Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Displaced by War, Families Grow Own Food (allAfrica)
Browerville — "The cassava we are eating today is from that small garden you see over there," said Hayford Quaye, a 50-year-old father of four. His cassava garden was planted just behind a large makeshift house in Browerville, a community on the outskirts of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. We spoke as 15 or more joyful looking children gathered around a teenage girl who dished out cooked cassava from a large pot onto their plates.
Quaye left his home in the southeastern county of Maryland and settled in Monrovia during Liberia’s civil war. He and his family live with another large group of people who were displaced by the fighting. "I am serious," he emphasized, seeing I was surprised at the number of people living with him. "We are about 100 persons living in this house." He said they were from different counties, squatting in the 10-bedroom unfinished building and could not go back home because life in their rural communities is difficult. "The road is not good and the hard time is too much in the bush," he said. I watched as the children had lunch. They seemed to like the cassava. It’s usually boiled and a little pepper sauce added.