February 2015
Few days ago I visited the commercial market commonly known as Red -Light in Paynesville, outside Monrovia, and observed the interactions of people moving ups and downs; some in search of goods to buy and sell while others in search of materials to buy. Whatever the case, my interest captured the way people group together desperately trying to make lives possible when the Ebola Virus is not completely cleared from the country.
But what to do, that’s one of the major ways of the average and common Liberians to survive. Majority of those greatly involved in such struggles are teenagers both males and females. Most of them are school going young people who need attention from the society. One may think that they have forgotten soon the tragic event the virus created in the mind of people in the country, when whole families were wiped by the virus as others stood by and looked in tears without means of helping.
Not that they have forgotten soon but an adage says “a hungry man is an angry man” some of them told me that they are in the case of dilemma. If they stay away from the crowd, they may all either die by starvation or common illnesses. On the other hand, the virus may affect them if they crowd- up; but since nothing is there to do, they rather depend on God to look for daily bread in crowded areas. As you see from the attached photos, people are seriously busy in the Red- Light market for different purposes.
The government has not actually closed her eye on people crowded in places. Police officers have many times destroyed goods and tables of street sellers as a means of getting them off the street but all the designed strategies have not materialized. So, the government has now resolved to continue her awareness that the Ebola Virus is still around and that everyone needs to still continue the preventive methods to save lives. I believe this is the best method to put the security of the people in their hands. Once they are aware of the dangers, they will apply all methods to remain safe despite of crowded activities as the means of getting food.