A West African Story
This programme looks at the work of the Carolyn A. Miller Elementary School in Ghana. Located in the Buduburam Liberian Refugee Camp, the school offers pupils education against a backdrop of war, brutality and poverty.
The school, founded by refugee Karrus Hayes, struggles with hungry pupils, unpaid staff, no electricity and resources, however has high ambitions for its pupils and a spirit that is as uplifting as it is humbling.
This everyday look at a refugee school shows scenes that are both familiar and remarkably different for teachers here in the UK.
Amongst the day-to-day business of meetings, PTAs, discipline discussions and lesson planning are a look at over-crowded classes, and a drama teacher who is only too aware that his pupils are the future leaders of Liberia.
Send to Friend
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Facebookopenworldsite on 08 November 2007
How wonderful that from the ashes of war, such brialliance should begin to emerge. Many of the teachers in this program ...
Go down to this comment
- Duration: 30:00 minutes
- Published: 06 September 2006
- Licence information for A West African Story
Featured in
Support Materials
Downloads
Useful websites
Buduburam Liberian Refugee Camp blog More information and pictures from the Ghanaian refugee camp featured in A West African Story
BBC News: Country Profile - Ghana Comprehensive overview of the West African country, from the BBC
Wikipedia: Liberia Information on Liberia's history, politics, education, culture and more
Comments
-
-
Tears of the World should fall!8 November 2007 - 18:22How wonderful that from the ashes of war, such brialliance should begin to emerge. Many of the teachers in this program probably never went o school formally themselves to see that they have taken on this challege with such passion is great. I would like to help with this project, please let me know how I can get in touch with the school administration.
-
-
-
Re : Carolyn A. Miller school11 November 2007 - 13:29I'm the director of the film "A West African Story", and I'm still in touch with the school and Karrus Hayes. The school now has a website:
http://www.refugeeschool.blogspot.com.
If you want to get in touch with Karrus direct, this is his email: camillerelemsch@yahoo.com
Through generous donations the school now has a few computers for the children, and internet access. But salaries are still a big problem, and the struggle continues.
I'm sure any kind of help you could offer would be gratefully received. And you're right about the teachers, their education was disrupted by the civil war and part of working for nothing, for them, is the hope of training that will help them get employment in the future.
Thanks for your comments
Nancy Platt
nancy@nancy7.demon.co.uk
-
-
-
Inspirations-A West African Story3 November 2007 - 01:31Congratulations for a very well done documentary! It sends a realistic and positive message about the resilience of refugee communities and their capacity to engage in the reconstruction of their communities and future. I wish similar projects could be replicated within and beyond West Africa.
Daniel Tarantola, Sydney, Australia
-
You might also like
A Safe AlternativeThe challenge of providing full-time education for excluded kids
The Whole StoryTwo schools in Palestine cope with daily life under occupation
MalawiA focus on two Malawian parents' struggle with poverty
Iraqi Teenagers SpeakTeenage Iraqi refugees talk of their hopes for the future
Editor's pick
Secondary SEN - Language and InclusionCommuncation challenges between mainstream and SEN pupils