Humanists at Budaburam Liberian Refugee Camp, Ghana

new teams forming

2005-07-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

Received today from Ghana:

From: emmanuel targbe
To: ted
Date: Jul 7, 2005 9:57 AM

BE INDIVIDUALS OF SELF HELP AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITIES
B I O S H A P
BUDUBURAM REFUGEES'SETTLEMENT
BOX46,STATE HOUSE
ACCRA,REP. OF GHANA

MR/DR. Ted Ernst
Intl'coordinator
HUMANIST ORGANISATION

Dear SIR:

Humanistic greetings. with out delay, it interest this said association here,havent heard about the activities of your' organisation here as a role model to self developments,districts,towns, communities including countries, to be in a true partner ship with you. We have entered your organisation through the assistance of Mr.John MANSARAY and YOUR Sampson NUGBA RESPECTFULLY.

THEY have visited our initiative and activities on our farm. it is our hope that you will assist our farm project as well. Hope to hear from you soon.

thanks!
your'truly;
DR.Emmanuel Targbe
B I O S H A P

My response:

Emmanuel,

Welcome to the Humanist Movement. I look forward to reading reports
of your activities.

peace, force and joy,
ted

we're not an NGO

2005-06-23T12:48:00.000-05:00

I received the letter below. This gives me a good opportunity to write a bit about the difference between humanist action and humanitarian help. The below is a request for humanitarian help. The Humanist Movement does not see humanitarian help as leading to any long-term benefits. Over $1 trillion has been spent on humanitarian help over the last 50 years and many countries are worse off than ever.

Humanist action, on the other hand, is about people coming together to lift themselves and their communities up, through their own human effort, connected to others all over the world doing the same. This is about true human dignity, not dependence. Please ask questions if you like.

From: beh shadrach
To: tedernst
Date: Jun 23, 2005 4:42 AM
Subject: sponsor for school

Dear Sir,
I wish to appeal to you,to kindly assist me sponsor my school that i have established in Ghana buduburam refugee settlement.This school was established to aid Liberian brothers and sisters that can not afford paying huge sum of money to schools.The school is focus on children that are deserted,low income parents and orphan children in the Liberian refugee settlement. Sir,to be realistic some children are presently in the school that come in the school hungry,some come dirty in school and some lack of wearing because their parents /guardian can not afford the money to sustain their children.Therefore,it get it difficult to these children out of school because of the conditions their parents/guardians are under going presently sending their children to school. Constraint of parents/guardians,liberian refugeeresiding in Ghana are not opportune to farming or giving to land to have a garden that can help to support the entire family.Sir,with all that i have said are real and can be proving to give you the clear picture of some Liberian living conditions in the refugee settlement, which can not permit them to cater to their own children education.Again sir,your help to the school will draw a picture to parents/guardians that you are the God who came to seek and save the lost,more over God will surely bless you for seeking the interest of poor liberian children in Ghana.Sir, there is a place giving to me that need to be repaired for additional classrooms and to create a good vertilated class(es).The roofing of the house,laying of the floor and the payment of the workers,to have better education for my own liberian children.I again appeal deeply to you for help.may God reachly bless you and the entire families.
Thanks,
yours,
Lawrence T.

Beatrice Browne's team

2005-05-16T14:14:00.000-05:00

Here are two photos of Beatrice Browne and her team in their community gardens.

Chris Flomo in New York City

2005-03-28T18:13:00.000-06:00

Chris was the very first person I met in the Budaburam camp about two and a half years ago. He won the US Diversity Visa Lottery and this email from him is the update. --Ted

From: christopher Flomo

To: Ted Ernst

Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005

DEAR TED,

I LEFT LIBERIA ON MARCH 20,2005 AND ARRIEVED IN THE US ON MARCH 21,2005.

EVERYTHINS WAS FINE . WE FLEW TO BELGIUM AND THEN TO JFK. I AM PRESENTLY STOPING WITH MY SISTER. I HAVE BEEN CALLING YOU BUT NO ANSWER. PLEASE USE MY SISTER'S NUMBER IF YOU WANT TO GET ME. I AND LOOKING FOR JOB AT PRESENT. I HAVE A PERMANT RESIDENCE VISA. I AM WAIT SSN . I WENT TO THEIR OFFICE AND THEY TOLD ME TO WAIT FOR TWO WEEKS. I AM LOOKIN FOR TO HEARING FROM YOU. THERE IS NO COMPUTER AT MY SISTER'S HOUSE. I AM WRITING YOU FROM THE PUBLIC LIBRAY.

PEACE FORCE AND JOY

CHRIS

Benjamine Witherspoon

2005-03-06T21:41:00.000-06:00

From: Augustus McCritty
To: Ted Ernst
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005
Subject: Project Proposal (Benjamine's Team)

Greetings,

My team has fanily come to the decision after three different meetings that we will undertake this project of Sanatiation after considering the plight of us refugees. The physical out look of the camp is very deplorable and not very conducive for us human beings. It was because of this we came to the decission that we take up the project of trying to help clean the community

Seeing the need to work on the cleaning of our evornment,considering the need and the campaing which we as humanist are working on the camp,it is very important that we embark on the cleaning of the community.

In this light we would be very happy were you (Ted) to assist us to raise some funds for the project.

This project also carries with it education, Public awareness so as not to clean and the public is not aware of what dirt, garbage and an unhealthy evornment causes us.

Item	unit	value	Prise
1 Mica phone	1	600000	600000
2 Wheel barrel	2	550000	1100000
3 Shovels	4	40000	160000
4 Rakes	4	20000	80000
5 Brooms	10	5000	50000
6 Spray Can	1	600000	600000
7 Nose mask	2	35000	70000
8 Garbage bin	5	80000	400000

Hope our proposal meets you in the best of health
PEACE FORCE AND JOY
Regards,
Benjamine E. Witherspoon
Director

This totals 3,600,000 cedis which is about $400US. My response follows:

From: Ted Ernst
To: Augustus McCritty
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005
Subject: Re: Project Proposal (Benjamine's Team)

Benjamine,

I apologize for the delay in my reponse. I hope you and your family are well.

This is a very nice proposal. As you know, the Humanist Movement is not a humanitarian organization. We do not have funds with which to fund proposals for projects to be started after funds are received.

What has happened with Sampson's, Beatrice's and Chris's teams is that they started projects on their own, self-organized and self-financed. They reported to me about those projects, with the numbers of people invovled, what was happening on the ground, etc. Then they asked for support to expand those projects. I could then take their project reports and photos and use them for fundraising for project expansion.

I have not yet had any reports from you that your team is undertaking any project at present. Please go ahead and start your projects and let me know how it goes. You could even use this proposal to ask for funds from an NGO in the camp, if there is one that might be able to help.

I look forward to seeing you in April and communicating more by email until then.

peace, force and joy,
ted

Oretha Johnson

2005-02-17T22:16:00.000-06:00

This just in from Oretha Johnson, a member of my team. My response follows.

From: oretha johnson
To: Ted Ernst
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005

PROJEC title : J.J.C: JEHOVAH JIREH's CHILDREN.

PROJECT HOLDER:THE CONCERNED PARENTS OF BUDUBURAM REFUGEE CAMP.

JUSTIFICATION: SINCE THE LIBERIAN REFUGEECOMMENCED SEEKING THE REFUGE AT THE BUDUBURAM REFUGEE CAMP,THERE HAD BEEN MANY REFUGEE CHILDREN WHO HAD NO WAY OUT. THE PROJECT WILL PROVILDE LEARNING ( READING ,WRITING ,SINGING,OUT DOOR GAMES AND PREPARING THEM FOR MORAL UPRIGHTNESS. THISPROJECT WILL INITIATE SOME ACTIVITIES THAT WILL DETRAUMATIZE THEM. HELPING CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS HAD NO MEANS OR MONEY TO SEND THEM FOR SCHOOL OR EXTRACLASSES AFTER THE NOMAL SCHOOL HOUR. BENEFICIARIES: THE ABANDONED, WAYWARDS ORPHANSAND LESSFORTUNATE LIBERIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN WILL BENEFIT BY THIS PROJECT. THE PROJECT IS TARGETING ABOUT 300 CHILDREN AS AN INITIAL TARGET.

DURATION:the project will continue to exist as long as liberian refugee still on buduburam cam . the time we meet these children is 4 time a week monday ,thursday saturday and sunday.2pm to 4:30.this project was launched on sept 7,2004.

PROJECT COST: the initial cost of this project is six hundred dollars($600for the frist five months. this amount will cover the purchasing of 8 blackboards, 80 benches, 100packpencils, 100colouring packs 10 packs crayons ,5 reams of sheets, 100sharpener ,100 erasers, 10 packs of toilet tissues, 100 drinking cups, 100 plastic plates, 20 pieces of toilet soaps, 5 drinking buckets, 20 gallons of water for 4 days of meeting....

Holders' Initiative: The holders of this project will make their refugee houses available for the teaching. They will also make themselves or services free to teach. They have cleaned/cleared an acre of land for the children's activities ground.

THE NAMES OF PROJECT'S OFFICERS:
Oretha Johnson-Supervisor
Pauline Zulu -Chaplain
Caroline T. Dweh- Procurement Offer
Grace Siah-Treasurer
Pastor Jelleh T. Zulu Secretary
Helen Freeman Member
Felecia Pennue Member

DONOR AGENCY: HUMANIST MOVEMENT.

The humanist movement will serve as a donor agency through whom this project's vision will come to reality.

EMAIL: jehovahjirehrefugeechildren@yahoo.com
TEL:233244731959
----

Oretha,
It is good to hear from you. It looks like you've made a lot of progress on this social project. Could you tell me more about what's been done so far and what your plan is to make it happen? As you know, I am not able to fundraise for projects that are only a "dream" or that exist as only a proposal on paper. Once something is happening and is documented, then I can ask my friends and people I know to support it to help it become stronger and more effective. That's what's happened with Sampson, Beatrice and Chris's team. I'm sure it can happen with your team as well.
peace, force and joy,
ted

this just in

2005-02-06T20:25:00.000-06:00

Ted received this in an email attachment today from someone in Sampson's team. It's posted here without editing.

Brief view of the Afro-Humanist Foundation Center

Afro- Humanist Foundation Centre a refugee inspired non-sectarian, CBO, founded March 21, 2004. The aims and objectives of AHFC is to promote sanitation which include:

Overcoming widespread violence by working together to reduce the social and personal factors, which cause violence among people.
Contribute significantly to the reduction of malaria in population by giving priority to the reduction of the infant mortality caused by malaria.
To form groups of organizers on the subject of non-violence and procedures to avoid malaria.
To involve and organize the larger number of people in these objectives.

In keeping with these objectives, the AHFC has embarked on many cleaning up campaings within Zone 6 and 11 in the vicinity of SMA

Notwithstanding, the above organization has the vision working in all the eleven zones on Camp Buduburam as far spreading in all African countries thus the name, Afrohumanist.

The consequences the sanitation hazard posed on the residents and continuous warning of public Health workers constitutes our desire to undertake this project.

Since its establishment in March 2004, AHFC’s work and activities have earned her growing respect and recognition within the Refugees Community with her human resource and meager resources borrowing from CBW, LRWC and SMA.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Gain recognition from the Ghana chief in our community ,

by giving us an ideal spot to dispose gabbages ; putting in mechaqnism to enable us to execute the polluters pay principle (document is pending),

Networking with Children Better Way (CBW) a renounce Ngo on camp Buduburam ( they have been our strong hold on the line of tools)
Recognized by Liberia Refugee welfare Council (LRWC) and the camp Manager of the Buduburam Refugee Camp.

MISSION

The mission of AHFC is in two folds:

Stop Malaria and Education for non-violence campaign
Sanitation which include food, hygiene, watery supply, premises inspection, prevention of communicable diseases, refuse and excreta disposal for example school and eating establishment.
Enforcement of public Heath Laws
To organize seminars and workshop on public Health.

ACTIVITIES

Cleaning ups began in June 5, 2004 through Dec. 29, 2004.
Number of times worked from June to November, twenty-five Saturdays; twenty-five meetings were held. These meetings were held from June 5, 2004 to Dec. 2004 on each Sunday that follows the working day. In these meetings directors gives education for non-violence.

OBSERVATION

The onset community members were voluntarily making their contribution (food stuff, cash, human resource and personal tools).
We observed that after cleaning up, community members stop making their voluntary contributors. In addition, injured volunteers were not properly treated due to financial constraint of the group and feared of been victimized of communicable diseases and injury.

RECOMMENDATION

Funds be allocated to refresh volunteers after work as it may serve as motivation for the subsequent cleanup and also increment in work force.
Constuting an environmental protection agency to execute the polluter pay principle. (LRWC, GOMOA CHIEF/ GNP)

The Below Expenditure List is our first amount received from our International Coordinator in Chicago U.S. A on the __________ of Nov. 2005. This has atleast build up the team spirit but are inaduquate to meet up with our task to performed effectively. As you may see on the list there’s no rain boot, rubber gloves, and other materials to prevent volunteers from been infected.

ITEMS	QUANTITY	UNIT PRICE	INCOME	TOTAL COST
Spray Tank	1	¢650,000	¢2,233,750	¢650,000
Insecticide	2	¢100,000		¢100,000
File	1	¢30,000		¢30,000
Gloves	4	¢20,000		¢80,000
Chapper	4	¢35,000		¢140,000
Cutlass	4	¢35,000		¢140,000
Rakes	2	¢15,000		¢30,000
Nose Mask	2	¢10,000		¢20,000
Hoe	3	¢15,000		¢45,000
Broom	10	¢10,000		¢40,000
Paint Cup	3	¢60,000		¢180,000
Wheel Barrow	1	¢500,000		¢500,000
Shovel	2	¢40,000		¢40,000
Plywood	1	¢60,000		¢60,000
Plank	3	¢20,000		¢60,000

Transportation---------------------------------------- ¢ 25,000

Miscellaneous --------------------------------------- ¢ 50,000

Grand Total------------ ¢2, 230,000

Net Balance-------------------- Income- Grand Total

¢2,233,750-¢2,230,000 =

¢ 3,750

PLAN OF ACTION OF ZONE SIX (6)

SANITATION DEPARTMENT / AHFC , 2005

INSPECTION SITE DAYS

TOILET MON/Saturday
BATH ROOM MON/Saturday
DRINAGE MON/Saturday

COOK SHOP WED/Thursday
STREET SELLER WED/Thursday
RESEVIOR WED/Thursday
MINERAL/LOCAL WATER SELLER WED/Thursday

AWARENESS EXERCISE TWICE MONTHLY

PERSONAL HYGINE FIRST Saturday
SANITATION SECOND SUNDAY
HIV/AIDS T.B.A

SPRAYING EXERCISE WEEKLY TWO TIMES

BATH ROOM Mon / Saturday
Toilet Mon / Saturday
Drainage Mon / Saturday
House Hold Mon / Saturday

GARBAGE COLLECTION T.B.A ON A DAILY BASIS

Cook shop Monday – Saturday
Saloon Monday – Saturday
Home Monday – Saturday
Business Site Monday - Saturday

NB. COMMUNITY GENERAL CLEANING UP EVERY 3^RD Saturday IN THE MONTH

NB. INSTITUTIONS, CHURCHES AND ORGANIZATIONS T.B.A

NB. WORKSHOP AND SEMINARS TO BE ARRANGED (T.B. A )

We hereby recommend that a budget be set to facilitate workshop, seminar etc.

This plan takes effect as from Monday, January 24, 2005.

Signed: ________________________

Sampson N. Nugba, Jr

Sanitation Department Head

Approved:____________________

Maria Quaye

Head of z/6

With the above plan, we have had two successful cleaning up with the Buduburam District Primary and the Philadelphia Int. Church on January 28 and Feb. 5, 2005 respectively. Follow up with Institutions / Churches continue. Beside these, we were engaged in two major exercises, which has given us more momentum and recognition

With reference to our problem regarding tool we will highly appreciate any assistance in that direction as soon as possible to facilitate subsequent wkly cleaning up and the forth coming 2 day, mass cleaning up to be held by Budubram Humanist Network as our quota to Budubuaram Residence.

On behave of Buduburam Humanist I wish you more Peace, Force and joy.

Shovels & Wheelbarrows #2 COMPLETED

2005-01-26T22:21:00.000-06:00

Today the progress meter reached $1000 which completes our goal! At last count, I also received $146 that did not register on the progress meter and have at least one more check on the way.

Since there are three teams involved in this, I have to coordinate with them on getting the money to them, but I expect to have it in their hands shortly. Then I'll be posting updates as soon as I have them. I likely won't travel to Budaburam in Ghana again until May or June so it'll be a while until we can have a first-hand account from me, but I'll post when I get updates from the teams from Liberia in the refugee camp.

Thanks to: Michael, Kevin, Reid, John, Pam, Niny, Tom, Anne, Nick, Jeff, Cynthia, Elsbeth, Tim, Lisa, Terry, Sean, Carla, Grace, Rose, Michael, Judy, Cuda, Sol, Sue, Steve, & Luke!
Special thanks to: members of omidyar.net.

Previous Posts on this: Campaign announcement | Update

update on tip jar #2

2005-01-19T22:55:00.000-06:00

Since the last update the progress meter is up to $685, though not all donations are listed there so the actual total is $801 of our $1000 goal!!

Thanks to: Michael, Kevin, Reid, John, Pam, Tom, Nick, Jeff, Cynthia, Elsbeth, Tim, Lisa, Terry, Sean, Carla, Rose, Judy, Cuda, Sue, Steve, & Luke!

click here to donate

Clarence S. Ford II

2005-01-08T21:54:00.000-06:00

Clarence is in the team of Beatrice Browne.

From: Clarence S. Ford II
To: ted
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004
Subject: CLARENCE HUMANIST FROM GHANA !!!

Sir,
Greetings to you in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Master.
By the way of introduction,I am Clarence S. Ford II a Liberian and a REGISTER MEMBER OF THE HUMANIST MOVEMENT UNDER Sis. Beatrice Brown on the Refugee Camp.
She give me the detials of the entire organization to which I am highly intersted.
I am twenty-four(24) years of age and a college drop out student.
My interste in this program is to helpmy age group Liberian Brothers and Sisters who are damaging their lives by drinking acohol,gambling,smoking and liberian girls who are engange in prostitution to get off the street by means of opening a computer latracy studies or classes through your help since I have knowledge on this project(Computer Latarcy).
Actually,this is an opportunity I have Long been waiting for, for the past four(4)years knowing that the future and delopment of our country Liberia is highly depending on the youths.
And it has being my dream to see we the youths of working together for the betterment of our country liberia.
If i will have the opportunity,I will want to take this program to Nigeria,Senegal and all part of Africa where there is Liberians to educate them.
This entire project have being discussion with Sis.Beatrice Brown who has interst and trust in me and have also embrace the idea of me assisting my fellow Liberian youth.
However, the names listed below are some youths I have gathrer.
1.Sarah Pannoh---F---July 29,1969
2.Melvin P.Logon-M---April 21,1983
3.Satarius Seh---F---NOV.13,1879
4.Hawa Seh-------F--Sept.31,1980
5.Precious Cole----F---Dec.19,1983
6.Akimi R.Toe----F---sept.16,1986
7.Norwai FREEMAN--F--APRIL 15,1990
8.Alferd T.Doa----M--May 25,1970
9.Gar Dorway-----M---June 13, 1982
10.Soloe Bloe----M---March 15,1988.

As my dream is now penimg on you ,may the almighty God bless you to be a blessing to the liberian society.
Hope to hear from you as soon as possible.
Until then,
Clarence S. FORD II.
Buduburam refugee camp.

MY POSTAL ADDRESS IS:

CLARENCE S. FORD II
BUDUBURAM REFUGEE SETTLEMENT
P.O.BOX 46 STATE HOUSE
CENTRAL REGION,
ACCRA,GHANA.

AND ATTACH IS MY PHOTO BELOW.
GOD BLESS YOU.

CLARENCE YOUR
HUMANIST MEMBER PEACE,FORCE AND JOY

From: Ted Ernst
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004

Clarance,

Thank you very much for your message. I have received the names of
your members and they are now registered in the Humanist Movement.

I look forward to hearing more about your project of computer literacy
as it develops!

peace, force and joy,
ted

More Shovels & Wheelbarrows tip jar

2005-01-01T21:03:00.000-06:00

click here to donate

My first dropcash campaign of $250 was sucessful [1] [2].

There are now seven people working directly with me as humanist volunteers in the Budaburam Liberian Refugee Camp in Ghana [3]. Those seven have teams of their own and some of those people have teams of their own, adding up to more than 1000 people.

This new campaign is to support three teams with their ongoing volunteer projects. One of the three is the same team as from the first campaign (Sampson Nugba). The second is working on an agriculture project (Beatrice Brown). The third is also working on the neighborhood cleanup as part of the campaign to stop Malaria (Chris Flomo).

Update Jan 5 - I forgot to mention that the goal is $1000. Thanks to Michael, Reid, Pam, Tim, Terry, Carla, Judy, Sue, Steve, & Luke we have $530!! so far (some in non-tip jar methods so are not reflected in the progress meter on the right).

click here to donate

insecticide spraying 2004

2004-12-21T22:29:00.001-06:00

insecticide spraying 2004
Originally uploaded by Ted Ernst.

Beatrice, Alvin, Chris and others

Sampson Nugba

2004-12-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

Sampson with No Dumping signboard 2004

I took 51 photos on my recent trip, mostly of Sampson's team. I'm just showing one here, but they're all in a flickr group. They're not broken down by team yet so this will have to do for now.

Christopher Flomo

2004-12-21T20:40:00.000-06:00

This post is a combination of a couple of posts from my personal blog where I've added the photos for completeness.

Chris’s team is now acting without him present as he has left for Liberia to put documents in order so that he may exercise his option to move to the US as he has won the annual Diversity Visa Lottery. Boimah Sombai is one of Chris’s team members and he himself orients a council with at least 6 teams and some 100+ members. Chris’s council has a total of 11 teams with over 160 members. Boimah submitted this email:

Dear Ted,
peace, force and joy we do greet you and chicago humanist. we the members of chris team continue towork effectively on camp recruiting people into the movement. we are also undergoing a sanitation project,educating every residents of camp buduburam.ted, the camp is presently occupied with approximately 45 thousand liberians refugees and other nationales.about 95% of the said number are not yet being inform of sanitation education in the camp.owing to this predicament comfronting them(better health), inorder to meet better healththere is a ned and cost of living on camp. at this time we deem it necessary to implement the sanitation project which will eventually give rise to better and healthy community. sanitation educationinto the community that will help to minize the said if not eradicated. with the help of this project which aims of providing better health in camp buduburam, aleast of the 95%, 80% will be provided sanitation knowledge.we have alread y begun the project by ourselves volunteerly by sprying drainages, bathrooms toilets etc. we are also educating people about the humanist movement how to surpass those endeavour. for more encouragement and evidence to yuo and the chicago humanist, here are some of our works photo graphs:

Therefore, we plead to the humanist branch of chicago to please compensate our team with the following materials inorder to speed up our works. materials they as follows:

sprying cans .............4 @600,000 =2,400,000
wheel barrows...........5 @600,000= 3,000,000
shovels................10 @ 40,000 =400,000
rakes..................10 @ 40,000 = 400,000
gloves...............20pairs @20,000=400,000
masks ...........20 pairs @20,000 =400,000
rain boots.......12pairs @55,000= 660,000
TOTAL: 7,660,000 cedis
convertion in us dollars: 859.00

Beatrice Brown

2004-12-21T20:37:00.000-06:00

Since the time of this post, Beatrice has emailed me quite a bit and has registered over 80 members. The post below does not reflect that growth.

Beatrice has never sent me an email, and on this trip I found out why. She has no typing experience and hasn’t used a computer before. We made arrangements with her team for people to help her communicate with me and learn to use the computer herself over time.

This is a small team, but they have started a garden project and have already harvested some items. Beatrice has 6 members working directly with her and 16 total members in the council in 4 separate groups. They submitted the following:

Brief History & an Appeal
The six members of this project started in the month of July 28, 04 gearing toward been self sustainable In view of the foregoing, we started by molding mud bricks and renting of tools, such as shovels, diggers and rake. In this direction we were able to mold one thousand two hundred (1,200) mud bricks at the rate of five hundred cedis per bricks which amounted to six hundred thousands cedis (c600,000) [ed: ~US$70], but due to the hard labour involved, we decided to look toward agriculture production. We got in contact with the land owner (Ghanian) who land is situated between the estate and the refugee camp. A six feet well was dug to water the garden in two hard working days to complete. This include corn, pepper, beans, palava sauce, okra and etc.

To get our project started, we spent the c600,000 this way:

Seeds (corn 15,000, pepper 15,000, beans 15,000, palava sauce 13,000, potatoe greens 10,000, okra 10,000, pumpkin 5,000) 83,000

Tool Rental (mostly once per week)
wheelbarrow 1x 6,000x7days =42,000
hoes 4x3,000x7days= 84,000
shovals 2x3,000x7days= 42,000
diggers 2x3,000x7days= 42,000
rakes 3x3,000x7days= 63,000
cutlasses 3x3,000x16days= 144,000
417,000

drinking water 4,000/day x 7 days 28,000

food (rice/oil) 10,000 x 7 days (once per week) 70,000

Total
598,000

Due to the hard cost of renting tools, we are therefore appealing to your organization to please help us to purchase our own tools to extend the garden to a full farm. The tools needed are:

tools

Qty

unit price

amount

wheel barrow

2

500,000

1,000,000

Cutlasses

6

35,000

210,000

Hoes

6

20,000

120,000

rain boots

6

100,000

600,000

Hand glove

6

35,000

210,000

Rakes

3

25,000

75,000

spraying cans

4

680,000

2,720,000

Shovels

3

50,000

150,000

water cans

4

120,000

480,000

grand total

5,565,000

[ed: ~US$630]

The spraying cans will not only be used for the garden, but also for sanitation purpose like spraying the drainages, bathrooms and toilets to help prevent some diseases like diarrhea, cholera and malaria on the refugee camp.

In view of the above, we are appealing to your good organization to help us get our tools so as to make our dream come through. We are at the verge of harvesting our crops and we are expecting to hear from you as soon as possible to enlarge the garden to a farm. We will be very much glad to see you come visit us on our farm in the future.

Beatrice in Garden 2004-1
Beatrice in Garden 2004-2

Thanks,
Sincerely Yours,
Six Members
Attested by Beatrice Browne (signature)

I took this photo of Beatrice's team at garden 27 November 2004

Once I get all of the current round of fundraising requests organized, I need to decide goals for each one (how much I'm willing to ask for each one). This one is way high given the number of people involved, but even a small amount will go a long way with this team.

team specific information (all)

2004-12-21T20:34:00.000-06:00

As I make specific posts about each team, I'm going to replace this information with links to those posts. To start with, this is copied from my personal blog. This idea is that I will aggregate all the information and fundraising proposals that I have here (in public) and then will decide on a new fundraising campaign that takes into account these requests, numbers of people involved in each team, and total do-able-ness from a short-term fundraising standpoint. Depending on what it looks like, perhaps it could be in stages, building upon one another.

There are seven people in the camp working with me directly. Each of them has a team. I will go through them one by one to tell what I know about each team as well as what I saw during the November 2004 trip to Ghana.

Sampson Nugba

Sampson’s team was the one to send me the photo of the clean-up campaign that led to the Tip Jar for Shovels & Wheelbarrows. I sent them US$250 and they bought various tools (see budget). I visited this team’s Saturday action where they had about 25 people cleaning up a certain area of the camp. See photos. One point that really struck me was the fact that there were many more tools in evidence than what was purchased with the $250. We bought one wheelbarrow, for example, and 3 were in use. Same with rakes, shovels and cutlasses. This tells me that not only did they begin the project without financial help from the outside, they are continuing to maximize resources brought to bear on any particular day. Sampson’s council has at least 7 teams and at total of at least 130 people.

Chris Flomo

Prince Eric Yengbe

Since I’ve known him, Prince has had a lot of health trouble and thus has not been very active. He did not have any active projects for me to visit during this trip. He did register more than 100 members in at least 13 groups while I was there, however. These teams would like to carry about a campaign to clean up a certain area of drainage in their zone.

Beatrice Browne

Oretha Johnson

Oretha has been working more or less alone with a group of children in her area. She tutors them and has organized them into a choir that is much-sought-after to perform for special events. They have also won performance awards. She seeks to mobilize more members to expand these activities. She registered 12 members while I was there.

Benjamin Witherspoon

Benjamin is the Zonal Head for Zone 10 in the camp. He is very highly respected in the community and finds himself involved in all aspects of camp life. His influence was instrumental in Sampson’s team’s ability to secure tools to begin their campaign even before any fundraising. He has at least 41 members in at least 4 groups.

Alvin Zweh

Alvin has 13 members currently registered.

What's happening on this blog?

2004-12-21T19:53:00.000-06:00

There are seven people (Alvin, Boimah representing Chris, Oretha, Benjamin, Prince, Sampson and Beatrice) in the camp working directly with me. In the next couple of days, I'm going to attempt to get information about each team here, preferrably in it's own post, but focusing on getting drafts up so as not to waste any more time thinking I need to "find enough time to do it right." Then as I revise, I'll simply put the new versions in as new posts and the drafts will live forever, providing that history for anyone interested in looking. I'm also going to post a few personal histories and/or appeals from some of these people and some people in their teams. These might take a bit more time to get up.

Here's a bit of context:

1. How do you see your future? How and when will you leave this camp? Where will you go? What do you need to do in the meantime or to make this happen?

Answers ranged in time on the camp from 2 to 14 years and since my last visit, two of them have departed (obviously not any I met with), one for Minnesota on refugee status and one to Liberia to put everything in place for a move to the US on a Diversity Visa that he won in the annual lottery.

Answers ranged from, "I'm leaving as soon as my current schooling is finished, by June 2005 at the latest," to "I will go when my name is called for the voluntary repatriation," (going on now, but very, very slowly) to "Because of my family's connections it is not safe for me to go back until everything changes quite a bit in Liberia so I will be the last one to leave this camp," to "I am working with my relatives in the US to find any means possible to get a visa."

Does anyone reading this know anything about this process? Is there anything that I could be doing to help organize the Liberians that are already in the US to help their relatives if that's what they want to do?

2. What's happening with your humanist team? What do you need help with?

After Sampson sent me his team's information about their clean-up campaigns and need for tools of their own, people responded very quickly to raise money for this purpose. Now the other teams are more motivated to communicate with me about their own projects and what help they also need. I will be posting answers when I get them from the teams, hopefully with photos as well.

Tip Jar #1 for Shovels and Wheelbarrows

2004-12-11T20:46:00.000-06:00

On the 25th of August, I started a fundraising campaign with a goal of US$250. This is what I wrote to get it started:

In the Budaburam (Ghana) Refugee Camp for Liberians, many people have started working together as volunteers in a Humanist Movement campaign for Non-violence and Fight Against Malaria. Part of the campaign is to clean up the environment so as to eliminate breeding grounds for mosquitos. They've got plenty of
volunteers, but need shovels, rakes, gloves, wheelbarrow and other similar equipment to do this clean-up work. Thanks much!

On the 11th of November, we reached that goal! Here is the report of how that money was spent.

This campaign was for the council organized by Sampson Nugba. I visited this team’s Saturday action at the end of November where they had about 25 people cleaning up a certain area of the camp. See photos. One point that really struck me was the fact that there were many more tools in evidence than what was purchased with the $250. We bought one wheelbarrow, for example, and 3 were in use. Same with rakes, shovels and cutlasses. This tells me that not only did they begin the project without financial help from the outside, they are continuing to maximize resources brought to bear on any particular day. Sampson’s council has at least 7 teams and at total of at least 130 people.
Sampson with No Dumping signboard 2004

First Post

2004-12-10T10:51:00.000-06:00

I live in Chicago, but I'm a volunteer with the Humanist Movement. For the past two years, I've been periodically traveling to the Budaburam Liberian Refugee Camp outside of Accra, Ghana. I have seven people there working with me (as volunteers) in the effort to Humanize the Earth! They in turn have their own teams and some of those people have their own teams and so on. It amounts to something more than 400 people total, at last count.

All around the world, volunteers with the Humanist Movement are engaging in personal and social change. In the camp, this is a Campaign for Non-violence and Fight Against Malaria.

In the near-future, I'll be posting information here about what's happening in the camp and eventually, I'll teach my members in the camp how to post here as well so you can get it straight from the source.

Thanks for reading!

Seeds (corn 15,000, pepper 15,000, beans 15,000, palava sauce 13,000, potatoe greens 10,000, okra 10,000, pumpkin 5,000)	83,000
Tool Rental (mostly once per week) wheelbarrow 1x 6,000x7days =42,000 hoes 4x3,000x7days= 84,000 shovals 2x3,000x7days= 42,000 diggers 2x3,000x7days= 42,000 rakes 3x3,000x7days= 63,000 cutlasses 3x3,000x16days= 144,000	417,000
drinking water 4,000/day x 7 days	28,000
food (rice/oil) 10,000 x 7 days (once per week)	70,000
Total	598,000

tools	Qty	unit price	amount
wheel barrow	2	500,000	1,000,000
Cutlasses	6	35,000	210,000
Hoes	6	20,000	120,000
rain boots	6	100,000	600,000
Hand glove	6	35,000	210,000
Rakes	3	25,000	75,000
spraying cans	4	680,000	2,720,000
Shovels	3	50,000	150,000
water cans	4	120,000	480,000
grand total			5,565,000	[ed: ~US$630]