The Parting Of Two Pats: A Reflection Of My Dealings With The Fallen Liberian Journalists

By D. Kaihennneh Sengbeh (dakasen1978@yahoo.com/06586531)
Introduction
I was very astounded as still as I am when the news hit me (through text messages) that two best friends of the same profession, bearing the same first names – who had worked together—had died during the same weekend, same month and same year.
The untimely deaths (yes, that’s how at least I term it) of my two professional colleagues—Patrick Karmle Wrokpoh (always broadly smiling back) and Patrick Abu Paasewe (diplomatic and always serious)—have left me with a wounded heart and broken spirit, and I am compelled to write this piece, detailing how I got their deaths news and how and when I met and befriended them.
Until now, as I write this article of reflection of my interaction with the twosome, I can’t understand why Patrick Wrokpoh and Paasewe are gone at this critical time of our country’s history (2011Elections)—when they had tremendous unfinished businesses, when they, especially the types of Pat Wrokpoh, are needed most. But again, whom am I to question destiny, when, in fact, everyone including myself will follow them one day at the time.
For now, all I can say to those of us who are left behind (especially the Pats’ families, workmates and other close acquaintances) is, “have my sympathy”. I hope we all can pray for the souls of the Pats to rest in perfect peace as they have gone to join our forefathers and other relatives who had since departed this troublesome world. Yes, they came; they lived; they played their parts; and they’ve gone, leaving behind their own legacies.
The shocking news:
a. Patrick Wrokpoh
“Journalist Patrick Wrokpoh of the Inquirer Newspaper is reported dead,” a text message sent to me by one of my reporters read. It was around 10 pm, Friday, June 24, when I received this message. By then, my little family and some neighbors were watching an African movie in our living room; I was on my laptop writing some stories for Monday’s publication.
I immediately called Roland Perry (message sender) to warn him to “stop professing bad luck” on Patrick—my friend. He insisted he was telling me the truth. I immediately called Pat’s immediate boss at the Inquirer, Timothy Seaklor, who and I had spent the whole of Thursday together at a workshop. He had not gotten the information, then. “Let me call Philip [Wesseh] to find out; I will call you back, but it can’t be true,” he stated, sounding unconvincingly.
I immediately called Morrison O.G. Sayon (Inquirer’s reporter who and I live in the same community) but his phone was reported off. My next option was to call Winnie Saywah (Inquirer reporter and my former classmate in journalism school 10 years ago) to verify the hard-to-believe information. The background noise suggested that Winnie was in tears. Right away, Timothy called me back to confirm the report that his workmate was dead. “I am broken, I am broken Sengbeh,” I heard him sob. “Phillip has confirmed it; Patrick is no more. I am broken. I can’t believe it,” the conversation ended.
I knew Perry had not lied to me. Winnie Saywah would text me two hours later at 12:24 am to, I’m sure responding to my earlier call, inform me that her immediate boss was dead. “Patrick Wrokpoh is dead,” her one-sentence text read. By the next day, the news had spread like dry bush fire, especially by our colleagues from the electronic media and through text messages and calls, even before the print media picked it up early Monday.
b. Patrick Paasewe
Like Patrick Wrokpoh, the mind-boggling death news of Patrick Paasewe came to me via text. At about 06:52 am on Monday, June 27, while polishing my shoes to get set for work, the message tone on my phone sounded. ”Day has broken again”, I said to myself, thinking it was one of those usual ‘please call’ messages.’
“Hey comrade,” the message read, “u heard about Patrick Paasewe’s death? I am talking about Patrick from the Mansion. His lifeless body was found hanging today @ his residence on the Robertsfield Highway.”
I initially thought the sender was joking. At another point, I thought he was mistaking Patrick Paasewe for Patrick Wrokpoh, or he was not properly informed. But my judgments were wrong; he was right. Sky FM’s Executive Mansion reporter Robert Clarke, like most of us who have covered the Executive Mansion for the last six years, knew the two fine gentlemen very well. So, Clarke was making no mistake! Patrick Paasewe had indeed joined Patrick Wrokpoh in the space of just two days.
What I Know of Patrick Wrokpoh
I have been active in the Liberian media for the past 10 consecutive years now, rising from the post of intern, cub reporter to news editor. During all my practice years so far, I have never seen a journalist so determined, so industrious and so different like the late Patrick Wrokpoh. During my early years, I always admired him when we met at functions. He was always quiet, observant and asked the hardest questions, besides appearing simple and backing his cool facade with a broad and welcoming smile. He was not a follower of the wind and did not report the obvious. He did not practice first degree journalism (the ‘he said’ and ‘she said’ type) like most of us do. Rather he went beyond the obvious. That was one of his respected marks of distinction and I admired him for it.
I got to even know Patrick better when he and I covered the Presidency together. During those years (2006-2010) Pat, as I called him, was my best friend. He used to call me ‘Mr. Editor’ and always encouraged me to do my best. “I am proud of you; you are trying to make a difference, but you have to keep it up,” Pat told me once. That was his area—advising his colleagues to be professional and always work hard.
Most times, when Patrick could not attend to Executive Mansion weekly press briefing hosted by Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Badio, maybe due to circumstances beyond his control (such as class schedule or another important assignment) he would give me his tape recorder to record the briefing for him. He would ask me to ask specific questions which responses he would want on his recorder. I would do, and he would come to my office for the briefing. I, too, would do like wise.
Patrick was not a selfish friend, at least not to me. He always shared traveling and training opportunities with me and urged me to take advantage. Before he traveled to China in 2010, he always called me the ‘Man from China’, because I had travelled there for a study tour in 2008. Three days to his trip to Beijing, Patrick called at my office to ask me about the weather condition among several other questions including the types of food, to have him adequately prepare for the trip. I told him what I knew; we shared the fun. We laughed it out.
While he was in Japan early this year (when the earthquake was raging hell there), Pat and I communicated several times, and he told me that all was fine with him. He came back and wrote long articles, sharing his experience.
The last time I saw Pat was three weeks ago, at the intersection of Benson and Randall Streets, where he was buying from a petty trader (selling in a wheelbarrow). He spotted and called me. “Mr. Editor, am I the one you’re looking for? Just give me what you have for me,” he joked and we laughed. “My man, you are getting too big nowadays,” I said to him, and he responded: “That’s the benefit of the hard work we are doing.” We shoke hands and that was our last interaction.
Yes, Patrick is gone but his memory lives on. He left behind a legacy—a legacy of professionalism, hard work, respect for all. That’s why several of his colleagues or those who knew him could reply me on Facebook last week when I expressed shock over his death.
The following are some comments from Facebook:
Julu Johnson (The News) wrote: “I voted Patrick Wrokpoh as Assistant Secretary General of the Sports Writers Association of Liberia (SWAL) in 1999 and then Secretary General two years later. This means that he was not a stranger to me. I will miss him for the time spent together. He was always smiling until his death. Rest in Peace Patrick.”
Patrick Honnah (Truth FM): “Let me add my voice to the rest of you by saying my condolences to the bereaved family and to the media. Pat, we’ll miss you.”

Nuruddeen M. Abdullah (a friend of mine from Nigeria): “May he rest in peace. Take heart, my comrade!”

Precious Seboe: “Yeah, it was shock to me when I got the news that morning from Winnie and up to now I still see him smile as the last time I saw him. It puts me out of words.”

Samwar S. Fallah (GAC, Kenya): “Patrick’s death is really a heart break. We are not giving him his flowers because he is dead but he was a different kind of journalist from the normal practice of journalism in Liberia. May his soul rest in peace”

Morrison O. G. Sayon (Pat’s workmate): “Patrick’s death is shocking to everyone and a major blow not only to the Inquirer, but the journalism profession in Liberia. We will tearfully miss him a lot because he was a distinguished journalist. May our dear brother soul rest in peace as he departs this world. And friends, let be blunt that for now there is no replacement for this great hero of the journalist profession.”

Naomi Mondayma Miller:”RIP Patrick ….your friends at AME University regret your death!!!!!!!!!!”

Indeed, Patrick Wrokpoh will be missed. He is difficult to be replaced as he leaves a big vacuum at the Inquirer and the journalism profession in Liberia. I only pray that light perpetual shine upon him.

My Experience With Patrick Paasewe
Patrick Paasewe, like Patrick Wrokpoh, was also a friend and a professional colleague of mine. I can’t understand why, as it is reported he did, Paasewe might have taken away his own life. Frustration? Indebtedness? Family or external pressure? Dissatisfaction? What for? Well, you and I can’t explain, but it beats my imagination, if at all, it is true that the Paasewe I knew committed suicide.
I got to know the “Diplomatic” Paasewe, when I began covering the Executive Mansion in 2004, during the Gyude Bryant-led two-year transitional government. He was a protocol officer in the Office of the Press Secretary—similar position he held at the Executive Mansion before his premature demise. Premature? Yes, suicide!
Paasewe was very a organized and a no-nonsense man. He kept his desk in his office neatly dressed as himself. He executed his duties with time and speed and behaved very diplomatic. He told you straight in the face when you wronged him; he didn’t care what you felt about it. He would discharge his anger and be finished with it—in the form of what we call in Liberia ‘Cocoa cola vexation’.
Before we gathered in the Press Secretary’s office every Mondays for press briefing, it was Paasewe who would call. “You are reminded that there will be press briefing today at Two O’ Clock prompt, thank you,” would be his message which still keeps reechoing in my ears. Sometimes he would exaggerate what would be the content of the press briefing or whatever event is taking place. “It is very, very important and it is a must that you be there, thank you.”
Paasewe, as I knew him to be, was a man who hated injustices. He always wanted things to be done orderly. He advocated the public interest and always alarmed when there were reports of bad products or expired foodstuffs and drugs on the Liberian market, through his Consumer Volunteers Association of Liberia organization. He was a whistleblower.
Legacy of the Pats
It is saddened that today that these two gentlemen have left their huge responsibilities and gone. Each of them has left legacies behind that we should envy—I don’t need to list them further. You know them already. That is why I believe in the fact that we will all die one day as long as we were born, no matter how long we live. So, to me, it doesn’t matter how, where and when we die, but what people say after us when we die — and that’s our legacies. Patrick Wrokpoh, Patrick Paasewe, go rest in peace; your legacies live on. God bless you.

Police, Students In Bloody Clash

A bloody clash erupted between police forces and protesting students in Monrovia Tuesday with several students falling victims to inuries and arrest.

There were two causalities reported from the police’s side, while several blood soaked students were rushed to nearby clinics for first aids.

Minor property damage including cracks on vehicle windshields was reported. At least 25 students were reported arrested.

The clash erupted when police – anti riot police – moved in to halt what they called a “violent demonstration” started by public school students, who reportedly overwhelmed the few officers that have initially stopped them from demonstrating.

Students of the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS) had gathered at the G. W. Gibson High School (public) to protest the decision of their teachers who had laid down chalks in demand for salary increment for two consecutive school days.

The students said the action by their teachers was disadvantageous to their educational journey, especially as the days for the 9^{th and 12th graders’ national exams come closer.}

They said they wanted to go to the Foreign Ministry to inform President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of their plight via a sit-in action.

However, everything turned out to be a bloodbath when they began throwing missiles at the police for thwarting their plan.

Multiple rocks, sticks and other deadly objects flew into the air, landing on top of houses, vehicles and hitting some passersby.

Hundreds of individuals compulsorily took to their heels for safety.

The situation was later brought under control, when pick-up-loads of police officers were called on the scene and overwhelmed the “rebellious” students. “Their action is quite rebellious, and they need to face the law for what they have done,” an unidentified fuming police officer remarked.

Several of the students were reportedly apprehended for what another officer described “subversive offenses and breach of peace”.

One escaping student, identified only as James, described the police’s action as “brutal intervention and a gross violation of our constitutional rights”.

This Same Buutuo…22 Years Later

On Christmas Eve 1989 the nonviolent and unruffled people of a little border town abruptly woke up to the sounds of heavy gunfire and grenade explosions. Confused, they took to their heels, running helter-scatter like headless serpents, in search of refuge.

Later, they realized that a son of the soil had staged a “revolution“ of “freedom“ and regime-change (to wipe out endemic corruption, nepotism, tribalism and tyrannical rule among other undemocratic principles) that would last more than 14 years and change their country forever.

Many of those who left that border town – Buutuo – that momentous hour of darkness never returned. Only few did. Some died. Others are still in exile, but the town itself remained – though with wounding changes – with a unique history.

The Charles Ghankay Taylor-led National Patriotic Front rebel incursion (under the banner of ‘Freedom Fighters’) is the most atrocious and bloodiest civil strive Liberia has ever witnessed in its 163 years history of independence. It claimed more than an estimated 250,000 lives, sent half of million Liberians into displaced camps around the country and forced at least a quarter million others into exile.

The country, during those rowdy nearly 15 years (1989-2003) was plunged into madness of killings, looting and destruction, tainting its once shimmering image, with its people drinking from the wells of shame and shambles. All this started in Buutuo, though not at the will of the hapless people there.

Twenty-two years later, this same border town is again making history: This time, no one running from it as a result of artilleries sounds and explorations of caustic bombs, but people flocking into it as a safe haven.

Certainly, this Buutuo that produced the first bunch of refugees from Liberia to Ivory Coast has now opened wide its arms to reciprocate kindheartedness, and more than 80,000 Ivorian refugees have already overwhelmed the border town and its surrounding settlements and villages. More of them are coming into Liberia as the conflict intensifies in the sisterly country. Latest unconfirmed reports are that: gun sounds have been heard across the border, few shells and explosion have dropped in Liberia and fighting forces have captured several border towns with Liberia. Buutuo is however still a save haven.

Buutuo is the main border entry point between Liberia and Ivory Coast as already stated. It is the capital of Bou-Yao Administrative District, one of the three administrative districts that make of Zogeh District, one of the largest in Nimba.

Prior to the Liberian civil crisis, which was launched there in 1989, Buutou served as a bustling commercial town and a recognized revenue-generating center for the government, reports said. Today, these are only memoirs of yesteryear.

I was very delighted last month when I had an opportunity to travel to the historic border town. The UNFPA Advocacy and Communication Unit had invited me to travel with it as the UN agency was going on an assessment mission and to deliver reproductive health kits for use by the Ivorian refugees.

It should be noted here that reproductive health materials need to be in constant supplies to cater to the huge refugee population. Most of the refuges entering Liberia are women and children and the elderly. Of concern also is the huge number of baby mothers and pregnant women, and of course, teenage mothers in particular.

Reproductive health kits will help them take care of themselves and young babies and help many of them prevent unwanted pregnancies and combat the effect of rapes, which can not often be ruled out in situations like these. No wonder Health Minister Walter Gwenagale, who was also part of the mission, described the donation by the UNFPA as timely and later alarmed that condoms were in short supply in the refugees-inhabited district.

For me, I had never been to Buutou, even though I had read and heard everything about the town, from my boyhood day, when the war erupted.

I was delighted to travel there because I wanted to see for myself were Charles Taylor assembled his men to fire the first rebellious bullet on the Liberian soil. It is where the first batch of Armed Forces of Liberia soldiers was slaughtered. It is where more than 80,000 Ivorian refugees have gathered to seek sanctuary as a result of the crisis in their country. Yes, this same Buutuo.

But besides, the people of the region have over the years complained of being abandoned or forgotten in terms of development. Whether their claim of “neglect“ is true or false (and I see no reason why), lack of public infrastructures is no secret. The two major routes leading to the area are in very deplorable conditions. Bridges, most of them made of planks and logs are, out of date. Several are death traps. Only 4-wheeled vehicles and trucks gamble plying the routes. Several of them get wedged in the mud and on top of shaky bridges.

This writer is a living testimony of the danger these bridges pose. On our visit to the area, the tyres of the UNFPA vehicle in which he were riding slipped off the log on one of those bridges. It took at least 25 minutes to resolve the problem. The same vehicle got stuck in the mud on its way back. Three other vehicles including the one belonging to Health Minister Walter Gwanegale, which partially got damaged and later stuck over a dilapidated bridge and took more than 30 minutes to be removed, faced the same imbroglio.

“President Tolbert [Liberia’s 19^{th President dethroned 1980 through a military coupe] was building roads in this country, but we killed him…and these are some of the consequences of killing our Presidents,“ Minister Gwanegale stated (evoking a big laughter), after the guide in front of his vehicle damaged on the road and had to be tied back in place.}

^{Along the road, one sees stranded vehicles with business women and their goods aboard – waiting to be pulled out by other vehicles, or repaired. With such phenomena, it is often difficult for basic social services to reach the people of Buutuo. This proves why people of region feel they have been neglected by central government.}

^{Moreover, many schools of the area are built of sticks and mud with (some with thatch roofing) and are often short of educational supplies. Health facilities also taste the bitter pie, though there seems to be more health facilities in the region than schools.}

However, despite all of these oddities, the people of Buutuo, Nimba County, are resilient and kind hearted. They consider the Ivorian refugees as their brothers and sisters.

 

I think we are under obligation to receive these people on our soil. For me they are brothers and sisters to us,“ said Joseph Wonnah. He and his family are playing host to an Ivorian family of four: a woman and her three children.Mr. Wonnah and hundreds of other family heads are catering to the refugees who are pouring in on a daily basis. “Food? We are managing with the little we have on a daily basis,“ Dekontee Paye explained. “The little food we had here is finished, but they get relive from the UNHCR and we add that to the little we get from the hustle to eat. God is with us.“

Strikingly, of course, was a refugee woman reportedly in her mid 30s that had given birth to her eleventh child two days before we got there. Madam Philomene, her children and mother are stopping with Madam Annie Menway, whose husband works at the Buutuo health center.

 

She left her husband behind and came with all the children. She gave birth two days ago; now, she has eleven including a twin,“ the smiling host said, while taking this writer and others to her mud house, roofed with thatch.Madam Philomene and her children were among the first batch of refugees the step foot on the Liberian soil last December in search of safe haven in the aftermath of the political crisis in her country.

“I will not go back until everything is over,“ she was interpreted as saying by her host. “This place is all right for me and my children.“ Madam Philomene said her 11th child, Annie named after the host mother) was the last.

She and her children solely depend on relief items given them by the UNHCR, through the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the little their host bring home, for survival.

Each of the refugees is receiving ration as follow: bulgur wheat (8.4 kilo), beans (1 kilo) corn mean (1 kilo) and oil (2.5 snaps). The larger the family the more the quantity of supply, and this suggests that Philomene and her family receive more ration than others. Besides, the locals are now joining with the refugees to register as one family to receive bigger rations, since most of them speak the same border languages and tribes.

“We are serving about 8,000 people daily,“ NRC’s Rebecca Davies, one of the hundreds of social workers responding the needs of the refugees stated.

“I am a farmer; my husband works at the hospital here, and we hustle and whatever we get we put it together and have meal in the evening,“ Annie explained. The host family of six and the refugees’ 13 produce a household of 19.

 

That is just one situation. There are many of such cases in the border town and its surroundings. Buutuo is stressed. Food prices are climbing up. Cassava, potatoes and yam in gardens and farms are running short in the host community.

“The situation is deteriorating fast….The conflict is escalating…and we have too many people (refugees) coming across here (Liberia),“ Liberia’s new Foreign Affairs Minister Togah Gaywea McIntosh told his first press conference recently.

 Foreign Minister McIntosh alarmed that the political stalemate in neighboring Ivory Coast is “deteriorating fast“ with rampant consequences on Liberia, a nation which graduated from similar catastrophe in 2003, after nearly 15 years of civil strife.

Brutal gun battles have erupted between forces loyal the both Laurent Gbagbo and Allasanne Quattara, both of who are claiming the presidency of the West African nation after the November 28, 2010 presidential runoff poll.

The international community including the UN, AU, EU, ECOWAS and other powerful nations, has backed Quattara’s victory announced by the electoral commission, prevailing on incumbent Gbagbo to cede power. But the strong man who was announced winner by the country’s constitutional court has refused to step down, a stalemate that has led to two parallel governments in Ivory Coast.

The looming civil war in that country has forced thousands of Ivoirians to flee for safety in neighboring countries including Liberia, where at least 70, 000 are so far said to be, with more in enroute.

“The situation,“ the Foreign Minister lamented, “has far reaching consequences on us and the peace we have built over the last seven years.“

 Minister McIntosh indicated that besides the serious security threat the situation poses for Liberia, a country holding its second post war elections this year, it derails the welfare of thousands of Liberians living along the border, especially in terms of food, health and survival needs.

 He said the entire host communities’ live and food stocks have or are depleting as thousands of refugees come in daily. He decried how relief supplies are difficult to reach the area due to very deplorable road conditions, which is getting terrible as the rainy season sets in.

 The Liberian Government, he confessed, does to have the capacity to handle the situation, and appealed to the international community to rally more support to address both the political crisis in Ivory Coast and the humanitarian emergency created in Liberia.

 More medical supplies are needed to respond to the health needs of the people (both refugees and the locals). Obviously, Buutuo, were the Liberian civil war began, when the rebel forces crossed from Ivory Coast, has become the save haven for thousands of Ivorian. Yes, this same Buutuo, 22 years later. By D Kaihenneh Sengbeh (06 586 531; dakasen1978@yahoo.com)

Liberian Gov’t Poised To Loose Millions To Logging Companies…Global Witness Alarms Over ‘New’ Forest Law

Logging companies in Liberia are trying to get out of paying millions of dollars in tax to the country’s cash-starved government through a dubious new law, Global Witness, an international campaign group has alarmed.  

 The draft law in question which emerged from Liberia’s House of Representatives is titled ‘An Act to Abolish the Payment of Land Rental Bid Premium on Contract Area in the Forestry Sector of the Liberian Economy’. 

Turning The Lives Of Women Around From Dependency To Sustainability:The Case Of YAI Women Empowerment Program

Mr. Kimmie Weeks, YAI Executive Director (only male, way in the back) sandwiched by jubilant graduates

“Turn, turn YAI has turned it around; turn, turn YAI has turned it around; we were nobody YAI has made us somebody; turn, turn YAI has turned it around,” the audience burst into celebration.

 The Liberian gospel music echoed across the Airfield New Road community, attracting scores of community residents and passerby on Friday, July 2, 2010, when the Youth Action International (YAI) held the second graduation program of its Women Empowerment Center.

 The center, established in 2008 to train women in profitable life skills, has changed the lives of more than 200 women as a result of skills provided students free of charge.

Officials: US$15M EU Food Facility Grant Boosts Local Food Production In Liberia

The European Union Food Facility (EUFF) grant of 10.9 million Euros (approx. US$15 million) is making significant impact in Liberia, UN and government officials have disclosed in Monrovia.

 Addressing a joint new conference at the UN headquarters in Monrovia Wednesday (July 21) the officials said the grant has benefitted thousands of Liberian famers, empowered women and increased food production at the local level.

Liberia’s Press Union Opposes Govt. Officials On Community Radios Boards

The Press Union of Liberia (PUL) has opposed the idea of government officials serving as board members of community radios and has called for their immediate substitution.

The PUL in a release issued Tuesday (July 13, 2010) renewed its earlier calls for the “replacement of all politicians and government officials on the boards of community radio stations across the country.”

Kimmie Weeks’ Intervention In FLY-LINSU Crisis Faces Setback

Kimmie Weeks, YAI Executive Director: We will never give..."

A signing ceremony to signal a final resolution of the crack between the Federation of the Liberian Youth (FLY) and the Liberia National Student Union (LINSU) failed to take place in Monrovia Tuesday ( July 12).

 The rift erupted between the two groups (LINSU being an auxiliary of FLY) in January during a General Assembly to elect new corps of officers for two years.

 It resulted into a bleeding clash with several people being wounded after police intervened to bring the escalating situation under control.

Liberian Police Chief Admits Corruption In Traffic…Says Penalty Awaits Officers

Police Inspector General Marc Amblard Wednesday (July 7) admitted to public claims that some traffic officers are seriously corrupt, but warned that those caught will face harsh penalties.  Mr. Amblard said he is currently investigating one of such cases, and he would release the outcome next week with the appropriate penalty.

“Let me say this. There are cases of compromise [among traffic police officers],” Mr. Amblard said Wednesday, when he addressed journalists at the headquarters of the UN in Monrovia.

Liberia’s Budget ‘Vuvuzela’…Spending Entities Request Millions

Liberia's Finance Minister Augustine K Ngafuan

Liberia’s Auditor General John S. Morlu

What observers describe as a budget ‘vuvuzela’ (noise surrounding budgetary allocations) has engulfed the draft 2010/2011 US$340M national fiscal budget, with spending entities calling for additional millions on their allocations, while the General Auditing Commission (GAC) claims that the

Ministry of Finance had dwarfed its 2009/2010 allocation.
Serious controversies, lobbies and claims and counter claims remain prominent, especially on the grounds of the Capitol Building, the seat of the National Legislature, with women and youth groups pressuring the legislators to allot more cash for health and education.