News from the Community of Monrovia

Br. Anthony Siryeh, from the Marist Community of Monrovia, gives us some information about the situation in Liberia concerning the Ebola Virus.

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Greetings from Monrovia where I have been for the past few weeks. At the beginning of August, I was in Cote D’Ivoire for our District Annual Retreat. I needed to come back to Liberia due to one reason and the other despite the fact that the EBOLA VIRUS was increasing in my country.

I am in Liberia presently living in our community of Monrovia. I am here with Br. Tekay and Br. Samuel. The situation is getting on a high speed and lives of our people are wasting everyday. The epidemic has affected everything in the country. There is a state of emergency for three months (6th August – 6th November, 2014) and during this time, all schools remain closed and government offices must reduce workers specially those whose functions are not demanding. People are restricted of their movements.

We are not allowed to travel from one part of the country to the other. The government closed all boarder lines. All entertainment centers are closed everyday by 6:00pm and curfew (indoor time imposed by the government) for everyone by 9:00pm. People are not allowed to meet in public gatherings and so it affects people attending churches and other conferences in the country. This also has a great impact on the economy and the development of the country. Business men and women are not travelling to get their goods because most of the things (food and dry goods) are imported from other countries. Prices of goods are becoming high everyday. Projects that were going on by the government have stopped. All our International Agencies have left the country to safe themselves from the virus.

Most of the Airlines have stopped coming to Liberia. Traveling in Liberia is now affected by all.

Hospitals and clinics are closed down and that means people are not treated when they are sick. This also makes the whole issue very complex in the country. Other people are down of normal illnesses and because they are not treated, they meet their death time. From these various hospitals, we lost most of the nurses and doctors. Death news continues to increase on a daily basic although other people are getting better from the EBOLA drugs that were brought in by WHO.

We need to help our people with food. Now everything has become expenses since nothing is coming from anywhere. Food items that people used to buy from other parts of the country are now restricted. Many of our people are dying from hunger. Helping to feed our people is a priority for now.

We need funding to organize campaign on Ebola awareness and sensitization within our communities. This is what other NGOs are doing but since their funding is limited, they cannot cover the whole city of Monrovia. We could help in this direction if possibility prevails for us.

I need some kind of help from any donor if you can assist. Or what do you have in mind when you said “if I need some help to assist the people here?” Generally I need any international assistance.

The Marist Community is a sort of hope to our people here. Seeing us around is a kind of encouragement to each of them. We would like to assist in whatever way we can.

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Br. Anthony Siryeh