There is a shit storm flashing though Gbartala right now and it seems I’ve been caught inside it.
The weekend of the 14th I was at Doe in a Nutrition First workshop, held by our amazing nutrition/agriculture committee. I brought 2 counterparts with me, both from the Gbartala clinic, Nehemiah and Martu. The morning of the 16th I woke up and went to sessions, sat next to my two counterparts, they ask if I had heard, naturally I ask heard what, their response was its all over Facebook… again, I ask what, they show me a picture of a young girl laying in a field of grass face down, naked and that there was a murder in Gbartala. I instantly felt sick, I stepped away and called Prince, head of PC security, told him what they said and he said he would call the police chief of Bong county to figure out what happened. He called me 30 min later and told me that there was a murder last night, the girl was raped and murdered. I asked the location of the crime and he confirmed the girls body was placed on the commissioner’s compound (20 min walk from my house on the other side of the dusty road), but that was all the information he had until the Chief assessed the crime scene and he would call me in the evening when he was updated. All day Nehemiah showed the Facebook pictures around, as if anyone needed a constant reminder of what had happened, not to mention that the pictures (I felt) were disrespectful to the poor girl. Later that evening Prince called and told me that they are in process of bringing in suspects. The chief told him things were relatively calm in Gbartala and the community was allowing the investigation to go on. I told him I would be returning to Gbartala the next morning and he said if there were any issues to call PC and they would come get me immediately. I felt okay about going back to site the next day, I had contacted Ernlee (she was passing though my site and was bringing me books I left at the office) and asked if she had space in the PC car to take me back, she confirmed they had space and the next day around 12 we were off.
Upon arriving in Gbartala it was crazy, there was a crowd by the police station, a couple big white cars and at least 4 police in full get up- massive rifles, vests, the whole thing. We didn’t stop, we just went straight to my house and they dropped me off. I said my goodbyes and thank you, Ernlee said she was going to speak to the Principle and would be back on Friday. I told her okay and they left. I unpacked my things, then went to go look from afar at the commotion in town. By the time I got back to town the police had left and the crowd had mostly cleared. I went into the market and sat with my friend Musu to talk about the wicked thing that had just happened. She told me that the police had arrested 6 suspects. That they did it for money business, (I will preface this with-this is all the talk going around town, I don’t believe anyone has been officially sentenced yet) I asked her what she meant, she said that her uncle who did it was a blood doctor, I asked what that was, she said that he/they splayed her open and took out all her organs to sell for ritual practices. After sitting in shock for what felt like forever I told her I was going back home. I went back home and sat with the ma behind me and she told me that the he girl had just been promoted to the 6th grade at Feju and the story was- her uncle sent her friend to go get her because he wanted her to come to him, the girl said no because it was late, the friend went back to relay the message, the uncle sent her back to get the girl to come, this time she said yes. When they were by the uncles house she was jumped, gagged, raped and dragged inside where the Uncle/whoever harvested organs. The friend either hid or went to her room, it later came out that they paid the girl $250-$300 US to get the girl and then go away. They finished what they were doing, carried her body to the commissioner’s area, the area where her born father lived. She was found late that night and news started spreading of her murder by the morning. The friend who was sent to get her started talking, calling names of those involved, hence the 6 people who were arrested. I guess when I arrived on Monday they had just then found the Uncle (he was hiding) and arrested him, hence the reason for the crowd/intense police get up. My understanding is the Uncle is the mastermind behind the entire plan, if he actually did any of the acts, everyone seems unsure on that. Official details have not been released. There has been a lot of talk about the community the Uncle lived in, burning down his house being it’s a blood house now, I’ve heard rumors that gas has been bought, but they are holding off until the investigation is finished as to not interrupt anything. This entire situation is extremely disturbing, resource to cope with situations like this are so lacking here that the poor girls body stayed laying face down in the grass for more than 3 days as to not disturb the crime scene, people would go every day to see the body and you would hear things like, its swelling up and comments about her being naked. Three days it laid there, can you imagine that, imagine the girl’s family passing that every day. The idea of it makes me sick. The fact that this happened at all makes me and the entire town of Gbartala sick. Gbartala in my opinion has done a really great job complying with the police/investigation. People are disgusted/ appalled but there has been no violence over the situation, the police have handled this the best they can and everyone in this situation hopes for justice for her. There was an article posted on FrontPageAfrica, I’ve posted it at the bottom if you want to have a read.
September 19th around 6pm I her a knock knock knock on my door. I say hello and there is a man who says Ma Neahla can you come outside to discuss something. I come outside and its my landlord. I say hi and ask what’s up. He tells me he has come to inform me that he has given a notice to my school saying I am to be out of my house by the 30th of this month. He said when I come home the 30th and all the doors are locked he doesn’t want me to be shocked, so he thought he should come over and have a discussion with me. I ask him what the issue is, and he says that the contract he received he was unhappy with and because of that he wants me out of the house. He started rifling through his bag to find his contract and started talking about how he didn’t even need the money for the 4months I’ve lived here, that it’s the principle now. He had received a contract that felt like they were spitting in his face, now even if they fixed it based off his business ethic he wants me out, he said he has no issue with me but can’t work with PC/Ministry. I told him I had nothing to do with the house business, I asked if he had called PC yet and he said no. I told him I would give him Ernlee number, that she would deal with it. While I went to get paper I called her, so she could talk to him. They talked a few minutes and he said all the same things to her as he said to me. They finished, and he handed me back the phone, Ernlee said she looked for him Monday and didn’t find him, but she would be back Friday to talk with him again and not to worry they would handle the situation. Being kicked out of my first house was miserable and the idea of that shit happening again actually feels worse then when it initially happened. I of course ranted and bitched to people, but at the end of the day nothing would be solved until Friday, so I was just going to wait until Ernlee came and worked her magic on Friday.
September 21st, I went to school, taught math and while I was teaching 12th grade I see the PC car pull up to the school. I step outside and tell Ernlee I would be finished soon, she says okay and her and my principle go off somewhere. 20 min later they come back, I’ve finished teaching and Ernlee pulls me aside and says that he has a meeting with the CEO and DEO and we would see what comes of that meeting. She said they have had a hard time with him since the beginning, and I ask her why they would ever put me at that house if that was the case and she said that she would come back, and they would work it all out. I ask her my options if they make me move, she said find a new house, I ask what else, and she said find a new house, I laughed and told her I want all the options PC can offer. I told her moving into the house I’m currently in was miserable and I had a hard month where I almost terminated early. She said she knew and it was hard for her too, and she hated that I had to go through it but promised she would come stay a few days and personally help me move/ unpack my things. She begged me to stay hopeful, that we would see the result of the meeting with the CEO and DEO. I told her okay and she said she was heading out but would be back the day of the meeting. We hugged, and she left. My principle came up to me after and said he was doing everything he could, and I fully believe he is. I was hoping Ernlee would come and use her super power and everything would be solved, unfortunately that was not the case. I left the whole thing feeling like I was defiantly still going to be kicked out which is miserable, but nothing is for sure yet. The rest of that day was spent in Suakoko going to the market/hanging out with Rachel.
September 22nd was a typical lazy/calm Saturday. Went to Old kill n young to visit Auntie and Uncle, walked back with the boys. Stopped into the market to buy things so we could cook outside, rice with water green soup. I went to lay in bed around 9 pm and fell asleep around 9:30 pm. I was awakened to a call from Rachel C at 10:40 pm, I didn’t answer it, then got a text so I checked my message making sure everything was okay being it was late to call. I see a text from the LR7 official chat from our county director saying “Dear Volunteers, it’s with great sadness that we share Ernlee Barbu died tonight after an unexpected medical procedure. We will let you know more as we know. Some staff are with Ernlee’s family tonight. Big hugs to all of you as we remember.” I must have read the message 4 or 5 times thinking it was some sort of sick joke. I called Rachel back as we sat there saying that none of it felt real that it hadn’t hit us yet. We hung up and I just sat there shocked. Then I remembered I needed to text her on Monday about when the CEO/DEO meeting was happening/ when she would be back in Gbartala and that’s when it actually hit me. I just saw her the day before, she promised to come help me move if it came to that and now I got news she had died. There was no texting her, joking with her about how she liked me more than Rachel C, bringing me doughnuts on my birthday, there was no more Ernlee coming to save the day, in a flash it was all over. I was/am devastated.
September 23rd, I texted our county director telling her that Rachel C and I would like to attend the funeral processions and to keep us posted on when those would be happening. I also asked what procedure she went in for. She said ectopic pregnancy. As Liberians would say, pregnancy in the tube, it’s when an egg gets fertilized in the fallopian tube. Unless the fallopian tube is going to rupture (surgery) they have a drug in the state they will give you to cause a miscarriage called methotrexate, if the pregnancy is found soon enough the risk of a rupture is very low and an injection of methotrexate is most often used. Without that drug, watching the pregnancy closely to see if your body will naturally miscarry/ surgery is the only option. Late diagnosis leading to almost all cases in to major complications and emergency surgical treatments are key elements accounting for such high fatality rates in women suffering from EP in Africa. In a Liberia where majority of hospitals if not all don’t terminate pregnancies even for health reasons, I imagine the only option is surgery, and once it’s gotten to that stage it is extremely risky, first because your fallopian tube could rupture /could cause internal bleeding and second because you’re having surgery at a Liberian hospital.
It just feels like this all could have been avoided, to have lost a friend /someone I highly respected is tragic.
FrontPageAfrica
https://frontpageafricaonline.com/amp/county-news/liberia-fifteen-year-old-teenagers-ritualistic-murder-sparks-massive-protest-in-bong-county/
The weekend of the 14th I was at Doe in a Nutrition First workshop, held by our amazing nutrition/agriculture committee. I brought 2 counterparts with me, both from the Gbartala clinic, Nehemiah and Martu. The morning of the 16th I woke up and went to sessions, sat next to my two counterparts, they ask if I had heard, naturally I ask heard what, their response was its all over Facebook… again, I ask what, they show me a picture of a young girl laying in a field of grass face down, naked and that there was a murder in Gbartala. I instantly felt sick, I stepped away and called Prince, head of PC security, told him what they said and he said he would call the police chief of Bong county to figure out what happened. He called me 30 min later and told me that there was a murder last night, the girl was raped and murdered. I asked the location of the crime and he confirmed the girls body was placed on the commissioner’s compound (20 min walk from my house on the other side of the dusty road), but that was all the information he had until the Chief assessed the crime scene and he would call me in the evening when he was updated. All day Nehemiah showed the Facebook pictures around, as if anyone needed a constant reminder of what had happened, not to mention that the pictures (I felt) were disrespectful to the poor girl. Later that evening Prince called and told me that they are in process of bringing in suspects. The chief told him things were relatively calm in Gbartala and the community was allowing the investigation to go on. I told him I would be returning to Gbartala the next morning and he said if there were any issues to call PC and they would come get me immediately. I felt okay about going back to site the next day, I had contacted Ernlee (she was passing though my site and was bringing me books I left at the office) and asked if she had space in the PC car to take me back, she confirmed they had space and the next day around 12 we were off.
Upon arriving in Gbartala it was crazy, there was a crowd by the police station, a couple big white cars and at least 4 police in full get up- massive rifles, vests, the whole thing. We didn’t stop, we just went straight to my house and they dropped me off. I said my goodbyes and thank you, Ernlee said she was going to speak to the Principle and would be back on Friday. I told her okay and they left. I unpacked my things, then went to go look from afar at the commotion in town. By the time I got back to town the police had left and the crowd had mostly cleared. I went into the market and sat with my friend Musu to talk about the wicked thing that had just happened. She told me that the police had arrested 6 suspects. That they did it for money business, (I will preface this with-this is all the talk going around town, I don’t believe anyone has been officially sentenced yet) I asked her what she meant, she said that her uncle who did it was a blood doctor, I asked what that was, she said that he/they splayed her open and took out all her organs to sell for ritual practices. After sitting in shock for what felt like forever I told her I was going back home. I went back home and sat with the ma behind me and she told me that the he girl had just been promoted to the 6th grade at Feju and the story was- her uncle sent her friend to go get her because he wanted her to come to him, the girl said no because it was late, the friend went back to relay the message, the uncle sent her back to get the girl to come, this time she said yes. When they were by the uncles house she was jumped, gagged, raped and dragged inside where the Uncle/whoever harvested organs. The friend either hid or went to her room, it later came out that they paid the girl $250-$300 US to get the girl and then go away. They finished what they were doing, carried her body to the commissioner’s area, the area where her born father lived. She was found late that night and news started spreading of her murder by the morning. The friend who was sent to get her started talking, calling names of those involved, hence the 6 people who were arrested. I guess when I arrived on Monday they had just then found the Uncle (he was hiding) and arrested him, hence the reason for the crowd/intense police get up. My understanding is the Uncle is the mastermind behind the entire plan, if he actually did any of the acts, everyone seems unsure on that. Official details have not been released. There has been a lot of talk about the community the Uncle lived in, burning down his house being it’s a blood house now, I’ve heard rumors that gas has been bought, but they are holding off until the investigation is finished as to not interrupt anything. This entire situation is extremely disturbing, resource to cope with situations like this are so lacking here that the poor girls body stayed laying face down in the grass for more than 3 days as to not disturb the crime scene, people would go every day to see the body and you would hear things like, its swelling up and comments about her being naked. Three days it laid there, can you imagine that, imagine the girl’s family passing that every day. The idea of it makes me sick. The fact that this happened at all makes me and the entire town of Gbartala sick. Gbartala in my opinion has done a really great job complying with the police/investigation. People are disgusted/ appalled but there has been no violence over the situation, the police have handled this the best they can and everyone in this situation hopes for justice for her. There was an article posted on FrontPageAfrica, I’ve posted it at the bottom if you want to have a read.
September 19th around 6pm I her a knock knock knock on my door. I say hello and there is a man who says Ma Neahla can you come outside to discuss something. I come outside and its my landlord. I say hi and ask what’s up. He tells me he has come to inform me that he has given a notice to my school saying I am to be out of my house by the 30th of this month. He said when I come home the 30th and all the doors are locked he doesn’t want me to be shocked, so he thought he should come over and have a discussion with me. I ask him what the issue is, and he says that the contract he received he was unhappy with and because of that he wants me out of the house. He started rifling through his bag to find his contract and started talking about how he didn’t even need the money for the 4months I’ve lived here, that it’s the principle now. He had received a contract that felt like they were spitting in his face, now even if they fixed it based off his business ethic he wants me out, he said he has no issue with me but can’t work with PC/Ministry. I told him I had nothing to do with the house business, I asked if he had called PC yet and he said no. I told him I would give him Ernlee number, that she would deal with it. While I went to get paper I called her, so she could talk to him. They talked a few minutes and he said all the same things to her as he said to me. They finished, and he handed me back the phone, Ernlee said she looked for him Monday and didn’t find him, but she would be back Friday to talk with him again and not to worry they would handle the situation. Being kicked out of my first house was miserable and the idea of that shit happening again actually feels worse then when it initially happened. I of course ranted and bitched to people, but at the end of the day nothing would be solved until Friday, so I was just going to wait until Ernlee came and worked her magic on Friday.
September 21st, I went to school, taught math and while I was teaching 12th grade I see the PC car pull up to the school. I step outside and tell Ernlee I would be finished soon, she says okay and her and my principle go off somewhere. 20 min later they come back, I’ve finished teaching and Ernlee pulls me aside and says that he has a meeting with the CEO and DEO and we would see what comes of that meeting. She said they have had a hard time with him since the beginning, and I ask her why they would ever put me at that house if that was the case and she said that she would come back, and they would work it all out. I ask her my options if they make me move, she said find a new house, I ask what else, and she said find a new house, I laughed and told her I want all the options PC can offer. I told her moving into the house I’m currently in was miserable and I had a hard month where I almost terminated early. She said she knew and it was hard for her too, and she hated that I had to go through it but promised she would come stay a few days and personally help me move/ unpack my things. She begged me to stay hopeful, that we would see the result of the meeting with the CEO and DEO. I told her okay and she said she was heading out but would be back the day of the meeting. We hugged, and she left. My principle came up to me after and said he was doing everything he could, and I fully believe he is. I was hoping Ernlee would come and use her super power and everything would be solved, unfortunately that was not the case. I left the whole thing feeling like I was defiantly still going to be kicked out which is miserable, but nothing is for sure yet. The rest of that day was spent in Suakoko going to the market/hanging out with Rachel.
September 22nd was a typical lazy/calm Saturday. Went to Old kill n young to visit Auntie and Uncle, walked back with the boys. Stopped into the market to buy things so we could cook outside, rice with water green soup. I went to lay in bed around 9 pm and fell asleep around 9:30 pm. I was awakened to a call from Rachel C at 10:40 pm, I didn’t answer it, then got a text so I checked my message making sure everything was okay being it was late to call. I see a text from the LR7 official chat from our county director saying “Dear Volunteers, it’s with great sadness that we share Ernlee Barbu died tonight after an unexpected medical procedure. We will let you know more as we know. Some staff are with Ernlee’s family tonight. Big hugs to all of you as we remember.” I must have read the message 4 or 5 times thinking it was some sort of sick joke. I called Rachel back as we sat there saying that none of it felt real that it hadn’t hit us yet. We hung up and I just sat there shocked. Then I remembered I needed to text her on Monday about when the CEO/DEO meeting was happening/ when she would be back in Gbartala and that’s when it actually hit me. I just saw her the day before, she promised to come help me move if it came to that and now I got news she had died. There was no texting her, joking with her about how she liked me more than Rachel C, bringing me doughnuts on my birthday, there was no more Ernlee coming to save the day, in a flash it was all over. I was/am devastated.
September 23rd, I texted our county director telling her that Rachel C and I would like to attend the funeral processions and to keep us posted on when those would be happening. I also asked what procedure she went in for. She said ectopic pregnancy. As Liberians would say, pregnancy in the tube, it’s when an egg gets fertilized in the fallopian tube. Unless the fallopian tube is going to rupture (surgery) they have a drug in the state they will give you to cause a miscarriage called methotrexate, if the pregnancy is found soon enough the risk of a rupture is very low and an injection of methotrexate is most often used. Without that drug, watching the pregnancy closely to see if your body will naturally miscarry/ surgery is the only option. Late diagnosis leading to almost all cases in to major complications and emergency surgical treatments are key elements accounting for such high fatality rates in women suffering from EP in Africa. In a Liberia where majority of hospitals if not all don’t terminate pregnancies even for health reasons, I imagine the only option is surgery, and once it’s gotten to that stage it is extremely risky, first because your fallopian tube could rupture /could cause internal bleeding and second because you’re having surgery at a Liberian hospital.
It just feels like this all could have been avoided, to have lost a friend /someone I highly respected is tragic.
FrontPageAfrica
https://frontpageafricaonline.com/amp/county-news/liberia-fifteen-year-old-teenagers-ritualistic-murder-sparks-massive-protest-in-bong-county/