Today, the world is caught in a pandemonium of crisis that leads to rapid loss of life; and those that are fortunate to escape such catastrophes are usually left with the alternative of being internally displaced if they are residing in their own home country or considered as refugees if they cross into a foreign country.
This is the case with the Liberian refugees presently in Ghana.
The Liberian civil war which lasted for a period of 14 years (1989-2003) and made about 350,000 Liberians as refugees just in the West African region alone (VOA News, 2005). Out of this number over 40,000 resided in Ghana as of 2005 in accordance with The Liberian Refugee Welfare Council and the Ghana Refugee Board estimate.
Prior to the arrival of the Liberian refugees, the Ghanaian government had no experience with hosting refugees in a camp. There were thus no government ministries or agency with the expertise to handle such a situation, neither were there any government policy guidelines for handling refugees. The unexpected way in which they arrived in Ghana created problems as to whether they should be classified as refugees or not. The OAU Convention however covered them in so far as civil war was raging in their country and they were compelled to go to the ports (where they were picked up together with the evacuated Ghanaians) to seek refuge. Since Ghana had ratified both the UN and OAU conventions on refugees, these provided the basis for her dealings with the Liberian refugees. This though was done in an ad hoc manner due to the lack of local legislation on them. For the first two years, it could formally not accord them refugee status and when it finally did, it would only recognize them as ‘’De facto’’ refugees apparently for the same reason.


The United Nations High Commissioner for refugees in 2000 formerly withdrew all support for Liberian refugees in Ghana and other part of the sub-region of West Africa.
The already poor educational system at the camp was hard hit by this decision as aid to the school system was halted.
Since the withdrawal, Liberian refugees at the Buduburam refugee camp have been left to provide for themselves on a daily basis as all support from humanitarian agencies came to an abrupt end.
In similar vein, locals or members of the host community could do no more as their capacity of receptiveness to the Liberians had been overstretched .


Enumerating what she thought to be the causes of the high dropout rate among camp children, a youth listed the following:
• Lack of support, financial assistance to make it in school
• Teenage pregnancy
• Some just don’t want to go to school
• Some also believe they’ll be resettled so they stop in the hopes of travelling and will rather wait till they get there to continue.