The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

A few days later, Wayetu calls an acquaintance named Agnes, who, through her radio show, has connections to former rebels. Wayetu asks about Satta and gives Agnes the little information she has about the former rebel. Agnes says she knows too many women with that name. She advises Wayetu to speak to someone in Liberia and offers the number of a contact there. If this person doesn’t know Satta, she says, he would likely know someone who does.

The contact is someone “who fought during the First Liberian Civil War as a general under Prince Johnson’s faction, INPFL” (164). Wayetu walks around the University of Liberia’s Fendell Campus. Her father mentions that most of the security guards there were once rebels. She befriends one of them—a man named Deek—and gets up the courage to talk about the war. She mentions that she’s looking for Satta. When he appears suspicious about her questions, Wayetu begs off.

That evening, Gus asks about Wayetu’s inquiries. He wants to know why she’s looking for Satta. Wayetu chalks it up to curiosity. He sternly recommends that she be careful. Later, Wayetu conducts a telephone interview with someone who might know about Satta. The man to whom she speaks says that he knew people like Satta. Even the worst rebels helped some people escape. The man on the phone had become a Church of God pastor who started “a rehabilitation ministry for former rebels addicted to cocaine, dujee, and by-products of crack” (166). He was formerly a general.

Two days later, the former general calls Wayetu to say that no woman had ever fought for his faction, and he doesn’t know of any others with a rebel soldier named Satta. So, he gives her the contact information for two other pastors who direct Wayetu to another woman named Agnes. This one is a 38-year-old mother of four from Kakata, Liberia who “had fought with the general and INPFL” when she was a teenager (167). She notes that she wasn’t forced to join but had done so “out of obligation to her family” (167). The faction promised them food and protection. Agnes acknowledges that she killed people, to protect her own life, but also helped whomever she could. Like Satta, she lied at checkpoints, saying that some civilians were relatives or members of her tribe. She saved dozens of people during her time with the INPFL. Like the general, she says that many were like herself and Satta during both Liberian Civil Wars. Some, however, were found out. One young girl tried to save a family accused of being Krahn by claiming them as family and saying that they were actually Bassa. The rebels kept the family overnight, found out that they were, indeed, Krahn, and shot them all, along with the girl. Agnes says that a woman named B, who was best-known for helping people cross the border, escaped to Sierra Leone after the rebels found out what she was doing, and that’s the last Agnes ever heard about her.

Wayetu asks Agnes if she’s ever heard about Satta, hoping that her savior had been as fortunate as B to escape. Agnes says that she doesn’t know Satta. However, she offers to meet Wayetu in town, saying that she can bring someone with her who can talk more about the war. Wayetu gleefully agrees and sets up a meeting time and place.

Early the next morning, Mam and Wayetu awaken and head to a café in town. Gus insists that his driver, Sumo, take them. Wayetu says that she also wants to talk to Deek some more. Mam asks why. Wayetu admits that she still doesn’t know. She wonders how anyone can live with that kind of past behind them.

Wayetu and Mam arrive at the café. They order pastries and tea and sit by the window where Agnes and her companion can see them. After an hour, Wayetu texts Agnes again, asking how far away she is. This time, Wayetu receives no response. She then calls but gets no answer. Around noon, Mam suggests that they go back home. Wayetu insists on waiting, figuring that Agnes is stuck in traffic. She tells her mother that Sumo can take her to work and return for Wayetu. Mam leaves. Later in the day, both she and Sumo return.

Wayetu doesn’t allow the sadness and disappointment of the day to hit her until she returns home. She realizes how desperately she wants to see Satta again, touch her, thank her. The reunion, she feels is key to understanding herself. Finally, she asks her mother the question that hangs between them: Why did you leave?