By: Blamo N. Toe/Contributing Writer
The father of a three-month old twin whose mother, along with her other two children, died in a tragic fire disaster in New Kru Town, is seeking assistance in both cash and kind for the welfare of his children. (Note that the fellow holding the children crying is not the father but one of the neighbors who kept them for refuge, while the biological father was so emotional at the time of the interview.)
It can be recalled that early Friday morning, January 12, 2024 at about 1:00 local Liberian time, fire gutted a two-bedroom zinc shack located right at the back of the Samuel Slewion Doe Memorial Institute (SSDMI) opposite the famous Duala Market, Borough of New Kru Town.
The bereaved father, who is also a local tailor, Mustapha Samah, explained to newsmen that the fire was first spotted at about 1:00 a.m. by another little boy who was lying down in the same room opposite their room within the house, noting that the actual cause of the fire is yet to be figured out although the electricity (Liberia Electricity Corporation) was on.
“At about 1:00 this morning, one little boy ‘halah’ [shouted], ‘Uncle Musa, Uncle Musa, the fire, the fire.’ So when I woke up I only took one of the babies and brought it outside, then my woman [spouse] brought out the other baby, but she did not reach outside; she gave it to me and I threw the child outside then she ran back inside the house,” he asserted.
Samah added that a few minutes later, while they were all in a state of confusion, his spouse, Patience Gaye, remembered that two of their five children, a boy and a girl—students of the Point Four Elementary School (Jewel Howard Taylor School in New Kru Town), were still asleep in the room amid the blaze.
According to him, Gaye immediately ran back into the house to get out the two children, 10- and 13-year-olds, but unfortunately she and the children lost their way out due to the unprecedented smoke in the room, thus leading to their sudden and untimely deaths.
“The fire was heavy and I was not able to enter the house because I was alone. I passed behind the house and brought the zinc down, then I called her, ‘Patience, come outside, open the place,’ but she said, ‘Musa the smoke is too much, I can’t even see.’ So myself I felt hopeless and started crying and passing around without seeing anybody to help me,” the bereaved fiancé stated with tears rolling down his cheeks.
Mustapha Samah is seeking urgent assistance, both in kind and cash, from the Liberian government and other humanitarian organizations across the country and abroad to help cater to his motherless three-month-old twin.
“Blamo my brother, see how I’m looking now. I lost everything to the fire, no clothes and even the shirt I’m wearing was given to me this morning by a neighbor. Nothing I took out for my babies. The only clothes they have are the ones on them,” he said.
Samah added that the twin babies only feed on the breast milk of their now deceased mother, who was in her early 30s, terming it as the most troubling and difficult moment, especially the unforeseen health implication it may have on the children, considering the rest of the time they will not be breast fed.
“As we speak, they are not with me but rather they’re with my sister for care because I am a man, but for how long will she use her personal resources? My entire tailoring machine burnt, people whose clothes I was sewing too got destroyed without knowing my way out to handle this and my strong spouse too, who was already helping the family through selling, is no more. My two big children died as well just in a day, but God knows why me,” he wept with his head bowed to the ground.
Also speaking, the Chairperson of the Karpeh Street Community where the incident occurred, Dekontee Woto, expressed frustration over the disaster, recounting that his community has always experienced such a calamity.
Woto further joined Samah in pleading with the National Disaster Management Agency and well-meaning Liberians to aid the struggling bereaved husband of three living children.
“I have communicated with the offices of the Borough Governor, Moses Doe Weah, our lawmaker, Representative Dixon Seboe (Montserrado County Electoral District #16), and the Disaster Management Agency to swiftly intervene, and they all consented. I am also affected because the burnt house is my people’s place, but most importantly we say sorry to the bereaved family,” Woto averred.
Meanwhile, the office of Representative Dixon Seboe, in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), immediately worked alongside the concerned family members, secured a paid spot in the Township of Caldwell and ensured the corpses were buried the same day.
“This is so painful and of course you’re aware about the up-coming speakership election, so I had to leave the district for where we (lawmakers) have gathered to plan, but I had to quickly rush back to this scene because it touches my heart. We are going to work with the NDMA and the family to firstly bury these corpses, then our second step, that includes a thorough investigation to know how it all happened, things that were destroyed and how we can help along with the agency will follow,” the CDC lawmaker indicated.
