a couple people have e-mailed me with questoins about what is involved with sponsoring kids, so i thought i'd make a post outlining ohw i think it might work... its still kind of up in the air and would depend a lot on what works best for the people interested, but i'll throw this idea out there anyway.
there are 2 organizations on camp that i've come to know that work with sponsoring kids. the first is CBW... it asks for $10/primary and secondary school aged kids (and gives you a t-shirt in return, if youre interested). the other is called Hope and was started as a joint project between a canadian volunteer and a guy working with the UNHCR. it seems to work more with older people looking to get technical training (computer college is a big one) that will lead them to a decent paying job. it looks for 50 (although i have to double check that number because now that i htink about it, i could be getting it confused with well-building projects) per person, and will give you all the details about the person youre sponsorng (both do that actually). both will keep in touch with the sponsored people as they move back to liberia (CBW and Hope are both in the porcess of relocating iwth the now former-refugees). I know and trust the heads of both organizations, and have watched other volunteers sponsor people and be relaly happy with it. they're completey transparent (although since they're new and small, htye havent got much in the way of websites yet)and yeah... i've got total confidence in the two, its mostly just a matter of what you're interested in contributing and what age group youre more interested in i guess.
it is easier to get all this stuff set up while i'm still in the camp though, so that is where transferring money gets kind of tricky. i think what would work best is if we use my mom as the in canada contact (for those living in kitchener/waterloo at least) and have you give her money, and then have her either wire it or just put it on my visa so that i'll get it. i think doing it in mass transfers is a lot easier for both of us, so maybe at some point i'll pick a rough date - probably not for at least a month - to get things organized (so that i'll have numbers to give both organizations).
i hope tihs is a good starting point for people... e-mail me any specific questions though and i'll get that for you and either e-mail back or post it online. hope that sounds good!
"had it been another day, i might have looked the other way, and i´d have never been aware..."
Sunday, May 25, 2008
week one. check.
i think i'm finally (well, maybe it didn't take all that long) starting to get adjusted to life in africa again. my first few days working with the grade 3s were learning experiences, to say the least.... i got thrown in all by myself after watching the registrar teach for only one day. as a completely unqualified teacher, this was one of the more nerve racking things ive done, and the kids saw right through me. first period (math) went smoothly enough, but as soon as we started getting into the later periods (communication, spelling and dictation) that i had absolutely no guidance for (i still dont know what it means when they say teach kids communication... i just let them tell stories), things felt like they were getting a bit out of control. the day ended at 12 and i went home and collapsed for a few hours, about ready to change programs.
the next day, i went back to school and thankfully i was paired with another actual teacher, who used to teach half of the grade ones, but because of such low enrollement (all the parents arent sending their kids to school because they're planning a return to liberia) he was out of a job. we decided to split the day up, with me teaching first period math (it seems like the simplest subject to teach) and then him teaching the rest, and me helping out the kids that are struggling. we stuck with that for the week, and it seems to be working a lot better (i dont feel like a total failure at the end of the day...).
that said, its still been a huge challenge. on the camp, they follow a ghanaian curriculum but are left pretty much high and dry by the ghanaian government in terms of funding, subsidies etc. the liberian government also doesnt appear to be helping out much, which is understandable because its got its hands pretty full with the liberians that live within the country. the end result is that it doesnt seem like there is a whole lot of direction or authority in the school and its curriculum.. it seems like in part as a result of this, the quality of teaching has really taken a hit. the kids are taught more to memorize as a group than they are to actually learn the concepts. i have no idea if this is normal for teaching grade 3 (although i dont think it is... and other teachers here agree), but it seems kind of strange. i wanted to get an idea of where the kids were at with their reading levels, and so i had them each come up and read a paragraph they'd copied off the board, and one girl came up and asked if i could read it first, then she'd say it back. not totally the point of reading, especially in grade 3.
since that discovery, i've been trying to get the kids to undrestand the concepts in math but its a totally new style of learning that is being thrown on them. before this trip, i realy would have felt weird about changing things liberians had done themselves, but the thing with this teaching is that thye're trying to get the results that i know. i'm teaching things like fractions where the point is quite clearly, to be able to do it in different contexts, and thats just not happening right now. obviously if there was a strategy beyond straight memorization that was working i'd be all for it... but it just doesnt seem to be panning out. so far, i've tried teaching a general lesson then giving them work that i go around and do with them one on one. a guy i'm living with who just graduated teachers colllege has been helping me get ideas to go along with this, but growing class numbers (while it is certainly a good thing) makes my job a lot harder. anyway. we'll see how this week goes. i'm going to start getting together with bobby (the other teacher) to do lesson plans tomorrow so i'm hoping that well help too.
outside my work with CBW, we did a couple cool things this weekend. a couple of us decided to go up to cape coast for the weekend, where there is a huge former slave holding building. it has since been turned into a museum and it was, hands down, the most moving museum i've ever been in (blew anne frank waay out of the water, not that its a comparison.. but still). they take you under into the dungeons that would hold 200 people (the rooms were no bigger than my dining room at home, if you can picture that). that part of the tour was contrasted with the castle itself, where you took a tour of the british quarters, and the site where a church used to lie (ironically enough, right over top of one of the male dungeons). we also went a little bit further east of cape coast to the kakoum national park, where we did a canopy walk through the rainforest. preeettty cool, even if we didn't get to see any monkies. we also stayed, for our second night, at hans' cottage botel, which was this sweet hotel that had a restaurant built out overtop of the water with crocodiles swimming around it. it also came with a shower and flush toilets, which was a nice change from the bucket shower and bucket-flush toilets i've been using here.
anyway. this has been a long one so i think i'll leave it at that for today. hope everything is good at home, and that the may 24 weekend was fun. cant say they really celebrate that here.
the next day, i went back to school and thankfully i was paired with another actual teacher, who used to teach half of the grade ones, but because of such low enrollement (all the parents arent sending their kids to school because they're planning a return to liberia) he was out of a job. we decided to split the day up, with me teaching first period math (it seems like the simplest subject to teach) and then him teaching the rest, and me helping out the kids that are struggling. we stuck with that for the week, and it seems to be working a lot better (i dont feel like a total failure at the end of the day...).
that said, its still been a huge challenge. on the camp, they follow a ghanaian curriculum but are left pretty much high and dry by the ghanaian government in terms of funding, subsidies etc. the liberian government also doesnt appear to be helping out much, which is understandable because its got its hands pretty full with the liberians that live within the country. the end result is that it doesnt seem like there is a whole lot of direction or authority in the school and its curriculum.. it seems like in part as a result of this, the quality of teaching has really taken a hit. the kids are taught more to memorize as a group than they are to actually learn the concepts. i have no idea if this is normal for teaching grade 3 (although i dont think it is... and other teachers here agree), but it seems kind of strange. i wanted to get an idea of where the kids were at with their reading levels, and so i had them each come up and read a paragraph they'd copied off the board, and one girl came up and asked if i could read it first, then she'd say it back. not totally the point of reading, especially in grade 3.
since that discovery, i've been trying to get the kids to undrestand the concepts in math but its a totally new style of learning that is being thrown on them. before this trip, i realy would have felt weird about changing things liberians had done themselves, but the thing with this teaching is that thye're trying to get the results that i know. i'm teaching things like fractions where the point is quite clearly, to be able to do it in different contexts, and thats just not happening right now. obviously if there was a strategy beyond straight memorization that was working i'd be all for it... but it just doesnt seem to be panning out. so far, i've tried teaching a general lesson then giving them work that i go around and do with them one on one. a guy i'm living with who just graduated teachers colllege has been helping me get ideas to go along with this, but growing class numbers (while it is certainly a good thing) makes my job a lot harder. anyway. we'll see how this week goes. i'm going to start getting together with bobby (the other teacher) to do lesson plans tomorrow so i'm hoping that well help too.
outside my work with CBW, we did a couple cool things this weekend. a couple of us decided to go up to cape coast for the weekend, where there is a huge former slave holding building. it has since been turned into a museum and it was, hands down, the most moving museum i've ever been in (blew anne frank waay out of the water, not that its a comparison.. but still). they take you under into the dungeons that would hold 200 people (the rooms were no bigger than my dining room at home, if you can picture that). that part of the tour was contrasted with the castle itself, where you took a tour of the british quarters, and the site where a church used to lie (ironically enough, right over top of one of the male dungeons). we also went a little bit further east of cape coast to the kakoum national park, where we did a canopy walk through the rainforest. preeettty cool, even if we didn't get to see any monkies. we also stayed, for our second night, at hans' cottage botel, which was this sweet hotel that had a restaurant built out overtop of the water with crocodiles swimming around it. it also came with a shower and flush toilets, which was a nice change from the bucket shower and bucket-flush toilets i've been using here.
anyway. this has been a long one so i think i'll leave it at that for today. hope everything is good at home, and that the may 24 weekend was fun. cant say they really celebrate that here.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Well, after a very long trip from Amsterdam, through Frankfurt, and a touchdown in Lagos, Nigeria, I made it to Ghana! I met up with my volunteer coordinator, Anthony, at the airport and we drove (a very slow and traffic-packed drive) to the camp. That night, it took us about 2 hours but at a less busy time, it’s probably more like an hour. I got in at night, which was anything but quiet. The front of the camp (its pretty huge and divided into 10 or 12 sections) was full of people blaring American rap music (a favourite here), out selling stuff, or sitting around an outdoor TV set. When I got to the guesthouse, everybody except one girl (who has been sick for a bit) was in the capital, and I was more than happy to pass out the second I got there.
Friday I didn’t do much (we put of training until the Monday so I could get used to stuff and what not). It was pretty rainy out (turns out, it’s the rainy season) so I sat around and did some journal stuff. That night it cleared up so a couple of us (there are 5 people living in the guest house with me, 2 from the US, one from Mexico, one from Winnipeg and one from Wales) went into Accra (on a side note, its pronounced A-crra, not Acc-ra as I’ve been doing) to a bar called Champs that is a bit of a Western haven… I think it’s a pretty good break once you’ve been here for awhile… sort of a strange, but fun, first night.
Sunday (Saturday was pretty uneventful because I had to wait around a lot for some things to get done), I went to Kokrobite beach which was incredible. It’s this little beach town outside the camp… I went with two other volunteers from the camp and 3 girls who were the granddaughters of Dana, one of the volunteers. We pretty much just hang out there swimming, eating and as I found out today, getting a bit of a sunburn (sorry mom- I’ll wear the SPF5000000 next time I go).
Today (Monday) I did something slightly more credible (this weekend was really more of a holiday... which I certainly wasn’t against but probably isn’t what I’m here to do seeing as it is technically part of school). I started the CBW orientation at 8 that showed me around the different divisions of the organization. It turns out its pretty huge on camp and does a lot of really good work. First, I went to see the water and sanitation project (WATSAN). This section is in charge of digging wells (cost about $50 start to finish) that provide water for bathing and washing (not drinkable.. that water is sold on camp in bags for about 5 cents a bag). So far they’re working on their 19th well on camp (keep in mind those 19 wells are ideally being used by about 30 000 people). They are also in the process of digging drainage systems around the camp for dirty water and rain (so that it doesn’t back up into people’s homes) and filling the major ones with cement. CBW has also started putting and taking care of garbage bins around camp (although they don’t have nearly enough) that people put stuff in so as not to clog the drains and to generally keep things a bit cleaner…
After WATSAN I went to go tour around with the HIV/AIDS branch. In the morning, this group does outreach programs (this is what I did today) where you go around targeting teenage guys mainly, and see what they know about HIV and then give them a bit of information about transmission, prevention, condom use, STIs and stigma. This was particularly cool to watch because it fit really well with the classes I took last year… The guys were surprisingly receptive to our being there and asked a good amount of questions about the disease… From what I can tell, knowledge is still pretty limited but the basic stuff is there… What was really interesting to me was talking with a girl I’ve become friends with, Ruth (she’s about 12 and lives behind me and is, along with a bunch of other kids whose names I’m still struggling with, constantly peer in our window). She was reading a book to me with her sisters (I’ve counted at least 6, and 2 of the tiniest kittens in the world) and started asking what I’d done today.. I mentioned that I was going to go see HIV+ people and she was completely blown away that they not only existed on the camp but that I was in contact with them. Of course, she’s only 12… but she did still ask whether it was okay to have dinner with them and to hold their hands and what not. I tried to explain that there is nothing to be afraid of and that they’re going through a difficult time that they need friends for but then she asked me how they got it in the first place. Despite my experience educating the Witzels and my family about sex and reproduction at the ripe old age of 10, this was a pretty tricky one to answer…
Anyway, after a lunch of potato greens and rice (which, despite their name are really good – hot peppers are indigenous here and so all the food is really spicy which I love) I went with Anthony to the CBW chicken coop (a self-sustaining form of income for CBW that works with the internet café I’m at to give a bit more money), to the library and then to the schools. We first went to the pre-primary schools (goes up to grade 3) and then to the secondary one (goes to grade 9). Enrollment there has been really low recently because of the repatriation and conflict with the Ghanaian government… A lot of Liberians are n the process of returning home right now and, in anticipation of this, are not sending their kids to school. Fees are obviously also a factor in this because they’re saving up for the trip back (right now they only get $100 for the trip.. most think that it will cost more like 400-500 as a minimum figure). As a point of reference, it costs $10 to send a child to school for a year at the CBW school (which is staffed with trained teachers and what not). If anybody is at all interested in donating to send a kid to school let me know (its $10 and I’ll bring you home a sweeeeet t-shirt that they’re giving out in return)… Funding for other projects is also always needed so just let me know… I’ll start sorting that out in a couple days or weeks once I’m a bit more settled. Its really worthwhile and obviously is hugely beneficial… I was putting it in perspective the other night, calculating how many nights at the bar I would be sacrificing to put a kid through school. It kind of makes you kick yourself (not to guilt anybody into it or anything haha)
ANYWAY! That’s an overview of what I’ve done these first few days. Real work starts tomorrow – I’m going to spend my mornings working with grade 3s and my afternoons visiting HIV+ people at home. I’m pretty pumped! I hope everything is going well at home – send me e-mails if you have a chance! Internet isn’t too bad here assuming there is power.. I’m just kind of lazy and don’t always make it over. The fans here are an incentive though!
Friday I didn’t do much (we put of training until the Monday so I could get used to stuff and what not). It was pretty rainy out (turns out, it’s the rainy season) so I sat around and did some journal stuff. That night it cleared up so a couple of us (there are 5 people living in the guest house with me, 2 from the US, one from Mexico, one from Winnipeg and one from Wales) went into Accra (on a side note, its pronounced A-crra, not Acc-ra as I’ve been doing) to a bar called Champs that is a bit of a Western haven… I think it’s a pretty good break once you’ve been here for awhile… sort of a strange, but fun, first night.
Sunday (Saturday was pretty uneventful because I had to wait around a lot for some things to get done), I went to Kokrobite beach which was incredible. It’s this little beach town outside the camp… I went with two other volunteers from the camp and 3 girls who were the granddaughters of Dana, one of the volunteers. We pretty much just hang out there swimming, eating and as I found out today, getting a bit of a sunburn (sorry mom- I’ll wear the SPF5000000 next time I go).
Today (Monday) I did something slightly more credible (this weekend was really more of a holiday... which I certainly wasn’t against but probably isn’t what I’m here to do seeing as it is technically part of school). I started the CBW orientation at 8 that showed me around the different divisions of the organization. It turns out its pretty huge on camp and does a lot of really good work. First, I went to see the water and sanitation project (WATSAN). This section is in charge of digging wells (cost about $50 start to finish) that provide water for bathing and washing (not drinkable.. that water is sold on camp in bags for about 5 cents a bag). So far they’re working on their 19th well on camp (keep in mind those 19 wells are ideally being used by about 30 000 people). They are also in the process of digging drainage systems around the camp for dirty water and rain (so that it doesn’t back up into people’s homes) and filling the major ones with cement. CBW has also started putting and taking care of garbage bins around camp (although they don’t have nearly enough) that people put stuff in so as not to clog the drains and to generally keep things a bit cleaner…
After WATSAN I went to go tour around with the HIV/AIDS branch. In the morning, this group does outreach programs (this is what I did today) where you go around targeting teenage guys mainly, and see what they know about HIV and then give them a bit of information about transmission, prevention, condom use, STIs and stigma. This was particularly cool to watch because it fit really well with the classes I took last year… The guys were surprisingly receptive to our being there and asked a good amount of questions about the disease… From what I can tell, knowledge is still pretty limited but the basic stuff is there… What was really interesting to me was talking with a girl I’ve become friends with, Ruth (she’s about 12 and lives behind me and is, along with a bunch of other kids whose names I’m still struggling with, constantly peer in our window). She was reading a book to me with her sisters (I’ve counted at least 6, and 2 of the tiniest kittens in the world) and started asking what I’d done today.. I mentioned that I was going to go see HIV+ people and she was completely blown away that they not only existed on the camp but that I was in contact with them. Of course, she’s only 12… but she did still ask whether it was okay to have dinner with them and to hold their hands and what not. I tried to explain that there is nothing to be afraid of and that they’re going through a difficult time that they need friends for but then she asked me how they got it in the first place. Despite my experience educating the Witzels and my family about sex and reproduction at the ripe old age of 10, this was a pretty tricky one to answer…
Anyway, after a lunch of potato greens and rice (which, despite their name are really good – hot peppers are indigenous here and so all the food is really spicy which I love) I went with Anthony to the CBW chicken coop (a self-sustaining form of income for CBW that works with the internet café I’m at to give a bit more money), to the library and then to the schools. We first went to the pre-primary schools (goes up to grade 3) and then to the secondary one (goes to grade 9). Enrollment there has been really low recently because of the repatriation and conflict with the Ghanaian government… A lot of Liberians are n the process of returning home right now and, in anticipation of this, are not sending their kids to school. Fees are obviously also a factor in this because they’re saving up for the trip back (right now they only get $100 for the trip.. most think that it will cost more like 400-500 as a minimum figure). As a point of reference, it costs $10 to send a child to school for a year at the CBW school (which is staffed with trained teachers and what not). If anybody is at all interested in donating to send a kid to school let me know (its $10 and I’ll bring you home a sweeeeet t-shirt that they’re giving out in return)… Funding for other projects is also always needed so just let me know… I’ll start sorting that out in a couple days or weeks once I’m a bit more settled. Its really worthwhile and obviously is hugely beneficial… I was putting it in perspective the other night, calculating how many nights at the bar I would be sacrificing to put a kid through school. It kind of makes you kick yourself (not to guilt anybody into it or anything haha)
ANYWAY! That’s an overview of what I’ve done these first few days. Real work starts tomorrow – I’m going to spend my mornings working with grade 3s and my afternoons visiting HIV+ people at home. I’m pretty pumped! I hope everything is going well at home – send me e-mails if you have a chance! Internet isn’t too bad here assuming there is power.. I’m just kind of lazy and don’t always make it over. The fans here are an incentive though!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
getting ready to go...
Well, i'm down to the final few days before i leave for the summer and i've finally started to really get things organized (which doesn't make for a very exciting 'blog post'.. but i thought i should have something up anyway.. mainly to see how this blog thing works). As most of you know already, I'm spending this summer in Ghana teaching in a refugee camp, and I am hoping this will be an easier way to keep everybody posted on what I'm up too. There will be internet in the camp but electricity is sporadic so who knows how frequent i'll get on this...
I'll be in ghana on may 15 (i'm spending a couple days in amsterdam beforehand) and am going to be overthere until august 15. i'll be spending most of my time working in buduburam refugee camp, a camp just west of the capital city, Acra. This camp is currently home to about 30 000 Liberian refugees who have been living there for as long as 18 years (crazy to think thats about how long I've lived in Kitchener... really puts things in perspective). I'm working with an organization called Children for a Better Way (there is a link to it on the right side) that basically aims to work with children in the camp who are unable to afford the education provided in the camp. A lot of these kids will have lost their families to one of Liberia's two civil wars...
I'm getting school credit for this placement (goes towards a major in Global Development Studies) and as such, I had to do a pre-placement paper that did a really general overview of the civil wars, as well as general Liberian and Ghanaian history. Anyway, I've copied part of this paper onto this post if anybody is interested in learning this history.. Liberia's war, and more specifically, Charles Taylor's rule in the country had huge implictions on the rest of West Africa, many of which we still feel today (the first war only started in 1989..).
HISTORY...
Liberia is an anomaly in Africa’s colonial record, in that a European power has never officially colonized it. Instead, it was an unofficial American colony created in 1816 by the American Colonization Society (ACS) (Weisberger 46). The ACS, an organization comprise of white American-loyalists and Evangelical men, wanted to create an area outside America that would absorb freed American slaves, whom they deemed to be an “idle and useless” segment of their society (Weisberger 46). This became a reality in 1847 with the declaration of the Republic of Liberia, a country led for the next century by an elite class of mulattos, otherwise known as Americo-Liberians, who governed in favour of American corporate interests (Lloyd 229).
Liberia remained relatively stable for a century despite the chaos inflicted by World Bank-led Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) across the rest of the continent (Weisberger 47). In 1980 however, a coup against Americo-Liberian President William Tolbert, led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, broke this stability. Doe’s government, while symbolic of Liberian independence from America, quickly transformed into a corrupt and nepotistic regime favouring Krahn speakers while persecuting the Gio and Mano ethnic groups (McDonough 363). Resistance movements, notably the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Samuel Taylor, began to flourish in neighbouring countries. Taylor, who was armed and funded by Libya and working in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso with the support of Mano and Gio people, led a December 24, 1989 rebellion against Doe, overtaking much of Liberia within the first six months (Lloyd 230). Taylor’s rapid and ruthless advancements prompted the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to form and deploy the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) as a counter-Taylor force. While ECOMOG successfully stopped Taylor’s forces from entering the capital, Monrovia, it too became involved in dishonest politics that reduced its overall credibility (Lloyd 231). Taylor came to win the July 1997 presidential elections, a product of the Abuja Accords, allegedly winning 75% of the popular vote. While these accords ostensibly set up a transitional democratically elected government, Taylor was likely victorious only because he threatened that if not elected, he would resume the war (Lloyd 231) that had killed at least 150 000 and displaced over 365 000 (Morris 30). Subsequent years under Taylor’s rule were witness to unprecedented levels of favouritism, government corruption, greed and the expansion of Liberia’s civil war into the neighbouring states of Sierra Leone and Guinea (Lloyd 231).
By 2002, amid international condemnation and sanctions directed at Taylor, two new anti-Taylor rebel movements emerged in Liberia: the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). The two movements began independently launching attacks on Taylor in 2003, sparking Liberia’s second descent into civil war. ECOWAS responded quickly to this outbreak initiating peace talks in June and deploying 4300 troops in and around Liberia (International Crisis Group). Internal and external pressure worked to push Taylor into exile in Nigeria on August 11, 2003 with a National Transitional Government, led by Guyde Bryant, replacing him (International Crisis Group). The United Nations Security Council launched the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) first in October 2003 and then again, after an initial failure, in November 2004 (Robinson 27). Since 2004, Liberia has taken significant strides towards rebuilding the country and reinforcing peace. Arguably, its greatest accomplishment has been the internationally recognized democratic election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in 2005 who, as Africa’s first female President, has implemented a series of relatively successfully economic, anti-corruption and identity building reforms (Witcher 44). The Sierra Leonean Special Court has since indicted Taylor for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law; he currently awaits trial at The Hague, Netherlands (Human Rights Watch).
Ghana, relative to Liberia, has been politically and economically stable since the 1980s. It was the first African state to obtain independence from British colonial rule in 1957, inspiring a Pan-African spirit and independence struggles that influenced the American civil rights movement (Commander 424). While the post-independence decades were subject to military coups and political assassinations, conflict remained at the elite level of politics, with few implications for daily functioning (Svanikier 129). Ghana made the formal transition to democracy in 1992; it expanded political freedoms, conducted free and fair elections, and institutionalized constitutional bodies (Svanikier 115). Currently, President John Kufuor from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is serving his second term as leader of Ghana. Realism, pragmatism and honesty have come to characterize his presidency, which, while criticized for lacking charisma, has brought about an unprecedented level of stability and legitimacy to Ghanaian politics (Versi 54).
In an economic sense, proponents for SAPs cite Ghana’s experience with the programs, beginning in 1983, as an example of their efficacy (Chhibber and Leechor 24). The years immediately following their implementation witnessed positive real and per capita growth; (Chhibber and Leechor 24) however, long-term analyses have noted the contrary, highlighting the connection between the programs, national debt and a lack of social services (Ankomah 500). In light of this downfall, economic restoration has become a central tenet of Kufuor’s presidential aspirations. He is committed to transforming Ghana, a state that already holds a high level of international business confidence, into an African financial centre and a middle-income country (Ford 54). While some criticize Kufuor’s 2015 timeline as unrealistic, many believe his overarching ideas to be attainable in subsequent decades (Ford 54).
Buduburam refugee camp has existed between these two promising yet polarized West African states since 1990. Historically, the Ghanaian government has been liberal in granting refugee and asylum, working in compliance with the 1967 protocol of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and with the UNHCR (United States Department of State). Following the declaration that Liberia was safe, 100 000 of the 850 000 Liberian refugees returned to their home country (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008). Despite this initial surge, recently tension has risen between refugees and the Ghanaian government in response to its attempts to push a policy of Liberian assimilation into Ghanaian society (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008). On March 17, 2008, the Ministry of Interior arrested 630 Liberians and deported 16, who had been involved in a one-month protest against this policy (Inegrated Regional Information Networks April 9, 2008). They had recently petitioned the UNHCR, asking for repatriation into a third country or the provision US$1 000 per person to be put towards a return to Liberia; Ghana had previously offered US$100 (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008).
Ghanaian officials, offended by the seeming ingratitude of the refugees who had lived in the country for as long as two decades, responded by invoking a clause in the 1951 Refugee convention that, in light of Liberian stability, frees Ghana from the obligation to host Liberian refugees and closes local UNHCR offices (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008). By March 2008, the Ghanaian and Liberian governments had reached an agreement that slowed the increasing number of Liberian deportations from Ghana in exchange for the repatriation of 40 000 refugees to Liberia, ideally within six months (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008). The practicality of this agreement remains questioned; the Liberian economy is only just stabilizing and many worry about the impact of a 40 000-refugee influx into Liberia (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008).
I'll be in ghana on may 15 (i'm spending a couple days in amsterdam beforehand) and am going to be overthere until august 15. i'll be spending most of my time working in buduburam refugee camp, a camp just west of the capital city, Acra. This camp is currently home to about 30 000 Liberian refugees who have been living there for as long as 18 years (crazy to think thats about how long I've lived in Kitchener... really puts things in perspective). I'm working with an organization called Children for a Better Way (there is a link to it on the right side) that basically aims to work with children in the camp who are unable to afford the education provided in the camp. A lot of these kids will have lost their families to one of Liberia's two civil wars...
I'm getting school credit for this placement (goes towards a major in Global Development Studies) and as such, I had to do a pre-placement paper that did a really general overview of the civil wars, as well as general Liberian and Ghanaian history. Anyway, I've copied part of this paper onto this post if anybody is interested in learning this history.. Liberia's war, and more specifically, Charles Taylor's rule in the country had huge implictions on the rest of West Africa, many of which we still feel today (the first war only started in 1989..).
HISTORY...
Liberia is an anomaly in Africa’s colonial record, in that a European power has never officially colonized it. Instead, it was an unofficial American colony created in 1816 by the American Colonization Society (ACS) (Weisberger 46). The ACS, an organization comprise of white American-loyalists and Evangelical men, wanted to create an area outside America that would absorb freed American slaves, whom they deemed to be an “idle and useless” segment of their society (Weisberger 46). This became a reality in 1847 with the declaration of the Republic of Liberia, a country led for the next century by an elite class of mulattos, otherwise known as Americo-Liberians, who governed in favour of American corporate interests (Lloyd 229).
Liberia remained relatively stable for a century despite the chaos inflicted by World Bank-led Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) across the rest of the continent (Weisberger 47). In 1980 however, a coup against Americo-Liberian President William Tolbert, led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, broke this stability. Doe’s government, while symbolic of Liberian independence from America, quickly transformed into a corrupt and nepotistic regime favouring Krahn speakers while persecuting the Gio and Mano ethnic groups (McDonough 363). Resistance movements, notably the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Samuel Taylor, began to flourish in neighbouring countries. Taylor, who was armed and funded by Libya and working in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso with the support of Mano and Gio people, led a December 24, 1989 rebellion against Doe, overtaking much of Liberia within the first six months (Lloyd 230). Taylor’s rapid and ruthless advancements prompted the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to form and deploy the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) as a counter-Taylor force. While ECOMOG successfully stopped Taylor’s forces from entering the capital, Monrovia, it too became involved in dishonest politics that reduced its overall credibility (Lloyd 231). Taylor came to win the July 1997 presidential elections, a product of the Abuja Accords, allegedly winning 75% of the popular vote. While these accords ostensibly set up a transitional democratically elected government, Taylor was likely victorious only because he threatened that if not elected, he would resume the war (Lloyd 231) that had killed at least 150 000 and displaced over 365 000 (Morris 30). Subsequent years under Taylor’s rule were witness to unprecedented levels of favouritism, government corruption, greed and the expansion of Liberia’s civil war into the neighbouring states of Sierra Leone and Guinea (Lloyd 231).
By 2002, amid international condemnation and sanctions directed at Taylor, two new anti-Taylor rebel movements emerged in Liberia: the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). The two movements began independently launching attacks on Taylor in 2003, sparking Liberia’s second descent into civil war. ECOWAS responded quickly to this outbreak initiating peace talks in June and deploying 4300 troops in and around Liberia (International Crisis Group). Internal and external pressure worked to push Taylor into exile in Nigeria on August 11, 2003 with a National Transitional Government, led by Guyde Bryant, replacing him (International Crisis Group). The United Nations Security Council launched the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) first in October 2003 and then again, after an initial failure, in November 2004 (Robinson 27). Since 2004, Liberia has taken significant strides towards rebuilding the country and reinforcing peace. Arguably, its greatest accomplishment has been the internationally recognized democratic election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in 2005 who, as Africa’s first female President, has implemented a series of relatively successfully economic, anti-corruption and identity building reforms (Witcher 44). The Sierra Leonean Special Court has since indicted Taylor for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law; he currently awaits trial at The Hague, Netherlands (Human Rights Watch).
Ghana, relative to Liberia, has been politically and economically stable since the 1980s. It was the first African state to obtain independence from British colonial rule in 1957, inspiring a Pan-African spirit and independence struggles that influenced the American civil rights movement (Commander 424). While the post-independence decades were subject to military coups and political assassinations, conflict remained at the elite level of politics, with few implications for daily functioning (Svanikier 129). Ghana made the formal transition to democracy in 1992; it expanded political freedoms, conducted free and fair elections, and institutionalized constitutional bodies (Svanikier 115). Currently, President John Kufuor from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is serving his second term as leader of Ghana. Realism, pragmatism and honesty have come to characterize his presidency, which, while criticized for lacking charisma, has brought about an unprecedented level of stability and legitimacy to Ghanaian politics (Versi 54).
In an economic sense, proponents for SAPs cite Ghana’s experience with the programs, beginning in 1983, as an example of their efficacy (Chhibber and Leechor 24). The years immediately following their implementation witnessed positive real and per capita growth; (Chhibber and Leechor 24) however, long-term analyses have noted the contrary, highlighting the connection between the programs, national debt and a lack of social services (Ankomah 500). In light of this downfall, economic restoration has become a central tenet of Kufuor’s presidential aspirations. He is committed to transforming Ghana, a state that already holds a high level of international business confidence, into an African financial centre and a middle-income country (Ford 54). While some criticize Kufuor’s 2015 timeline as unrealistic, many believe his overarching ideas to be attainable in subsequent decades (Ford 54).
Buduburam refugee camp has existed between these two promising yet polarized West African states since 1990. Historically, the Ghanaian government has been liberal in granting refugee and asylum, working in compliance with the 1967 protocol of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and with the UNHCR (United States Department of State). Following the declaration that Liberia was safe, 100 000 of the 850 000 Liberian refugees returned to their home country (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008). Despite this initial surge, recently tension has risen between refugees and the Ghanaian government in response to its attempts to push a policy of Liberian assimilation into Ghanaian society (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008). On March 17, 2008, the Ministry of Interior arrested 630 Liberians and deported 16, who had been involved in a one-month protest against this policy (Inegrated Regional Information Networks April 9, 2008). They had recently petitioned the UNHCR, asking for repatriation into a third country or the provision US$1 000 per person to be put towards a return to Liberia; Ghana had previously offered US$100 (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008).
Ghanaian officials, offended by the seeming ingratitude of the refugees who had lived in the country for as long as two decades, responded by invoking a clause in the 1951 Refugee convention that, in light of Liberian stability, frees Ghana from the obligation to host Liberian refugees and closes local UNHCR offices (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 20, 2008). By March 2008, the Ghanaian and Liberian governments had reached an agreement that slowed the increasing number of Liberian deportations from Ghana in exchange for the repatriation of 40 000 refugees to Liberia, ideally within six months (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008). The practicality of this agreement remains questioned; the Liberian economy is only just stabilizing and many worry about the impact of a 40 000-refugee influx into Liberia (Integrated Regional Information Networks March 28, 2008).
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