Phil is in Liberia documenting the work of Foundation for Women (FFW), an organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. A longtime supporter of Phil and his work, Kevin Castner is traveling with him and reporting back to us from the field.

Charles tells Marion and Josephine that I might buy a wheelbarrow, but then he asks ‘Who it will belong to?’ and ‘Who will maintain it?’ and ‘Who will be responsible for it?’.  I see that offering to buy the wheelbarrow is only part of the equation.  Does it belong to the group, or to Marion and Josephine?  If the latter, will that engender jealousy and resentment?  It is imperative that they think, now, of putting money aside for maintenance because hauling rock isn’t easy on man or machine.  I already had high respect for Charles, but it just went up another notch.

Charles Speaking about FFW Programs

Marion and Josephine pile into our vans and we head off to buy a wheelbarrow. It takes about 2 minutes and 38-USD to buy exactly what they want.  I ask them if they can figure out how to bring it back.  No problem.  As we drive off in the opposite direction they are negotiating with a motorcycle taxi; their wheelbarrow will have an exciting ride to its new home.

After I purchased, through Charles Naiwah’s arrangement, a wheelbarrow for this center, they called Emily Peal and requested three more.  The nerve of these greedy women!  But c’mon, really?  It turns out that the Foundation For Women often gives gifts like this to make life go a little easier.  In this case Deborah, Ann and Barbara are each going to donate a wheelbarrow.  Charles will figure out the details.

You Try That!

Of all the individuals I’ve met, the person I’ve connected most with has been Josephine Jeffries at RC.  Her reserve and dignity, the fire in her eyes when she said, “I am proud.”, all touched me.  Phil, too, so we go to her home to photograph her going about her daily routine with her family.

It is a long way away from RC, though on foot (of course, regardless of the weather) there is a shortcut through a swamp she uses.  She used to live right at RC, but the landlord raised the rent from $40USD to $75USD and she couldn’t afford it.

Our first glance into her home, through a short deluge, is not so bad.  The ceilings are high, maybe 9 feet.  The foundation looks solid and the interior is dry.  But when she takes us into her children’s bedroom it is almost pitch dark at 10:30 am.  Their windows are corrugated metal, they block almost all the light, and they are tied into place.  Phil finds a way to film them cooking and cleaning laundry in their main room, then brings them all outside.  Ten children are wandering around, playing on the porch and in the dirt.  Josephine has five kids and only three of her daughters are here.  The other seven kids are nieces/nephews/neighbors.

Front Yard of Josephine's Shared Home

Phil makes the comment that she has a lot of space and Josephine politely tells him that they only have two rooms in the building.  They pay $10 for each room per month.  The main room is shared, not only by all the families but also functions as a kind of warehouse filled with strewn benches, cinder blocks, rusty pipes, boards, all jumbled at one end.  I find out there is a well around the corner, and that they share a generator, which they use sparingly.

Josephine's Shared Main Room

I’m going to back up a moment.  Three days ago I ran into Josephine at FFW HQ.  I think she was asking to see Emily Peal, who wasn’t there.  She asked me to talk to her.  Alone, she talked about how she wants to continue her education.  She didn’t ask me for money; she just told me with a soul-piercing look of sadness that she needed to go back to school.  I told her she probably needed to talk to Emily, and I guess she did, because FFW has agreed to pay for her education!  I try to imagine what it must be like for Josephine:  she is intelligent, has education, and is stuck doing hard manual mindless labor, and knows that without a big helping hand she’ll be doing that into the foreseeable future, until her fingers stiffen or her back gives out, or she gets injured.

But, her group has a total of four wheelbarrows they didn’t have eight days ago.  That should make some things easier, more efficient and less dangerous.

We will be visiting the slums of Monrovia next to learn more about the work Katie from More than Me is doing.  Don’t miss it!