The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

Mam told the girls many stories about her childhood in Lai. When they arrive in Lai, they see that Mam’s family from the city is already hiding there. They find cousin Cholly, who rooms with Gus. Ol’ Pa is also there. Torma joins her own family, who live in a house across the village.

Here, Moore adds context by describing a major event in the war. On July 29, 1990, a group of boys disguised as Samuel Doe’s soldiers enter St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. Six hundred civilians are hiding there. It’s two o’ clock in the morning. The boys surround civilian men, women, and children and attack them “with guns, grenades, and swinging machetes” (78). They then parade the corpses through the streets. Doe insists that the rebels dressed up as soldiers. He also refuses to step down. According to the BBC, 375,000 Liberians are living as refugees in the neighboring countries of Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.

In the village of Lai, few people speak English. The girls change into dresses that Ol’ Pa sews from cloth the villagers give him. In the mornings, Gus tutors the girls, helping them learn the Vai language and study arithmetic.