ISSN 1710-6931 September 16, 2005 Issue 56
FEATURE ARTICLES

Refugee Initiative Computer School in Guinea

by Dr. M. Ashaq Raza

Paul Senior is one of several thousand refugees living in the Kola Refugee Camp in Guinea, who played a leading role in establishing the Refugee Initiative Computer School, in the Kola refugee camp. In an interview with RESPECT International, he explains the essence of the school, highlights the involvement of RESPECT International in establishing this school and the Global Letter Exchange Campaign in Guinea/Liberia. Here are excerpts of the interview:


RESPECT: Will you please tell us about the Refugee Initiative Computer School (RICS) in the Kola refugee camp?

Paul: The school was established privately with four used computers without printers in April 2003. Due to the increasing number of students and poor efficiency of the computers, classes were badly interrupted to the end of 2004. This year the most talented students who could afford to pay for their lessons were recommended to join some private schools in N'zerekore including the RESPECT Computer School. School

Mamaneta And Her Father

based on a true story

Mamaneta and her father lived in the North East of Liberia. When war broke out there, she and her father decided to seek refuge in Guinea.

It was one evening while having a meal, her father said to her, "We are alone. Your mother and brothers have been carried away. I am tired of hiding myself from the rebels. Let us find somewhere safe." Mamaneta

A Visit To Krisan Refugee Camp

by Anthony Macedo Barlee
Programs Coordinator, RESPECT GHANA

The visit to Krisan refugee camp by RESPECT Ghana's Programs Coordinator came as a result of a request from Marc Schaeffer, RESPECT International Coordinator, and Jennifer Staple, Unite For Sight (UFS) Executive Director and Founder. They wanted to send international volunteers to the area for the implementation of the eye clinic that is also done at the Buduburam refugee camp.

The Krisan refugee camp is located in Eikwe-Sanzule, Western Region, Ghana. Krisan

PHOTO GALLERY

 

Prince E. Macaully and his family

RESPECT Coordinator at Krisan Refugee Camp, Prince E. Macaully, his wife, and four boys children. Prince along with his wife volunteer their services to coordinate the letter exchange program between the refugee school in Krisan with non-refugee schools.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Shaping New Worlds Partners With RESPECT

by Fred Ayifli
Country Coordinator, RESPECT Ghana

Shaping New Worlds (SNW) based in Vermont, USA has entered a partnership agreement with RESPECT. This partnership is expected to enable SNW and RESPECT to plan, implement and, support each other's projects and activities globally whenever possible.

Already, SNW has financed the production of a video documentary created by RESPECT Ghana and refugees at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana. The documentary, 'Building Bridges of Peace: A Visit to a Liberian Refugee Camp,' will be used to raise awareness of refugee issues from the perspective of the refugees. SNW


CREATIVITY

An Anticlimactic Education

By Sarah Elliot

Stories drip, drip from their glassy eyes
They are open houses
I wander through their halls
Of older days
Ringing with mother's calls
When not so many things were missing
They drip colour
The glory of Liberia leaking out of their skin
The tight skin that tries to keep it all in
They are stern with a burden
Trying to balance it on their heads
It's climbing round my peaked ears
They have handed over the rotten flower
Of their generation
For me to smell Because they were born when their country fell
When the devils kicked up the dirt
That muddied the faces of home and other sacred places
War baptized these children
In the blood of their mothers
In the shit of their fathers
Almighty war beat their childhoods to pulp
They sit around me
Making a pile of their festering memories
The future annihilated due to insurmountable university fees
Ticking time shivers through the spaces in front of me
Where I see those desperate cases clinging to their final days of education
Exams stacked up
Exams predestined to disintegrate into dust
So Mr. Langston Hughs
What happens to a dream deferred?
It turns into an empty hole inside a man
Than not even intellectual debate over attaya can eradicate
Nothing can help to forget
They sit around
No job
Just staring at the ruins of an anticlimactic education


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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