Oldman Liberia 3: My Children are Dying
The conversation continues with Oldman Liberia (OML) and God. This time, OML is crying for his children who are dying in their prime.
| Lord: | Liberia, why are you crying? |
| OML: | I am pathetic. I am a disappointment. My children are dying. My young children especially, while in their prime. Their lives cut short. Their stories ended. Like Rachael, I refuse to be comforted. |
| Lord: | You will be comforted in time. They cannot come back to you, but you can carry their memories always, and tell their stories. Remember they are also mine, and they have rest in me. |
| OML: | Yes, but it hurts. My heart bleeds. |
| Lord: | I know. For their sake, and the sake of your other children, you need to get up from this dump and get to work. Problems usually have solutions. Why are your children dying? |
| OML: | Our health system is terrible, worse than it was before the war. Preventable and curable diseases are killing my children. With limited healthcare, everything is blamed on witchcraft. |
| Lord: | Are there other options? Where are your leaders? What do they do? |
| OML: | When the bigshots get sick, they go to other countries for treatment. |
| Lord: | Really? Fifty years ago your president died while getting treatment abroad, and they are still doing that? |
| OML: | Well, there are better treatment facilities and specialists abroad. |
| Lord: | Fifty years ago you knew that this was a problem. How many hospitals have you built in fifty years? |
| OML: | Fifty minus fourteen. You can’t count the war. |
| Lord: | Alright, Liberia. Thirty-six years.You could have had a major hospital in each county. You could have had numerous trained doctors. What have you been doing? |
| OML: | They don’t build hospitals in Monrovia where all the big people live, but you want them to build hospitals in the counties? Well, there is one in Nimba. |
| Lord: | Don’t the big people represent the counties? |
| OML: | Yes, but most of them don’t have homes or anything in the counties. They don’t live there. Everything is in Monrovia. |
| Lord: | That is your other problem. Having outsiders represent you. |
| OML: | Yes. No roads to the counties. No schools or health centers in the villages. Nothing. |
| Lord: | Liberia, 173 years. It is time to speak up for your children. Demand what you want. Save their lives. |
| OML: | I hear you. I will get up from this dump with that goal. Thank you Papa. |
| Lord: | I am close to the broken-hearted, and I see your pain. |
| OML: | How are my children? |
| Lord: | Don’t cry for them. They are perfectly at rest. |
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