So my adventure this weekend?

Last week, a couple friends and I decided that the coming weekend would be the weekend of chillaxing. We planned a movie marathon, and bought supplies to make a pasta dinner for ourselves. Well, then the opprotunity of a lifetime arose.

to go to Ghana's Liberian Refuge camp with a Liberian, plans got changed a little.

Saturday early morning, 6 other EAPers and I left with our Liberian friend Bismark, for the Ghana's Liberian Refuge camp, run by the United Nations High Commisoner on Refuges. The camp (of about 50,000 people!) is about an hour down the coast. It took about 3 tro-tros to get there, but was worth the trip. Now, when I say refuge camp you are probably picturing tents and such...well not this UNHCR camp. A large portion of the refuges have been in the camp for 10-16 years! Although it still was a camp, it was much closer to a settlement: cement buildings, established market places. It looked very similar to other Ghanaian communitis I had seen. However, there were some interesting differences.

We had lunch--Liberian food, very SPICY-- with some of the camp volunteers (Bismark had previously volunteered at the camp). The volunteers were only at the camp for a month and are leaving this week; it was surreal to realize I had also been in Ghana for a month, but also conceptualize how different my experiences was compared to the volunteers' experiences.

We played with kids a lot. As you can see below, they were jumping all over us, literally. It was a lot of fun! Very different than some of my earlier experiences with kids, because these kids weren't the slightest bit interested in getting anything, but some playtime, from me, which I very happily gave!

Then we went to Bismark's "sister's" house. She took all 7 of us in with open arms. She offered us soft drinks, and we sat on the floor of her living/kitchen/work room talking and watching a Nigerian soap opera. I asked her if she'd thought of returning to Liberia. Her response was similar to many of the responses I got by the end of the day: many of the refuges had livied in Ghana for more than a decade and lost interest in going back to their "home" country, it just didn't feel like home anymore. Makes sense.

However, it was interesting to see all the UNHCR ads encouraging the Liberian refuges to return to Liberia, rather than waiting for the UN to offer them tickets to another country. Also makes sense; having Liberians return home will definitly help the country rebuild. Now, per week, about 500 voluntary Ghana refuges arrive in Liberia! But some still do make it to other countinents. I played clapping games with a 13 year old, Princess, who is on her way to Austrailia this week. And then her friend, is heading for California. It made me really really happy to learn these two girls had the opprotunity to repatrionize! Maybe I'm excited for their opprotunity at a better education, or the flushing tollietes. But then my friend reminided me, the transistion will still be hard. And then I was thinking... although these families will have all the opprotunity the "first world" will bring, it still doesn't mean the first world is the best world. I'm still thinking about it.

Let's see, .after a stop at the camps basketball court and football field we headed back to catch a tro-tro. We made it back in time to by Bismark dinner at the local gas station. Oh, have I mentioned the gas station in town is the hangout. Yep, they've got pizza, chicken, drinks, ice cream...gas.

In sum, this time last year, I was in Geneva Switzerland, visiting the UNHCR. This year, I got to experience a refuge camp for myself. I'm excited to report: the learning continues!!!

My friend Will, with about 3 kids
hanging from each arm

Sadie and I so excited for a Nigerian soap!

D, Sadie and at the soccer field.
Yes, no grass, and that is
charcoal as the boundary lines.