TODEE DISTRICT, Montserrado County – For Christian Liberians Christmas is normally a period of smiles, joy and exchange of gifts with friends and loved ones. But as more Liberians fall below the poverty line, for many, that is not their experience this year.
By Fatu Kamara with New Narratives
This year’s Christmas has brought more discomfort and worry than happiness for Esther Bana, a single mother of six, and her family. Gifts are far from her mind this year.
“I am not even sure we will have food, except if someone gives us food,” said Madam Bana, a 61-year-old charcoal seller in Todee District, in rural Montserrado County.
Future Sumo, 10, is one of Madam Bana’s six children. He said he was just worried about his next meal.
“I used to be happy when Christmas is coming because my mother used to buy new clothes and toys for me,” said Sumo. “But this year, I don’t expect anything. I just want to have food to eat.”
This grim outlook is reality for a growing number of Liberians this Christmas. The World Banks’s 2023 said more than four in every five Liberians in rural areas lived in poverty. More than half of Liberians in rural and urban areas live in poverty. That was an increase from 2022.
The World Bank report showed a worrying trend: the gap between those in urban and rural areas is widening. While poverty is falling in urban areas, it’s fast growing in rural areas. Climate change, which is hurting farm yields has combined with higher prices because of the Russian war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic, and corruption and economic mismanagement in the Weah administration, to push more people into poverty.
With Christmas upon her Madam Bana is feeling it. Many women here have given up farming because their farms aren’t producing and have turned to making charcoal. So many people are now selling charcoal it’s hard to find customers. Madam Bana sells for as little as $LRD100 per a portable plastic bag, but it still isn’t selling.
“Business is tough these days”, said Madam Bana, who said she lost her husband in 2014. “You hardly even find customer to buy a single bag. I don’t even know what to do.”
She is dreading December 25th.
Madam Bana’s children help her pack charcoal for sale
“Even though we were not rich, at least I used to afford to buy clothes for my children and cook good food for the family.”
It is too soon to see the results of the first year of the new Boakai administration which has repeatedly pledged to tackle the prevalence of poverty. But Liberians across rural Liberia have told reporters that they have say seen no relief in their falling living conditions this year.
Many families have been unable to afford to send children to school. More children are facing malnutrition. Many adults and children are migrating to the cities or to illegal mining sites in search of opportunities. Some are falling victim to trafficking and other scams.
Even those in formal employment are feeling a financial squeeze.
“Just look at my salary. And I have eight children,” said Forkpah Yarpah, 50, a teacher at Freeman Reserve, a local public school in Todee, who makes $LRD 7,000, ($USD38.50) monthly. “This money can’t even sustain us for two weeks, before talking about one month. Even if I decide to buy them new clothes, the money will not be enough. I’m a father and seeing my children sitting while other children are well dressed makes me sad.”
Mr. Yarpah has resorted to borrowing to survive. “Sometimes I end up borrowing money and the lender just take my salary at the end of the month.”
With just four days to Christmas, health workers in both Grand Bassa and Margibi counties, downed their tools in demand of higher wages. This is leaving many patients, including pregnant women, in distress. Everywhere in rural Liberia government services have been cut to the bone in recent years.
Government Takes Some Steps to Bring Relief
The government said it takes responsibility for some of the economic hardship faced by its citizens and has taken steps to address the issue. In a recent interview with the state broadcaster, Augustine Ngafuan, Liberia’s Finance and Development Planning Minister, assured listeners that the issue would be addressed in the just approved 2025 national budget.
“We are aware that there are still individuals earning as little as $70 a month,” said Minister Ngafuan. “Healthcare workers, including nurses, midwifes, and physician assistants will see a monthly salary increase of $50, while other health workers will receive increments ranging from $25 to $40, depending on their roles.”
The government also moved December salary payments forward.
“This is why the government decided to pay all civil servants as of the 15th of December, so that they can have monies in their pockets, though it may not be sufficient,” said Mr. Daniel Sando, deputy information minister for administration. “We are also working to ensure that future Christmases will be better than this.”
Experts Say Government Most Do Much More to Reduce Poverty and Avoid Conflict
As Liberia grapples with rising poverty, especially in rural areas, experts say the government needs to do much more. Mr. William Dassin, a Liberian economist, said policymakers must implement robust social welfare programs covering “assistance to individuals and families in need, healthcare assistance, food stamps, unemployment compensation and housing.”
Mr. Dassin echoed the advice of Sarah Morgenthau, US president Joe Biden’s special advisor on commerce in her visit to Liberia earlier this month. She urged the government to work fast to create an investment climate – rule of law, good internet, electricity and roads and a strong workforce – that would encourage foreign investors to build businesses in Liberia, “moving from aid to trade”.
“They should also look at the creation of jobs, which largely come from foreign direct investment,” said Mr. Dassin.
Other experts say the worsening financial position of Liberians could have a darker outcome. According to John Stewart, the former commissioner of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the growing poverty and inequality, or what he calls “structural violence”, that Liberia is seeing now, is a replay of the circumstances that sparked conflict in the past.
For the growing number of Liberians in poverty this Christmas is just serving to underscore their deprivation.
“I will really be happy if I have someone to help me right now,” said Bana, “because things are just getting worse.”
This story is a collaboration with New Narratives. Funding was provided by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia which had no say in the story’s content.
