The SAMAY Memorial is a 10’ x 10’ x 3’ cement cross with the names of the 37 lost community members inscribed on the front of it. In the middle of the cross is a forlorn memorial text and it reads: “In loving memory of our late fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters who died as a result of the Liberian civil crisis.” The memorial is used as a tool to teach children in primary and secondary schools about the war with the view of passing on non adversarial approaches to resolving conflict. The memorial, built without any outside prompting, was erected in 2001 by members of the community. The Project was a direct response to the phenomenon of a recurrent spell of dreams by community members. In these dreams some of the dead killed in the massacre appeared and asked not to be forgotten. As a measure of commemoration, the Community decided to erect a memorial. Without the luxury of a community treasury, a farm rice initiative was launched and the proceeds from the harvest used to commence the project.
Monrovia Liberia
