MONROVIA: Little Rebecca Gonkpein, a nine year old girl who experienced complication following diagnosis of a chronic heart disease, and for whom OK FM launched an SOS call, has died.
She was a resident of Banjor Community on the Hotel Africa Road in district 17, Montserrado County.
The child was pronounced dead on Thursday night September 19, 2019, by doctors at the JFK Memorial Hospital in Monrovia.
Prior to her death, nine years old Rebecca spoke in an interview with OK FM news, and appealed to President George Weah and Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor for assistance.
“My name is Rebecca Gonkpein. I get heart problem. I can’t sleep good in the night; my heart can be hurting me. When I want sleep, I can’t sleep. My heart can be burning me.
So, I am begging President George Weah to please help me. I want anti Jewel Howard Taylor to please help me too. My heart is hurting me.’’
When quizzed about her ambition, little Rebecca cried and said
“I want to be a banker.”
Morris Gonkpein, father of Lil Rebecca said his daughter underwent severe pain on a daily basis.
Mr. Gonkpein remembered his daughter explaining a dream saying she was told by a lady to kill her father and her mother, a decision Rebecca refused.
He quoted little Rebecca as saying her refusal to agree with the woman’s decision to kill her parents led to her (the woman) hating her side with a spoon in the dream.
Gonkpein told OK FM that since then, his daughter had been sick with a heart problem that resulted to her death Thursday night.
“My daughter Rebecca was everything to me. But since she explain such a dream where a lady hit her with a spoon in a dream, my daughter has not been well in her body. Her mother and I tried every way possible to carry her for treatment but no way possible.
We went almost all of the major hospitals in and around Monrovia but no improvement. God will fight on her behalf. Because Rebecca was good to everyone in this community, including her friends, Morris Gonkpein explained with tear dropping down his eyes.
OK FM 99.5 dedicated its Thursday morning broadcast to raise funds for her treatment, amounting to a little over one thousand United States dollars.
However, funds generated has been officially and publicly presented to the family by the senior management team of OK FM.
Since the death of little Rebecca, several persons especially followers of OK FM have expressed sadness over the sudden death of the little girl.
Many persons have also attributed the child’s death to ritualistic practices allegedly carried out by some residents of the Banjor Communities in Montserrado County.
Ritualistic practices are reportedly common in Liberia, especially in rural parts of the Country.
It can be recalled September 2, 2019; the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County sentenced seven men who gang-raped and murdered three Women in Sinoe County in 2018.
They include: Moses Solo, Teah Gmawlue, Sylvester Charty, Dennis P. Payne, Victor Solo, Tweh Kelgbeh and Alex Karpeh.
According to the court, the seven men in December 2018 stripped three women in Johnny’s Town in Kpanyan Districts Numoph for being “witches” responsible for the death of a three-month-old baby who had gone missing and discovered dead.
The case first began at the Third Judicial Circuit Court in Sinoe, but was transferred to the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Buchanan due to fear of local interference and manipulation.