Liberia: The Heroes of Harrisburg

Each morning, IMC Liberia team members Zachias and John begin a two and a half hour walk over the rough bush roads from Bensonville to Harrisburg. They journey back and forth, administering to two Monrovia-area camps for internally displaced people (IDPs). They spend each day performing a diverse array of tasks, from seeing patients and prescribing medications, to administering immunizations and providing vital health education. When all of their patients have returned home for the day and the sun has begun to set, Zachias and John begin the long walk back to Bensonville.

IMC has provided health care in the Harrisburg and Bensonville IDP camps since September 2003 and August 2003, respectively. The conflict that raged in Liberia for the past 14 years destroyed most of the country's health infrastructure, including its hospitals and clinics. Few local health care providers remain, making access to medical care difficult, if not impossible.

One of IMC's principal missions in Liberia is to provide essential, local training to increase the community's ability to respond to the urgent needs of its residents. A trained LPN (licensed practical nurse), Zachias sought to upgrade his skills and underwent an intensive, IMC retraining program. IMC also trained John, a health care worker, and provided him with new knowledge and skills. All told, IMC has trained over forty local staff members in various positions, including nurses, community health workers, nutritionists, and midwives. John and Zachias are just two success stories among many.

These two dedicated IMC health workers make their five-hour, round-trip trek six days a week, whether under the heat of the African sun or in a rainy season deluge. They have become close friends after six months of hikes along Harrisburg's rutted road. Zachias wears a broad smile as he recalls the time John saved his life, fishing him out of the river during a particularly nasty flood. But nothing pleases him, or John, more than the thought of what they and IMC have accomplished for the people of Liberia. At a recent event celebrating IMC's reconstruction of the Harrisburg clinic, the community recognized Zachias and John and the great strides they have taken to create and sustain a healthier, safer environment in Harrisburg. Few would disagree that these two are truly the heroes of Harrisburg.