Laura Quaynor

Laura Quaynor - CAMES

Laura Quaynor is an American PhD Student earning her degree in Educational Studies. She thanks all of the teachers and students at CAMES for welcoming her during her visit, and The Niapele Project for providing on-the-ground contacts and support.  

 “In May 2009, I spent a month at the Carolyn A. Miller School (CAMES) pursuing a research project on civic education for Liberian children in the current post-conflict environment. As a former teacher of refugee students in the United States, my experiences of both the complications of integrating refugee children into the American system as well as the incredible fortitude of refugee families drove me back to school, enrolling in a doctoral program to learn more about how to best educate refugee children and work with their families. 

During my initial visit to CAMES in the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana in 2008, I became convinced that CAMES was doing something right. Recent scholarship about schools serving Liberian children describe negative classroom climates, where teachers engaged in “physical beating, harsh yelling and making insults, bribery, corruption, and ejection of students from class.” At CAMES, I saw everyone from the lunch ladies to the school principal tell children they were the “future of Liberia,” and treat them as such.

Since CAMES relocated to Liberia, the faces of many staff and students have changed, but the ethic of care for and investment in its students has not. Despite the immense challenges of educating over 500 children in facilities with no electricity, broken desks, and worn blackboards, CAMES just finished its seminal year on Liberian soil. For my research project, I worked with Pastor Eugene Williams, who teaches social studies and civics for grades 4-8. He is only one of many dedicated teachers at CAMES, but his story illustrates the challenges and strengths of many teachers and students. 

Pastor Eugene has been a history teacher since 1988, when he began working in Nimba County, Liberia. He lost many family members during the conflict, and first came to Monrovia fleeing violence in Nimba in 1990. He speaks plainly about the war years: “I was in Liberia, running from one forest to another forest, saving my life and the life of my children.” 

Pastor Eugene works with CAMES because the school offers his children an education that would otherwise be inaccessible. “I have 10 children and grandchildren here,” he reports. “If it weren’t for CAMES, I don’t know how we could afford to send them all to school.” Though public education is nominally free in Liberia, many schools charge a registration fee each semester that would be too costly for him and his family. Because of his role as a Pastor and a father, teachers and students alike often come to him to resolve conflicts. During my month at CAMES, it was not uncommon for him to step out of class or take some of his recess time to hear both sides of a story. 

In Pastor Eugene’s civics class, students are both encouraged and allowed the space to express their views on controversial political subjects. In one 8th grade class, a student complained about a representative: “Each time you go see that man he doesn’t have time for anyone. He lives in the community but that man is selfish. Armed robbers came to his neighbor’s house and they called for help and he did nothing!” Pastor Eugene channeled her frustration into a lesson in the importance of civic action. “Who is he representing? He is representing you. He is voted into office.”  The reason my research centers on civic education is that in post-conflict societies like Liberia, the investment of youth in the political process is key for future peace and stability.

In Liberia, where both the national government and international organizations are encouraging the establishment of the rule of law, educating youth in both their civic rights and responsibilities will allow the creation of what lawyers call a culture of law. Schools like CAMES and teachers like Pastor Eugene are the means through which, day by day, the peaceful future of Liberia is nurtured.”