Fatima Cottage and Orphanage Mission, Liberia - Chocolate City
"The needy shall not always be forgotten and their expectation shall not perish." - Psalm 9:18
Profile
The Fatima Cottage and Orphanage Mission (FCOM) cares for orphaned children in an outlying suburb of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Rt. Rev Mother Victoria N. B. Young, affectionately known as "Mother Vic", "Mother Grand" or "Mum", received a calling in late 1970 to care for the orphaned and abandoned children around her home town of Chocolate City. She cleared the 1.5 acres of land she owned and started the construction of her first dormitory to provide care for 73 children. On July 31, 1974, the late President of the Republic of Liberia, Dr. William R Tolbert celebrated the opening dedication. It was the first private orphanage in the area.
Mother Grand appealed for financial assistance and added a school, four depilatories, a chapel and a clinic to the site of the first mission. The increased capacity provided for up to 150 orphans, but the school and its dormitories soon became overcrowded as orphans and abandoned children flooded to the only private orphanage in the area. Between 1974 and 1985, FCOM provided education and training for 95 children in various disciplines through Mother Grand's vision to help them achieve independence. The present Executive Director was one of these children.
FCOM later extended to Sasstown where 250 acres of land were aquired for the purpose of developing an agriculture program to feed the children on both missions. It now operates with a school, a church and dormitories for 65 children, and is headed by Rev James Nagbe.
Mother Grand, realising the continuing influx of children, acquired 11.5 acres of land in the township of Diggsville, Montserrado for the relocation of the children. Over 340 children were relocated to the Diggsville site.
When the first civil war broke out in Liberia after a successful coup in 1980 and the country came under military rule, Mother Grand appealed to the government for the protection of the children. The military government agreed and accorded the orphanage non-government, not-for-profit status for the benefit of Liberian children.
Situational Background
Liberia, established as a colony by freed American slaves in 1847, has had a cycle of bloody civil war and unstable governments since the coup in 1980. Rivalling ethnic groups, political repression and rebel factions mounted a heavy opposition to peace, allowing human rights atrocities to spread out of control throughout the country.
At the height of Liberia's civil war in mid 2003, rape, murder and theft formed part of an average night. Charles Taylor, the country’s warlord-cum-president, was under siege. Rebels had surrounded the seaside capital, Monrovia, pushing Taylor’s rag-tag forces out of the port, over the city bridges and towards the Atlantic Ocean. The rebels’ shells rained down on the terrified city, where hundreds of thousands of refugees crammed into churches, schools and houses. Several thousand of them had already died. Practices such as ritual killings and cannibalism were performed by people seeking power or to those who feared losing it. Aid workers had deserted the city in helicopters. The besieged locals left behind called the conflict World War III.
Chocolate City was little different to many other parts of Liberia where rape and pillage become everyday events. Still, the scale of sexual assault during the battles was particularly horrifying, and the people have barely begun to recover.
By April 2003, more than 18,415 combatants from the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) and the Liberians United for Democracy and Freedom (LURD), as well as former Government militia, surrendered some 10,653 weapons. The head of Liberia's disarmament commission, Moses Jarbo, estimated that there were some 40,000 combatants remaining to be disarmed in Liberia.
In August 2003, a comprehensive peace agreement ended 14 years of civil war and prompted the resignation of then President Charles Taylor, who was exiled to Nigeria. The National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) - composed of rebel, government, and civil society groups - assumed control in October 2003. The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) completed a disarmament program for former combatants in late 2004. By early 2005 the situation in Liberia was improving slowly, but the country has suffered from years of instability and conflict. Political and social tensions remain high and could result in renewed but sporadic violence and instability.
By most measures, Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world and the nationwide unemployment rate is very high. Foreigners are high-profile targets for theft and armed robbery. Notwithstanding UNMIL's deployment of 15,000 peacekeepers and 1,100 police advisors nationwide, the security situation remains unpredictable and the process of rebuilding the social and economic structure of this war-torn country remains sluggish. Sporadic demonstrations occur frequently and on one occasion developed into rioting, looting, and deaths of Liberians.
On April 3 this year, former President Charles Taylor became the first African leader to face international war crimes charges, opening the way for similar tribunals for other African leaders accused of committing crimes against humanity. But for the orphans, rape victims and other victims of Chocolate City there are no rewards, only continuing pain and poverty. Children are deprived of parents and family and left with no support. Unwanted children are given up. Unemployment is very high. Theft and armed robbery still occur. Women live in terror of bumping into the men who so casually destroyed their lives.
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