Liberia: The Little Things That Are Killing Us All!

Ecological pollution, indiscipline, inexperience, ignorance, poverty, rumor mongering, poor hygiene/sanitation, corruption, political blasphemy, illiteracy, lack of innocence and the lack of love for country conjoined with ebola are killing us all;

Motor car, electric generators fumes, noise beyond universally acceptable decibel level will declare us legally deaf; street fights, anger, dumb tea shop debates, and foul scent in the air chuckle our free breathe to death;

Filth, uncouth attitudes, incivility and lack of good mannerisms make us more vulnerable to the whims and caprices of the cold and deadly hands of the ebola virus;

Sand mining makes the Ocean overflow running into poor neighborhoods as rivers swell to overflow and conquering river banks into poor homes demolishing them;

Men gnash teeth; women weep and children cry; families watch each other perish in the cold hands of the deadly claws of ebola undermining our determination and right to live along with our nation’s sovereignty;

The use of alcohol and drugs on the rise. Boozers go dancing in night clubs all night long; disregard imposed curfew; they have jolly-jolly-attitude and they are few feet away from ebola holding centers where patients bemoan and are deeply troubled in heart and souls; never knowing their next tomorrow whether or not they will live or die; this practice is taking us down the totem pole;

Men wearing coat suits unzip pants, pull out their pipes and pee right into the open. Women alike, join the show; they pull over; leap out of their vehicles; pull it down and let it roll down the sidewalks in broad daylight. So if ebola is contracted through human bodily fluid running down the neighborhoods of Monrovia, then we are in deep trouble as rain water carries the bacterium down into neighborhoods where kids have the right to play;

People who contract the ebola virus run from house-to-house attempting to escape identification and isolation process. Along with them, they carry the virus and spread it to other innocent people who in turn spread it to the rest; it goes on and on!

It doesn’t stop there.

For temporary employment and lack of means to support a family, there are people who bury ebola corpses near private homes as dogs rip apart the carcasses. For little or nothing, these poor people make a dollar-or- two to make ends meet in feeding their families. But carrying ebola patients and carcasses without Personal Protective gears to bury them in graves sites 1 to 2 feet deep, expose them to severe danger; when they return home with the couple of dollars they’ve made and one measures the danger against their daily wages, they bring home the virus and contaminate their innocent and lovely families who die subsequently;

There are the dogs; they live in the neighborhoods; they go digging out ebola carcasses and do what dogs do. Upon return home, they play with little kids because they (dogs) are pets; you hold and kiss the little kids and you we are doomed to die from the virus;

Monrovia is the capital city of Liberia. It has no good drainage system. And so during the Rainy Season, it gets flooded. Excessive water washes dead victims’ specimen right down the next neighborhood near restaurants, cook shops, entertainment centers and marketplaces; this catastrophic trend is a verdict for death row; and we are doomed to die;

Rumors of war.

Distorted information plies every corridor of national life. False news of military overthrow of civilian government; the setup of an interim government abound in the midst of tens and tens of deaths on a daily basis in the nation; we are confused and don’t know where and to whom to run;

Corruption adds insult to the injury.

Some members of ebola task force consume funds and transfer it to their personal accounts. In the face of tens and tens of deaths every day, corrupt officials are having a “ball.” No transparency and accountability; we being roasted between corruption and ebola;

The people’s silence is considered as acquiescence; 

Liberians are dying out of greed, ignorance, moral bankruptcy, lies, political immaturity, highway robbery and hatred for one another!

So here we are; In the 21^st Century while other nations are taking a race on the moon, engaging in scientific research for new discoveries so as to move human life to another threshold, ebola, ignorance, hypocrisy and the lack of innocence are killing us all in Liberia with no solution in sight!

I am T. Gbuo-Mle Bedell; speaking and working on the ground in Liberia, social justice advocate and a victim of police brutality.