The Turning Point From ‘Darkness To Light’ The Story Of Woman Living With Disability Describes Her Relocation To The USA

By Patrick Stephen Tokpa
In a heartwarming turn of events, a 22-year-old woman from Gbarnga-Siaquelleh Town, Panta District 4, Bong County, departed her rural village for a better life in the United States of America, describing her relocation as “from darkness to light’.
This positive change was made possible through the efforts of a dedicated son of Gboawuta Town, Harrison Kpartipa, with support from his church, Trinity Lutheran Church in Tipton and Trinity Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids Iowa, United States of America.
Thinking was born on October 11, 2002, in the remote farming village of Gbarnga-Siaquelleh Town, located in northern Bong County, Liberia. Due to a ‘probable’ neurological condition, Thinking has never had use of her legs from the knees down.
She was born during a very difficult period in the country’s history, having been born in year eleven of what ended up being a devastating fourteen-year civil war. While the war may not have caused her medical affliction, it certainly has impacted the first fourteen and one-half years of her life.
With no electricity, running water, or nearby medical clinics/hospitals, Thinking’s birth came under less-than-ideal circumstances, probably aided by the village’s elder women (traditional midwives). With the war raging, the people of Liberia, especially in the rural villages, had virtually no financial means to travel, and thus to seek medical treatment.
As a result, Thinking was forced to adapt to her circumstances as she grew. This meant to become a contributing part of her family/village unit, she had to carry out the same tasks as her able-bodied peers.
She learned to walk on her knees to complete such tasks as ‘fetching’ water, gathering firewood for cooking, threshing rice, and ‘walking’ to school when she could attend. Village life was in no little measure laborious for young Thinking but something formed the pillar of courage and that was hope.
However, Harrison Kpartipa, who grew up in the adjacent village of Gboawuta but now based in the USA, stated, ‘children born in Liberia with critical medical conditions are often treated as outcasts due to their inability to carry their own weight’.
According to Mr. Kpartipa, while on a mission trip to Gbarnga-Siaquelleh in 2015, he was introduced to Thinking, with the question asked of him, “Is there a way someone in the United States can help Thinking?” Upon his return to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he currently resides, as an eight-year US citizen, Mr. Kpartipa approached the mission support committee of his church, Trinity Lutheran, Cedar Rapids.
He then asked the question of how they could assist Thinking Paye, adding at first, the conversation centered around mobility devices, such as crutches, wheelchairs, or a PET tricycle.
According to Mr. Kpartipa, the committee asked him (Kpartipa) to find a hospital that would cater to Thinking Paye’s health condition, so he contacted the Shriner’s Hospital in the Twin Cities, to inquire whether the Shriner’s would accept Thinking Paye to be evaluated and then offer a course of treatment.
“In January 2017, I received news from the Shriner’s Hospital that they would accept Thinking as an international patient. That set the wheels in motion to secure Thinking’s birth certificate (no small feat), to apply for a passport and VISA, and lastly, obtain notarized POA and guardianship documents, as Thinking’s parents do not have the means to accompany her for this year-long expected medical course of treatment. At the time, all the documents were in transit to Cedar Rapids,” he added.
Moreover, Mr. Harrison Kpartipa said upon receipt of the aforementioned documents, he was in a position to begin making travel arrangements to bring Thinking Paye to Cedar Rapids in the US.
These arrangements included having him flown to Liberia to accompany Thinking Paye to the USA. At the same time, with these documents in hand, he was able to schedule Thinking’s preliminary consultation evaluation with the Shriner’s Hospital.
” When Miss Paye arrived in Cedar Rapids until she is admitted at the Shriner’s Hospital, I intend to immerse her into ‘life in the USA.’ This include enrolling her in ESL classes, teaching her basic (to us) life skills, such as NEVER bringing electrical devices near water, how to flush a stool, cooking on a gas/electric stove, operating a micro-wave oven, turning a light switch on, how and when to make a call to 911, etc. I even have to quit my job to take care of her,” he stressed.
Remember, this is a young lady coming from the rainforest of remote Africa who lived through the horrors of life in Liberia. Try to imagine the world she was leaving, then think about the world she was being entered into.
Mr. Harrison Kpartipa told the media that one of Thinking’s first medical reviews of her life was made in early 2016, where she was reported to be extremely malnourished but otherwise to be in relatively good health.
He said Thinking Paye, who could not walk when she was in Liberia, can now walk, and her health condition has improved in the US.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with Thinking Paye via mobile phone from the United States of America, she lauded the efforts of Mr. Harrison Kpartipa for transforming her life from darkness to light.
Thinking Paye told our reporter that she can walk now, and she completed her high school studies in 2023 and she is currently in university.
“If Mr. Harrison Kpartipa has not brought me to the United States of America, probably I may have been dead long ago because life was very difficult for me as a person who couldn’t walk. There was no care for me,” Thinking Paye explained her ordeal in a grateful tone.