LOUISIANA, Upper Caldwell : As the dry season heightens, several rock crushers in Louisiana situated in the Township of Caldwell, Montserrado County have expressed happiness over their working condition, describing it as far better than the rainy season.
By Augustus D.R Bortue-augustusbortue@frontpage africa yahoo.com
According to the Chairman of the Louisiana Rock Crushers Group, Sekou Kromah, they are now getting money from their crush rocks as compared to the rainy season.
‘‘Right now, our customers are buying our crush rocks and we are now benefiting from our hard laboured works. Those who buy our crush rocks are those who are building their houses and we hope the buying will continue until the rainy season begins when we will get out of business,’’ Chairman Kromah, who spoke in an interview with the FrontPage Africa(FPA) on Monday, April 13 at his rocks crushing site in Louisiana, stated.
‘‘I am happy that we are now getting money from our crush rocks and our pots are now boiling unlike during the rainy season. This is the work I depend on for survivor even though it is hard work but at least it is helping me and my family,’’ Chairman Kromah said.
Mr. Kromah said from the proceeds he is getting from the sale of his crush rocks he is saving some of the money for the rainy season for the upkeep of he and his family because he said he does not know no other work but only this rock crushing work for survival.
‘’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 happy that the dry season is on,’’ he added while pointing fingers at the huge 25kg bags of crushed rocks, which he said has been purchased and only waiting for removal.
Also speaking to the FPA, Sarah Macauluay, a female rock crusher, also expressed happiness over the sale of crush rocks in Louisiana, saying “Life is little better than the rainy season. Our rocks are being sold now and at least we are making life.’’
Madam Macaulay, who said she is a single mother, said with the sale of rocks she is now taking care of here children-sending them to school.
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 labour.
In Hipco valley, crushing stones for construction is one of the few options available.
Yet even this backbreaking work becomes sustainable during the dry season.
A 25kg bag of crushed rock sells for just 200 Liberian Dollars –roughly one U.S. Dollar.
After labour transport, and time, many rock crushers find themselves earning something satisfactory than they invest.
“We carry the rocks to the roadside every day, but at the end of the day, we get our profits from the work,’’ Madam Macaulay 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 their 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,’’ she continued.
For her part, Lewis Nah, another rock crusher said she is glad that the dry season is on as she is getting money from the sale of her rocks, something she said did not happen during the rainy season.
‘‘Right now my children are in school and I have paid for all of their school fees. From the sale of my rocks everything is going fine with me and hope and I am preparing for the rainy season. I am saving some of the money from the sale of the rocks for the rainy season for our upkeep,’’ she added.
Meanwhile, the female rock crushers have again made a passionate appeal to the Government of Liberia(GoL) 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.
