tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53715964695962565262012-02-16T18:39:21.091-08:00This is the production log for a documentary project examining gender based violence in post conflict LiberiaNika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-74317056543816355342009-09-15T09:03:00.000-07:002009-09-15T09:35:49.844-07:00

That is the sad truth.I'd say 90% of the population here needs help. It's one of hardest things about spending time in Liberia, you have to accept that you are only human. That you have to leave, eventually. We are following many stories in this documentary, and to be honest, they all won't have a happy ending. We've had some major disappointments already this week.But this post is not about

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-58364620119670409972009-09-14T18:37:00.001-07:002009-09-14T18:40:31.695-07:00

There is a reason for the proliferation of pictures of children in Africa. Its because they love the camera. Everywhere we went in Lofa we were followed by groups of children, shouting "White woman, white woman, take my picture." It was usually followed by the phrase "Give me small small thing", hoping for some money. At first its as little disconcerting but you get used to it. Some of the

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-57416623792913443392009-09-14T17:31:00.001-07:002009-09-14T17:31:16.775-07:00

Last week we decided that it was really important for the film to get out of Monrovia and talk to folks in the rest of the country as part of this film. So we talked to  our press contact at the UN and he booked us on a flight to Voinjama, the major "city" in Lofa county up North.  Liberia is NOT Monrovia. Monrovia is the westernized  capita, the seat of the government, and the closest thing

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-32754876895567488652009-09-11T14:20:00.000-07:002009-10-18T19:04:05.296-07:00

Watch out men of the world, I'm now the proud owner of a "love ring," given to me by a medicine man (aka witch doctor) in Voinjama, Liberia. If I am wearing this ring and tell you "I love you," you will be enchanted and mine for life. Or so he told me. He also sold me a "bracelet of protection." If i am wearing this bracelet and it starts to burn, it means I am approaching danger and should

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-60846422121899852062009-09-06T14:41:00.000-07:002009-09-06T16:51:50.605-07:00

It's not about how "good" the road is, it's about how far your destination is from the road. B has been wanting to go back to her village Todee. Not only to get some belongings, but to get her son. In addition to O she has two other children. Her youngest daughter is with her sister but her son has been in Todee since O went to the hospital.  It is where she grew up and also where O was found a

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-65070556563649909922009-09-03T14:39:00.000-07:002009-09-03T15:32:20.090-07:00

Palm Grove Cemetery in downtown Monrovia. Vast and overgrown. Closed and walled in as of 2007. If you want to visit a family member buried there you have exactly one day in March, each year, to do so. That is, of course, if your family member is still in his/her tomb, not thrown aside to make room for a homeless ex-combatant. Coffins taken out and sold back to funeral homes.With some help from

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-7033615876632034862009-09-02T15:57:00.001-07:002009-09-02T15:57:32.335-07:00

 Yesterday we visited a safe house for victims of  rape  and abuse. While child rape is a big issue here, and a buzzword in the international and donor community, it is really only one aspect of the violence children are exposed to.  Many are neglected, beaten, abandoned and starving. This is the norm, not the exception. Generally speaking the family unit is often seriously disrupted for a

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-62930103561968608182009-09-02T13:06:00.000-07:002009-09-02T15:12:29.982-07:00

As you might recall, O's mom is pregnant. Really pregnant. After she took O to the hospital this past year she was kicked out of her community. For B that means no support of any kind. Her husband left her too, so no money. A lot of women from bush communities don't have any education and depend on the men for the money. Plus, they often have a lot of kids. No man can easily mean no food.While O

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-50706989409856264692009-08-31T18:56:00.001-07:002009-08-31T18:56:21.215-07:00

Our next round of interviews were at the abandoned Euro Building which is  a bombed out 5 story high rise with no exterior walls in the center of Monrovia. Donetta had found a few women and one boy willing to talk to us.  We began to climb the stairs to enter the building but at the second floor a commotion started.  When all the shouting began ,a couple of women pulled Jess and I  and

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-73278675917266024482009-08-31T18:39:00.001-07:002009-08-31T18:39:36.249-07:00

We spoke to some other sex workers who had been hooking for much longer  providing services on the streets. Often times little boys go out to find johns. These women were taking customers for about $20-50 LD a trick.  To put this in financial perspective the conversion rate is about 70LD to 1 USD.  A pack of cigarettes costs about 70 LD or $1 USD. If these women are having sex for about 20-50

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-62048257909809970862009-08-30T15:43:00.001-07:002009-08-30T15:44:19.384-07:00

Last week Louis  ( our driver / security guard / production assistant / fixer)  introduced us to his friend Donetta, a radio journalist over at Truth FM Radio 96.1. We explained the project, and  she agreed to come on board.  Last year she produced a radio and TV show about sex workers and offered to make the arrangements for us to talk to some for this film. I'm just going to back up a minute

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-25602010480787401192009-08-29T04:09:00.000-07:002009-08-29T05:28:10.307-07:00

Today the plan was for Nika and I to escort O's mom B to Todi, the village in the bush where she grew up. Also the place where O was abused as a kid. B has been ostracized from this community. When she finally took O to the hospital (after 4 years, mind you) her husband left her for another woman. But more on this later.Nika and I went to JFK yesterday afternoon to talk to B and make some plans

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-30846252312080084182009-08-27T17:14:00.001-07:002009-08-27T17:14:52.828-07:00

After the police station we went to meet with Madhumita Sarkar, the Joint GBV Programme Manager for the UN and government.  She sits at the ministry of gender helping to implement and coordinate the GBV plan of action and manage the task force comprised of UN agencies, government agencies, INGOS and LNGOS. There are some women you meet that are inspiring no matter what they are doing and

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-16900780983622525672009-08-27T17:08:00.001-07:002009-08-27T17:26:02.937-07:00

Spent the Morning interviewing the Asst. Commissioner of Police, Bennetta Holder warner who is also head of the WACPS ( Women and Children's Protection Section)She graciously gave us a lot of information on the process and the challenges she faces in processing on average 200-250 cases of GBV a month (this includes, domestic violence. rape, child trafficking etc) She is pictured here after the

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-90057291435716964052009-08-27T17:07:00.001-07:002009-08-27T17:07:19.095-07:00

Got press credentials from the UN, which even though we probably will never use them, made us feel pretty special.  See below!

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-53805837856802945202009-08-27T14:49:00.000-07:002009-09-06T13:47:26.057-07:00

In January 2009 I met another little girl we'll call "C." C was in the same ward as O at JFK Hospital when I met her. She was curled up in a ball, in shock, not talking to anyone. I found out that she too was there because of sexual abuse. It had been going on for years, her family didn't believe her, and it was someone close to them who C says did it. She didn't have the extreme physical damage

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-76496735294998657502009-08-27T14:10:00.001-07:002009-08-27T16:25:59.337-07:00

Been a while since we've update so Im going to back the summary up to Tuesday.Or first stop tuesday morning was the Benson clinic run by MSF ( Doctors without Borders). There are two MSF hospitals in Liberia, Benson and Island hospital.They are the only FREE hospitals in the entire country. We met first with the hospital director of Benson Clinic. She gave us a very practical rundown of the

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-39377129866424988962009-08-26T17:34:00.000-07:002009-08-26T18:21:48.629-07:00

In the month leading up to the trip here Arizona was in the news because 4 Liberian boys gang raped a little girl. It was all over CNN, and many people immediately referenced this story to me when they heard about our trip/film.http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/07/29/liberia.sex.crimes/index.html?iref=newssearchBut today we found ourselves in a very similar situation, on the opposite side of

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-43781897247452702652009-08-24T16:29:00.001-07:002009-09-06T13:56:40.146-07:00

Today was our first "real" day of production. We got up this morning and broke O and her mom out of the hospital for a trip to their apartment and to the beach. We showed up in normal clothes and not scrubs so there was a little opposition to us filming, but I used my charm and was still got a great shot of O and leaving the hospital. I think she was really excited to go out for a few hours.

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-10415244895501431782009-08-23T16:23:00.001-07:002009-09-06T17:04:54.265-07:00

The problem with Liberia is poverty. Poverty and corruption. There's a million ways to circumvent the issue, but it's the truth and just how things work here. This country is recovering but very slowly. As hopeful and well intentioned as we and the other groups here providing infrastructure and support are, it's going to take quite a while for this country to rebuild, think maybe 4-5 generations

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-33629204575289907842009-08-23T08:54:00.000-07:002009-08-25T04:10:13.143-07:00

Another morning at JFK Hospital. O loves the camera, and she is causing a real scene around the wards. The women all break into hysterics as soon as O enters the room. She took something like 130 photos. You can see a few here, as well as her self portrait.Nika and I are trying to provide a little education as well. Tic Tac Toe, writing her name...the basics to start. Tomorrow is an approved trip

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-16817496930542209102009-08-22T16:46:00.001-07:002009-08-25T04:25:20.682-07:00

Dinner at a friend's cousin's restaurant, Little Nikita in downtown Monrovia. She's doing some amazing things here in Liberia including putting the girls who work for her through school. I'm very excited to eat there throughout the rest our stay and talk to her on camera for the film. Not only is the food great there but the people are super nice.Upon returning to our hotel we discovered an

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-39227486253424661872009-08-22T08:39:00.000-07:002009-09-06T13:48:27.407-07:00

We spent the morning with O and her mom at the hospital. I remember that O really liked using the camera herself, so after a short lesson she took it from me and started running around the hospital. She took photos of every single woman patient there, in the middle of lunch! It was adorable. We want to get O out of the hospital for a day, maybe a beach trip is in order. Since she's not in school,

Jessicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09450627914011488115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-41823485473377853412009-08-21T12:32:00.000-07:002009-08-25T04:27:10.124-07:00

After 26 hours of planes and buses and a fabulous lunch in Casablanca we finally arrived in Liberia last night around 1:30 am, only and hour and a half late. The night was gorgeous and rainy and the drive to Monrovia was smooth on the newly paved road. After such a quiet drive in I wasn't quite prepared for the bustling street this morning. Although we discovered that catching a taxi was as

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371596469596256526.post-59187154474540705652009-08-12T23:40:00.000-07:002009-08-25T04:40:55.045-07:00

This blog will go live on August 20th when we begin production. We'll be posting updates and observations throughout our time in Liberia.More information and a film synopsis here.

Nika Offenbacnoreply@blogger.com0