My membership status of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) began in 2013 during the presidency of Kamara Abdullai Kamara (now deceased) I had returned to my native Country (Liberia) from my 10-year refugee and educational life in Nigeria (2001-2011)
My first World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) celebration with the PUL was in Lofa County (2016) This was when Liberia was in a fierce battle against the Ebola pandemic.
The vehicles containing members of the Union left the PUL's Headquarters (44, Clay Street, Monrovia) by 1: pm (due to late arrivals of many members at the assembly/pickup point--in front of PUL's Headquarters) .The journey was smooth throughout Montserrado County, and smooth throughout each of the two Counties (Margibi and Bong) between Montserrado and Lofa Counties, but 'less smooth' on most part of the route in the host County (Lofa)--ancestral home of the then Liberia's Vice President (H.E. Joseph Nyumah Boakai), beginning from the Bong-Lofa intersection and stretching to Lofa's capital city (Voinjama).
The 60-seat bus carrying another batch of PUL's members (including me) meandered around pot holes and mudslide in the middle of the road (with no asphalt/coal tarr), to avoid being trapped in each of these 'bad road conditions'. The deplorable road condition caused our bus reaching Lofa during nighttime (7: pm)
The next day was for "Reporting Field Trip"--a tradition of the Press Union of Liberia during any celebration of World Press Freedom Day. For the field trip, the PUL leadership divides members into different sets (groups) and each set is sent to a different part of the host County for each member of the group to observe any part or sector (education, health, agriculture, road condition, etc.) and later produce news story or feature article of what he/she had seen during the field trip.
The group I was part of, and headed by me, was sent to Vahun--the native home of the Vice President during that time (H.E. Joseph Nyumah Boakai) Personally, my focus was on the Vice President in relation to the National Reading Campaign--based on his image on the publicity banner of the National Reading Campaign in his County. If he was supporting the National Reading Campaign in his County, he should be connected to a "reading program" in at least one of the Kindergarten schools, I thought. But my investigation showed he was "practically detached" from the national reading-promotion project! Each of the students--of different schools, returning from their respective schools--I spoke with in Vahun told me he/she didn't have any knowledge about a special "reading program" in his/her school. Later, during my group's our reportorial tour, I saw a school with "H.E. Joseph Nyumah Boakai Elementary School" and thought: "This should be the place with the VP's reading-promotion vision being part of the National Reading Campaign."
I entered, introduced myself, my professional union, and my mission to a man introduced as School's Principal to me. "Welcome to our school. But there's no special reading project in this school connected to the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Joseph Nyumah Boakai," the Principal responded to my question.
When we were out of the School Principal's office, I appealed to my touring colleagues to find the office of the County's District Education Officer (DEO) We were lucky on meeting the DEO--male--in his office. "I'm not aware of any reading program, in honor of the Vice President of Liberia, in this District," the DEO responded to my inquiry.
I begged the DEO for the phone number of Lofa County's Education Officer (CEO) When I called, the response I got was similar to the DEO's: no special reading program by the Vice President in Lofa County.
My article (over 1,000 words) about the World Press Freedom Day celebration in Lofa County was about the Lofans' "exemplary hospitality" toward "strangers", in spite of the high national xenophobia on "strangers" being the "transporters" of the Ebola virus. The story was published in the New Democrat Newspaper. Days after the appearance of the promotional article, I received calls from some persons, saying the Vice President (H.E. Joseph Nyumah Boakai) and Lofa County's Senator, Hon. Steve Zargo, enjoyed the article.
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY CELEBRATION IN MARY LAND COUNTY (2020)
I was part of the Press Union of Liberia's celebration of the World Press Freedom Day, 2020. The major problem of the County was "xenophobia" (fear for stranger) of majority of the Marylanders (excluding Journalists, national security persons, and heads of religious organizations) PUL members were meeting for the first time. Many of our media friends (based in the County) warned the "strangers" (visiting journalists) against "walking alone during nighttime" On personal experience, I saw some persons I stopped (while they were passing by me) doubling their strides (walking faster from me) when I was moving toward them to ask for a direction to a place (including where a set of PUL members from Monrovia) were gathered and enjoying themselves with some alcoholic beverages.
Maryland County is historically noted for "ritualistic killings", locally called "Gboyo"
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY CELEBRATION IN GRAND KRU COUNTY (2021)
The issues PUL recorded four issues: deplorable road conditionsand national security problems. The first, road condition, reflected in gullies and mudslides in the middle of paved roads (no asphalt) from its connection point with neighbor Counties (Maryland and Sinoe) and inaccessibility of majority of in-community roads for motorbike or bicycles. Count cars out! The security problems were of three stages: land ownership conflict between border Towns of Grand Kru County (Behwan) and Maryland (Gbolobo); and one Police Station in the entire County and one detention cell for only males.
Female detainees were kept in the general investigation point called "Charge of Quarter". Before allowing an important visitor--Journalist, UN official, etc.--into the Police Station, the authorities of the Station will first move the female inmates (some of them with their children on breast milk) outside of the Station. When the visitor has left, the women are taken back into the cell.
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When the only detention cell is full, the Station's authorities transfer new bound-for-jail law violators to Maryland County's Police Station with two detention cells for male and female violators of the law.
My story about the "security" and "human right issue" of the World Press Freedom Day in Grand Kru County were published in FrontPage Africa newspaper--hard copy and online.
I wasn't part of the World Press Freedom Day celebration in Rivergee County (2022) My mother was seriously sick--under attack by Pressure. I, her only child, had to be around her for cooking of food for her and my adoptive father and washing of the cooking pots and other food utensils (after cooking), cleaning of her house, and filling empty water containers with water from the Well that is over twenty meters away. Since September, 2020, when the Pressure gripped her, I've been doing these house chores from Monday to Sunday, from 5pm to 7:pm.
The Press Union of Liberia has played its patriotic role by revealing and documenting (through members' published reports) the challenges facing each County. Can the National Government play its part by "eradicating" or "alleviating" these "challenges"? Only "action"--not "talk"--will show the Government's "concern" about each problem.
Writer, Author, freelance Development Journalist (and member of the Press Union of Liberia), and member & former president of Liberia Association of Writers (LAW)
