Tenuous Times At LWR-Supported Phebe Hospital During LURD Occupation

Baltimore, August 12, 2003 — In an impassioned letter to the U.S. ambassador in Monrovia, John William Blaney III, William E. Martin, the administrator of Phebe Hospital and School of Nursing pleaded for protection from the looting and destruction that has destroyed two other area hospitals. In May 2002, during a forced evacuation and subsequent occupation by troops, Phebe Hospital suffered losses from looting and damage totaling $170,000. News late last week of another military occupation raised fears that the area's largest functioning hospital, the primary source of care for the high incidence of malnutrition and cholera among the tens of thousands of displaced Liberians, would suffer a similar fate.

With only a few hours to secure things at the hospital during an evacuation in March 2003, administrators left most of what Phebe Hospital now needs to rebuild and to function as a medical institution on the occupied compound in Suakoko, about ten miles south of Gbarnga in central Liberia. Because Phebe Hospital depends almost entirely on donated funds, including a $30,000 grant this year from LWR, rebuilding from last year's destruction is slow, and still incomplete. The hospital also faces the very real possibility of a total loss should further damage and looting occur. "With no equipment, no medicines, and no medical supplies, the hospital would be unable to provide essential medical services to the more than 700,000 people in central Liberia who depend on Phebe for health care," Martin says.

Elsewhere in Monrovia, even on the day Charles Taylor ceded his power, humanitarian efforts still are being impeded by the city's fuel crisis, a lack of trucks to deliver the aid and "so many displaced (persons) moving about that vehicles could not pass," comments Lutheran World Federation's representative, Charles Pitchford, LWR's partner in Monrovia. He adds, "There has been little to no movement by displaced persons back to the places they were located before as they are still very much concerned about security in those areas."

Their concern is real. With government forces remaining, many of whom have gone without pay for months, and rebel forces vowing not to withdraw from the port when UN forces arrive, the city could again find itself in the grip of fighting, should force be needed to regain control of the port.

As Pitchford adds, "Liberia needs your prayers more than ever." So, too, do Liberians need continued support from their brothers and sisters around the world.

To add your financial support, visit www.lwr.org, or call 1-800-LWR-LWR-2.