Careysburg – Women activists and advocates from several communities in Montserrado County have discussed drugs and substance abuse, which is plaguing the Liberian society.
By Naomi F. Kennedy, Contributing Writer
“The alarming rate of drugs in our country is sad, and even some of us mothers we are engaged in to selling narcotic substances and we even ask our children to help us to sell,” said Atty. Asatu Bah-Kenneth, the deputy commissioner for naturalization at the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) and head of the Liberia Female Law Enforcement Association (LIFLEA) at a recent event in Careysburg, hosted by the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (GPFA).
Participants at the “Sustain the Peace” project were drawn from the host community, Todee and the Commonwealth areas—Red light, S.D. Cooper Road, Du-port Road and Weaver Street—where there are many ghettos and a high criminal rate.
‘’When the children take in the drugs, they can go and burglarize people houses and even steal produces from their farms,” said Hawa Dennis, a resident of Todee and member of the Gbowee Peace Brigade, a group of women trained to spread peace messages.
“The drugs business is bad because it is making our children loose. Most of them have left their parents’ houses and are now washing motorbikes to buy their drugs,” said Hawa Zubah, a bschool teacher who lives in Todee. “Some of them have dropped out of school.”
“When they finish taking their drugs in, when they go home they will abuse and beat on their women, because they can’t be to themselves,” said Hawa Dennis, a resident of Careysburg.
Participants at the training also spoke about domestic violence in their communities. There were 85 cases involving gender-based violence and domestic violence just within the first two months of this year (the latest available stats), according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
“The government and the citizens need to play their role in minimizing domestic violence in the country,” Atty. Vivian Neal, president of the Association of Female Lawyers in Liberia (AFELL). The government should live up to expectation, even though they brought in DNA machine and other equipment; but there were plans for us to go out into the communities and create awareness. There is a need for more awareness. We need to go from door to door.”
All 28 participants of the two-day events are member of the GPFA’s Peace Brigade program. An 18-month project, it mobilizes women to create awareness in their communities about all forms of violence, including rape. GPFA has trained 150 women in the 15 districts in total to spread the messages of peace in their communities. They are currently working with women in Lofa, Grand Gedeh and Montserrado counties. The project started in June last year and is expected to end November 30, 2021.
The project is funded by the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund, and recently the foundation, conducted refresher trainings in Lofa and Grand Gedeh for its Peace Brigades. The eighteen months project is over approximately US$177,000.
David Konneh, the head of Programs at the Gbowee’s Peace Foundation said that he was very impressed with the work the women are doing. Konneh said the issue of domestic violence and other violence were now being reported by people in the communities due to awareness by the Peace Brigades. “My organization intends to provide more funding to the women to create more awareness on drugs or domestic violence,” he said.