Liberia: Female Rock Crushers Decry Working Conditions, Appeal For Help - FrontPageAfrica

LOUISIANA, Upper Caldwell – Several female rock crushers in the God’s Grace Community, Louisiana, Upper Caldwell, Montserrado County have decried their working conditions, lamenting that, ‘’We are working from hand to mouth.’’   

By Augustus D.R Bortue-augustusbortue@yahoo.com

Janet Moses, one of the rock crushers, who said that she has been in the rocks crushing business since 2018, bemoaned that life is becoming very unbearable for her and colleagues who are involved in crushing rocks for survival.

In an interview with FrontPage Africa on Monday, November 24 at her work area, Madam Moses said, ‘’We are not getting anything now because we are still experiencing rain.’’

‘’During the rainy season, rock crushing business goes very slowly because you hardly see people who want to buy rocks for construction.  We only see them during the dry season and we are hoping things will be good for us during the dry season,” Madam Moses stated while pointing fingers at the huge 25kg bags of crushed rocks she said have been packed for sale for several months but no buyers.   

Rock crushing is more than work in this community-it is survival with unemployment soaring across Liberia, and formal jobs out of reach for many Liberia. Many families turn to informal labor. In Hipco valley, crushing stones for construction is one of the few options available.

Yet even this backbreaking work is becoming unsustainable.

A 25kg bag of crushed rock sells for just 200 Liberian Dollars –roughly one U.S. Dollar. In some cases, desperate sellers accept as low as 150 LD just to make a sale.

After   labor transport, and time, many rock crushers find themselves earning far less than they invest.

“We carry the rocks to the roadside every day, but at the end of the day, we do not even get back what we put in,’’ Madam Moses told FPA.   

The strain is felt across families. Children are often seen alongside their parents, either helping with the crushing or transporting stones. With an estimated 80% of parents in Liberia unemployed or underemployed, many families are forced to choose between sending children to school and keeping them home to help put food on the table.      

‘’We are constrained to do this work because we have to send our children to school, feed them and pay our rent. I have five children. My husband does the cracking of the rocks and I come and piece them,’’ she continued.

Also speaking, Kebbeh Kanuh, who said she is a single mother, said they do not get anything from the   crushing of rocks during the rainy season except during the dry season.

‘‘We are praying that we will get something from our business during the dry season because it is the time those who are building their houses will buy our rocks and will get money,’’ Madam Kanuh said. 

‘‘I have three children and through the rocks I am sending them to school. We are happy that we are entering the dry season and our pots will boil,’’ Madam Kanuh added. 

 For their part, Sarah Macauluay and Cynthia Richard, like Janet Moses and Kebbeh Kanuh, also decried the rock crushing works, saying they have no other work to do but only this rock crushing work for survival.

‘‘I have four children. I am sending the two big children to school and the other two small children are not going to school because I am unable to send them to school.  I hope to send them to school in the future if my business improves,’’ Madam Macaulay uttered. 

Madam Richard, a mother of seven children, cried out that she barely gets anything from the rocks crushing and is making life by the grace of God.

 “I have seven children. I am the only one supporting them. Their father ran away from us several years ago. Of the seven children, I am sending three to school and the others are not going to school because I cannot make it,’’ Madam Richard said. 

 Meanwhile, the female rock crushers have made a passionate appeal to the Government of Liberia to help them with loans so as to help improve their business.

‘’When we get a loan, we will invest the loan into our rocks crushing business because it is the crushing of rocks we understand. We will buy the small rocks from the Chinese Company and dump them on the roadside for sale for business purposes. And the rocks that we are crushing we will use the sale for our food money and other minor activities,’’ they uttered. 

‘‘Whatever we generate from the sale of the small rocks will be used to pay back the loan and improve our entire rock crushing business,’’ they said.

They expressed the hope that the government will consider their appeal so as to bring relief to them – the Louisiana Women Rock Crushers.