Monday, July 23, 2007
phase II and the beginning of the end
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
perspective
Thursday afternoon I was confronted with a confession of horrific crimes and was shown things I would never have believed possible. I've been grappling with the things I saw and heard ever since, because, not to sound melodramatic, I can never look at the world the same way again. Today I realized that for better or worse, human pain and love are much the same, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you've done. It may very well be impossible to take away a person's humanity. Perhaps temporarily, but not in the long run. Even a refugee, even an ex-combatant, even an international volunteer - we are all, and always will be, human. But at the same time, we must humanize ourselves, the only person you can truly, ultimately depend upon is yourself.
Maybe this doesn't make any sense because it is certainly vague. But what I've learned, among other things, is that trauma is relative: pretty much everyone here has experienced significant trauma, and yet they experience love and hate, empowerment and frustration, much as anyone else. A broken heart is a broken heart, whether it belongs to a spoiled and protected white person in America or a traumatized black person in Africa. And what that also means is that even when the world is falling apart, when people are starving and sick with malaria and trying to succeed with business and deal with their traumatized pasts and afraid to sleep in their own homes and every other problem you can imagine, people still fall in love, people still get worked up emotionally about boyfriends and girlfriends, there's even space in the mind to think about stupid little crushes. Even in the most extreme of conditions, some things in life go on as normal. And that, that is comforting.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
debt repaid
It was good, and necessary, to get away. I enjoyed relaxing on the beach and just hanging out and talking with my friends. They sell a lot of good tourist knick-knacks and clothing and I didn't end up buying as much as I had hoped to but I found some nice stuff and I enjoyed looking at everything. I didn't go swimming but I lay on the beach for a while, reading and writing. Kokrobite is a strange place, filled with rastas and white volunteers who are escaping for a weekend. I feel kind of guilty being there, because it's such an escapist kind of place, such a backpackers' beach resort haven, but at the same time, we don't escape, we mostly talked about camp and Liberians and volunteering and all the issues we deal with on a daily basis but don't really have time to talk about. Guy, a former PCO volunteer now anthropologist, is always interesting to talk to because he knows quite a lot about camp and yet is always learning things from us as well.
What made this weekend excursion feel complete for me was this:
We were walking back to our hotel in the dark with our flashlights. On the path a man stopped us and asked if I could shine my light on my foot. It appeared he had cut his toe on a rock while walking. I still had my purse with me then, and in it Band-Aids. So I shone my light on him and gave him some band-aids. Last time I was at Kokrobite, I cut my foot and some boys helped me. This time, I had an opportunity to do the same for others. I was, for once, able to return a favor, and help someone out in a simple, yet meaningful, way.
Monday, July 09, 2007
there are no cats in america
Even the Cape Coast Castle museum, which followed the slaves' journey to America and then focused on the diaspora in the United States left a pretty simplistic and positive portrayal of the United States. There was about one sentence on the Civil Rights Movement, the glorification of a couple African-American leaders and performers, and no recognition of the fact that there are still a lot of problems to be addressed.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
the times they are a-changin'
June 30 marked the official closing of voluntary repatriation to Liberia, worldwide. The UN is marking this significant closure as a success. However, while Liberia may be much safer than Somalia or Sudan, and thus many more refugees have returned, the fact remains that between 23,000 and 34,000 refugees remain at Buduburam. Many don't want to go home, and that is why they did not take advantage of voluntary repatriation. They would like to integrate into the Ghanaian community, or get resettled somewhere like America or Norway or Australia. The chances of resettlement are slim but many refugees still hold out. There is also, however, a significant portion of the population that would like to return home to Liberia - but not yet. They do not think it is safe, for the present peace is fragile. The current government has not brought about all the improvements it promised and has been accused, like every Liberian government before it, of corruption. People are getting angry and antsy, in Liberia and even at Buduburam. Another reason people don't want to return home yet is that the people who have hurt them, who killed family members in front of them, are still in Liberia, not brought to justice and often in positions of power. Prince Johnson, a rebel leader who killed many innocent Liberians, is a Senator. And so thousands of Liberians remain in Ghana, in a perpetual state of limbo.
There were many concerns about what might happen after June 30. In the international volunteer community the fear was that the UNHCR would pull out completely. This has not happened, and will not until around 2009. The limited UNHCR services will remain available, except for voluntary repatriation. The UNHCR claims it will be moving its focus to Liberia, and that its presence here will focus primarily on establishing long-term plans for integration. As Ghana has gotten tired of playing host (though from what I hear about the Geneva convention or some tripartite agreement or something, legally cannot kick the Liberians out), the UNHCR's role in faciliating integration will be significant. The head of the UNHCR was in Accra on Monday, largely because of the African Union conference, but he spoke to Liberian refugee delegates. He told them that voluntary repatriation was over but the refugee contigency appealed for it to be extended for the rest of the year or at least two months. The UNHCR has yet to respond to that appeal, though the leader of the women planned to get many people to register for repatration in the hopes that if enough people did so in the next two months, the UNHCR would help them return. This two months thing caused some rumors on campus, with people believing that after August 31, the camp may be closed and everyone not registered for either repatriation, integration, or resettlement becoming illegal and ending up in jail. There was a rumor that Nigeria gave all the Liberians there 24 hours to get out. The two-month extension was passed around as fact, and it wasn't until going to the Liberian Refugee Welfare Council and reading an article pasted outside that I learned that it was only a wish, an appeal.
So piece by piece we're putting together the situation. Tomorrow there's a press conference/meeting with Mr. Sambola, head of the welfare council, to clear things up. In the mean time, PCO is doing what it can to diffuse tension in the community and provide a forum to discuss their concerns.