Liberian refugee runs 300 miles to freedom, rights

11/13/08 - A Liberian refugee shared her experience as a war refugee, running 300 miles across her home country with her child in her bag, at a presentation hosted by three URI students to educate others about social justice. On Monday, URI students Kinsey Tarbell, Samantha Sherer, and Anna Vaccaro gave a presentation on the organization Women for Women International in the Memorial Union. Theresa Tahyor was the featured speaker.

The students did this as a final action project for their Women's Studies 310 class. They decided to hold a benefit presentation for the Women's Studies program that reaches out to women survivors of war.

Women for Women International seeks to aid women who have suffered from war. This could mean that they have been raped, lost their husbands, lost their children, fled their homes or that they have simply seen and experienced so much trauma that they need help to move on."

"There are no words to describe the devastation that these women have suffered," Vaccaro said.

Sherer said, "Women for Women International works to mobilize women to change their lives and rebuild their communities through a one-year program designed to launch women on a journey from victim to survivor to active citizen."

Volunteers give $27 as well as a letter each month to a female victims of war, providing financial as well as emotional support. This money goes toward healthcare, food, shelter, education for children and other causes.

"In addition to financial commitments, Women for Women encourages sponsors and the women they are sponsoring to communicate through the exchange of letters. They believe that emotional support is an important part of helping women rebuild their lives," Tarbell said.

She added that the program offers a multi-faceted approach to rehabilitation, including basic job training skills.

"Women for Women staff conduct local research to determine which skills will be sustainable in the local economy," she said.

Women in the program are also given a basic education. They learn about their rights, their ability to resist unwanted advances, and how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

"Through the program, each woman is brought through a multi-phase process of recovery, rehabilitation, designed to open windows or opportunity to help women improve the rights, freedoms, and status of other women in our country," Sherer said.

Women for Women International is a non-profit organization that is funded by public and private organizations as well as governments. They rely heavily on volunteers.

After explaining the structure and functions of Women for Women International and showing a short film from the program, the students brought the presentation closer to home and discussed the International Institute of Rhode Island.

They mentioned how it is like the Women for Women International program, and introduced Tahyor, who currently works for the International Institute of Rhode Island.

Tahyor was able to give the audience a first person account of what programs like Women for Women and the International Institute of Rhode Island do for people around the world and at home.

Tahyor talked about how she lived in Liberia with her husband and daughter during civil wars. Though they were able to avoid the first wave of devastation in the first civil war by fleeing to Sierra Leone, they returned to their home in Liberia in 1990 when they were told that their country was safe.

In 1996, however, the war came back again. As Tahyor said, "Children died, people that were innocent died."

"I said, 'What am I doing here?' I need to do something. I can't just sit here.' So I decided to put the children together in a big school building."

Every morning, Tahylor went from house to house and took the children to the school where she taught them the alphabet, some basic mathematics and songs to sing.

Tahyor explained that there was a time in which she was forced to cut across 300 miles in the night in order to escape the terror of the war. She made the journey with her daughter in her bag, but many other women making the trip simply abandoned their children. It was dangerous. There was no food and a high risk of getting caught.

Tahyor was able to come to the United States in November 2004. Her husband worked for the United Nations, and was able to apply for political asylum.

While he was in New York on a business trip, Tahyor said her husband became very sick with liver cancer and was given only six months to live. He spent his time with his sister in Rhode Island, preparing for the arrival of his wife and daughter.

Tahyor and her daughter arrived in the United States to find that he had died.

Although Tahyor said she felt the loss of her husband, she was able to enjoy the United States. She said that people from Rhode Island are "happy, good people."

Tahylor works for the International Institute of Rhode Island by taking care of children. Ever since she was little, she dreamed of coming to the United States. "I love this country here," Tahyor said.