Liberia

The first event of the Happy Family Rehab Center for Children with Disabilities took place on Saturday August 22nd.  Several members of the group were former students of the Harmony Children’s Center at  the Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana and their families who have since returned home to Liberia. 

 In this issue:

• Story from the field, by Megan Sullivan 
• Civic education @ the Carolyn A. Miller School, by Laura Quaynor
• Read about Niapele's newest partnership with the online magazine, New Liberian
• New beginnings for the Harmony Center 

Click here to view the downloadable PDF

In this press release from the Liberian Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, read about how youth employment is a critical element of Liberian post-conflict reconstruction. 

[editor's note: this press release has been slightly edited from the original version, but the content and tone remain intact]

 Photographer Jeminie Shell and the KEAG Gallery

Saturday March 7, 2009

6-8pm 

KEAG Gallery

414 Grand Avenue

Laramie, WY 

**Funds raised will go toward water and sanitation initiatives undertaken by The Niapele Project in Liberia**

Announcing an opportunity for our supporters to purchase the award winning documentary Iron Ladies of Liberia at a discount rate!

Now through August 15,

A telephone interview with one of the refugees deported to Liberia on Sunday, March 23rd 2008.

We have set up a special "emergency fund" for the detainees at the Kordeabe center in the Eastern region. Our first priority continues to be the 560 women and children now in their 11th day of detention in dire conditions.

An American volunteer in Ghana will receive these funds to avoid drawing suspicions or attention on our local contacts. She will purchase and coordinate delivery of the most necessary items via the human rights lawyers and advocates involved.
Current needs are:

White Tara Productions

This morning, Saturday March 22, reports are trickling in that an armed Ghanaian police force raided the Buduburam refugee settlement, arresting Liberian men, in an apparently random manner. The police allegedly beat young men playing basketball with batons, and raided the camp clinic, taking away people waiting for treatment. Men were taken from their homes - we have spoken to people who are currently hiding in the bush, locked into their houses, for fear of arrest by the Ghanaian authorities.

Here is a phone interview with a refugee spokesperson for the women's movement, Cecelia Garlo - thanks tons to White Tara Productions who put this together in no time at all.