Small African Newspaper Makes a Big Impact on Human Rights

by Actual News Geezer | September 14, 2006 at 11:20 am

825 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

The refugee camp at Buduburam just south of Ghana's capital, should be way too small and insignificant to have made the impact is has.

But two two Liberian journalists in exile, Jos Garneo Cephas and Semantics King Jr., did not let that stop them.

It's an inspiring story, and partly it has happened through the efforts of a remarkable Canadian organization, Journalists for Human Rights, (for which I had the pleasure of being a volunteer.

Please read on!

Today King, 27, is the noble pulse of the paper: an extraordinary leader who serves as editor, mentor, teacher, and --more times than I can count-- father figure to the dozen young people who write for "The Vision".

It was a bittersweet day when, at the end of March, King announced to his staff that he had been awarded the prestigious World Press Institute Fellowship. At the end of July, he will travel to the United States to study.

In November, he will finally return to Monrovia, where he will be re-united with his mother and, none of whom he has seen in almost 15 years.

It is an exciting time to be working at the Buduburam camp. Now that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is in power in Liberia and the rebuilding process has begun, the mood on the streets of the camp is cautiously optimistic. Every day, more and more people are leaving the camp on UNHCR buses, heading back to the land they fled during a brutal 14-year civil war.