Wading Through the Waters
SOS’ Family Strengthening Programs expand as communities in Monrovia, Liberia, become especially vulnerable during the rainy season.
In the Gaye Town community, a suburb located in the southeast of Monrovia, palm trees, high grass and water seem to dominate the landscape of makeshift houses. Sitting on the porch of one of these houses is Susana, who is preparing tiny bags of groundnuts that she hopes to sell. She is a mother of eight children and joined the SOS Family Strengthening Program (FSP) in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2015.
According to the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, two out of three Monrovians reside in unplanned and slum communities such as Gaye Town. Population growth, combined with internal migration from a 14-year-long civil war, has led to the rapid expansion of informal settlements in these high-risk zones. Today, their placement in low-elevation coastal areas and swampy flood-prone land has become a dangerous factor for residents, like Susana, in terms of health and employment prospects. In some communities, this also means year-round flooding.
“One of our biggest challenges is the water,” says Susana. “When the water rises it enters the houses. When houses are flooded, there is nowhere to sleep. With pillows blocking the doors, we put our mattresses together and sleep with our children. During the rainy season, it is particularly difficult for the little ones. On some days, there is no place to move, nowhere to play, nowhere to go. They are stuck in one place. Because this is a sinking swamp, you find that as time goes by our houses are sinking,” she adds.
SOS Children’s Villages expands its family strengthening work
According to Augustine Allieu, National Director for SOS Children’s Villages Liberia, most of the communities members where they work in Monrovia live in shanty houses built in swamps, and when the rainy season comes residents have to balance on cinder blocks to get into their corrugated sheet homes. The lack of toilets and access to clean water is also a major concern for these residents during the rainy seasons. Rising water levels and the lack of toilets can create unhealthy situation for children and families, making them more prone to illness and waterborne diseases.
It has become increasingly important to help families improve their precarious living conditions, or move on to better situations altogether.
For the past 18 months, the family strengthening team has introduced skills training and income-generating activities to caregivers to begin to put them on the path of sustainability and self-reliance.
Before joining the Family Strengthening Program, Susana was a trader. She would go to the market to collect goods, sell them, and then pay back the loan. Her expectations were high but she was quickly discouraged as she was struggling to balance caring for her family and returning the money to vendors on time. Tired of relying on credit associations with high interest rates, she started keeping her savings at home but soon realized that for every problem her family faced she would have to dip into her saving to solve it.
From the SOS team, she received counsel and advice on how to take care of her children and to manage her business. “When the SOS team came they introduced me to the village savings associations. At first, I was a bit reluctant to join one, but some friends who have been part of one for a long time told me otherwise. I’m now at ease knowing that I can save money and provide for my family at the same time,” says Susana.
Susana’s family is one of the 215 families currently being supported by SOS Children’s Villages Liberia.
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