Original subtitles

♪

♪

Our story begins in Monrovia, Liberia.

At daybreak children run off to school.

But these kids are the lucky ones.

♪

It's January.

Dry season.

The heat turns everything to dust.

It blows in our eyes as we make our way

through the city.

We're going to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital

to meet a very small girl with a very big story to tell.

♪

Liberian women, endured the injustices

during the years of our civil war

gang raped at will, forced into domestic slavery,

yet it is the women who labored

and advocated for peace throughout our region.

My administration shall endeavor

to give Liberian women prominence

in all affairs of our country.

The future belongs to us because we have

taken charge of it.

♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪

♪

♪

This beautiful mansion is one of many homesteads

that were once the residences of Southern planters.

We can get some idea of the luxuries

that a wealthy plantation family enjoyed.

Most of the workers are Negroes

who live on the plantation.

But the plantation was more than an economic organization.

It was a social organization as well.

The planter and his slaves were part of

an unusual class system.

The sharp division of people into two main groups

left a lasting influence.

Liberia is often called America's stepchild.

The country was founded in 1840

by 13,000 freed American slaves

sent back to Africa by the American Colonization Society.

But the Americo-Liberians were not the first people

to live on this land.

♪

The Americo-Liberians colonized the existing

indigenous tribes.

They created a replica of American society in Liberia

maintaining their English speaking,

Americanized way of life.

♪

And building churches and houses

resembling those of the Southern US.

They named the capital Monrovia

after James Monroe,

the fifth president of the United States.

Announcing the dawn of a new day of progress,

enlightenment, and forward marching

of a nation and its people.

The Americo-Liberians never made up

more than five percent of the population,

yet they held all the power.

They've kept our country down for a long time

and we feel that if we keep them alive

they will be a threat to the nation.

We have to execute them.

I'm happy the execution is going on now.

A military coup ended the Americo-Liberian hold

on the government in 1980

and started 23 years of fighting.

In 1989 Charles Taylor rose to power

and the violence escalated to civil war.

The people must no longer be slaves!

The cotton field days are over!

We are free at last!

Girls and women were raped, subjected to sexual slavery,

and in many cases unwanted pregnancy.

Pregnant women were cut open

to settle bets as to the sex of the unborn child.

Child soldiers had their innocence stolen

and were forced to commit murders, rapes and mutilations

at a very young age.

Not only rape in its commonly understood sense,

but also the rape of childhood,

the rape of innocence, possibly the rape of hope.

♪

By 2003 over 250,000 people had been killed

and the economy was in ruin.

President Taylor needs to step down.

[angry chanting]

Taylor was forced into exile

and eventually arrested for war crimes.

The trial chamber unanimously sentences you

to a single term of imprisonment

of fifty years.

In 2006 Liberians democratically elected

the first female president in Africa.

We have heard you loudly.

The international community predicted a golden age

of women's rights in Liberia.

The future belongs to us because we have

taken charge of it.

There may seem to be peace,

but in the hearts of the people

the violence continues.

♪

♪

John F. Kennedy Hospital was once considered

the best in Africa.

Government funded it sits in the center

of Monrovia.

Patients say that JFK stands for

"Just For Killing".

[wailing]

And when we arrive someone has just died.

A woman wails, displaying her grief

for everyone to see.

Health services, over many years of conflict,

and dysfunctionality deteriorated quite a bit

to the point where we've not been able

to really meet the basic needs of our people.

♪

An American medical mission arrived one week ago.

They found a little girl in the ward

sitting in her own feces.

Her hair was yellowed, her belly bloated,

all signs of severe malnutrition.

This nine year old girl had become too ashamed to eat

because when she did she would defecate uncontrollably.

But for her, this was nothing new.

It had been her life for the past two years.

We join the surgeons as they follow up

on the operation which saved Olivia's life.

[girl screaming]

No, no, no, no, don't do that.

Olivia, Olivia.

We need a 25 gauge angio now

or two.

The male nurses try to hold her down,

but Olivia will have none of it.

You're okay, you're all right,

you're okay.

I don't wanna go there!

You're staying right here with me,

you're staying right here with me for now, okay?

I don't wanna go there!

Okay, baby, it's okay, it's okay.

She'll have to be sedated.

You just close your eyes small,

when you wake up, everything will be alright.

Don't be scared, don't cry.

[speaking foreign language]

Look at me, I promise.

Nothing will happen to you.

They made you feel better, now you can eat?

The doctors just want to check it.

The other room had too many people around.

Here it's just you.

That's why they want to check it here.

What are you crying for?

We aren't even doing anything.

What are you crying for?

This is Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah, the head of OB-GYN at JFK.

She is one of the few remaining surgeons

in the country,

and certainly has her work cut out for her.

When I saw her she was a little or thin

and very sad.

And on examination I found out

that she had an opening

between her rectum and her vagina

so there was stool leaking into the vagina

and had destroyed her entire bottom

that was untreated for about two years.

Olivia's condition is called a fistula.

It was too severe to be repaired

when they found her.

So they diverted her intestine to a colostomy bag.

That way the tissue can heal

and hopefully doesn't get infected.

Olivia.

Everybody is looking for you, see?

♪

♪

When they finally sedate her the damage is obvious.

♪

Imagine what normal female genitalia should look like.

♪

Now imagine it mangled,

covered in scar tissue and sewn mostly shut.

♪

The image in your head is nowhere near as bad

as her reality.

♪

A team of doctors came and they too,

along with me looked at the area and said

their advice would be that we wait

until she about 15 or 16 years old,

then at least she have some bulk on her body

and we'll be able to do the fistula.

Then you'd do a full reconstruction.

She's got scars there

so those are gonna need to be excised

and just all put back together.

At least one, maybe two more operations to fix this.

And this is this one...

There was another one here

that we sent to protective custody.

She got better and we sent her.

This one was too...the fistula was just too bad.

Wow.

It looks really bad.

No, that looks really good.

That looks really, really good,

that looks good.

Oh, when we came here and looked at that,

that was, it was ugly.

Not until she's 16 years old before they can fix it,

so now she's nine, you know.

Make sure her mother knows how

to take care of it for her so it's healed.

It was 2006.

I brought her to my brother's place

for her to go to school.

I left her and went to my husband's place.

I spent 2 weeks and when I came back

my brother said "Since you tell Olivia here to go to school,

her stomach's been running!"

After she came out of the restroom

I saw the stomach run all in front of her!

What did your husband say?

In the bush we say "let's go cut cards."

They said, "Oh, that's leprosy"

or "a snake had been there."

So when she told her husband they assumed

it was almost like witchcraft.

So they sent her to what is called cut cards,

so go to like, a fortune teller

to see what's wrong.

And they said to her maybe it's leprosy

or maybe it's a snake,

when there's witchcraft they think someone

has a snake that could drag them behind the person

to cause this.

But here at JFK the doctors told Bendu a different story.

They believe Olivia was raped

by her cousin, John.

I mean we have gotten kids that are two years old,

five years old that have gotten raped and why?

It's such a touchy issue,

I believe that if they had come sooner

maybe it would have made a difference,

but because of the secret that they were trying to keep

that caused all the extensive damage.

Right now it's still beyond me why

that we've been through such, ahhh.

At last, she showed the person

and the person's in jail.

-He's in jail? -Yeah.

She, she showed who it was and the guy's in jail now.

Who is that?

It's a family member?

The son of my Pa's "first woman."

So he's my cousin.

How old is he?

He's about 20 years old.

So why she didn't tell you?

Tell me why she didn't tell you.

She said she was scared.

You all right?

Yeah, that's all.

All right?

That's all I know.

Okay.

You go to school yet?

Not yet.

Soon maybe, huh?

Okay.

When you get out of here, maybe.

We really need to start school in this hospital.

We have enough kids here

for us to have a class every day until 12.

I've been behind them to do it for awhile.

But I haven't gotten my wish list yet, right?

You have to buy your own food here or they give you food?

But you have to buy your own?

They gotta buy their own food.

Go and buy her something to eat today.

But make sure she eats because you see her?

She's too skinny.

Make sure she eats every single day.

In the morning they will bring it for her

and at night they will bring something for her.

You're gonna eat your food, eat your food.

Eat your food.

Every day will not be rice.

Alright?

Olivia!

Good morning.

Nice to see her eating.

You have some to offer them?

So why can't you offer us some?

They could say yes or no, but you can offer!

There isn't plenty.

She wants it all to herself, that's okay.

♪

Then we notice a new little girl in the same ward

suffering from a severe fever.

At her father's house at nighttime

they will go to bed.

And her cousin lives,

her father's brother's son, she said,

she doesn't know his age,

but she says he's bigger than her

and I asked is he bigger than me.

Obviously he's bigger than me.

So she said every time they would go to bed at night

he would turn the light off and come in the room with her

and, of course, assault her and she said her father

said to her...

[speaking foreign language]

No, her uncle said to her if she tells anybody

what happened he would kill her.

Uncle?

[speaking foreign language]

Okay.

When she, when she told her father what happened

he said she was lying.

Her father said she was lying.

Look at me.

I believe you, ok?

Look at me. You're not a liar.

I believe you.

And the man who did this to you

the police will find him, ok?

Don't be scared.

Ay-yi-yi.

Slap my hand.

She's 12?

Yeah, 12.

Oh, yeah.

Her father hasn't stepped here for one day

since she's been here.

He went to the police

and told them Clara's mother is lying.

According to her, they didn't have sex only 1 time.

More than 10!

Every night, he would tie her face and go there!

According to her, when she wanted to cry

he said "I will do it small, I will take it easy.

I will not do it hard hard."

But the boy saw her not telling anyone

so he felt that she liked it.

You see?

The girl's rapist is here.

Another rape victim is here?

No, the person who raped her.

Clara.

He's outside with our nurse.

But why isn't he arrested?

No, he came with the police.

Thank God.

Stay right here, don't go!

Stay right here, stay right here.

[indistinct conversation]

Go in the room.

Go, go in the room.

Go inside!

[indistinct conversation]

Get in your rooms!

Good morning, Ma'am.

I've come to see a lady, one of the rape victims here.

The man has been at large.

He'd like to speak to the little girl once more.

The administration has to give you a pass

that you must bring before you can see her.

There's no way I can speak to her?

No, it's a state matter.

Right now she's, like, traumatized.

Can I ask a question?

Are you taking him in the room to talk?

Or just you?

No, no, I'm going...

No, the reason I'm asking is because

if the little girl accused him of raping her

and you bring him here,

the trauma for her is like...

They want to protect her

because we don't know the outcome of the case.

But if you have a daughter yourself

and someone does that,

you would not want the man in the same area

as the little girl.

That's what they're saying.

So he shouldn't even be upstairs.

We're actually sorry.

We didn't know the rules.

So he's not arrested?

He's arrested now!

We took the cuffs off of him.

I didn't want to bring him in with cuffs on.

Yeah, no, makes sense, all right.

Thank you very much.

He is lying!

You're going to jail!

He needs to be jailed!

Clara saw him?

Yeah, Clara saw him.

Somebody rapes my child, I will castrate him!

Did you see that young man laughing!

He's not even handcuffed! He's laughing!

But why would he choose that little girl?

And it didn't happen only 1 time!

More than 10 times!

But why didn't she say anything?

That's why her mom's mad at her!

No, the man said "if you talk it, I will kill you!"

I don't have secrets!

I don't keep secrets for myself.

If anything's bothering me, I got friends I can share it with.

No, she told her Pa, her pa said, "You lie!"

It's the Pa's brother's son.

It's her cousin.

I see...

He's laughing.

Can you please follow up?

The little girl can go now. The fever's gone.

We need her to go to the protective place

until the case begins.

We don't want him here.

We want the Gender Violence people to come

take over the case, right?

Where's my "daughter" at?

I didn't even see you there!

The naked orphan!

So what happened to this little girl's clothes?

We need something for her to wear.

Every day I can't see her in makeshift clothes.

She's got clothes here.

A nurse said she must wear a hospital gown!

[indistinct conversation]

Where's your tuxedo?

See, your friend here has a tuxedo!

[indistinct conversation]

The gender based violence department

at the Temple of Justice is responsible

for seeing and trying rape cases.

So the reason we asked to speak to you,

there are a few little girls that we come across,

two little girls who have been raped.

One's nine and she was,

the first time she was raped she was six years old.

Um, now she's nine, she's at JFK.

The other one we got there, she recently came to the doctor,

she's 12 years old.

And this guy who raped her, walk in the room

and he's smiling.

And he's not handcuffed, he's free, it's just,

like it's one thing if,

it was like a big joke to him.

Can we show her the pictures of Olivia?

Yeah, I wanna show you some pictures

of the little girl, Olivia, so you can see.

You have children?

Yes.

All right, see, that's her.

You see that?

They had to close that area.

That's how much damage this man did

to this little girl.

That's what he did.

She's only nine years old.

That's how much damage he did.

Can you imagine?

They used to have this thing called the "heart men".

They would get young girls and people would kill them

for medicine for position, money,

for whatever it is, witchcraft.

So maybe now they want babies

because they're supposed to be virgins.

You know what I mean?

They do it for ritual purpose.

To get money, to get a job.

The ones are highlighted?

Yes.

Three, four, five, six, seven,

eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

Eighty-seven cases since 2006, right?

That they, that you know about, right?

Or they're in jail at--

They're in jail right now.

Okay.

They have strong laws against rape.

But I don't know...

Since the president came down, there's still a lot of rape!

If Olivia's cousin, John, had been arrested for rape

we should find him at Monrovia Central Prison.

That's their food, Jess!

Hello, you all right?

That's where the murderers are, see?

I saw.

Wow.

[shouting]

Where's the maximum security?

There's all different charges.

Yeah, the rapists...

Where do they go?

MC.

MC, in the front?

MC in the front, wherever that is.

Those guys that were convicted of rape.

Bring 2 of them!

What's the age of the woman, or girls?

Seventeen.

Fifteen or sixteen.

Most of these men don't have lawyers

or even a trial date.

And as of 2006 President Sirleaf

has ensured that a rape sentence means life in prison.

It's been 2 years, 1 month, in prison now.

You've been tried yet or no?

No.

I didn't do it!

-No. -No.

No.

Do you have a lawyer?

Now? No.

I told the court, if I raped this 11 year old girl,

see how she's fat and healthy?

If I had done it, she can be like this?

She would be sickly!

Back at JFK there's disturbing news.

He's in jail, or...?

He's not in jail!

But I thought he was in jail?

He was in jail.

And they released him when?

Sam was a prosecutor on Olivia's case.

But Bendu's brother had just posted John's bail.

You're saying they are threatening the mother, Bendu?

Not to prosecute?

To me, it doesn't make any sense.

I will see that he goes back to jail.

I don't understand why they released him.

Who's to say he will not do this again

to another family member?

Maybe something else is going on.

I will find out. Don't worry.

You said the President is aware of this?

Somebody told me that, we are very close.

It's a very sad case, it really is.

It really, really is.

Do you feel better today?

Feel good?

All right.

And you ate, right?

Yes.

Okay.

What'd you eat?

Rice.

What kind of rice?

Potato greens and rice.

Potato green rice.

It had meat inside?

No.

No meat? You didn't get any meat?

Why?

Where's Bendu?

She went outside.

Did you drink cold water?

Look at her eyes.

Oh, my God.

The innocence, right?

Smile.

♪

Show me your teeth!

You see, you see?

You see?

The medical mission is returning to America.

The perpetrators are roaming free

and Olivia and Clara are being sent to a safe house.

Bye.

Bye, Olivia.

Bye, Clara.

We return to New York with more questions than answers.

♪

♪

♪

[children playing]

♪

The Gender Ministry called us that Olivia

would be discharged from the hospital

and they want us to take delivery of her.

Her mother came also to attend to her.

The mother is actually suffering.

She's ostracized because the family thinks

she shouldn't have spoken out about what happened.

Even friends, because of the nature

of her daughter's condition,

sometimes when she cooks food they do not want to eat.

In fact, she told me plainly that

she could not even think of using her hands to eat.

Because for us, traditionally, we eat with our hands.

She said she's been eating with a spoon

for a very long time because she feels embarrassed.

She plays with her, so you can see that.

The Gender Ministry said the President heard about the case.

So they came for her.

And since then, we have not heard what happened to her.

OSIWA Safe House is full of young girls,

all victims of sexual abuse.

I'm 10 years old.

I went to visit my uncle one day.

But there was an old man standing at the fence.

I asked for my uncle.

He said "Your uncle is at my house."

"Let's go to my house. Your uncle is there."

But I didn't see my uncle. I said, "Where's my uncle?"

He said "You just take your clothes off!"

I said "No!"

He tied me up every day.

He'd leave for work and lock me inside.

He said if I shouted, he would chop me.

At the clinic they said he almost spoiled my womb.

Some of them threaten the children so much

"If you say it, I will kill you."

"I'll kill your mother, I'll kill your father."

and it remains in the child's mind.

They will never even say the correct name.

♪

Lunch may be ready, but one girl is sitting alone.

[humming]

It's Clara.

Girls aren't usually kept at safe houses this long.

It can only mean one thing.

Why your mother don't want you to live with her?

She says she's got child.

She's got other children?

We got Clara from JFK.

She and Olivia were best friends.

But Clara, the parents do not even call.

We left our numbers and told the aunt she should call us.

We have Clara and would like to talk to her.

She wants to go and see her mother,

but she knows if she goes, her mother is not going to keep her.

It's something she has already accepted.

That "I can be here."

We are thinking about sending Clara to school

while she is here,

because she has to go to school.

So Clara, tell us, when you get big what do you want to be?

What do you want to be?

I want to be in a safe home, just like this.

No, I said, when you get big, what do you want to be?

What kind of work do you want to do?

I want to be doing safe home work.

Safe home work.

Safe home work.

♪

♪

[singing]

♪

♪

Having heard about Olivia's case

President Sirleaf decided to intervene.

They told about six months or so down the line

that the fistula should be closed.

So they attempted to close it again

against my advice and the team's advice

and after they closed it, it broke down again.

While she was in the safe home,

the issue was brought to the President.

She said, "We need to make some arrangements."

One evening we heard, "oh, no this girl has been taken

to the hospital.

The UNFPA has brought in an expert to do that surgery."

So I expected after that surgery, she'd be ok.

The Ministry of Gender played a very important

key role.

They played a very key role in insuring that uh,

she got what she needed because uh,

you would agree that you cannot imagine

a nine year old girl

who was denied uh,

the playground, she just can watch

and she cannot play because of that bag

that she has to carry around with her all the time.

I think it's a fantastic example

of coordination.

How coordination worked well,

coordination and partnership between the UN,

the government and the local agency.

They did the surgery but it didn't hold.

It was put on TV that they did the surgery.

The surgery didn't do anything.

Everything's spoiled all over again.

She feels bad!

And so now she had two operations,

she still have the fistula and last of the tissues

have been destroyed,

and she still had the colostomy.

I still go along with the initial evaluation

that we wait for her to become mature

before we attempt another surgery on her.

Because Bendu spoke out about the rape

their tribe disowned them.

Even Olivia's own father has left.

Despite the fact that Bendu is now

eight and a half months pregnant.

Her father isn't around.

He has another girlfriend now.

He doesn't want to know anything.

He's not interested in us.

When we brought her to the hospital

he brought small small thing for us.

He gave us 300LRD and some clothes.

Since then, I haven't laid eyes on him!

With nowhere to live Dr. Jallah

lets Olivia and Bendu stay at JFK for free.

Something that can cost her job

if the administration finds out.

I'm finished!

You're finished?

Let me see what your hair looks like?

Look.

There you go.

It's fine! It's fine!

For Liberians, we believe in money.

Once I am not from a wealthy background

attached to some big person in government,

honestly, no one's gonna look after my case.

One day they will be thrown out of that hospital.

Then where do they go?

That is the problem.

♪

Bendu's conflict is the same one

that Liberians have been facing for centuries.

There's two Liberias:

Monrovia and the bush.

The two worlds almost never see eye to eye.

In bush society women are forced to marry

at a very young age.

You will see it for yourself.

Ask "Hello, what's your name? How old are you?"

"I am 14...13..."

President Sirleaf made it illegal to marry

under the age of 18.

But the law had little impact out here

among the tribes.

Starting from 15 yrs down, all of them are underage.

So you can't love to that one!

Our people are not too open to the law.

They don't know the law, truly.

So people respect the law?

Yeah, yeah, they respect the law!

While they guy was speaking, the older guy pinched him!

What do you think?

You think what the men say is true?

Yeah?

Our grandfathers used to force our daughters!

But these days it's not happening.

I'm 28 years old.

My girlfriend is 15 or 16 years old.

No, we don't have sex.

How do you know she's your girlfriend?

We do "small small thing".

That's what she's talking about!

I see.

We do "small small thing."

That's my new favorite phrase, I think,

"small small thing."

Yeah, "small small thing."

"Small small thing" is a big word!

♪

There really is, in this community,

no real issue of rape.

No, they have no regard. Don't even care about it.

It was worse, in fact, before the war.

After the war, it continues.

But oftentimes the girls and the guys

don't consider it to be rape.

Yes...no...

They don't consider it to be rape.

Sometimes if we consider it to be rape,

the case comes to the police station,

we do the preliminary investigation,

and if there's a need, we follow you to the court.

Okay.

But not all the time we send the case to court

because we don't have a vehicle to go and do follow up

and come back.

So you guys don't have a vehicle in this city?

We don't have no vehicle.

Do you have resources to collect evidence?

Resources to collect evidence like?

Most Liberians ignore the police completely.

They still turn to the tribal chiefs, the Zoe,

to resolve conflicts.

There is one "Zoe" that will determine that

this person was killed,

this person was killed by another family,

and they poisoned the person!

And then you are responsible!

Even if you didn't do it?

Even if you didn't do it!

Once the Zoe says you did it, you did it!

When that Zoe comes and says "Joel, you killed the woman!"

The whole population might kill me, beat me to death,

or put me out of the town.

♪

Second only to the power of the Zoe

is the power of the traditional medicine man.

So how long have you been in this field?

Almost 17 years now.

Seventeen years.

Yes.

I can treat any kind of sickness.

Except for crazy people.

If you're crazy, I can't treat you.

This one is for a tooth ache.

Okay.

This is for a witchcraft problem.

Okay.

This medicine, God reveals it to you?

Yes. Some of them.

When I see some sickness, if I need the medicine,

it can come to me in my dreams.

Maybe the people in the town,

most of them now go to the hospital?

Most of them move from the hospital, and come here, Sir.

Oh, really?

Yes.

Yes.

See this ring?

Witchcraft can't harm you.

Even a counter spell can't harm you.

Furthermore, say you want to go somewhere in car,

if the car will make accident, this will burn you as a sign.

It can burn you.

So how much for it?

This is 250 LRD.

This one is a love ring.

For love.

To find love?

-No. -No.

If you're wearing it, you get whoever you want!

I think I need that one.

Gonna give me an interview, Olivia?

Hm?

You gonna give me an interview?

What's your age.

Ten years!

Yeah? Where do you live?

In Liberia?

Yeah.

Does Olivia know what happened to her?

Yes!

One time she did something bad and I was angry!

She said "Is that why you had the family curse me?"

I said "What?" I felt bad that day!

I said "Is that your plan?

When you're big you'll tell your friends

"My Ma took me to her village so they could put a curse on me!"

She said "yeah!"

Some day she'll get a feeling someone did something to her.

But that day she said "Those people put a curse one me.

I'm crippled, I can't even go to school!"

I would have never done that to her.

When you get big what are you gonna be?

I wanna be a doctor.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah?

Yeah.

You said yeah?

I said yeah.

I wanna be a doctor in America.

I wanna be a doctor of woman!

Do you think it will be difficult for Olivia

to meet a man and get married now that she has

all these injuries?

How do men, Liberian men, feel about women

who can't have children, in general?

Honestly, I tell you, some men don't feel good about it.

Because they think the purpose

of men and women mating is to have children!

So if she wont' have children

it's going to give her a serious problem.

It's going to be a very serious problem for her.

If Olivia stays with you, do you think she will find a man

that will accept her as she is?

With that colostomy?

And even she knows.

Like when she's taking a bath,

she doesn't want girls to see it.

So what about men? She won't do it.

Honestly! You know?

No man wants to keep a woman like that,

who's just gonna mess up his place all the time!

She's gonna have serious , problem I tell you that.

So, she's kinda messed up for life.

♪

She can't work, she can't go to school.

Useless. She's just useless.

She's of no use.

♪

A drive through Monrovia shows us

where many useless children end up.

On the streets.

♪

♪

The following morning we head deep into the slums of Monrovia.

♪

Girls of all ages fill the streets.

Most with children and selling their only asset.

It's 3 or 4 men in a night, just because I am hungry.

Some of them refuse to pay me!

Sometimes they steal money from me!

♪

This is my place.

This is where you live?

Yeah.

How much does she pay for this room?

300 LRD [$4] every month.

What's the lowest you charge?

10 or 15 LRD [$0.15]

That is for an hour?

Yeah.

As for today,

if I even can get someone to sustain me

then I will leave the streets

and I will ask the world to forgive me

for what I have been doing.

♪

City life starts to take a toll on Olivia and Bendu.

Morning.

How are you?

Bendu calls and begs to go back to their village.

She has run out of food in the hospital

and has no money to buy more.

Tomorrow?

Louis arrives the next morning and off we go.

♪

♪

He assures us the car can make

what is supposedly an hour long trip.

The roads have been paved, after all.

No problem.

♪

An hour later the city gives way to jungle.

They want help pushing?

The plan now is to drive to the nearest town

and walk the rest of the way.

We'll stop and then walking to finish.

It probably makes the most sense.

She is afraid you may not be able to walk.

Bendu, I walk every day.

Two hours later we are still walking.

♪

We got plantains, banana,

we can also get fever leaf.

We can cut potato greens and carry it.

During pepper season, we can pick peppers.

Bitter ball and eggplant. We can carry it.

In bags?

Sure! Put them in bags.

Put them on our backs.

If we only take half that, how much you sell it for?

♪

Finally, after almost four hours, we arrive.

♪

♪

Word spreads of the arrival of strangers.

And Bendu shows where Olivia was hidden away.

This is your house?

Yes.

This roof, I did it myself.

I braided it, I put down the mud.

That's the building.

For such a long time,

I asked her "Something pains you

and you were scared to tell me?"

I just shut my mouth and went to bed.

This is where elders meet to resolve conflicts.

And this is the village midwife,

the woman expecting to deliver Bendu's baby.

In the bush, when somebody's in pain,

she can help.

If you see any baby's mother here,

she's the one that did all the people.

So you do it free of charge?

Sure, they are my people!

Hello!

Hello.

That's my Pa there, coming.

We meet Bendu's father, the tribal chief.

Nice to meet you.

Bendu has a son here, Olivia's brother.

She heads into the jungle to collect her vegetables

and we get her family's version of what happened to Olivia.

[speaking foreign language]

He says maybe you're here because

you want to hear the true, actual story.

That's what he's going to tell you.

Today, the crime

I mean sickness, that's on that little girl,

we ever went to court for it.

It became a hatredness!

That girl, when she was small,

she went to school, and when she sat on the bench

she'd get up and the poo would be on it!

The teacher said, "Don't be coming to the school yard!"

"There's an infection there!"

So her mother took her to a clinic.

When the woman examined the little girl,

she said, "Oh, this could be rape!"

then they started asking the little girl,

but she did not want to talk.

Then the doctor

took scissors and pointed them at the girl!

"If you don't talk, I will stab you with the scissors!"

So the girl said the boy's name.

They started calling out people's names.

"Was it John? Was it Peter?"

She said, "Yeah, it's John."

So that's how they accused John?

That's how the girl said it was John.

That John raped her.

They gave that money to the lawyer

and they came to arrest John.

It was the police who came to arrest him?

Yes, but they were undercover.

It was $500! To the court!

For the lawyer for the first trial.

For us to go through it, $500!

John had one lawyer.

[speaking foreign language]

He said "You say the boy raped the little girl?"

"You all bring proof."

We've been waiting for that proof since last October!

He says he won't hear the case again.

There's no proof in the case!

So, John. Where was he all this time?

At Christmas, since there was no proof,

they gave him a break until after the season.

They released him on family bond.

But all this time, since Olivia was in the hospital,

since the lawyer could not bring proof to prosecute John,

did any of you go to the hospital

to see Olivia or talk to the doctors?

The Papa said he won't lie, he didn't go through that process.

The boy they accused is here?

John?

He's been going to court?

Or just forgot about the case too?

John hasn't forgotten about the case!

John's here!

He's living here, but he's not here now.

His Ma or Pa here?

I'm his father.

I'm his brother.

Your son was accused by your own sister?

It brings family problem.

We understand what you're talking about.

It's true! But all there is, is hatred!

I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell you she was raped.

On a serious note, I can't tell you she was being tampered with.

No. It's only the doctor that can tell you she was raped.

And maybe from the rape, she developed whatever problem.

You understand?

Rape cases, they aren't a small crime!

If someone says, "Oh, John Brown, you've raped!"

My brother, you'll want to kill yourself straight!

That's true!

I hold Bendu responsible for hiding this thing

when it started!

I would arrest her.

Because when it started, it was the time

she should have taken this girl to the hospital.

You have to see how to best settle this thing.

Because you're Bendu's older brother.

Are you willing to accept her?

Clear in your heart, you know?

I don't have nothing against Bendu.

She's my sister, I can't throw her away!

Maybe someday she can even pay back the money to me.

If she comes back here, we will still accept her.

Are you willing to accept Bendu?

What did Bendu do?

To be frank, you know, we are African!

We are African.

If she decides to come back,

he'll call every one of you together

and you can live as one family.

You have to see how to get this out of the court

and you bring it right home.

Call the other elders and settle the case.

The day Olivia grows up

and decides to take up her case

this will start all over again.

The case will start all over again.

♪

Bendu's father decides that if she's going to keep Olivia

over the tribe,

she must take her son back to Monrovia.

♪

♪

[indistinct conversation]

♪

♪

Time to give Bendu's son his first taste of life

outside his tiny village.

♪

I called and told the uncle

Olivia had this problem

and whenever she went to school

and it like, smelled bad.

It's like, toilet came out of her private parts.

Olivia was not telling anybody

who did this to her.

And the doctor threatened her with the scissors.

"If you don't tell me, I will kill you."

It was how she told the doctor it was John

who did this to her.

And from there the police came

and they arrested John.

And they took John and they charged John with rape.

They sent him to prison.

But then the family took it

to be something traditional.

Because they never wanted John to go to jail.

Simply, they knew what was happening

so they wanted to frame the whole thing.

They knew what was going on.

The midwifery,

the chief,

the father of Bendu,

and even the other people knew exactly what was going on.

So you think they know she was raped, they just--

They know she was raped.

♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪

You're a good singer!

See, these are my children.

They're not doing anything in the hospital.

We got all these little kids we could be teaching.

I've been trying to get money to at least get a tutor

to lecture them while they're here.

At least teach them how to read, to write,

all those kinds of things.

But I haven't been successful as of now.

But I'm still trying!

♪ E, F, G, H

♪ I, J, K, L

♪ M, N, O, P

♪ Q, R, S, T, U, V

♪ W, X, Y, Z

Bendu is nine months pregnant now.

Her plan is to return to the bush to have her baby.

Dr. Jallah won't let her go without at least

having an ultrasound:

something she's never heard of.

♪

In a twist of fate, Bendu's son is breech

and the umbilical cord is around the baby's neck.

♪

If she goes to deliver in the village,

the traditional birth attendant does not know

that she is breech or the cord is around the neck.

After she been in labor for three, four days

and she cannot deliver what's gonna happen to her?

They will push her belly, push on her

trying to force that baby that coming with the butt

out of the vagina.

Either the baby is going to die

because of prolonged labor,

she could also develop a fistula.

She could die.

He must be delivered through a C-section.

Bendu has never had surgery before

and she knows what the letters "JFK" stand for

around here.

She is petrified.

But if she and her baby are to survive,

she has no choice.

♪

Bendu knows she can remain at JFK

until she has her C-section.

But then it will be time for her to go.

Does she stay in Monrovia with Olivia

or return to her family alone?

You think you can go back?

Did you see my big brother?

He was the first born.

I don't have a problem with him!

He's the one, when it started,

that said we are no longer family.

He's not my brother.

I'm not his sister.

He said he'd let everything go.

He's not holding anything against you anymore.

Even his wife.

But if I return, I know where it's safe to drink their water.

But Olivia won't know.

Even if we resolve our problems.

I'll still have to watch my back.

I know safe ways to eat and drink.

If they cook, I'll look in their eyes.

I might just say I'm full.

I can cook my own food!

♪

♪

Liberia's really two places.

It's Monrovia and the bush.

There are worse things going on in Monrovia than the bushes.

Everybody's mind is focused on the central town

because they feel it's where all the things are, you know?

When you are in Monrovia, you are well.

People look at you like

"Where are you from?"

"I live in Monrovia."

They feel you are the best.

You know?

But it's not as people think.

♪

[simultaneous, confused conversation]

How long have you been on the streets?

I started when I was 14.

How old are you?

Right now I'm 20.

I was a small girl when the war came.

I fought on my own. I have no family.

Do you have children?

I had one, but it passed away.

I got my child sitting right over there.

We came here together because we have no one to help us.

Every night it's 4, 5, 6 men, for small small money!

Does your daughter do the same thing?

No, no, no, no, no.

Do you consider each other family?

You can see a bullet. It's in me now.

Since the war ended, nobody can take it out.

A bullet wound, another bullet wound.

Were you a little boy?

Oh, a very little boy! A small small.

I said, my name is Patience.

What brought me on the street here

is that I don't have a ma and pa,

my mother died, my father died.

During the war.

I sleep with many men to get money.

40 cents, 50 cents, 70 cents...

You have children?

No, I don't have child, but I'm...

You are pregnant?

Hello?

You are pregnant?

Who is the father?

It doesn't have a father.

So you are pregnant and still go out on the streets?

Yes.

♪

Patience and Sam show us how desperate life can be

in the city.

♪

We lived in here.

When they came to bury, we'd bust up the graves.

Take the casket out.

Remove the body, put it on the side.

Go and sell the casket for money.

Just to survive.

♪

Samuel, do you have children?

Actually, I had one child.

But because of...

I'm not gonna lie.

Because I don't work, I wasn't doing nothing,

the child passed away.

Patience has decided to have an illegal abortion.

Where do you do it?

Where do you get the abortion?

They got country medicine.

If you could be anything, Patience, what would you be?

I can sing. Gospel.

If I had money to buy a lapa [dress]

I'd go to church and sing.

♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪

♪

♪

We come against every fear, every complication

in the name of Jesus.

We accept your daughter, Lu'Soka,

and we soak her in your blood.

Take your prayer, Oka, that your name will be praised

in Jesus' name.

Don't be afraid.

God will be with you.

God is gonna strengthen you.

God himself is gonna do that surgery.

Yeah?

Soon, soon, soon, you're gonna be out of it.

Let's go.

♪

♪

[excited chattering]

♪

♪

[baby crying]

There's no way she could have...

What would have happened, they would have been...?

It would have been obstructed labor for a while.

Like, she would have been stuck out in the bush

like all these other women, right?

Right.

Because the way I would lay her, like that,

you're gonna be in labor contracting, fully dilated,

but he can't come because it was laying down.

In fact he achieved from breech the foot was here,

the arm was here and the baby would lean sideways.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, that's why it was so difficult to get out.

Yeah, is that how the women end up--

And the wrong way around and they also do.

That's how they end up with fistulas and things, right?

Yes.

That's how they end up losing the baby, fistula,

and complications for the mother.

♪

♪

Smile now, just smile!

How you doing?

You okay?

She was just afraid!

♪

There is a final story here that rarely gets told:

Why so much rape is happening in the first place.

In your opinion why do you think so many men

use women or chil-, not even women, children?

It's kinda pathetic, you know?

Because those guys that held arms,

at a certain point they were the commanders.

They had the power to call any girl.

"Hey you, you're sleeping with me tonight!"

And the gun is at their head,

nothing you can do, you have to give in.

But the gun isn't in their hands any longer, you know?

They are like, ordinary.

And they want to get some satisfaction.

And no one thinks they are someone important in society.

"What am I doing with you? You're an old rebel."

Nobody wants to get close to them.

So at times they get a flashback

they just get angry

and go and do evil.

When the war started in Liberia, how old were you?

I'm guessing 15 years.

-Fifteen years? -Yeah.

What position you were holding?

Commanding General.

Commanding General?

When you saw a woman you liked, what would you do?

The General would command them.

"Lay down with that woman there!"

"Lay down with your wife there now!"

So automatically the person becomes his wife.

Yeah.

You were a big man, a Commanding General

and all the people you were controlling,

they're far from you now.

Sometimes you feel like controlling people like that?

Yes, in the night sometimes

I can get that feeling.

Temper, I have a temper.

A very bad temper?

Yes.

Do you ever take it out on your wife?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah?

Sometimes I can blast at her.

I say, "No, today my heart's not good."

She can be scared of me.

I tell her, "No, don't be scared of me."

It keeps happening when I lay down at night.

The time we were fighting war

it can come to my eyes.

While I am sleeping.

Sometimes he dreams he is still boss.

Yeah?

You feel you're still there, inside the war?

Sometimes I can jump out of bed.

My wife can ask me why but I say no.

You can't tell her?

No, I can't tell her.

Are you afraid of what she'll think?

Yeah.

I can't tell her about my past.

I've never had a baby or a kid, you know?

But I always said if it crosses my path,

definitely.

I would take a knife.

I would take a knife and cut off that man's private parts

that he used to penetrate that child.

Because it's so demonic, you know?

Most, it's not, it's not a normal thing.

It's not normal, it's not ordinary, like,

sexual desire, no, it's not.

It's so demonic.

So what are some of the things that happened to you

during the war?

Oh, it was plenty!

During the wartime we were on our own.

In 1990, we didn't move from the village.

We were just there in the bush.

They used to go and reach some areas,

the man would approach you

and have you for nothing!

Then go.

God just blessed some of us.

That we didn't get sickness from them.

Because you have no power.

The person has a gun, so what can you do?

So you experienced rape, too?

Yeah.

Even if you ran, they would catch you.

A man would approach you

they would have sex with you freely.

At daybreak, they'd leave.

We had to go through it a lot.

So when I pray, I thank God

because I'm alive.

♪

♪

Now, I decided not to go back.

♪

It's better for me to stay here.

I'll ask God for me to make my own living.

♪

Working in the house, cooking...

...washing clothes, I can do that.

I'll start a little business.

♪

I will make it.

♪

Hundreds of accused rapists have been released

before standing trial because of a backlog in cases.

We don't know who's really innocent or guilty

of those who are in pre trial detention status,

so we just let everyone out because they been there

longer than the time that they should be there

before they go to court.

We also run the risk of jeopardizing

the safety of the community.

So we are working on this balancing.

She says, "I just want my daughter well.

It will be a while, though.

The doctor says because of the extent of the tear

and because the tissue is not fully developed

she likely can't have surgery until she's 16."

♪

[speaking foreign language]

I couldn't handle city living.

So I returned to the bush.

Does your family still believe the rape was a lie,

that happened to Olivia?

They insist it's not rape!

Because Olivia's father won't testify.

I'm just a woman. It's not enough.

You need a man's voice to stand strong.

I'm wondering if you think it was rape.

If you think so.

If I had been there, then I would know.

But I wasn't there.

Has your family accepted you?

Yeah, I'm not in their hearts

but, we talk and lecture.

But I'm not in their hearts.

We don't live in the same yard.

They live away from me.

Sometimes I visit them.

They invite me to eat, and if it's ok, I eat some.

But if it's not ok I just tell them I'm full.

People tell me the Bible says

you can forgive but not forget.

Before you had to be worried about Olivia.

Is life more easy for you?

She and I aren't together now

but I taught her how to take care of herself.

At the time she was sick, it was not easy.

24 hours washing clothes!

I washed clothes, I got tired.

But now

I thank God, small small.

Now things are looking better.

♪

♪

So right now she's in school,

she's trying to learn even though she's 12

and in the first grade, but, I mean,

all these years she never went to school

so now we're trying to encourage her

to go to school.

She seem to be adapting well.

So are you making 100s now?

Or just playing around?

I will.

I haven't seen that report card yet!

The fistula is not fixed yet

because it's a very complex fistula

with multiple damage.

But right now we only reversed the colostomy.

We try our best to take away

that bad time in her life, all of her life,

and try to make things better.

And your favorite soup, you cooked today.

You helped to cook today.

You can cook, Olivia?

Yes.

What you can cook?

Any soup.

I know she has a bright future

because at least when she's in school

she's picking up well.

So we can continue encouraging her

and supporting her to go and get an education.

I think she will be a model child

and be able to speak up for other rape victims.

Does she seem like a daughter to you?

Yes.

I mean, I have a daughter myself,

my daughter is older, but, you know,

right now I, I have a lot of other little kids

that were sick in the hospital

that I haven't adopted, but at least I take care of them also.

So all of these kids are my kids

and I hope the best for their lives.

[children playing]

♪

♪

♪

♪

Liberian women endured the injustices

through the years of our civil war...

I don't think this is the end of Olivia's case

and it should not be the end.

I think it's time for all of us,

if we are to honor not just her memory,

but the memory of every little girl that has died

as a result of rape in Liberia and other countries,

to seek justice.

Because the perpetrator is still free.

And until we do that,

I think they will continue to slap us in our faces

while we talk about women's rights.

What I would like to see is some starting

a public conversation about rape and abuse.

Let us not by shy about it.

I think that's the first step, open dialogue.

Really putting it out there that we have these problems.

It's here, it exists every day.

There's no neat way to wrong,

and there's no way that we can combat rape

by trying to keep the conversation neat.

Rape is dirty, rape is nasty

and we have to bring that nasty conversation

into open spaces.

Take it to churches, mosques, schools,

government buildings,

bring men into the conversation.

It took a case in India,

a brutal case in South Africa a few days ago,

the Olivia case and many more

for people to step up to see it.

So I think it's time for everyone,

whether you find yourself in the north, south, east or west

it's time to join hands and see rape

not just as a women's issue,

but as an issue that is affecting society

as one of the diseases that our societies have

that we need to get rid of.

♪

♪

The women of Liberia,

the women of Africa,

and the women of the world.

♪