Liberia, Oct. 15 -- Summary:

By Tetee Gebro and Joyclyn Wea, health and gender correspondents with New Narratives

BENSONVILLE, Montserrado County - Before sunrise, Elaine Duowai prepares lesson notes in a house where electricity is not reliable. By morning, she is walking to Euphemia Barclay Elementary School, where some pupils are already missing from the rows of benches before the day begins.

Some stay home because families cannot afford transport, food, or school materials. Others are sent to help parents sell or work on nearby farms. Duowai teaches the children who come. She worries about the ones who do not.

"Sometimes I look at the empty benches and feel weak," Duowai said. "The children are not lazy. Their families are just str...