70 refugees graduate from nursing program

By J. Keanmue Tokpah

Buduburam - Lawrena Sharlty completed high school in 1997 and studied Accounting at the University of Liberia for a semester. She interrupted her studies and came to Ghana in 1999 because of the second civil in Liberia. She eventually returned to school, but to become a nurse not an accountant.

"I decided to become a nurse almost two years ago after I took my mother, who was then sick, to a nearby hospital,” said Lawrena. “We paid all the fees in cash but my mother cried in pain for more than five hours before anyone could attend to her. There and then I decided to become a nurse.”

Lawrena was one of 70 nursing students to graduate from Preparatory College of Health Sciences (PRECOHS) last weekend in a ceremony at the Refuge Baptist Church.

It was a difficult road they had to travel to get their education. Fourteen years of civil war Liberia and hardships in various refugee camps in West Africa made it difficult for them to stay in school. Chief among the challenges has been the struggle for survival: to earn what little they could spare in order for them to keep their stomachs warm to see another day.

Yet despite the odds, a few refused to allow their refugee status and the conditions in which they lived to defeat their desire to learn. They realized that being a refugee was not an excuse for them not to pursue an education and a career.

PRECOHS is a makeshift six-room school squeezed between refugee houses on a small plot of land near Cassava Market in Zone 11 (formerly Area-J just outside the western edge of the settlement). The school trains students to become nurse assistants, health assistants and midwife assistants.

The school was established in 2000 by Gabriel Johnson to help train refugees at an affordable cost. Most of the first students were students of Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts (TNIMA), a nursing training school run by the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia. Those students could not complete their studies there because of the war.

But they found a way to resume their studies at PRECOHS. Natt Pour Breeze (nick-named KASAPA) completed high school in 1988 and has a diploma in Theology. He also graduated from PRECOHS last weekend and said it was well worth the investment of time and money.

"The knowledge they are giving us is preparing us for the future,” he said. “All of this on practically volunteer basis because the amount we pay as tuition is nothing compared to the knowledge we gain."

Marie D. Zorbah agreed with KASAPA. The PRECOHS graduate said it gave her a much-needed education and hopefully a job.

"I started planning to become a nurse from my elementary school days, but I could not do so right after high school in 1995 because of the war and the problems associated with it. PRECOHS has empowered me with knowledge that will enable me to advance myself and also enable me to earn a living."

"I want to advise my brothers and sisters to decide now and enroll in a school like PRECOHS and learn something in order for them to be able to earn a living,” she said. “Let them leave the 18 (Buduburam main Social center) and the Togo Jeans. Those things cannot carry anyone anywhere. This school can train you to become somebody.”

None of the recent graduates have found a job yet, but more than 50 of those who graduated from this school are currently working overseas, mainly in the USA, Canada and Australia. Others who have returned to Liberia are working in the health care delivery system there. Here on the camp nearly 40 of PRECOHS graduates work with St. Gregory Catholic Clinic and its auxiliary wings: the children clinic, the HIV/AIDS annex. Some also work here with the eye clinic.

Some of the recent graduates, including KASAPA, have plans to return to Liberia and work with the health care delivery system there.

"Now that I have this nursing knowledge I will go home and contribute my quota to the reconstruction of my country,” he said.

Delivering the Keynote address at the ceremony, Varney B. Sambola, chairman of the Liberian Refugees Welfare Council (LRWC), challenged the graduates to care for the sick, and not do it because of the money they’ll make.

"Be careful in discharging your duties and respect the nursing code and standards, because your job is not like any other job,” he said. “Your job is very complex and delicate. If you fail to follow the standards it will be disastrous because you will be dealing with lives.”

For his part, the president of PRECOHS, Ismael McGill, urged the graduates to be creative and be role models in their communities.

"In society initiative counts a lot,” he said. “It is not what you wear that makes you who you are but what you learn makes you who you are. So as you go out be the first to lead the way to health.”

Seventeen years of interaction between Liberian refugees and Ghanaians at Buduburam have further cemented the already strong ties between Liberia and Ghana. An example of that tie is the relationship between PRECOHS and St. Jude Hospital and the Margo Clinic and Maternity Home, both in Kasoa.

Students of PRECOHS do their practical nursing trainings at the two health centers because PRECOHS does not a clinic of its own. "I love to teach the course but the regrettable thing about the school is that it does not have a clinic of its own,” said Annie Gowah, who teaches Obstetrics and Gynecology at PRECOHS.

The Liberians have certainly benefited from the partnerships with St. Jude and the Margo clinic. Margaret Oduro, the director of the Margo Clinic and Maternity Home, said Ghanaians have also learned something from their contact with the Liberians. She said it helped her overcome false stereotypes about the refugee community.

"Before PRECOHS students came to train at our clinic I share the general misconception that Liberian students are lazy and unserious,” she said. “But now, I am satisfied with their performance. They are smart, obedient, hardworking and friendly. From now onwards, our clinic will take more [students from] PRECOHS.”

Far from being lazy, the students at the school are very ambitious. Lawrena said it has made her want to continue on in her schooling.

"I feel very proud of myself and grateful to PRECOHS because the time I spent there was worthwhile,” she said. “Now I have a firm footing in the nursing field and I wish to continue until I obtain an MD.”