ISSN 1710-6931 October 29, 2004 Issue 33
FEATURE ARTICLES

Nigerian Students Join Letter Exchange

by Teresa Lii

On Wednesday, October 13, Francis Abayomi visited the Oru Refugee Camp in Ijebu-Ode. Abayomi's purpose was to collect letters from refugee students of the Justice, Development, and Peace Commission (JDPC) Refugee Vocational School Oru Camp there, with the intention of initiating the RESPECT pen pal exchange program. One week and one day later, the letters had been sent through the Nigerian postal service and were on their way to RESPECT headquarters in Canada.

Abayomi is RESPECT's country coordinator for Nigeria. He has visited Oru Camp regularly, but what made this trip special was the purpose behind it. more>>

Liberian Welfare Council

by Teresa Lii

In the Oru Refugee Camp of Ijebu-Ode there is an organization as old as the camp itself. This organization is the Liberian Welfare Council, founded especially for to look after the Liberians in the camp.

Francis Abayomi, country coordinator of RESPECT Nigeria, recently conducted an interview with Rancy Paul G., the Secretary General of the Liberian Welfare Council. more>>

PHOTO GALLERY

 

Books for ACDA

Mary Han, online volunteer for Agoro Community Development Association, has put together packages of books totalling 75 lbs and sent them to Tom Fred Obonyo in Kitgum, Uganda.

INTERVIEW

An Interview With Alex P. Columbus

by Barbara Murphy

Hundreds of children and young people attending refugee schools in Sierra Leone have made contact with students in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA through the RESPECT International letter exchange programme. The e-Zine interviewed Alex P Columbus, the national co-coordinator for Sierra Leone, about the programme’s success and what the exchanges mean to the children who take part in them.

RESPECT Sierra Leone is hosted by an organisation called Peace Pals Network. Alex P Columbus has co-ordinated the letter exchange programme since 2003. After studying engineering, he started working with Peace Pals, which aims to help children and young people affected by the civil war. The conflict lasted for eight years and resulted in the displacement of almost half of the country’s population. (Source: BBC Online Special Report)


RESPECT e-Zine: How may children and young people have taken part in the RESPECT letter exchange programme?

Alex P Columbus: The letter exchange started sometime in 2003, and involves about 200 to 300 children and young people roughly.


RESPECT: Which countries have the children and young people received letters from?

APC: They have been receiving letters from Australia; London, UK; Winnipeg, Canada and Colorado, USA.

more>>


As in any newsletter or magazine, RESPECT e-zine is committed to striving for interesting articles and announcements concerning refugee issues all around the world.

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