Monrovia, Liberia - I opened my email yesterday morning to find a message from my dear friend Franklin "I am now in tears mommy, my daughter graduated from K2 on June 29 and died July 4."
He took his daughter to the biggest government hospital here on Wednesday. She died Thursday morning. He told me it was yellow fever, a disease that is transmitted by an infected mosquito and easily prevented by a vaccination. Like malaria, yellow fever lives where poverty lives. Inflation is at a historic nearly 25% - where people can no longer afford to buy cold water or rice – where hospitals have no medicine.
The Foundation for Women cannot solve all the problems of the world. We can however bring some light to the darkness. This week we celebrated the first 8 months of operation of the Liberia Community Health Clinic, our first attempt at bringing quality healthcare to the 1000+ students at one of our partner schools.
He took his daughter to the biggest government hospital here on Wednesday. She died Thursday morning. He told me it was yellow fever, a disease that is transmitted by an infected mosquito and easily prevented by a vaccination. Like malaria, yellow fever lives where poverty lives. Inflation is at a historic nearly 25% - where people can no longer afford to buy cold water or rice – where hospitals have no medicine.
The Foundation for Women cannot solve all the problems of the world. We can however bring some light to the darkness. This week we celebrated the first 8 months of operation of the Liberia Community Health Clinic, our first attempt at bringing quality healthcare to the 1000+ students at one of our partner schools.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN
I had seen the beautiful photos of this special 6-year-old girl on Facebook, in her special dress and then cap and gown, with her hair done in such a special way. My heart is broken. Franklin called me yesterday. He took his daughter to the biggest government hospital here, JFK Hospital, on Wednesday when she was not feeling well. She died Thursday morning in his arms, just 5 days after her special graduation celebration. He told me it was “yellow jaundice” that took her. When I googled that, I discovered it was in fact yellow fever, a disease that is transmitted by an infected mosquito and easily prevented by a vaccination. Like malaria, yellow fever lives where poverty lives. And the world lets this happen…
With inflation at an historic nearly 25% - where people can no longer afford to buy cold water or rice – where hospitals have no medicine, the President of this country is flying around in his private jet, building mansions, abusing the three equal branches of government as defined by the constitution. Liberia is slipping into dictatorship. And as a dear friend who is in charge of the second most important court here said to me, “Liberia can no longer count on America for help.”
Because what is happening here in Liberia is happening in America as well. Another narcissist is abusing power, spending money on a huge military parade while he is tearing apart families at the southern border; separating children from their parents and holding them in over-crowded cages, in deplorable conditions. And the world lets this happen…
I long ago heard Bill Gates Sr. speak at a Rotary meeting. He said his son Bill often says, “If we could take all 7 billion people on the planet – mix them all up – and then plop them back down, we would not have the problems we have now – because we would be living next to each, seeing the suffering, and we would be doing something about it.” Is that why the world lets such suffering happen, because it does not touch us directly – because it is them instead of us?
That is one of the reasons I have been writing and sharing and inviting the attention for the world to join me via the work of the Foundation for Women in believing in WE for decades now. If not now, when? How many more beautiful 6-year-old girls must senselessly die of preventable diseases? How many more desperate families seeking help and asylum must be separated and housed in deplorable conditions?
I and the work of the Foundation for Women cannot solve all the problems of the world. We can however bring some light to the darkness. This week we celebrated the first 8 months of operation of the Liberia Community Health Clinic, our first attempt at bringing quality healthcare to the 1000+ students at one of our partner schools. Some light in the darkness.
Thank you for continuing to believe in and support the work of the Foundation for Women. With love and gratitude,
I had seen the beautiful photos of this special 6-year-old girl on Facebook, in her special dress and then cap and gown, with her hair done in such a special way. My heart is broken. Franklin called me yesterday. He took his daughter to the biggest government hospital here, JFK Hospital, on Wednesday when she was not feeling well. She died Thursday morning in his arms, just 5 days after her special graduation celebration. He told me it was “yellow jaundice” that took her. When I googled that, I discovered it was in fact yellow fever, a disease that is transmitted by an infected mosquito and easily prevented by a vaccination. Like malaria, yellow fever lives where poverty lives. And the world lets this happen…
With inflation at an historic nearly 25% - where people can no longer afford to buy cold water or rice – where hospitals have no medicine, the President of this country is flying around in his private jet, building mansions, abusing the three equal branches of government as defined by the constitution. Liberia is slipping into dictatorship. And as a dear friend who is in charge of the second most important court here said to me, “Liberia can no longer count on America for help.”
Because what is happening here in Liberia is happening in America as well. Another narcissist is abusing power, spending money on a huge military parade while he is tearing apart families at the southern border; separating children from their parents and holding them in over-crowded cages, in deplorable conditions. And the world lets this happen…
I long ago heard Bill Gates Sr. speak at a Rotary meeting. He said his son Bill often says, “If we could take all 7 billion people on the planet – mix them all up – and then plop them back down, we would not have the problems we have now – because we would be living next to each, seeing the suffering, and we would be doing something about it.” Is that why the world lets such suffering happen, because it does not touch us directly – because it is them instead of us?
That is one of the reasons I have been writing and sharing and inviting the attention for the world to join me via the work of the Foundation for Women in believing in WE for decades now. If not now, when? How many more beautiful 6-year-old girls must senselessly die of preventable diseases? How many more desperate families seeking help and asylum must be separated and housed in deplorable conditions?
I and the work of the Foundation for Women cannot solve all the problems of the world. We can however bring some light to the darkness. This week we celebrated the first 8 months of operation of the Liberia Community Health Clinic, our first attempt at bringing quality healthcare to the 1000+ students at one of our partner schools. Some light in the darkness.
Thank you for continuing to believe in and support the work of the Foundation for Women. With love and gratitude,
Deborah Lindholm
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