A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

to a lack of culturally-appropriate resources and services. 524 According to a Liberian service provider
in the community:
[I]f you come at it straight…if you come in and say ‘Oh, I think you need to
go talk to Doctor So-and-So in mental hospital’ she wouldn’t have gone. She
wouldn’t have. Because [among] Liberians…it’s not something that’s talked
about. ‘Cause crazy is not a word that they want to hear. 525
Liberians often have alternative explanations for why mental and other health problems are afflicting
them based on their traditional cultural practices. These rationales may include “violation of natural
or traditional laws (e.g., inappropriate relations with kin, stealing, etc), not performing expected
rituals (e.g., ritual for a deceased elder), mental poisoning by an enemy, a curse by an aged elder for
serious traditional violation (e.g., disrespect, abandonment, etc.), or bad luck leading to possession by
evil spirit.” 526 These beliefs can lead to alternative care seeking, as opposed to formal counseling or
therapy. 527
Perpetrators in the Community
Like refugees in Ghana and elsewhere in the sub-region, individuals in the United States also report
encounters with those who perpetrated crimes against them during the war. 528 This experience can
re-traumatize individuals finally beginning to adjust to life in a new country. 529 Encounters with
perpetrators are reported to lead to changes in victim behavior, increased isolation, or other changes
such as moving. 530
One young woman saw another Liberian who had committed crimes against her family in the parking
lot of her apartment complex in Minnesota. She later discovered that he was living on the floor above
her. She went to the apartment management, and they helped her to move. She did not, however,
report the encounter to anyone else. A social service provider described why:
[T]hey made eye contact and she had the feeling that he doesn’t know her, he
doesn’t know it’s her. But just the fact that, it’s him and not recognizing what
he had done. First of all he doesn’t know who she is so how can he recognize
what he had done…And I think her issue was she was helpless, how can they
hold him accountable, what she can do, who will she go to to believe what
[she is] saying. It’s her word against his, especially here, so what [is she] going
to do? Talking to him and maybe seeing him more often would just keep
bringing everything back to [her] and [she] didn’t want to go through that. 531
A community leader in Minnesota told the TRC that “I’ve seen people move, I know of a family that
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Chapter Thirteen