Pseudo Democracy Of Mahinda Rajapakse

| by Rajasingham Jayadevan

( December 8, 2014, London. Sri Lanka Guardian) A very thoughtful analysis of Tisaranee Gunasekara: ‘Fake Tales For Elections’ rightly projects the paranoiac, selfish and phony mindset of Mahinda Rajapakse in prolonging his autocratic governance. The analysis speaks of the degree of the treacherous and dishonest campaign of the Mahinda camp to subterfuge the very people it depends on to prolong the nation’s agony.

Pseudo Democracy of Mahinda Rajapakse by Thavam Ratna

Govt. spends Rs. 500 m to secure 2,000 votes!

 Monday, 08 December 2014 14:48Category: General

The extent of the government’s political bankruptcy is evident by its having spent Rs. 500 million to get the support of a person like Tissa Attanayake, who does not have even 2,000 votes of his own, a group of businessmen at Digana in Kundasale electorate of Kandy district told ‘Lanka News Web.’

People of Kundasale, Attanayake’s electorate, are lighting firecrackers to celebrate the UNP’s freeing from his clutches, said these businessmen as well as UNP voters in Kundasale.

‘Sold himself before losing UNP party position!’

“Had Tissa Attanayake not given the way to a Muslim candidate at the 2010 general election and got himself appointed to parliament on the national list, he would not have been in even a Pradeshiya Sabha by now. Attanayake glowed with the general secretary position, but the general secretary position did not glow due to him. So, what Attanayake did was to sell himself before losing that position. When the former UNP general secretaries are considered, Tissa is a frog in the well. Leaving alone in English, can he express an idea clearly in Sinhala to go in line with the party’s vision?,” people of Digana asked to the sound of lighting firecrackers.

tissa Exits

By Zahrah Imtiaz and Rathindra Kuruwita-2014-12-09

United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Tissa Attanayake tendered his letter of resignation to Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at Sirikotha yesterday (8).
In his letter of resignation, he said he was leaving the party due to the plots against him by Malik Samarawickrama, Ravi Karunanayake and Mangala Samaraweera. He added that these men have repeatedly attempted to destroy the unity in the party brought about by the Ranil Wickremesinghe -Sajith Premadasa alliance and they had continuously attempted to undermine him.
"I was not even properly informed of the recently formed Opposition alliance, although I was the General Secretary of the Party. I can't continue supporting this alliance as it is against my conscience and the desire of the UNPers," he said in his letter.
Attanayake added that the decision to field Maithripala Sirisena, as the common Opposition candidate, was against the wishes of UNPers.

Attanayake met President Rajapaksa later at Temple Trees and is expected to be given a ministerial portfolio. He added that in the past, a representative of the leading political party in an alliance, was elected the leader of such an alliance.
"This is because the main role of assuring the victory of the alliance lies with the main political party. When we chose Sirisena, we did so based on three conditions. The first was handing over the powers of the executive to Ranil Wickremesinghe within 24 hours, the second was appointing Sirisena as the common Opposition candidate, only after he secures the crossing over of 20-25 UPFA MPs and the third was assuring that he will amend the Constitution in 100 days. However, so far Sirisena has not given such assurances," he said.

Commenting on his departure, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he told Attanayake that he was making a mistake by leaving the party.
"I told him that he was making a mistake and that I am sorry he took the decision. Maithripala Sirisena represents the proud traditions of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and I represent the tradition of the United National Party (UNP). This does not change the fact that we will win the election," he said.
Last week Attanayake denied rumours that he will be crossing over to the government. Addressing a UNP district organizers' meeting on 26 November he said, "The hardcore UNP members cannot be bought for money and the government cannot buy me over. My conscience cannot be bought for money." He then complained that many web based media organizations had been spreading rumours that he was offered Rs 500 million to join the government.

Hirunika for Maithri

December 9, 2014 

• Says she will remain SLFPer but no longer support President

• Predicts that Govt. will demonise her murdered father now

• nAsserts defection was an ‘independent’ decision made in good conscience

• CBK accompanies Hirunika to offer her ‘strength’

Pledging her support to common opposition Maithripala Sirisena, popular UPFA Western Provincial Councillor Hirunika Premachandra defected from the ruling party on nomination day.

Premachandra said that she could not in good conscience remain with the Government.
“If he wins, the country wins,” Premachandra said of Sirisena, soon after arriving at the Opposition Leader’s office at 5:30 p.m. for a press briefing yesterday.
She was accompanied by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and welcomed by UNP Communications Director Mangala Samaraweera. Flanked by Kumaratunga and UNP MPs Rosy Senanayake and Chandrani Bandara, the former ruling party council member noted that she remained a member of the SLFP.
“I am still in the SLFP but I have left the President,” Premachandra told reporters. “Why do they protect my father’s killers? How can I continue to stay in this Government in good conscience,” she charged.
“All this time we could not battle this system because there was no personality to rally around,” she explained.
“Maithripala Sirisena is a politician we all love, who loves this country, a clean individual,” Premachandra added.
Daughter of murdered SLFP trade union leader and presidential advisor, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, Hirunika Premachandra observed that people could expect no justice when the murder of a senior party member was going unpunished.
The Sirisena campaign was standing against violence, thuggery and corruption in the present system, she charged.
“From tomorrow, my father and I will be demonised,” the Councillor added.

No medicine for Mahinda’s Bandaranaike phobias: CBK Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga struck back against President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s remarks last week that she was his true challenger in the 8 January poll. “I have no medicine for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Bandaranaike phobias,” Kumaratunga charged in response to questions from journalists at the press briefing by Hirunika Premachandra yesterday. Against the corruption and brutality of the current administration, she had no choice but to come forward and support the common opposition platform, the ex-President noted. Addressing newspaper editors last Friday, President Rajapaksa claimed that his true opposition challenger was Kumaratunga. He charged that the plot to put Maithripala Sirisena forward as candidate was a Chandrika-Mangala conspiracy. “This is a historic moment when the UNP and the SLFP have come together. We have always dreamed about this,” she added.

The Colombo District vote-topper at this year’s WPC election said she had made her decision the day Sirisena announced he would be contesting as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s main opposition challenger in the 8 January election.
“I called Minister Rajitha Senaratne and asked him when I should join. He told me to come when I liked, he said I could do it today or at a later date,” she explained.
She had also sought counsel from ex-President Kumaratunga once she had made her up mind to defect, Premachandra added.
“None of them forced my hand. President Kumaratunga told me to make the right decision for me, also because I am a woman in politics, to think about my safety,” she asserted.
She apologised for misleading the media about her crossover plans.
“For security reasons I could not divulge my plans on the telephone until the last moment,” Premachandra explained.
Queried further, the WPC member said there had been security threats against her ever since her father was killed.
Former President Kumaratunga said that senior members of the Government had attempted to intimidate and threaten Premachandra even last morning.
“I came here to give her strength as she made this decision,” Kumaratunga explained.

Common Candidate Club And The Era Of Transformation

By Jude Fernando -December 8, 2014

“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament” — V.I. Lenin, 1917.

“The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom. Freedom would require them to reject this image and replace it with autonomy and responsibility. Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must is not an ideal located outside of man; nor is it an idea which becomes myth. It is rather the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion” — Paulo Freire, 1993.

The Common Candidate Club’s (CCC’s) choice of Maithripala Sirisena to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa is undoubtedly prudent. Maithripala’s 100-day national government promises to revitalise the political culture that has lost its resilience and failed to counter the country’s slide towards plutocracy, and if permitted stratocracy, under an autocratic executive presidency. The CCC should not presume its position resonates enough with the majority population to muster sufficient votes to defeat Rajapaksa. It comprises strange bedfellows united primarily in response to the country’s miserable state that they primarily attribute to the autocratic Presidency. None has established ‘populist credentials’ sufficient to match those of the Rajapaksa’s. Sirisena’s victory is not assured. Could we expect a change in the current obstreperous political culture under the Rajapaksa regime?Read More

President denies Dialog employees their bonus!

 

Monday, 08 December 2014 

The management of Dialog has decided not to pay the year-end bonus to its employees, say sources at the company.

When the employees demanded to know the reason, the management has told them that president Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked for Rs. 5,000 million from the company for his election campaign. As that should be given priority, the bonus cannot be paid, they were told further.

Since the Rajapaksa regime has helped Dialog to build a monopoly in their field  in violation of fair trading policies, the company is bound to help it in such instances. However, it is unfair to deny employees their year-end bonus due to that reason, said one employee of the company.

Ketagoda promises to secure bail for Dhanuna!

 

Monday, 08 December 2014 

Deputy leader of the Democratic Party Jayantha Ketagoda, who joined the government today (08) to strengthen the president’s hands, is using a new ploy to justify his betrayal, party sources say.

Speaking to journalists, Ketagoda said he was joining the government in order to secure reprieve for his party leader, former Army chief Sarath Fonseka. He said he would take the responsibility of securing bail for Fonseka’s son-in-law Dhanuna Tilakaratne. Ketagoda said he would produce Dhanuna before the Colombo high court tomorrow and secure him bail.

Ketagoda also said he could not get the president to return the plot of land at Kirimandala Mawatha in Nawala which Fonseka had been given by the government as a reward for the war victory, because the defence secretary has opposed it. But, at his talks with the president, Ketagoda said, the president has expressed agreement to release from the banks the money owned by Fonseka, which presently stays frozen.

Ketagoda said he held this discussion without Fonseka’s knowledge, but with the blessings of Anoma Fonseka.

Thailand under the influence of social media

More and more Thais are turning to social media to express their political views. Pic: AP.

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Dec 08, 2014 

By James Austin-

A decade ago in Thailand people in the street spilling out their political views in public was quite literally unheard of. Thai friends of mine would shush me if ever I mentioned politics in public; and if I should ever bring up the unspeakable, in any context at all it was, most of the time, met with a thorough stonewalling. At a Thanksgiving party the other week during a quiz put on by the host an image of Rama V popped-up onto a monitor, with the question, “Who is this King?”, only for one or the two Thai guests to utter, “not polite” and walk away. What wasn’t polite about this historical question? I can only assume because it was brought up in a jovial atmosphere while people were drinking cans of Singha beer. Perhaps something as serious as a monarch is not applicable to a party. Perhaps history of this sort is something that should be caged, left alone, not discussed openly, as Thai academic Sulak Sivaraksa didin October when he talked about, and allegedly insulted, King Naresuan the Great, who died in 1605. Sulak was later cited by two retired senior army officers on charges of lèse majesté, which could potentially land him in jail for 15 years.

To insult the monarchy, thereby becoming a threat to national security, is against the law in Thailand. To even discuss the monarchy any place outside of the seemingly protective cloisters of social media, within the confines of nationalistic fervor or in a history class is unusual and arguably impolitic.

One of the popular topics in Thai politics lately is the clean-up by the military junta andarrests of inordinately rich Thai policemen (including a very dubious suicide) – led by another inordinately rich Thai policeman, Somyot Pumpunmuang, whose net worth, along with his wife, is reported to be around US$11 million (฿364 million). But the money, or the apparent suicide and summary cremation of one of the alleged bad cops, has not been the unspoken cause célèbre during the case; the mostly muted controversy following the arrests has been about the family ties of the indicted. The matter of succession to the throne is not something talked about willy-nilly, or even broached by mainstream Thai media, but speculation via social media has been rampant.

Kong Rithdee lyrically stated in the Bangkok Post recently, “But what do you talk about when you talk about something people don’t want to talk about, or not in public: you burrow into the deep stream, into the silo of speculations and rumor mills. You do it, and we contribute to our descent into an anti-knowledge society.”

Realism, it seems, has been tragically mislaid in the soap opera of Thai politics. The image of democracy has always been just that, an image: surreal. For a long time the image was preserved without many hiccups. The aforementioned silence in the streets, with its substructure of fear and community paranoia, was enough to expunge the utterance before it was uttered. If political arguments were ever leveled in the mainstream media, they were leveled under a foundation of fiction, which made them trite, unwholesome. This has been the reality for many years. As Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan put it quite succinctly, “you can think differently, but do not express it.” This is democracy hanging by a noose, with a whole host of characters ready to kick the chair.

In an effort to look conceivably democratic, Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Committee (NACC), seems to have got to grips with realism. For possibly the first time within the milieu of Thailand’s so often prejudicial, sexist, racist, illiberal, conformist, wholly illicit soap opera circuit, the NACC has decided to inject the ethically floundering but ever-popular soaps with some meaningful socio-political fodder, including things like why the rice scheme was such a disaster. “We want citizens to understand exactly what corruption is, and for them to ask themselves what ways there are to solve the problem and, importantly, how they can contribute to this fight,” said NACC spokesman Vicha Mahakul. How successful will this officially sanctioned kind of realism be, with an elephant still looming in the room, and a raging monkey still in the cage? Will the people just see one kind of corruption, and not another, in these soaps? And will they then retreat to social media where the truth is not told, but it is at least virtually attainable?

When freedom of speech is piecemeal, ad hoc and unreliable, is it not like diluting orange juice to 30% and selling it off as fresh? Can you be realistic about reaching clear pictures as to why the kingdom is in crisis when half the pieces are missing? And the missing pieces, as bulky as they might feel at times, are all available at the click of a button. The junta, in its efforts to administer shackles on freedom of speech, has a Sisyphean task on its hands. Every time they cauterize a leak in the fabric that is the unraveling of historical and present data, they only cause the fabric more grief in another part of its structure until we are left with the naked body, the truth, or something like it. The paltry scanners are doing their worst to inhibit freedom, but at the same time playing into the hands of those they rally against. Social media is an unlevel playing field; it’s the recreation ground for all the mouths that a decade ago would have stayed in and watched TV.

Kong Rithdee finished his op-ed by saying, “This game of talking by not-talking is kind of fun, but to keep playing it is worse than confirming our anti-knowledge stance. It confirms our ignorance and probably doom.” But anti-knowledge has never been further from the truth, with some bumps and blunders Thailand is immutably sailing into a new reality and not the one dictated by millionaire storytellers.

About the author:
James Austin is a journalist and fiction writer living in Thailand.

US hands over senior Taliban militant to Pakistan

• Date 07.12.2014

US Military officials have handed over a high-ranking Taliban commander to the Pakistani government. The move is being viewed as a way to cement trust among Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States.

United States officials handed over three Pakistani prisoners to Islamabad on Sunday, one of whom is a senior Taliban commander long sought after by the Pakistani government, security officials said.

Though the US did not identify the detainees, Pakistani sources say the Taliban commander is Latif Mehsud (pictured above), former number two commander in the Pakistani Taliban and close aid of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike last year.

"TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) senior commander Latif Mehsud who was arrested was handed over to Pakistani authorities along with his guards," one Pakistani security official said. "They reached Islamabad."

The United States, which had been holding Mehsud since his capture in October 2013, will lose its legal right to detain prisoners in Afghanistan at the end of the year, when the combat mission for the US-led force in the country ends.

The US is believed to be housing several dozen prisoners at a detention center near Bagram airfield, and officials are currently grappling with the question of what to do with the prisoners housed there.

"We're actually just going through and returning all the third-country nationals detained in Afghanistan to resolve that issue," a US embassy spokeswoman said.

The handover comes after series US drone strikes against the Pakistani Taliban, and after the Pakistani military killed an al Qaeda commander who was allegedly plotting a bomb attack on a New York City subway.

Rebuilding trust

Newly-elected Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has said that seeking peace is first priority

Pakistan has long demanded that Afghanistan hand over militants operating in its territory, and the issue was a source of tension between Pakistan and former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The former president had repeatedly accused the Pakistani government of harboring militants suspected of launching attacks across the border.

Newly-elected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited Pakistan in November with a view toward improving relations between the two countries.

"[The handover] shows the level of confidence between militaries of the two countries and (their) intelligence organizations is now far better," Pakistani defense and security analyst Talat Masood said. "Afghans have also realized it is in mutual interest not to support militants of either countries."

bw/se (AP, AFP, Reuters)

U.S. Accuses Iran of Secretly Breaching U.N. Nuclear Sanctions

Washington has evidence that Tehran is trying to buy new equipment for a key nuclear facility. But the White House isn't willing to say anything publicly about it.

• BY COLUM LYNCH-DECEMBER 8, 2014

The United States has privately accused Iran of going on an international shopping spree to acquire components for a heavy-water reactor that American officials have long feared could be used in the production of nuclear weapons-grade plutonium.
U.S. Accuses Iran of Secretly Breaching U.N. Nuclear Sanctions by Thavam Ratna

Mexico's missing students: body parts found

With protests erupting over the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico, the country's attorney general confirms that bone fragments found belonged to a 19-year-old trainee teacher.

(Protesters burn an effigy of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto)

MONDAY 08 DECEMBER 2014

Mexico's 43 missing students have become 42, writes Thom Walker. Experts who examined DNA evidence, taken from a rubbish dump of charred remains, confirmed one family's worst nightmare: the fragments of bone were those of 19-year-old trainee teacher Alexander Mora Venancio.

Announcing the findings, the country's attorney general Jesus Murillo said they would "continue with the probe until all the guilty have been arrested". Few believe the investigation will get to the bottom of anything.

Authorities say they were taken by corrupt local police, and handed over to a drug gang, which killed them and burnt their bodies, after confessions from cartel members.

Reviled

Across much of Mexico, all forms of government are so reviled, many families rejected this out of hand. Tragically for them, it seems this time the account may have some truth in it. As ever, rumours, claims and counter-claims billow around Mexico like a vicious sandstorm.

One thing, however, is evident: the disappearance of 43 trainee teachers in the state of Guerrero in September has ignited an increasingly vocal protest movement and ushered in the most difficult period of Enrique Pena Nieto's presidency.

The embattled leader is on the ropes, and swinging wildly. His government would not rest until the perpetrators faced justice, he told his dwindling support base.

Then last week he unveiled a new security plan for Mexico's 31 states. The corrupt old order would be replaced, he announced, with a new federal force which would have "a special emphasis in the areas of high criminality". In short, the criminal organisations that now effectively run large swathes of the country.

Anger

It seems unlikely a new force of this kind will curtail the anger felt across Mexico. In the week I spent there, I was struck by the uniform response I found across Guerrero when asked about the authorities.

"They are in the hands of the cartels," a local farmer told me in the hills of Guerrero. "Those who aren't, don't survive."

My taxi driver in Iguala, where the students were taken, repeated a phrase I'd heard elsewhere in Latin America: "If something goes wrong, don't shout out, in case the police come."

Pena Nieto is facing building street protests that show few signs of abating. A fresh crisis of legitimacy is facing his government and the administrations across the country. He seems powerless to do much to stop it.

Follow @thompwalker on Twitter

Wall St flat after Japan, China data; biotechs climb

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange December 5, 2014.

BY CHUCK MIKOLAJCZAK-NEW YORK Mon Dec 8, 2014

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Monday, as investors weighed the strength of the U.S. economy against global growth concerns following soft data out of China and Japan, while biotechs rose on merger activity.

Major indexes opened slightly lower after data showed China's exports grew at a slower-than-expected pace and imports dropped 6.7 percent in November, while Japan's economy shrank more than expected in the third quarter.

But signs of strength in the U.S. economy, including Friday's payrolls report, helped investors shake off weakness in global economies. The S&P 500 closed Friday's session with its 49th record of the year, and is up more than 11 percent from an October low.

"Overall, the U.S. numbers still remain pretty strong, we had very strong numbers on Friday from the employment report, that’s probably why you are seeing the strength here," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

"The other side of it, too, is many of these other countries are taking some efforts to stimulate as well. People are looking at is as temporary, and somewhere down the line as those economies get stronger, everybody will be in pretty good shape."

Biotech shares rallied after Merck & Co Inc said it would buy Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc for $8.4 billion plus the assumption of debt. Merck shares were off 1 cent at$61.48 while Cubist shares surged 35.5 percent to $100.75. The Nasdaq biotech index advanced 2.1 percent.

Energy was easily the worst performing S&P sector, down 2.7 percent, as Brent crude fell to a five-year low on predictions oversupply would keep building until next year. The index is down more than 10 percent for the year, making it the only one of the 10 major S&P sectors in negative territory for the year.

In response to falling oil prices, ConocoPhillips said its capital budget for 2015 would drop 20 percent to $13.5 billion. Conoco shares lost 3.1 percent to $65.73.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 11.19 points, or 0.06 percent, to 17,947.6, the S&P 500 lost 1.11 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,074.26 and the Nasdaq Composite added 8.03 points, or 0.17 percent, to 4,788.79.

McDonald's shares lost 3.2 percent to $93.18 after the fast-food restaurant chain reported a steeper-than-expected fall in global same-restaurant sales in November and said fourth quarter results would be hurt by a supplier scandal in China and a stronger dollar.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

'Violence breeds violence': one woman's story of 16 years inside a Russian jail

Thursday 4 December 2014 
Tatyana Gavrilova was convicted of murder in 1999. On her release from prison she spoke to MediaZona, a partner in the Guardian’s New East network, about ongoing abuse inside the country’s notorious penal system – and her determination to fight for the rights of inmates.

 

Tatyana Gavrilova: ‘I’ve been told many times that I’d never be released’. Photograph: Artyom Ho/MediaZona

Thursday 4 December 2014 

In 1999, 20-year-old Tatyana Gavrilova was convicted of murder by the Russian courts. She spent the next 16 years in various institutions. On 9 September this year she was released from the IK-2 women’s prison in Mordovia and went straight to Moscow, taking with her a documented account of her treatment at the hands of prison authorities.
'Violence Breeds Violence' One Woman's Story of 16 Years Inside a Russian Jail by Thavam Ratna

Surviving Ebola-CARING FOR CHILDREN

Article by Lenny Bernstein, Photography by Michel du Cille, Published: December 7, 2014

Recovering from one of the most fearsome infections known to humankind should provide a time of unsurpassed joy. But it doesn’t always work out that way.

More than 3,100 Liberians have died of Ebola. But against long odds, some fortunate people have overcome the virus. They have been granted one precious gift, something even modern medicine cannot convey: immunity to this strain of the disease.

This is what it’s like to survive the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

CARING FOR CHILDREN

Decontee Davis, 23, works at a child-care center, a two-story concrete building behind a tall iron gate in Monrovia. Children played inside and out on a recent sunny afternoon. Others watched television. The hubbub would sound normal anywhere in the world.

But any of these 13 children could be coming down with Ebola. All are from homes where parents or guardians have been taken away to treatment centers or died of Ebola. Now the youngsters must be monitored for 21 days, to determine whether they are infected as well.
The job falls to a staff of 10, all survivors of Ebola like Davis, who watch them 24 hours a day.

Davis was a part-time student and a single mother with a 5-year-old son when she came down with Ebola in early August, after bathing an aunt who had the disease. Her family took her to the ELWA 2 Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. Her fiancee was also admitted.

Days of hell ensued. Davis lost her eyesight and became too weak to move. She had constant diarrhea. She could not hold down any fluids, which are critical to surviving the disease. A doctor “would hold a bottle to my mouth,” she said. “I would drink it. As soon as it enter my system, I would vomit it out.”

Davis’s fiance died. A woman perished in front of her. Terrified, Davis called her father. To calm her, he read her scripture over the phone.

One day, she felt well enough to ask for a toothbrush. Soon, she was able to clean herself.

“I had the strength to take my own water and carry it to the bathroom. I had the strength to wake up from my bed and brush my own teeth. So these are things that gave me courage. I thought ‘Yes … I am responding to treatment,’ ” she said.

She was discharged Sept. 1. Only then did she learn what had been happening at home in Mount Barclay, a small town northeast of Monrovia.

“My son could not play in the community. Everybody was afraid of him, saying his mother have Ebola … no one wanted him to infect them with that virus,” she said. Davis’s mother couldn’t buy food in the market. Friends had to bring her rice and cooking oil.

Davis decided she had to take care of children exposed to Ebola. “I make the decision from what happened to my family. I don’t want that to be repeated in other kids’ lives.

“My son had Grandmother to care for him in my absence. They may not have other people to care for them. So things will be worse for them. They may not have food to eat in the community,” she said.

Davis, like other survivors, also donated blood in hopes of helping other Ebola victims — although research on the effectiveness of such transfusions is inconclusive.

Davis’s new job can be emotionally draining. Six of the children in her care have developed Ebola symptoms. So far, she knows of one who has survived, she said. Davis prays for the strength to tend to the children.

“I will ask God to give me passion to love them like my own,” she said.