Lydie Bah, Cote d’Ivoire "Four days after my arrival in Liberia, I gave birth to a baby girl"

"My name is Lydie Bah. I am 20 years old. I came to Abidjan from Toulepleu in the west two months ago. I've lived in Abidjan before, but in July 2002 when I became pregnant I decided to go back to my village, Doho, in Toulepleu to be with my parents as I awaited the birth of the baby. I left behind my boyfriend, the father of my child, who is from Burkina Faso.

"The 19th of September I heard that Abidjan had been attacked by rebels and that Bouake was also in the hands of rebels. On the 29th of November, rebels from Liberia attacked my village. Pregnant as I was, I ran away with my parents to a neighbouring village while other villagers fled [across the border] to Liberia.

"We spent one month in that village but on the 5th of January gunmen arrived. My parents and I hid in the forest. In some places I had to crawl because by then I was very pregnant. I was in this situation for three days; then we finally crossed the river into Liberia.

"Four days after my arrival in Liberia, I gave birth to a baby girl and named her Anna. My mother was my midwife. We stayed for a month in Liberia. But we lacked food and life was very difficult. I did not have milk to breastfeed my baby.

"The price of a kilo of rice rose from 200 to 500 cfa [between $0.3 - 0.9] and I could not afford this. Anna started losing weight and I knew that it was time for me to go back to Cote d'Ivoire, to Toulepleu, because I could find food there. We spent one month in Liberia.

"On the way back to Cote d'Ivoire in April, we were arrested by the rebels. They dug a big hole and poured in water to make it muddy and they threw us in it. They left it uncovered so we were under the scorching sun all day long. They said it was a punishment but we did not know for what.

"Finally we arrived in Toulepleu but Anna started coughing. I took her to the Red Cross centre but they had no medicines. I was asked to come back in three days but when I went back there were still no medicines. So I decided to use traditional medicines and thanks to God Anna recovered.

"I came to Abidjan in September and now Anna is 10 months old. Some friends told me that Anna's father had gone back to Burkina Faso because of tensions in Cote d'Ivoire. I am making every effort to take care of my daughter but it is not easy.

"I am now looking after a telephone booth for someone who pays me according to the number of calls made. So my salary varies - it could be 10,000 cfa or 20,000 cfa [$17 or $24 respectively].

"I live in an informal settlement which was rented by the owner of the telephone booth for me. I'm repaying what my boss paid to the landlord, which is 7,000 cfa [about $12]. I now live with my little brother as well."

see also:
IRIN In-Depth on Cote d'Ivoire