PHOTO: Ma Korlu and her two children in desperate need of aid
By Tokpa Tarnue, tarnue82@gmail.com
VOINJAMA, Liberia- A 60-year-old mother with visual disability here the northwestern Lofa Countya has described life as unbearable for her and her two children, who have also lost their.
Ma Keub Korlu’s daughter, Yassa Kpakolo is 40, while her son, Zayzay Kpakolo is 26. She’s mother of five.
“We are living in total hell,” said the woman who explained that her ordeal began at the peak of the Ebola crisis in the country. That pandemic in Liberia which originated from Guinea, first broke out in Lofa, and ravaged the entire Mano River basin from 2013-2016.
Mother Keub told this Reporter in a rather sad mood how her husband walked away from their relationship after she went blind without any pity for her and mainly her affected son, daughter and the rest of the family.
She said doctors have attempted to help her condition through several treatments, but none of the interventions has so far materialized.
Living as a blind person and seeing her two older children whom she had hoped to depend on go completely blind is like living in hell as a single mother, she said. The blind daughter and son share a single room, according to her, and that even affording a single meal and health care remain major challenges for the family.
Her son, Zayzay was forced to drop out of school when he started going blind.
Zayzay himself is father of two and says his major worry is support for the children’s education and wellbeing. The kids’ mother, sadly, terminated their relationship due to family pressure occasioned by his visual impairment, Zayzay explained.
For her part, Zayzay’s sister, Yassa, who is also mother of six, said her blindness started while living in nearby Bong County. The children’s father similarly abandoned her with her children due to her condition. Consequently, the kids are currently out of school.
Krubo, this 60-year-old mother, her son and daughter are meanwhile, appealing to government, non-governmental organizations and philanthropists to come to their aid with housing, food, health care and educational support for the children.
Those are among the major challenges confronting them, they said.