The agreement signed in 2004 by the UNHCR, the Ghana Refuge Board and the refugees themselves was aimed reducing the sufferings the refugees are faced with at the camp in Ghana and also repatriating the Liberians to their original homeland. Refugees at the camp prefer repatriation a second choice of the alternatives after there is failure in the resettlement process. However two youths spoken to blame the process of voluntary repatriation initiated by the UNHCR as a setback for their not being in school. One of them explained his ordeal in this manner:
My mother is the one who has been paying my school fees and keeping me in school. She left Ghana in 2006 for Monrovia on repatriation. She told me she was going and at that time we had close for the school year. She said he was going to check back home in Liberia to see whether things were fine. She left me with her friend and came back in with goods and sold them and bought new goods and went with the ship again. I am not in school now because I moved with my friend. (Respondent # 15 from interview list).
Another parent spoken told said because of the difficult situation at the camp she had gone back home two different times on the repatriation process. she stated the life in Liberia was just as the one at Buduburam and always chooses to return to the camp because the
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The children interviewed stated that Ghanaian schools were more academic and besides most of the girls interviewed stated that they were uncomfortable with the attitude of girls hair being cut in Ghanaian run schools.
family responsibility was a bit better as compared to Liberia where other family member would look up to her. For anytime she had to travel, so was the education of her daughter put on a stand still. She explained the situation in this manner:
I have gone back to Liberia two different times on this repatriation because we get information that it is getting better in Liberia; but when we go back we come right back after few months because of more family tension and hardships there. Since we always travel free, that is no problem. I am worry for my daughter because I am always moving from here and there. (Respondent # 1 on interview list).
On the other side of things, the process of repatriation is in no way helping the process of education at the camp. An official of the Ghanaian Refugee Board intimated that if packages (including education) for repatriations were encouraging for refugees, upon their return in Liberia, many of the refugees would be induced into returning to take advantage of the process than sit at the camp and doing nothing.
I have returned from a convention in Geneva and we stated that there is a major difference in the way refugees are treated in Europe and Africa. Refugees in Europe are given USD.100 or more and other benefits whereas in Africa, (especially the Liberians) refugees are given USD. 5 after repatriation which is not sufficient for the starting of the rebuilding of their lives. Most of the Liberian refugees come from urban areas but yet are given farm implements instead of the UNHCR providing educational opportunity for them. (Respondent # 20 on interview list).
An estimated 250,000 people were killed in civil war and many thousands more fled the fighting. 160,000 Liberian refugees as of 2007 have been assisted by UNHCR to return home since the start of voluntary repatriation in 2004 from Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana , Cote d’ Ivoire and Nigeria (UNHCR,2007). An estimated 133,000 Liberian refugees remain in Guinea, 72,000 in Cote d'Ivoire, 67,000 in Sierra Leone, and 43,000 in Ghana. The UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies have contributed immensely to the resolution of the problems faced by Liberian refugees. In September, 2004, a tripartite agreement between the UNHCR, the Ghana refugee board and the refugees was signed for the commencement of a voluntary repatriation exercise. The voluntary repatriation exercise initiated by a tripartite agreement and sponsored by the UNHCR is being used by many Liberians as a way of rushing back to Liberia to check on the state of things and subsequently return to the camp thereby holding the number of refugees on the camp constant while documents indicates that people have been repatriated. From interview and information gathered by the researcher, scores of Liberians use the process of repatriation to take items to Liberia and
sell. After the sale, they are able to purchase new materials in Liberia and later travel to Ghana to continue their sales. A few of the respondents (4 persons) constituting (15%) explained how they have been robbed of their education because their parents or guardians have travelled back and forth between Ghana and Liberia leaving them with no source of income to continue their education.
5.4 CONCLUSION
In the above chapter, the researcher was able to present findings from the research conducted with respondents during the field trip at the Buduburam Refugee Camp and other parts of Accra in Ghana. I started the chapter with the presentation of the research results as was provided by the respondents during the field study. The major obstacle to why children at the camp environment are not accessing education was amongst the first answer. Also in the chapter, I was able to answer the research question using eight (8) themes. Using the themes, I managed to give an analysis of the thesis involving quotes from the respondents.