Just a stone’s throw away from downtown Monrovia, in Liberia, sprawled against the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean, lies the slum community of West Point – home to more than 75,000 people.
Known as a cholera hotspot, West Point’s crowded pathways are strewn with garbage and debris, while residents here continue to lack access to even the most basic of infrastructure. Water points and private latrines are scarce, and in order to use one of the four public toilet houses available, a small fee must be paid. Instead, many choose to defecate openly, squatting in alleyways or amongst the piles of garbage lining the local beach – an area also used for fishing, and as a playground for neighbourhood children.
Children, like two year old Princess Toe.
Less than a hundred metres away from the beach, deep in the heart of the community, stands the small house that Princess’ mother, Veronica Roberts, shares with her extended family. A single mother, 28-year-old Veronica knows all too well the dangers of her environment.
“The sickness, the diarrhoea in the community,” she explains, “it’s too much. Because here people toilet everywhere, throw [garbage] everywhere. There’s flies, dirt – and this is where the children play. All the time, they get sick.”
“Before Princess was born,” she continues on, softly, “I had another child. A daughter. One night, when I was sleeping, she had diarrhoea. But I didn’t know. The whole night, she was toileting, before I woke up... Then, before we could reach the nearby clinic, she died.”
When asked the child’s name, Victoria hesitates, then laughs – a sad, small laugh.
“Ever since she died,” she says, “I do not like to say her name.”
ONE IN FIVE.
Although Veronica’s story is extremely difficult for her to recount, she says it’s not uncommon in her community. Many of her friends and neighbours have also lost family members to diarrhoea, and in fact, according to a 2010 report released by the Liberia WASH Consortium, diarrhoea alone accounts for almost 20% of Liberia’s high child mortality rates.
Since her daughter’s death, however, Veronica has found a way to help protect her family – and herself – from water-related illness.
Through the work of PSI, in partnership with UNICEF and Liberia’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Veronica and her neighbours learned about a new product called WaterGuard. Along with receiving free samples of the product, they were also given training about how to use it, and learned about additional ways to help prevent diarrhoea, including frequent hand washing and safe toilet practices. Some individuals, like Veronica, were even chosen to become ambassadors in their community – helping to share the information with others, and encourage long term behaviour change.
Introduced to Liberia in September of 2009, WaterGuard is now available free through government health teams (for emergency situations), as well as sold in shops around the country. And at roughly 60 cents US per bottle, Veronica agrees that “it’s a good price – we can afford to buy it.”
“Now, everyone wants Water Guard,” she says proudly. “So much it’s sometimes hard to find it in the shops! Everyone wants it to stop diarrhoea [from happening]. WaterGuard saves us.”
Although this may sound like high praise, Veronica truly believes in the difference WaterGuard has made in her own life, and in that of her daughter’s.
“Since we started using WaterGuard,” she says, “Princess doesn’t get sick. Even myself, I don’t hardly have to go to the hospital.” This is an important benefit for individuals like Veronica, who already struggles financially to support her daughter, as Princess’ father also passed away just one month after she was born.
“For long,” Veronica says, “nobody knew how to keep the community clean, how to prepare water before we drink it. Nobody was treating it. Especially little children, who just run to the wells or buckets around and drink anything – they did not know any better,” she says, shaking her head before adding determinedly: “It cannot go back to how it was before.”
She smiles at Princess, who is now playing with some other children just outside the door.
“I’m so happy to see her like this. If the people had not come to work with us, if we didn’t know about WaterGuard, then I am sure Princess would not be as healthy as she is. Now, I make sure that any water she drinks is clean.”
- Author and photographer: Arwen Kidd
