A welcoming committee greets a CRS team in New Yourpea, Nimba County, north central Liberia. Tens of thousands of refugees from Ivory Coast have crossed the border into Liberia, fleeing post election violence. Photo by Helen Blakesley/CRS

by Helen Blakesley

I’m writing this from a hotel room in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. It’s raining cats and dogs, but that can’t drown out the sound of thousands of supporters, singing, dancing and shouting their political allegiance in the rallies going on outside.

I’m under strict instructions to “hibernate”—just in case. It’s the first round of the presidential elections this week, and, although Liberia has technically found peace, memories of the merciless 14-year civil war serve to remind that the situation here could well change in the blinking of an eye. The people I’ve spoken to are confident there won’t be trouble…but in reality, no one really knows.
(more…)

The mystery catepillar that invaded Liberia and threatens to move to neighboring countries was determined not to be the “army worm“.

It’s now identified, according to this BBC story: “The insects, thought to be [army worms], are in fact the caterpillars of the moth Achaea catocaloides, says the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.” And it doesn’t sound much better than the other bug.
(more…)

Contrary to earlier reports, the catepillar threatening food and water supplies in Liberia is not the army worm, as reported here (since corrected) and elsewhere last week.

According to this article in the Guardian, the pests remain unidentified.

Millions of caterpillars have invaded Liberia. The worms (shown here at a later stage of life) eat the leaves at the top of the Dahoma tree and threaten some water supplies. Photo by Jean-Philippe Debus/CRS

Lane Hartil, CRS regional information officer for West Africa, sends this report about an attack of caterpillars.

A team of CRS employees visited this week Bong County in northern Liberia where they assessed the damage worms have caused Liberia’s forest and agriculture. For the last two weeks, an unprecedented caterpillar infestation has been reported from various districts in northern Liberia. News reports say they have now entered neighboring Guinea. CRS is preparing to respond to the crisis in Liberia.
(more…)

CRS regional information officer for West Africa, Lane Hartill, filed this profile that sheds light on life in Sierra Leone.

When rebels beat his father within an inch of his life, Junisah knew he had to join them.

The rebels were a nasty bunch whose goal was to overthrow the government. They were known for cutting off the arms, hands, legs and lips of Sierra Leoneans. Junisah knew that. And he also knew to survive, he needed be one of them.

Junisah Kamara, a volunteer vaccinator in Kailahun district in southeast Sierra Leone, sits near the grave of his father. Photo by Lane Hartill/CRS

I met Junisah Kamara on a trip to Sierra Leone not long ago. He’s a tiny, wiry man who, for a few years in the early 1990s, silently patched up and sent back into combat some of West Africa’s most brutal young men.

I met him in the tiny village of Siama in Kailahun district. Things are tough for him these days. Same with everyone else around the world. But when I hear people talk about how difficult their lives are—how expensive things are, the uncertain job market—I think about Junisah. No, I’m sorry, I say. Your lives aren’t that bad. Sit down. Let me tell you what Junisah went through.
(more…)