Mercy’s Story

When asked, Mercy is unable to recall much of her early childhood. She does not remember a great deal about her family except that her father was a journalist and her mother ran a restaurant that was located near her home—although she claims that she does not remember where she lived. Indeed, she doesn’t remember much about Liberia at all…except for the violence.

“Always, there were a lot of shootings,” Mercy said with a note of detachment in her voice. “The soldiers would come and then they would shout and I would see people lined up. They would beat people, they would strip people naked, and then some people–well, there would be dead bodies. And people would even be stepping on the dead bodies in the streets. When I saw it, I would just get scared and I’d cry a lot.”

Mercy—now a refugee living in Ghana—fled Liberia in 1992 when she was just 7 years old after an especially bloody day in her home country.

“I just saw people running and then [the Liberian soldiers] were shooting everywhere. I was kind of running and what I could sense was that bullets were picking a lot of people out because people—a lot of people, even kids—they were just dropping on the ground. So I ran.” Mercy kept moving until she found family friends who were planning on fleeing the country.

The group departed from Liberia in a car. Mercy and the other refugees went through the Ivory Coast (Cote’d Ivoire) before arriving in Ghana. The trip took close to 2 years to complete. At night, they would sleep in the car in the woods. Some of the refugees fell ill and others were bitten by snakes, stung by scorpions, or beaten by soldiers they encountered. Some even died. Finally, after a long and arduous journey, Mercy reached the Buduburam Liberian Refugee Camp.

The resettlement programs that helped develop Buduburam were not yet in place when Mercy arrived. There were very few actual homes and most of the refugees slept in tents with dirt floors. When it rained, the tents would flood and fill with mud. In addition to water, scorpions and snakes also often found their way inside. The camp was overgrown with bushes and there were few buildings in the area.

For Mercy, one of the most challenging elements to adjust to was the unavailability of drinking water. When water wasn’t brought to the camps, Mercy said that she had to dig into the ground where they would find enough soiled water to be able to survive.

There was only one school at the refugee camp at that time. There were no chairs and Mercy recalls sitting on the ground when she began courses for the first grade.

“At times, I would even sit on a block—if I was lucky,” Mercy said. “And then I would put my copy books on my thigh so I could write.”

The woman who assisted in Mercy’s escape from Liberia and acted as Mercy’s primary caretaker developed cervical cancer. When Mercy was about 12 years old, the woman passed away. After her death, Mercy was driven out from the place where she resided.

Mercy was homeless. Because she possessed no other means of making money, she begged on the streets and slept wherever she was allowed. As a very young girl without anywhere to go, Mercy felt both hopeless and degraded.

“One of the worst times I ever experienced was a day when someone beat me on the street,” she said. “A guy beat me mercilessly until I fell and I couldn’t really wake up because I was kicked in the stomach twice. And I just couldn’t wake up. People were passing by…but there was nobody there who would defend me.”

Mercy was enervated by the lack of sympathy she received. Local Ghanaians and fellow Liberian refugees passed by Mercy daily and, taking note of her sordid appearance and her low social status, ignored her. The stigma associated with street kids as being ungrateful, savage, rebellious, and criminal strongly effects how others relate to them.

Unfortunately, the characterization that street children steal often holds true when options are limited. “Not all street kids are bad,” Mercy said. “Although, at times you do things you don’t want to do in order to eat. But it’s not what we want to do.”

Mercy spent her time around the camp and in Ghana’s capitol, Accra, begging wherever there were crowds for spare change or food. Vendors did not appreciate the presence of the streets kids and, many days, Mercy was chased away, pushed into sewage water on the side of the road, kicked, or otherwise abused. Mercy would go up to cars that were stopped at traffic lights to beg. Often, people spat in her face. When Mercy couldn’t gather enough change to be able to eat, she would steal whatever she could in order to survive.

Although the majority of the people who Mercy encountered were insensitive to her plight, she sporadically met a few kind individuals. There was a woman who, although she had her own children to provide for, took Mercy in and would feed her whenever she could. Mercy later met a woman who owned a roadside bakery who offered her a job baking goods. A fellow refugee taught Mercy how to bake when she was young and Mercy used her skills to help her new employer.

“The [food was] nice,” Mercy said. “People came by and ate it and then they felt good. So, that’s when I started helping her and earning a little bit of money.”

The baking job was a huge catalyst in Mercy’s life. With food in her belly and a bit of money in her pockets, Mercy was able to return to school at the age of 17.

Although she was grateful for the opportunity, gaining an education was difficult for Mercy. Often, teachers would ask for students to provide materials that were costly to someone on a tight budget. Furthermore, Mercy said that the teachers would often try to sleep with their young students. She had to plead with her teachers to allow her to pass her courses when she was unable to supply herself with everything that was required for class.

Mercy remained diligent and, although earning a living as a student proved to be an arduous task, Mercy prevailed and graduated. She enrolled in a school for Information Technology (IT) and began practicing her skills at a nearby café. The first chat room she entered was supported by Yahoo. Soon, however, she started going on a special chatroom designed for interactions between Africans.

One day, she entered a chat room that discussed issues in Liberia and met her future husband—an American named Valan.

When they first began instant messaging one-on-one, Valan asked Mercy about her life and she decided to be honest with him about her status as a street child.

“I couldn’t hide from myself,” Mercy said.

Valan seemed skeptical at first about Mercy, since it’s common for people to lie online in order to obtain money from concerned Americans and Europeans. However, as time passed, he realized Mercy’s sincerity. Mercy didn’t expect Valan to be accepting of her past, but he surprised her.

Mercy and Valan began chatting regularly online and would send each other photos and e-mails. After getting to know Mercy, Valan sent her $25. Mercy says that she used the money to buy a few things for herself in addition to a postcard to send back to Valan to show her gratitude. She took photographs of herself with the things she bought to e-mail to Valan so that he could see what his money went towards. Valan allotted money to a couple other women in Ghana, but Mercy said that she was the only one who showed a deep appreciation and who gave something back to her provider.

Finally, after talking online for close to 2 years, Valan decided to come to the camp to see Mercy. Valan was Mercy’s last step to getting off the street. He gave Mercy a bit of money so that she could settle into suitable housing in the refugee camp. Soon, Valan was completely providing for Mercy.

“I once again had a home and I had someone to care for me, too. To help me.”

Shortly after, Valan and Mercy married.

Mercy was finally free from a life of poverty and constant struggle. However, she was unable to turn her back on the streets. She told her husband that there were still countless homeless children who desperately need aid. Valan told Mercy that he couldn’t continue to pick up stray children because he didn’t have the funds to support that type of project. According to Mercy, she told him, “But there are other people out there who are willing to help. There are people, I know that there are people.”

It was at that time that Mercy and Valan came into contact with a woman named Regina. “Mommy” Regina’s life work is centered on assisting abandoned and orphaned refugee children. Regina connected up with a number of homeless children, many who knew Mercy from her time on the streets, and tried to let them know their options. She especially reached out to single parents and prostitutes. Regina offered to take in their children so that the mothers could return to school and receive a proper education.

Mercy saw the value in Regina’s work and dedicated herself to assisting the project—now known as Abandoned Refugee Children Home (ARCH).

Now, in addition to working to help Regina, Mercy continues to expand her education in computer technology. Mercy also studied briefly in beauty therapy. She uses her skills in braiding and other techniques to serve a few neighbors and friends in order to make a bit of money. “They come by and I fix them up,” Mercy said simply.

What about the future? Well, there has been talk of Mercy and Valan opening a school in the refugee camp that focuses primarily on technology. Mercy is looking forward to being the school’s first teacher.

In Ghana, it’s easy to become deflated when you see so many individuals in need. However, Mercy’s story is one that really helps me believe in the resilience of the human spirit. Despite being faced with a great deal of difficult situations, Mercy never allowed herself to become completely inured. Furthermore, now that she finally lifted herself from poverty, she uses her experiences on the street as motivation to aid others. In listening to her poignant story–which evoked such strong emotions that I doubt I have done it justice in relaying it here, I felt truly honored to have met a woman endowed with such unfaltering courage, strength, and spirit…a woman who fought against the odds to rise from the bottom, only to discover that she has so much to give. I think hers is a story that we can all take a lesson from.

One Response to “Mercy’s Story”

1. jon says:

   October 27, 2009 at 8:20 am

   foreign correspondent status! this is an incredible story!