Liberia's child rape victims
Annie Demen is Liberia's deputy minister of gender, a post set up to empower women.
She also heads the taskforce charged with stamping out sexual violence in Liberia. But there was not much to smile about when I turned up later that day to interview her.
News had just reached the office that an 11-year-old girl called Janjay had died after being raped six months ago.
Janjay's mother said the rape had left her so badly injured she was incontinent and had to wear nappies.
"Seek free treatment now at Benson Clinic," reads another. It is run by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières.
With a queue outside her door, the head nurse told me that five to 10 people arrive there every day but half of them are not women. They are young girls between five and 12 years old.
Each month the clinic treats several babies for rape but, from all the cases that have been recorded by the clinic since 2003, you can count the number of men convicted on one hand.
In South Africa people have struggled to dispel the belief that raping a baby helps prevent or cure HIV/Aids - it is possible a similar belief exists here
Fifty-seven-year-old Stephen Dollo, being moved and seduced by Satan the Devil, intentionally jumped on the peaceful five-year-old girl, removed her clothes and committed the crime of rape.
They think it will bring them good luck, one man told me.
When she announced a war on rape, she broke new ground by saying that she too had been a victim of sexual violence.
There has been some legal reform and rape is no longer a bailable offence but little else has changed.
The hope among many here is that the death of young Janjay will kick-start the war on rape.
clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk 