©Info“We only started last week but I’ve made friends already,” says Sue. “Before this I used to work on the cassava farm. But some of my friends graduated from the centre last year, and that’s when I decided I wanted to come here too.
“I’ve never been to school before and I want to learn to read and write. I also want to learn the tie-dye and soap making, so that I can help myself. I don’t really know what I want to do in the future but for now I just want to learn.”
The child advocacy and rehabilitation (CAR) centre was launched in 2005, two years after the 14-year civil war finished. Children born at the beginning of the war were not able to go to school. Even many children born as the war was subsiding have had little opportunity for education as their parents had no work – there is 85 per cent unemployment in the country – and there is little money for food let alone school fees.
Children at risk
The war left many children vulnerable. At the time the Liberia Red Cross launched the CAR programme, some children who had been separated from their parents were sleeping in the marketplace and in old cars. They spent all day playing on the beach. They were dirty and had no clothes. Occasionally they would get money from someone feeling sorry for them, but mostly they would have to go without food.
From 2005-2008, the CAR centre in Monrovia has helped 589 vulnerable children through counselling, as well as providing a basic education and vocational guidance.
Madia Reeves, project co-ordinator, says: “We tend to have more girls than boys at the centre. I think it’s because, like all over the world, females are more vulnerable. During the conflict they were used as bush wives, they were abused and often end up having children, which makes it even more difficult for them to go to school.”
Heart of compassion
Sue has a daughter, Nancy, who is seven months old. She says: “During the war, the soldiers killed my father. My mother tried to look after me but there was no money for food and I couldn’t go to school. Because my mum doesn’t have any money, my aunty said I could come and stay with her and I was able to get a place at the CAR centre. Sometimes I visit my mum, but she lives in another county.”
The CAR programme is supported by the British Red Cross and many other Red Cross societies. Madia says: “We are so grateful to everyone who supports us. To think that there are people around the world, who do not know us, they have not seen us but yet they have the heart of compassion for Liberia. They raise money and send money to help our future generations. Each time I think about it my heart is touched."
More about post-conflict care in Liberia
Find out about post-conflict care in Sierra Leone