{"id":2462,"date":"2021-10-06T15:36:26","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T15:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship"},"modified":"2021-10-06T15:48:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T15:48:43","slug":"covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Condemns More Women to Unbearable Hardship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Liberia<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>These are trying times for many Liberians particularly women who most times bear the economic burden of any form of crisis, and the COVID-19 crisis is no exception.<\/p>\n

By: R. Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives<\/b><\/p>\n

The pandemic has caused a global economic crisis and Liberia, being one of the poorest in Sub-Sahara Africa, has not been spared its brunt. The COVID-19 pandemic came on the heels of drastic austerity measures in Liberia. The Liberian people continue to endure the pinch of economic hardship since the end of the civil crisis\u2014a situation that was compounded by the outbreak of Ebola in 2014 and a slump in the prices of the country\u2019s major export commodities, rubber and iron ores for years now.<\/p>\n

The Coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the situation, further shrinking incomes and rendering the masses more vulnerable, amid an unbearable unemployment rate.<\/p>\n

Macrotrend.net, an online platform that has taken stock of the nation\u2019s unemployment statuses since 1991, puts Liberia\u2019s unemployment rate for 2020 stands at 3.30 percent, a 0.41 percent increase from 2019.<\/p>\n

The harsh economic conditions Liberians have experienced over the years have prompted many of them to turn to informal labor options for survival\u2014leading some women to venture into the crushing of rock for survival.<\/p>\n

For decades, this trade has been an all-men affair but with an increase in demand for construction purposes, women have opted to join their male counterparts in the venture to supply the country\u2019s thriving construction sector and get daily meals for their families.<\/p>\n

With a scanty profit, women involved in this trade said they are in just to meet their daily feeding needs. Marolyn Williams sits under the burning sun in the \u2018Rock Hole\u2019 community at the Boulevard Junction toiling on giant size rocks trying to break them into tiny pieces for sale. This has been a routine for Williams for the last ten years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come here every day with a determination to get small money for me and my five kids,\u201d Ms. Williams 45, says.<\/p>\n

For a lady who is living through the trauma of being abandoned by the father of her children, she says crushing rocks has become both a source of survival and some form of therapy for her. \u201cThis hustle is helping me not only feed my children but a way of keeping thoughts of my former fianc\u00e9 off my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many other women, she missed out on the opportunity of acquiring formal education due to the country\u2019s devastating 14-years of civil war. \u201cI may not have completed formal education, but I know the value of education that\u2019s why I come here every day to crush rocks to get money to send my children to school,\u201d she reveals.<\/p>\n

A bag of crushed rocks is sold for L$250.00. On good days, she sells between seven and twenty bags. \u201cI can make good morning when business is really going. Thank God that more people are doing some kind of construction houses now,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Ms. Williams is also catering for her aging mother, father, and other relatives all from the small funding she gets from the rock sale. Nancy Torkpa, who sits not too far from Williams, has also been crushing rocks for years. She is a single mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am doing this because I don\u2019t have any other work to do to sustain myself,\u201d she says, \u201cI crush the rock and sell it to get money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I do to also get money to pay school fees and buy food to eat. \u201cNancy added.<\/p>\n

Like Marolyn and Nancy, Krubo Kullie believed to be in her middle 50s, is a mother of six children. She has been fending for her and her children on rock-crushing fields. She says income has been shrinking since the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people have stopped their construction work due to the virus so more people are no longer buying rocks like before. At the moment, two of Krubo\u2019s six kids are out of college. Another just completed high school, while three others are still in grade school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is from this job that I pay their school fees regularly,\u201d She continues. \u201cI have been able to secure a plot of land and built a three-bedroom house,\u201d she narrates.<\/p>\n

Krubo made a lot of money from her trade and thought of building a house but got scammed while trying to get a parcel of land to begin the construction of her house.<\/p>\n

She revealed that her former lover deceived her into buying two lots of land she is yet to have access to \u201cI brought the first two lots of land on the Duport Road. But my children father stole the deed from behind me and abandoned me and the children,\u201d<\/p>\n

Kullie further alarm over health risk that rock crushing poses to the lives of people involved in it. \u201cIt is not small pain in this work, but we have to get our hand on something; if not our children will die of starvation and we will become a laughing stock for people,\u201d She tearfully explained.<\/p>\n

This story was produced with support from Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), through its mobilizing media in the fight against COVID-19 in partnership with Front Page Africa.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. These are trying times for many Liberians particularly women who most times bear the economic burden of any form of crisis, and the COVID-19 crisis is no exception. By: R. Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives The pandemic has caused a global economic crisis and Liberia, being one of the poorest in Sub-Sahara […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5,8,16],"tags":[233,237,605,1169,234],"class_list":["post-2462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-covid-19","tag-hardship","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nCOVID-19 Condemns More Women to Unbearable Hardship - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These are trying times for many Liberians particularly women who most times bear the economic burden of any form of cris ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID-19 Condemns More Women to Unbearable Hardship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These are trying times for many Liberians particularly women who most times bear the economic burden of any form of cris ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-06T15:36:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-06T15:48:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2021\/10\/img-615dc5377eb19.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"378\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"COVID-19 Condemns More Women to Unbearable Hardship\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-06T15:36:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-06T15:48:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship\"},\"wordCount\":883,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2021\/10\/img-615dc5377eb19.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Covid-19\",\"Hardship\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/covid-19-condemns-more-women-to-unbearable-hardship\",\"name\":\"COVID-19 Condemns More Women to Unbearable Hardship - 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