Halfway to Nowhere: Liberian Former Child Soldiers in a Ghanaian Refugee Camp

Citation:

Woodward, Lucinda, and Peter Galvin. 2009. “Halfway to Nowhere: Liberian Former Child Soldiers in a Ghanaian Refugee Camp.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 99 (5): 1003–11.

Authors: Lucinda Woodward, Peter Galvin

Abstract:

This study utilizes Kunz's kinetic model of refugee displacement to interpret the placelessness experienced by Liberian former child soldiers in the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana. From August to December 2007, a clinical psychologist and a geographer interviewed ten Liberian former child soldiers to determine spatial and social barriers to successful resettlement and the prospects for overcoming these obstacles. Based on the interviews, five areas of intervention were suggested: (1) geographic desegregation and relocation, (2) education and employment, (3) psychological counseling, (4) societal acceptance and reintegration, and (5) security and protection.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Education, Gender, Girls, Boys, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Security Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Liberia

Year: 2009