In a rickety zinc shack crawling with mice and cockroaches, Theresa lived together with her younger sister, her daughter and me. Besides her daughter, Theresa had some elder children, a couple of prominent men and women, who lived in Monrovia. The men worked as CEOs and chief accountants at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), while the women operated huge businesses, one of them owning an extravagant restaurant that catered exclusively for American and European clientele.