as well, especially in our relationships.

This includes our relationship to ourselves; our relationships with other people; our relationships with the earth, with water, trees, and animals; our political relationships; our relationships with money and power; our relationships with These imbalances are still gothe ancestors and our relationing on today. The Western and ship with those that will be Chinese companies that have born after we are gone. They  tree cut to make way for construction, voinjama. photo by cynthia travis come to harvest Liberia’s forwill inherit the imbalances we ests, mine her gold, pump her have created just as we inherited the imbalances created by those that oil, buy her farmland and plant crops for export (rather than feed local came before us. people) are themselves living in a state of imbalance that has forced them to look outside their homeland to find the resources they need to Recent research suggests that, in North America at the time the first sustain the imbalanced life they have created.

European colonists arrived, there were few, if any, diseases.1 Why? Because the Indigenous peoples of the Americas understood what Indig- Many of the NGO’s that come with ‘aid’ require that certain political enous people understand everywhere, including in Liberia: Since we and economic prices be paid in exchange for their ‘help’. This is why the humans are of the earth, and we depend on the earth to feed and shelter activities of multinational corporations and NGO’s are considered by us, it is important to live in close relationship with the earth and to many people to be a new form of colonization. The fact is that Ebola maintain a balanced relationship with all the living beings and systems and greed move in similar ways: once the virus enters the body or, in that make Life possible. this case, once the disease of greed enters the culture, it tends to take over.

1. Blackfoot Physics, by F. David Peat, 2005; 1491, by Charles C. Mann, 2006

Continued on page 3…

THE PALAVER HUT • ISSUE XVI • WINTER 2015

Table

of Contents

1 The Ebola of Greed 2 In This Issue 4 History of Ebola in West Africa Infrastructure: 5 Medical A Flawed System by cynthia travis

by jenna hammerslag by jenna hammerslag

by mahawa komala

6 and Cultural Impacts of 7 Social Ebola: A Personal Reflection The International Response by benedict knuckles

by morris kamara

8 Liberia’s Precious Forests Media and Experts 10 Ebola: Were Slow to Respond by james makor

by lassana kanneh

12 eg Responds to the Crisis 13 Reflections and Insights

IN THIS ISSUE At the start of a new year, we have endured much hardship as an organization, as a country and most importantly, as a family. Ebola has threatened not only the work of everyday gandhis in Liberia, but that of the country as a whole. Aside from the medical emergency, this epidemic has hindered the progress of social, political and economic systems in three fragile West African nations. Liberia as a country was brought to a halt, forced to pause its much-needed efforts towards a stable and peaceful future.

As the battle rages on against Ebola, our resilient Liberian brothers and sisters remain optimistic as to the continued progress of their country. We at everyday gandhis have held our heads high over the past nine months, doing the best we can to support and aid the process of eradicating this terrible virus while continuing to support community health and address the root causes of the disease.

While our programs and community work came to a complete halt, schools shut down and quarantines were enforced, our eg family found its own unique niche in the crisis. Since October 2014 we have been supporting community driven awareness efforts lead by ex-combatants and local leaders, distributing preventative materials as well as providing medical and sanitation supplies to several neighborhood healthcare clinics, private nurses and crowded public restrooms. It is our hope that by building better community health and resilience, we might contribute most effectively during these difficult times.

In this issue of The Palavar Hut you will find a detailed exploration of the various issues that have contributed to this horrific epidemic, discussions of eg work as well as opinions and solutions to the crisis at large. We are thankful for the contributions of our Liberian family who offer a first hand account of this ongoing crisis. Jenna Hammerslag is the US Media Coordinator for everyday gandhis

by lasana kamara

by eg students and staff

Unless otherwise noted, all photos were taken by our Future Guardians of Peace and dedicated staff in Liberia.

Additional photos were sourced from Flickr and were taken by anonymous sources in Liberia throughout the crisis.  distributing supplies to a medical clinic, photo by fgp

…continued from cover.

Often, these people are well meaning. They themselves are unaware that this is what they are doing. We in the West claim to have a ‘higher standard of living’ than the places we seek to help. But is this true? We certainly have more luxuries, more modern conveniences, more money, more machines, more things. But does that make us ‘experts’ in how to live well, or how to live in balance? Let’s stop and think carefully about this.

Our beliefs, our traditions, our cultures, create the conditions for health or for disease because they shape the attitudes that define our actions and our decisions. By destroying Indigenous cultures that knew how to live in balance, colonial Western (and now, Westernized Chinese) culture has replaced traditional values of caring for the earth and each other with the modern values of greed and materialism. Instead of seeing our forests, our water, our land, as the source of life, we see them as mere things that are there to be bought and sold. Colonialism, slavery and war are the result. These are some of the symptoms of the disease of imbalance. We are in a state of madness that creates the conditions for Ebola to spread: deforestation, overcrowding, lack of concern for the future.

We at everyday gandhis believe that Liberia is in a unique position, with wisdom that could benefit the world. The challenges of life in Liberia today create fresh opportunities if we can learn to recognize them. For example, the drastic loss of infrastructure due to the war is an opportunity to create sustainable sources of energy that do not depend on oil.

Deforestation can be stopped and reversed to restore Liberia’s unique forests and abundant water supply. Mechanized Western agriculture

a young liberian child in a tree. photo by fgp

can be replaced by traditional farming wisdom. Degraded farmland can be restored through Permaculture and other sustainable practices.

Poor sanitation can be improved with composting toilets. Clean water can come from reforestation and rainwater harvesting. Local herbs and medicines can treat and prevent many diseases. Even malaria can be dramatically reduced by proper water conservation and sustainable pest management -without the use of polluting chemicals. Most important, Liberia’s beautiful traditional cultures can help us restore our broken relationships with the earth, the ancestors, and each other.

My hope is that the Liberian government – and ordinary citizens, will decide to make Liberia’s economy sustainable instead of following the outdated and destructive consumer culture of the West. If this happens, perhaps there will be a supporting role for sympathetic individuals and NGO’s willing to form an active group of advocates and allies to support this new thinking.

Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea know the cost of war, and the devastating effect of modernity’s greed. Africa’s intricate social relationships teach us that traditional culture, Islam and Christianity can coexist peacefully. Neighbors can share love and abundance and knowledge once again. With proper mentoring and training, former fighters can become peacebuilders and can protect the region’s precious forests.

Now more than ever, the world needs the wisdom of Liberia’s (and Sierra Leone’s and Guinea’s) elders, healers and traditional leaders. Together, by telling our stories and re-learning the beautiful traditional ways of togetherness, we can heal the trauma of war and greed. Liberia!

Guinea! Sierra Leone! Please lead the way! Cynthia Travis is the Founder and President of everyday gandhis. the trees are watching us, photo by cynthia travis

everyday gandhis • winter 2015 • 3

History of Ebola in West Africa by jenna hammerslag

To fully comprehend the complexities of the Ebola crisis explored in this issue, one must first understand the history of the epidemic and its unprecedented spread across West Africa.

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he Ebola virus, though discovered in 1976, has seen several small outbreaks in its nearly 40-year history, claiming more lives this year than all other previous outbreaks combined.

This has left the World Health Organization, the CDC and local officials in a state of shock and disbelief, although, when considering the crisis and its contributing factors, it is no surprise that this epidemic was said to have the potential to infect upwards of a million people according to a November study.

The outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013, quickly spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Although a handful of other African nations have seen a small number of cases, the aforementioned countries have borne the brunt of the disease. As of December 28th, 2014, there were a total of 20,381 Ebola cases and 7, 989 deaths confirmed. Over 8,000 of those cases have been in Liberia, with 3,423 deaths to date.

The disease has spread at an alarming rate for a number of reasons.

Aside from the fact that the rise of deforestation along with several other environmental calamities have allowed for more frequent contact with carriers of infectious diseases such as Ebola, poor medical infrastructure, local traditions, and a delayed international response have been additional contributing factors.

Early on in the epidemic, cultural practices and traditional beliefs resulted in mistrust, apprehension and resistance to adopting recommended public health preventative measures. This has included hiding Ebola patients, inadequate home-based management of patients, and traditional treatment of dead bodies, all of which create extensive and unsafe exposures to the Ebola virus, exposing families of loved ones as well as surrounding communities.

To support our Ebola related work and help us to provide essential supplies to clinics for the remainder of the year, please visit our website – 100% of your donation will go towards purchasing materials and supporting community healthcare initiatives.

www.everydaygandhis.org Finally, the initial international response was difficult to comprehend, with outside nations deciding to isolate themselves from West Africa rather than send medical supplies and personnel to help stop the spread of the disease. It was not until early August, 2014, six months after the first reported cases, that an international medical emergency was even declared.

These factors have led to a series of eg initiatives to both help raise awareness about the disease and its prevention, as well as to support communities with sanitation materials including medical supplies to more than a dozen non-Ebola clinics and private nurses.

Due to a successful fundraising campaign in December and a generous grant from the philanthropy organization, GlobalGiving, we have raised enough money to keep these clinics open and providing services for much of 2015. As we continue this most important work, we remain hopeful that we may mend the wounds of disease and forge an even better future for Liberia and our family at everyday gandhis. Jenna Hammerslag is the US Media Coordinator for everyday gandhis

There have even been repeated cases of assault on foreign NGO’s and the World Health Organization whose doctors and nurses have been mistakenly blamed by panicked residents for bringing the virus to remote communities. This underscores the deep mistrust of outsiders, sometimes with good reason.

With regard to medical infrastructure, Liberia remains at the bottom of social indicators for global public health, suffering from some of the highest infant mortality rates in the world and lowest doctor, patient ratios. It is said that there was 1 doctor for every 100,000 Librarians before the epidemic; many of whom have died since the onset of the disease.

This already overcrowded and weak medical infrastructure has become overburdened, leaving many to die on the streets outside treatment centers. Perhaps the most appalling cases are those in need of medical treatment for unrelated illnesses such as malaria, typhoid, even childbirth. It is now estimated that more people have died from unrelated ailments than from Ebola itself. This is one of the key factors in everyday gandhis’ response to the Ebola crisis.

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 gearing up to sanitize units at an ebola treatment center, flickr

Medical Infrastructure: A Flawed System by mahawa komala

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he Republic of Liberia, being Africa’s oldest nation, is lacking in terms of primary as well as secondary health services to its approximately 4.5 million people. In the capital, Monrovia, there are about eight good referral hospitals, the John F. Kennedy Medical Center being the largest. Other private hospitals like ELWA, St. Joseph Catholic, SDA Cooper, and Island Clinic are not government owned. They only provide health services to the Liberian populace based on their ability to pay for professional health services.

This is problematic for a poverty stricken country where most Liberians make too low an income to obtain medical care at these aforementioned hospitals when they are sick from common curable diseases like malaria, typhoid fever, cold, body pains, etc. Since Liberia’s independence in 1847, the country’s leaders have paid little attention to the plight of public health and the construction of decent hospitals throughout the country. As a result of this, many Liberian children die during infancy in both rural and urban areas.

This detrimental threat makes Liberia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the poorest country in regards to healthcare and ranks amongst the highest for rates of child and maternal mortality in the world.

Some people are saying that simple improvements could make a significant difference in building greater levels of public health, including good sanitation, clean water, education/awareness and access to improved nutrition. I agree completely, but I see several flaws in the medical system itself that must be equally attended to.

The biggest obstacle in obtaining healthcare in Liberia before Ebola was the government’s lack of attention to the medical sector. Firstly, the existence of good hospitals only in the city of Monrovia is absolutely inhumane, as this creates hardship for Liberians in rural areas who must travel to Monrovia for medical treatments when they fall sick.

Secondly, these hospitals are not providing the necessary and proper

 nurses in personal protective equipment, photo by fgp

equipment for treatment. Whenever you visit our various hospitals and clinics you find that they are all crowded with sick patients who need urgent medical attention, but our doctors and nurses delay or fail in attending to them for treatment. It is because of this that our citizens die all the time from curable diseases like malaria and typhoid.

Third, medical doctors and nurses don’t have the opportunity to achieve a proper education within the current medical system. Sir Francis Bacon once said, “Knowledge itself is power.” That’s to say that the more knowledge our medical petitioners gain, the better our health care system will become. Followed by good governance from the government in providing the necessary, up to date, advanced equipment, the better our system will become.

Therefore, I think the best and most positive avenues that can help the government respond to Ebola and improve Liberia’s healthcare system for its people are the following: • Increase government funding to public health institutions.

• The provision of foreign scholarships by the Liberian government, in collaboration with its developmental partners, to train Liberians abroad in medical science so that, upon returning home, they may be deployed throughout the country to provide essential health services for rural and urban Liberians.

• That the government, the international community and its development partners construct accessible health centers or hospitals in the fifteen counties of Liberia to promote good health services for the Liberian people. Furthermore, full and proper medical equipment should be made available to these rural and urban hospitals when completed.

• Increase salary of health workers. The government must provide better livelihood options for medical doctors that are mainly in the rural areas so as to encourage their dedication as well as commitment to the delivery of quality care to the Liberian people.

• The government should set up a team that will continuously monitor the various healthcare centers on their performance. They should also carry out a national health survey to see what the major health problems in the nation are and strategize the solutions.

• Experts should be encouraged to come and do evaluations as well as train people. This includes the need to develop and implement national healthcare institutions where doctors and nurses will get advanced healthcare education that will prepare them for employment.

In conclusion, I think that when these recommendations are implemented accordingly, the improvement of the Liberian healthcare system and the level of health services of the Liberian people will be sufficiently guaranteed. As we all know, the Ebola outbreak has shown the weakness of our government and our health sector from the onset of the epidemic. Ebola can be controlled; the government needs to step up with more public awareness about the systemic issues that plague our country in order to save us from this deadly virus and future health challenges. Mahawa Komala is a scholarship student with everyday gandhis in Liberia

everyday gandhis • winter 2015 • 5

International Response by benedict knuckles

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t has been nearly a year since Ebola entered our country of Liberia.

The size of the outbreak and its recovery process has been intensified in part by a slow international response. As several outside nations have now joined our efforts, I want people from around the world to continue to help those countries that are seriously affected with all the logistics that we need and the technical know how because we do not have the necessary systems in place to control and obliterate Ebola.

Before we examine the international response, as a Liberian I feel the fault lies not entirely in the international community. Rather, I shift a necessary blame on our leaders because they didn’t take the outbreak seriously. Over the past year the government has taken little action to improve the healthcare system. Another reason is the Liberian Civil war.

Before the war, we had three thousand medical doctors and after, we were left with less than fifty medical doctors to care for four million Liberians.

That said, I think if our leaders had been properly advised from the beginning, we wouldn’t have been affected by this epidemic. To begin, the Ebola Virus was in Guinea for some time before crossing the border to Liberia. We have an Embassy Ambassador there who should have informed our government about the magnitude of what was going on in Guinea so that we could have put necessary preventive measures in place to prevent this virus by closing the borders and monitoring transportation between countries. But rather, we overlooked the situation due to lack of information about Ebola crossing into our country. If we had proper information, or an early alert system in place, Liberia could have known ahead of time and avoided this major disaster.

The first to enter our country with help was the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been here from the time this Ebola Virus started. WHO had been telling the Liberian government and the world leaders that if they did not respond to the Ebola virus, it might likely wipe us out. Next to enter was the Center for Disease Control (CDC), but they offered a slow and scaled back response to the crisis.

Other nations outside Africa seemed to ignore us to begin with.

When it comes to West Africa, the response from the international community has been slow, in my opinion, because of race. I think this because it seems to me when disasters take place in other parts of the world, the international community is always fast to respond. For example, if the outbreak was in the developed world I think the response could have been very urgent to stop the spread of the virus. This Ebola outbreak started in Liberia in February 2014, and the international community did not respond until October 2014. Can you imagine this? If this happened in the developed world, an immediate action would have been taken to stop the epidemic with minimal casualties. If their response was not directly discriminatory, it is my guess that they expected us as a country to have necessary systems in place to handle an outbreak like a sufficient healthcare system and educated personnel.

Instead, in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the health system is poor, the illiteracy rate is high and there was a lot of denial. Also our cultural practices, eg) bathing the dead, touching the sick, people eating from a common bowl, shaking hands coupled with rampant poverty

6 • everyday gandhis • winter 2015

and crowded public spaces all encouraged the spread of disease. For instance, you find large groups of people using one bathroom, a lack of training for healthcare workers and a lack of sanitation in our hospitals and other public facilities.

Alas, we need all the help we can get. This means whatever international organizations and governments ask for, be it doctors, facilities, more money for research, vaccines and treatments to cure people that are affected, we need to deliver so that we can fight this virus together.

One of the more successful responses has been from the United States who sent 3,000 troops in October 2014. The militaristic response from the United States has been very helpful because they are building various treatment centers around the country and helping to transport medical and protective materials. If you look at the numbers, the transmission and death rates dropped significantly since the onset of the US troops to Liberia and there is reported to be many empty beds in centers.

I feel that in the case of Liberia, we have particular ties to the United States that make us prioritize them as a world super power and look to them for help. If you look at our Liberian history it says that the American Colonization Society (ACS) that came from America colonized Liberia. So we could not have existed without America. When you look at the flag of America it has 52 stars, Liberia has one star, and the colors are the same. Our National Anthems have many similarities and we Liberians even adapt American culture. This makes our ties unique and our obligations to each other intimate.

Of course there is no possibility of America sending this amount of troops to Liberia without having other interests. For one, there is an interest to their foreign investments. American companies control much of our natural resources and have the highest percentage of our oil blocks. These are other issues to consider when evaluating the Ebola response.

Overall, I think there have been many positive changes since international groups arrived in Liberia. That is, the new case numbers have been minimized and the numbers of deaths have decreased. Everybody is engaging in the awareness and prevention process and we hope that in a few months from now Liberia should be Ebola-free. Benedict Knuckles is a sponsored Student of everyday gandhis at Cuttington University

 a medical worker with the world health organization relays plans for the expansion of treatment centers in monrovia. flickr

Social and Cultural Impacts of Ebola: A Personal Reflection by morris kamara

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irst of all, let us look at the word epidemic, a rapidly spreading attack of disease, fear, or panic. Our personal experiences from this epidemic are many, but I will note a few. The epidemic has refreshed our minds of our past experience with the rebel war from 1989 to 2004, where we lost much of our friends and family and for some, a loss of human value. Similar to the war, this epidemic has ceased our movements and has caused people to lose their jobs, putting fear in us that we cannot reach our relatives and friends and fear of touching or shaking hands with each other. Sickness like the common cold or malaria is killing people due to a lack of medical attention and now people are dying every day as Ebola has taken over the entire country.

Hunger is another effect of this dirty virus. People are suffering from food shortages, especially in Lofa County where the virus started. Food prices have spiked, as farmers have been unable to plant and harvest.

Borders are closed, airlines have shut down and expats have returned to their home countries.

As an individual, Ebola has changed my life drastically because I am supposed to graduate from high school next year, but due to Ebola, I am not in school. With the closure of all academic activities, I see a major setback for all students in Liberia. All these daily experiences remind us of the past rebel war. Our life is miserable because of the epidemic and we live in fear, only by the way of God and not man.

When people get sick, they are afraid to go to the health clinic because there is no proper care and they are scared of contracting Ebola.

Also, our interaction with each other and the larger community is not normal with the belief that engaging with each other will result in contracting the virus. Therefore, our movements in the community are very limited. We hardly visit each other even in time of sickness or death and we rarely speak with our neighbors or friends.

In addition, because of Ebola some customs have ceased. There is no hand shaking, and this is one of our main customs in Liberia that we learn from our families. Parents tell us to greet our friends and family by shaking hands and we do so every time we meet. This has affected our personal relationships since the government has put a stop to public gatherings throughout the country. I am no longer allowed to freely meet and socialize with my friends, schoolmates, classmates, family members and so on. Before you can visit your friends you need to call

them or tell them that you want to visit. Before the outbreak, we used to visit without having to call and seek permission. Now, if you know of someone in your community who has the signs and symptoms of the virus, you will not go there.

Saddest of all is when family members see their loved ones die and can’t do anything to help because they were told not to touch the sick, but rather to call the hotline for the health team. Sometimes it takes days before the team can make it to your home.

On another note, at the start of the epidemic, we Liberians were not educated about the disease that was killing our people. Many overlooked it at the beginning due to inadequate information passed on by our government and other leaders. There were many health workers in our country that did not know anything about this virus or how to protect themselves, which is why so many have died. Because of the situation, health workers were either afraid to come in contact with patients or hospitals were closed altogether. I had a recent personal experience with this when I became ill with a few signs of Ebola, (headache, fever, coughing). In the end it was just Malaria, but in the process there was no hospital to go to and almost everybody stayed away from me.

To mend this, we need more support from the international community, namely an improvement of our health facilities and hospitals as well as proper training and education for medical personnel. We also need to continue to spread awareness about its prevention.

Prevention is better than a cure. In my experiences, I have learned to prevent myself from getting sick and then help to spread the message about the virus to friends within the community. We need to know the signs and symptoms of Ebola. The signs include: fever, cold, headache, joint and muscle pains, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, stomach pain, rash, red eyes, internal and external bleeding. We then need to know proper sanitation techniques. Before the outbreak of Ebola, I was taught in school to always wash my hands before and after eating, but this was rarely practiced by me. Nowadays I wash my hands ten to fifteen times a day. I also drink more water and juices that help my body stay healthy and able to fight other illnesses.

To educate others on how to stay protected, I am actively involved in community initiatives like Stop Ebola Transmission (SET), which is an engagement in informing and sensitizing community dwellers on the various preventive methods taught to us by health workers and medical experts. Another experience I appreciate is The Area-B Anti Ebola Unit, where we are responsible for the daily monitoring of several homes and the taking of body temperatures. This helps us stay aware of our own health status and that of my community.

You don’t have to have Ebola to be affected by it in the community.

Through interaction, Liberians are affected daily by the virus. As long as the epidemic continues, we are only living by God’s blessing.

 fgp ezekiel mavolo and youth coordinator mulbah richards engage with locals on prevention methods. photo by fgp

Morris Kamara is a Future Guardian of Peace with everyday gandhis and is a student at William Booth High School.

everyday gandhis • winter 2015 • 7

Liberia’s Precious Forests by james makor

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iberia has a rich forest and plays host to many animal and plant species. This forest is a part of the Upper Guinean Biodiversity Hotspot, which cuts across West Africa with 41%, the biggest intact portion, located in Liberia. This Biodiversity Hotspot is one of twenty-five carefully selected habitats around the world by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for their rare, unique and endangered species. It is home to multiple animals whose habitat is being gradually destroyed by logging, farming, charcoal burning and monoculture plantations.

primary focus of the forestry sector in Liberia. However, as information is shared across market lines and a gradual value chain develops, many forest communities are beginning to sustainably harvest and sell some of these products (spices, walnuts, mushrooms, palm nuts for oil and snails for eating) instead of just consuming them locally. Some of these NTFPs are medicinal products (voacanga, griffonia, bitter kola).

Medicinal plants in our forest are sometimes used as natural herbs that cure various sicknesses and provide financial gains or means to local herbalists that depend on the forest.

Animals serve in many different capacities as part of the ecosystem.

Aside from the unique roles they occupy within the food chain, they serve as a source of entertainment in the tourism sector, their droppings replenish and fertilize the plants as well as provide a source of protein in our food. It is sad to note that several of these rare and endangered species facing rapid habitat destruction such as the pigmy hippo, the white-breasted guinea fowl and the jentink duiker are only found in Liberia.

Around July, during the midst of the Ebola epidemic, in an article it was claimed that “bitter kola was a near cure for Ebola,” even though it is widely eaten for heart related issues, sex proficiency and malaria.

In a hopeless situation, this served as a stimulant to boost resistance to

Commercial hunting of bush meat is increasing the threat of extinction on these animals as well as an overall loss of biodiversity. The biggest issue, however, is deforestation, which is the removal of the forest cover, reducing animal habitat that gradually drives native species away. The forest is being sold to concessions and then massively cleared by concessionaires in the name of improving the livelihood of locals and developing the country. According to a New York Times investigative report, between 2006 and 2011, President Ellen John-  sacred trees, liberia. photo by fgp son Sirleaf granted more than a third of Liberia’s land to private investors to use for logging, mining the virus for many. How many more plants of such are we endangerand agro-industrial enterprises. Today, more than seven million acres ing? Traditional people consider the forest very sacred and see it as a have become forestry and agricultural concessions. reservoir for many opportunities that they attribute to their gods and ancestors. They gather food, medicines, rope, wood and nuts from the As a result of deforestation some animals come in close contact with forest that they convert to use or sell. humans. This is a possible source of animal-human conflict. The animals must eat, drink and move freely in the wild as they grow to matu- Thus, the agricultural concessions to multinationals have swallowed a rity. Sadly, some of these animals become diseased along the way due huge portion of the entire nation. The loss ended or technically weak to human activity and environmental degradation. This was the case in negotiations of these contracts coupled with entrenched corruption are the outbreak of Ebola where diseased fruit bats were sold in markets causing a multitude of losses (financial, plants, land, animals, nature, in Guinea. tradition) and delays in delivering tangible developmental results.

Non Timber Forest Products [NTFP], which are naturally grown products in the wild, are typically under-used, as logging became the

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For example, concessions are signed with a set of promises to the locals.

This is intended to convince community dwellers to sell or give away

land for little or nothing. In Liberia, where 30% of the country's land was reportedly allocated to investors by 2011, communities are becoming more resistant to these false promises such as temporarily blocking the Malaysian company's plans to plant oil palms on 220,200 hectares of land leased from the government. The company reportedly froze its operations following an appeal to the Roundtable on Sustainable Development. In other cases, some communities have accused, and often proven their leaders to have taken bribes from concessionaires.

Considering Liberia has more natural resources than many other developing countries, we expect to see a direct correlation in wealth and access to social services. Instead, we see the ruling government officials and elites sending their children and themselves outside the country for regular medical check-ups and even for schooling, rather than working to create a healthy system that will provide good services to all. In this case, what happens to the larger population that cannot afford to travel abroad? As the list of accountability issues mounts, more and more communities are beginning to resist concessionaires.

One commonly failed promise lies in direct relation to the Ebola crisis.

Many forestry companies have made promises to provide healthcare to affected communities. Despite this pronouncement, community dwellers don’t normally have access to company health centers as healthcare is then only provided for the companies employees. Nonetheless, politicians keep giving communities the hope that they will be given access to facilities, regardless of them making little or no effort to change the system.

Health is ranked third on the government budget listing, with support under the national budget (2013/2014) in the amount of US $54 million (www.mohsw.gov.lr). Despite this figure, many government hospitals are consistently confronted with staff salary issues, shortage of drugs or worst of all, the absence of simple surgical gloves for nurses to use when conducting patient examination. It is often only doctors that wear gloves and even this is not guaranteed in many facilities. A lack of medical supplies and protective equipment has caused Ebola to both spread more rapidly as well as shut down many healthcare facilities altogether as they struggle to protect workers and patients alike.  local groups engage in the traditional practice of ‘slash and burn’ agriculture near voinjama, liberia. photo by alfreda karngar

In looking towards the future of forestry in Liberia, we are seeing several positive developments. For one, the Norwegian government has signed an agreement that will provide 150 million dollars for Forest Governance in Liberia. This money is intended to cover a wide range of issues involving sustainable forest management over a significant period of time. The management process is set to include companies, communities, NGOs and the government itself. With this holistic participatory approach (communities, commercial, conservation, carbon credit), there should be better and guaranteed planning. That said, the implementation aspects might be an area to monitor closely. Nonetheless, this proposal is encouraging Liberia to diversify the forestry sector, reducing the focus on logging, deforestation and the ensuing inequalities in wealth distribution.

Finally, although most of our leaders were born in Africa, many were educated outside their home countries, thus greatly influencing their philosophies and in particular, their relationship towards our beloved and sacred traditions. These leaders need to consult with our traditional heads on the basic and important need of adhering to our cultural customs in relation to any development plans. It is in this way that we will see a most sustainable and effective solution to the problem of our precious forests. James Makor works for SAMFU: Save My Future Foundation, a local Liberian non-governmental conservation and development organization founded in 1987. http://www.samfu.org. He is a beloved mentor of everyday gandhis’ Future Guardians of Peace  a river runs through a protected area of forest in northern liberia. photo by cynthia travis

everyday gandhis • winter 2015 • 9

Ebola: Media and Experts Were Slow to Respond by lassana kanneh

I

t’s nearly eleven months since the world’s biggest and deadliest outbreak of Ebola devastated my fragile country, Liberia, politically, economically and socially. The epidemic was another setback in the country’s recovery from the traumas of one and a half decades of ethnic and political armed conflicts that killed over 250,000 people.

The recent outbreak, which subsequently spread to Liberia from neighboring Guinea, meant that Liberia became the frontline of the disease, due to multiple circumstances. These include the hysterical yet painfully slow coverage of mainstream media that lacked a coherent narrative and evidence-based facts about the disease in the three hardest-hit West African countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

In the early stages of the outbreak, the media were very slow to report on the world’s most serious Ebola epidemic, until it ultimately came to the United States, after Thomas Duncan, a Liberian citizen, arrived in the U.S. with symptoms of Ebola that were initially misdiagnosed by hospital personnel, delaying treatment. Mr. Duncan’s death on October 8, 2014 was when the media began to pay a close look to the epidemic. Likewise, when the disease hit Europe, when a Spanish nurse became the first Westerner to contact Ebola outside the frontline of West Africa, and the public perceived that Europe, too, was at peril in the outbreak, this then prompted the developed world and the media at the time to react quickly.

Though we know that proximity and immediacy play important roles in determining which news stories an editor believes will impact readers, it is unfortunate that places like West Africa are often sidelined in reporting decisions for selecting stories highlighted in the West. In Liberia, especially, local and national journalists are not properly trained in standard global news values and reporting criteria, adding to the slow or distorted coverage of Ebola. Another major problem is that Western mainstream media was slow to have clear coverage about the truth of Ebola on the ground in West Africa, and chose, instead, to create a condition of fear that worried those experiencing the outbreak as well as those outside the outbreak area, with little actual knowledge about Ebola.

On the other hand, foreign experts quickly and erroneously blamed local Liberians during the outbreak’s early stages, provoking numerous failures and fears in Liberia that also prompted slowness – where medical professionals who went to Liberia to offer help were attacked by those who were to receive help. An example is the capital, Monrovia, where young residents believed that Ebola wasn’t real and burgled Ebola treatment facilities across the city because they were terrified of being killed by doctors.

Equally so, Liberians who were suspected or infected with the virus even accused foreign healthcare workers for the spread of the disease and refused to be treated. Rather, they opted to go to traditional doctors for treatment as an alternative to receiving Western treatment and prevention strategies that might cure or eliminate the deadly disease.

For a region like Liberia, Western and modern medicines are not easily accessible due to Liberia’s poor and inadequate health systems. To make matters worse, Western treatments are even distrusted. Many Liberians of each of the 16 different ethnic groups in Liberia rely on traditional medical and spiritual practices, in which they believe that herbal medicines are significant and can help cure diseases through efforts of skilled traditional healers, particularly for a disease that is new and dreadful for a population.

Ideally, it’s good to give a chance to people that are considered community leaders and healers who can help with a condition regardless of their credentials. If foreign experts would have invited the use of traditional procedures, combined with logical Western thinking, attention to resources needed, as well as an understanding of relevant cultural beliefs, they would have been much more effective in fighting the virus.

Instead, this Ebola outbreak has bitterly smashed much of West Africa and has killed more than 8,000 people.

Since the outbreak in March 2014, Liberia has been the hardest hit, with over 3,000 deaths reported followed by Sierra Leone and Guinea.

By saying that there were serious mistakes in the way foreign experts responded to the epidemic, I mean that their understanding and their strategies weren’t sufficient to help stop the epidemic or eradicate Ebola in the Western region of Africa.

 healthcare workers suit up to treat ebola patients, image from flickr

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Personally, being here in the U.S. in college, the Ebola news from West Africa overwhelmed me. I have never heard of any deadly epidemic like Ebola. I have lost former schoolmates and friends since the Ebola outbreak began. Last year was robbed by Ebola, a year many of my friends were to celebrate the most graceful year of their lives by becoming high school graduates. Ebola came and has changed everything in Liberia.

Yet, I have to ask myself the following questions since the Ebola outbreak began: How can foreign experts understand and respect the lives and culture of ordinary Africans and help find suitable forms of assistance before there is a full-blown emergency? How can the level of concern about the spread of Ebola in the West be translated into action that demonstrates the same level of concern for those in Africa and elsewhere?

 nurses receive antiseptic from everyday gandhis. photo by fgp

Also, and of great importance, is the fact that there was insufficient information and measures taken to educate indigenous Liberians that the infectious Ebola virus is spread from bush animals. Wildlife farming through sustainable agriculture in Liberia has been a major source of food and income for Liberians for centuries, not just Liberians, but also the entire African population. Bush meat has been an essential part of the Liberian diet. In some rural areas, it is the only vital source of protein. Hunting is the only means of getting meat. There is a need to spread awareness of the dangers of eating bush meat and to provide sustainable alternatives; a need to educate foreign experts in local cultural norms and practices as well as appropriate community entry; a need to upgrade Western-style medical facilities; and a need for the international community to acknowledge their role in causing Ebola through careless resource extraction, instead of accusing the African populations of bringing Ebola on themselves.

Furthermore, how can mainstream media help train African journalists to avoid future mistakes for Africa by practicing improved global news values and coverage?

Let these questions become a conversation point for each of us to look at Western policy and to consider how international corporate and political interests are being imposed in Liberia and Africa as a whole in order to gain access to forestry and mining concessions. I believe that these types of resource extraction and the resulting environmental damage are causing the entire world to suffer an increase in deadly diseases as well as devastating climate change. Lassana Kanneh is a Future Guardian of Peace with everyday gandhis and a student at Kent State University in Ohio.

 the effects of deforestation are evident on the landscape of liberia, photo by alfreda karngar

everyday gandhis • winter 2015 • 11

everyday gandhis Responds to the Crisis by lasana kamara

T

he everyday gandhis response to the Ebola crisis has been very significant and timely. Our participation and contribution to the process demonstrate who we are and how we work as an organization at the community level.

In light of the emergency crisis, we formed initiatives to combat Ebola, from awareness events to the distribution of sanitation and medical supplies that have been very helpful to many communities.

nity gathering for a discussion and dissemination of information or messages. Community leaders are the best message carriers and direct contacts in establishing better working relationships and coordination with the community. By identifying those stakeholders, outside groups may gain greater access to a community to achieve particular goals, and people in the communities themselves know they will be heard.

When the outbreak of Ebola intensified in Lofa County, particularly in Foya, eg immediately deemed it necessary to identify their role within the communities, with a focus on their traditional culture and ecological aspirations. Having the knowledge, experience and ideals to approach the communities, we participated in several awareness events to educate locals about the Ebola Virus and its prevention. As always, we made sure to involve the community and its youth leaders, namely our Future Guardians of Peace who made significant progress building awareness in several communities. everyday gandhis has been the first organization in the Voinjama region to distribute ICE (sanitation and protective) materials including hand washing buckets, soap, and chlorine to surrounding communities. eg further provided ICE materials and transportation to some local NGO’s upon their request to spread awareness in Quardu Gboni and Voinjama Districts.

Community leaders in these districts welcomed eg’s respectful practices of culturally appropriate community entry, especially with traditional drumming or singing. During this period, some NGO’s and health workers were driven out of the communities mainly because the way in which they entered. This was not the case with the eg team because we have the knowledge and ideals to approach the community, especially communities that we have been working with for many years.

We did not stop there. To aid a fractured healthcare system, we continued our efforts by making sanitation and medical supply donations to over a dozen neighborhood clinics, private nurses and public restrooms in Monrovia, Quardu Gboni, Foya, Kolahun Districts and Lofa county, which brought huge relief to the communities.

Other NGO’s, private institutions and political teams have utilized the tactics developed by everyday gandhis, many of which are now doing grassroots awareness followed by the distribution of ICE materials.

The ideals developed by eg have been very helpful to the communities, who showed their sincere gratitude for the supplies to protect themselves from the Ebola outbreak.

In light of these successes, employing local leadership to carry out Ebola preventative measures has become an area of increasing focus in the fight against the virus. What makes local leaders important in the Ebola crisis is that they have the command and serve as the trusted voice of their community who listen to their leaders. They possess the authority to organize and call for meetings and council when necessary.

It is important that you include community leaders in every commu-

12 • everyday gandhis • winter 2015

 healthcare workers rejoice after donations were received at their neighborhood clinic. photo by fgp

The way the government can improve its method and raise better awareness amongst Liberians is to strengthen the healthcare system responsible for reaching the 15 political divisions in the country, as well as put mechanisms in place that will empower and include community leaders that are capable of educating their people. The involvement of local leaders in the process will strengthen every measure to combat this terrible epidemic.

NGO’s can improve their responses through proper coordination of their services with the Ministry of Social Welfare or the county health team where they work in order to regulate the necessary services to the communities in the district.

Lastly, in my opinion, what the people need to do for themselves is to believe and accept that Ebola is real and abide by the preventive methods described by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. When the outbreak of Ebola virus first started in the country, many people did not believe it was real. Though this is scarcely a problem anymore, it was one of the biggest challenges faced by foreign healthcare workers and NGO’s during the early stages of the epidemic.

As the daily case reports continue to lower and President Ellen Sirleaf has lifted the nationwide state of emergency, we can be assured that many of the above tactics have proven useful in fighting the Ebola virus. Lasana Kamara is the everyday gandhis Field Supervisor in Liberia

Reflections and Insights

from our liberian students and staff Reflections on the many changes to personal interactions in daily life due to Ebola: Ebola has done a lot to my daily activities. It ceases my movement and schooling activities and I don’t shake hands with people. My close friends, family members and I don’t shake hands and we have to wash our hands with soap, bleach and water all the time. Coming from a background where you shake a lot of hands and embrace your comrade or family members and where this is not done anymore, it has had a huge cultural impact.

–Benedict Knuckles Though the government of Liberia is doing everything possible within their power to stop the further spread of the disease, such as closing all schools, entertainment centers and night clubs, reducing the capacity of video clubs from 180 to 80 persons, limiting the capacity in cars from 4 to 3 persons and stopping public gatherings. They have dropped nonessential staff from government ministries and agencies, temperatures are checked before one can enter any public building (ministries, agencies, banks, hospitals etc), borders have been closed except to health workers, and a curfew has been imposed during a declared State of Emergency. These and many other measures that have been put in place have negatively affected the quality of our daily lives and interactions.

–Weedor M. Kumi

How do you feel about the national and international response to the crisis?

 the eg team delivers badly needed materials to chocolate city health center outside monrovia. photo by fgp

With international assistance from all over the world, and the tireless efforts of local communities, hope is returning. Also, with the local pronouncement that there is a possibility of having an anti-Ebola serum available soon, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We hope policy and decision makers are revived from this epidemic to establish or improve systems in Liberia.

–Lasana Kamara

(Liberian Government, CDC, WHO, Doctors Without Borders, NGOs and foreign governments) My personal feeling about the international response as a Liberian is that the international response to West Africa is slow and due to their slowness to help both nurses and patients, the death rate is increasing daily. My reason for saying this is that I have watched television and listened to BBC and other local radio stations about the outbreak in the Western world, but I haven’t seen or heard of any deaths yet. We expect the same mechanisms that Westerners are using to quickly control the spread of the disease and to save lives here in Liberia.

–Ezekiel Mavolo Concerning the national response, there was much delay in assessing the severity of the outbreak and taking proper precautions. In early June, 2014, the government of Liberia found it difficult to reach a decision to close the border when Ebola was announced in Foya (in Northwest Liberia near the Guinea and Sierra Leone borders). The government’s inability to decide quick and appropriately caused the initial spark from Foya to other parts of Liberia. The immediate closure of the border could have helped to quarantine the virus in that little area of Liberia. The failure to reach this decision was a result of divided views between medical authorities that proposed an initial budget, but policy makers didn’t approve because they were not convinced. As for the public, many took the event as a bluff to get government money because of the rampant distrust of many government officials and their money racketeering strategies.

 medical personnel with doctors without borders gear up at an ebola treatment center. photo from flickr

everyday gandhis • winter 2015 • 13

The government of Liberia is in partnership with the international community, UN, WFP, World Health Organization, and other Medical NGOs, humanitarians, and philanthropists from Liberia, Africa and the rest of the world. The government of Liberia, along with its partners, is making sure to quarantine the family members of those that have died from Ebola so as to stop the further spread of this disease. These agencies are trying to cater to those that are being quarantined by checking on them every day, providing logistics and food, neither of which is regular or on time. Food and other supplies are often delivered late or not at all for those that have been quarantined, and no care or protection is given to those family members that have to then take supplies to their loved ones in Ebola zones. After all these episodes, our own government wants to put us at risk by building quarantine/holding centers in residential areas.

Despite efforts from the government of Liberia and support from her international partners, the vast majority of the population is still faced with challenges such as obtaining good doctors, sufficient and wellequipped health facilities.

–Weedor M. Kumi The international community began to interfere a few months ago, namely America who agreed to send us 3,000 troops to help fight Ebola in Liberia. Presently, we are thankful to God and to medical personnel that were trained and sent to Liberia to help us. Of course people are still dying from this virus but for now, I can confidently say that 95% of Liberians believe that the Ebola virus is real and so people are going by the preventive methods which has been important in saving lives. Also, I think people can be doing things themselves since the government efforts have fallen short. We as good citizens can protect our family and ourselves by what we see or hear from the media. We need to be educated and educate each other on how to prevent contact with this deadly disease.

–Akoi Mawolo

What do you think the response would have been in the developed world?

Well, if this deadly disease called Ebola occurred in the Western world, there would be more attention given to it compared to Africa. In fact, Westerners would get scientists, doctors and nurses at work with in-

creased salaries and whatever was needed to quickly eradicate Ebola.

However, the international community was slow to respond because they are somehow looking at Africa as another planet and forgetting to know that part of their wealth comes from Africa. Moreover, there is an interaction between Africa and the Western world. Therefore, if the Westerners do not quickly help Africa, the disease may spread all over the world.

–Ezekiel Mavolo

What has Ebola exposed about past problems, and what were the biggest obstacles in obtaining healthcare in Liberia before the Ebola crisis? What can be done to improve medical infrastructure?

Ebola has unveiled some of our problems such as a lack of updated medical equipment, insufficient facilities and under trained and qualified doctors and nurses. These were the biggest problems we were faced with in obtaining healthcare before the Ebola outbreak.

Logically, I think training our medical personnel, providing updated equipments and building more health centers are the most necessary improvements that will help save many lives even after the Ebola crisis. Another improvement would be for foreign organizations, governments and individuals to give scholarships to Liberians to study medicine abroad so they may return to serve their country upon their graduation.

–Ezekiel Mavolo Our health system is very poor, and we lack many things. It was very challenging for a nation with no experience with a medical disaster, especially when more than half of our renowned doctors died at once at the hands of Ebola. This was the breaking point of the public outcry.

Death was visible everywhere and fear amongst the citizenry had increased as well as the expectation of change.

–Lasana Kamara Liberia’s healthcare system needs so many things in order to function properly. We need trained doctors and medical equipment such as thermometers, surgical gloves, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), updated clinics, sanitation supplies, etc. There are also health ramifications for those not affected by Ebola: access to regular health care is reduced due to closures of hospitals and clinics, and many nurses and doctors have increased fees by private health care providers. This is a huge problem we are facing in Liberia presently and we continue to shift the blame on the government.

–Akoi Mawolo

What have you been doing personally and in your community to combat Ebola?

 ezekiel mavolo reviews the use of an infrared thermometer at a neighborhood clinic. photo by fgp

14 • everyday gandhis • winter 2015

In some communities like mine we are not just sitting around and waiting for the government to do everything. My community along with others has launched youth initiatives in the form of an anti-Ebola task force that is responsible for informing and sensitizing local men, women, and children on the cause, effect and prevention of Ebola.

Committees have also been set up to help the family members of those that have died of Ebola and are quarantined in every way possible before the government and its partners come in with their late support.

–Weedor M. Kumi

rate because finished products have more value than the raw materials.

Firestone takes the rubber out of Liberia to wherever they process it, but how many people do you find using their product in Liberia? Here, those products are very expensive. So if Liberia exports more finished products than raw materials and makes demands to Firestone or others companies to open their production line then Liberians will be employed and make the maximum use of our exports here at home. The revenue we will accrue over time will be able to help develop Liberia.

–Benedict Knuckles

What other effects has Ebola had on the landscape of Liberia? How has Ebola affected the economy, the price and production of food as well as political stability?

 one of few neighborhood clinics offering care outside of monrovia. photo by fgp

We as individuals have to educate our people in our various communities to prevent this virus from spreading among us. For me personally, I called people on the telephone to tell them that the Ebola virus existed and the ways in which we can protect ourselves. In places like my hometown where people don’t watch television, they only get the news from the radio or sometimes telephone calls from family and friends.

In this way, we can help educate each other outside of government efforts. This is especially important to remote areas of the country where people hardly have access to media sources and who use phones only once in a while. The process is difficult, but we must supply such efforts to keep our people safe.

–Akoi Mawolo

I do believe when it comes to the aspect of food, we need to go to the soil. We had a president once in Liberia that was killed during the 1970’s because he increased the price of imported rice. People felt he mislead them, so they got on the street and protested against him. Today they have realized that if they havd increased the price of imported rice at the time, they would have been encouraged to go the soil and grow more rice at home (as we did before the war) and they could have plenty food today. It’s important that we engage in agriculture.

Right now the economy is bad and we will need help with our economy because it’s how the country runs to achieve its goals. –Benedict Knuckles We are grateful to our everyday gandhis family for their insightful reflections concerning the Ebola crisis.

We have discussed the effect that deforestation and extractive industries by foreign concessionaires have had on the spread of Ebola. What are your thoughts on the connection between foreign development and the economy of Liberia?

The I.M.F (International Monitory Fund) says that Liberia is the second poorest country in the world. And if you look at Switzerland, they are rich in resources, but Liberia has more resources than Switzerland does. So I don’t know why they are developing and we are not with all these resources we have. Liberia just discovered crude oil and for many years we have been mining gold, diamonds, rubber and timber. Our soil is also very fertile since we have the highest amount of rainfall in West Africa. That means if we invest in agriculture we’ll do well, but yet we stay poor. I don’t know what the leaders have done/are doing in Liberia and why these patterns persist.

I am against logging on the higher scale for export. I think we should do it on a small level to supply Liberia and preserve the forest for tomorrow’s generations. Basically, Liberia needs to put in a different system of interacting with the West and those other countries. Liberia exports plenty of raw materials, and when you export more raw materials, you don’t get the amount of money you are supposed to get. Instead, you get small amounts and you have to buy those same materials at a higher

 faith medical clinic has struggled to stay open due to a lack of medical and sanitation supplies. photo by fgp

everyday gandhis • winter 2015 • 15

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