‘Little Liberia’ Market Suffers on Staten Island
By Yiqin Shen
On a hilltop on Staten Island in the community known as “Little Liberia,” a yard filled with up to 20 stands selling dried fish, seasonal fruit chips, chili sauce and spices – all imported from Liberia – has been the site of a lively market for the past decade. The place to go for genuine Western African food, it has grown into the community’s commercial hub, attracting hundreds of immigrants from other parts of Staten Island and even from New Jersey.
These days, the market still opens daily, weather permitting, but business is dropping off. Sellers can now be found at fewer than 10 stands, and instead of attracting hundreds of customers, merchants are lucky to see 50 or so a day. Meanwhile, goods imported from Liberia are gradually disappearing as items for sale.
The reason for these changes: Fear of Ebola.
“You never know whether the hands making and delivering the food in Liberia are the same pairs that bury the dead bodies,” said Oretha Bestman-Yates, the president of Staten Island Liberian Community Association, explaining the concern of the traders – and customers – in the community.
“Currently there is no official trade ban between Liberia and the States,” said Bestman-Yates. “But, our people stop importing, on fear that the virus [was]carried or caught during the trade.”
The concern of Bestman-Yates and other small business owners is understandable in Little Liberia, the largest Liberian community outside Africa, with an estimated 10,000 immigrants. In the past few months, their homeland has been the hardest hit among the four West African nations affected by the Ebola virus – with a death toll climbing above 1,500, half of the lives claimed thus far in the current outbreak of the disease.
Now the virus devastating Liberian families thousands of miles away back home is disrupting immigrants’ livelihood in Little Liberia and in other parts of the city with businesses that import from Africa.
Health officials say, however, there is little possibility of catching the disease from imported foods and spices. Ebola spreads through direct contact with body fluids, not through food or water.
“The chance of an American who has not been to any of the affected countries becoming sick with Ebola is very slim,” said Kristen Nordlund, a health communications specialist from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. “So it’s healthcare providers caring for Ebola patients and the family and friends in close contact with Ebola patients that are at the highest risk of getting sick because they may come in contact with the blood or body fluids of sick patients, such as [by] changing sheets after an ill person has vomited.”
In addition to the persistent transmission concerns, the soaring cost of raw materials and logistics is another reason for the unofficial suspension of food trade.
In the case of Ata Caflee, one of the vendors at the market, her dried fish business ran well until Ebola broke her supply chain. Previously, Caflee’s daughter bought fresh fish at her local Liberian market, seasoned and dried them at home, then shipped the dried fish to Caflee, where she sold the home-flavored treats at the Staten Island market.
“All foods are charging at the triple price in Liberia,” said Caflee. “It is hard for my daughter to find fresh fish, as some fishermen are dying while others are laying off. Even worse, there is no public market anymore. People are hiding at home, and my daughter has to drive to the fishermen’s houses to buy fish, which adds to the cost. ”
In order to avoid the rising costs of trade since Ebola struck, Caflee now buys fish in Chinatown and prepares the fish in her own kitchen. Customers complain that it doesn’t have the genuine back-home flavor and some will no longer travel from New Jersey for her fish.
Fear of Ebola extends beyond the Liberian community on Staten Island. In August, a man exhibited Ebola-like symptoms after returning from West Africa and was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital for a virus test. While the test turned out negative, the result failed to ease the public’s concern about Ebola. And the absence of any Ebola cases here has not lessened the negative impact that Ebola news has generally had on businesses that import Western African food and drink.
“Some customers may no longer come in fear of Ebola. I don’t think their worries are necessary, though,” said Caranda Martin, shrugging his shoulders. Martin, who migrated from Liberia, is the owner of Serengeti Teas and Spices in East Harlem. His shop offers a vast collection of signature teas and blended products, from mint moringa tea to ginger rooibos tea, introducing the exotic flavors of Africa.
“If I am an Ebola victim and you stand in front of me, accepting the cup of tea I offer, you will not get infected,” he added.
Martin said he is more worried about his trip to Africa to purchase goods than the spread of Ebola in the city, “It comes the harvest season for coffee beans. I used to fly back home to collect and pick beans, but I can hardly make it this year, because of the flight suspension.” So far, international airlines including Delta Airlines, British Airways, Kenya Airlines, Arik Air (a Nigerian airline company) have suspended flights to Liberia because of the virus, and the list continues to grow.
Source: Voices of New York
Yiqin Shen is a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.