Primary girls welcoming Elder Markham
Buduburam, the Liberian Refugee Camp
For a decade plus, there has been civil unrest and violence in Liberia. Many people left the country for safety in neighboring lands. There are church members among these refugees. About 30 miles East of Accra, the Ghanaian government has established a refugee camp for Liberians. Even the Ghanaians who live in this area are very poor. The refugees are given food and water to sustain life, but only minimal education is available for the children, and adults have almost no possibility to get education or meaningful employment. Refugees can not take regular jobs in Ghana that would displace a Ghanaian worker (unemployment in Ghana is about 20%.) They can be self employed. Many have been in the camp for 10 years. They want to return to their home land, but still fear for their safety there. There is a congregation of about 300 church members at the camp. It is the Buduburam Branch of the Lartebiokorshie Stake.
Do you remember the tro-tro with 25 adults inside arriving at the temple in the last website update. Those were members from Buduburam Branch---economic reality made the overloading necessary. We traveled to the Buduburam Branch on a Sunday morning with a stake auditor to attend meetings and do an audit. Due to lack of telephones, they did NOT know we were coming. After a couple of months in West Africa, Elder Markham thought he could deal with anything. The visit to Buduburam Branch proved him wrong and may have altered his life forever. Grab a tissue and read on.
Primary girls welcoming Elder Markham
We arrived about 20 minutes before the meeting time. Members were already there sweeping the ground and arranging the chairs. The branch rents two rooms of the elementary school for Sunday meetings. Relief Society uses one and Primary the other. Priesthood and Young Women meet outside on the playground. The chairs are elementary student desks, build for two students each.
Primary boys in the Priesthood and Sunday School "room"
Elder Markham had to move the car---he had parked where the Aaronic Priesthood would meet. The two pictures below are cropped from the upper corners of the picture above. They tell a story that our words can not adequately convey.
The Elder's Quorum President is writing the topic for the Priesthood Lesson on the chalkboard.
It is Teaching for Our Times, 2004, Lesson 5: Blessings Through the Priesthood!
In the background, neighborhood children are bathing in a faucet.
The Priesthood class had 17 men present, plus Elder Markham and the stake auditor, Brother Larbie. Several are returned missionaries. The discussion was rich, the spirit strong, and chickens walked and pecked through the classroom.
The school has never been wired for electricity. The only light comes from open doors and gables, plus the sideways cinder block windows. The chalkboards are in terrible condition. This is an active elementary school!!
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The Relief Society Room Chalkboard (The light is from the camera's flash.) |
The neighborhood children with our car Note the school building in the background |
The Gospel Doctrine lesson (also outside) was on Captain Moroni in Alma. It was quite an experience to hear the perspective on war from Liberian refugees, many of whom had witnessed atrocities such as family members being hacked to death. In the end, mercy and forgiveness carried the day, leaving vengence to the Lord. Reading about Moroni's defense of the Nephites will never be the same! Elder Markham's head got a little sunburned.
Showing real mercy, the Branch President asked Elder and Sister Markham to give the opening and closing prayers in sacrament meeting. This meant they could sit on folding chairs at the front of the room, instead of the student desks---which all had at least three occupants. The room was about 30 feet by 20 feet. There were over 80 people in the meeting. It was so crowded, the deacons could NOT walk down the aisle to pass the sacrament. No A/C, fans, microphone or lights, but the spirit was strong. Elder Markham took a deep breath, then gave a short prayer, trying to maintain composure. He would have taken bets that Sister Markham would not have been able to utter a sound without a complete meltdown when she stood to give the closing prayer. But during the meeting she mentally listed what blessings she was thankful for that the members of Buduburam Branch also shared. Her prayer was simple, but profound (inspired). Without a tear, she expressd thanks for the restored gospel, a living prophet, family and friends, and a temple nearby. In discussing our feelings after this experience, we have concluded that while there is no inherent unrighteousness in material blessings, sometime their sheer abundance can mask that which is most important. This is not a problem in Buduburam!
Click below to see people of Buduburam.
Want to meet a prince of a man?
Buduburam Branch President, Alex Tandoh
President Tandoh is a Ghanaian from a town near the Buduburam refugee camp. He is educated and has a great job in Accra. He and his wife have a young family. They choose to live in an affordable area and he commutes each day. Last May he was called as Buduburam Branch President. He has a great desire to help these members earn money "so they can pay tithing and have the windows of Heaven open and pour out blessings" that they really need. His vision is to find some farm land to lease adjacent to the camp, and have the members co-op farm vegetables that they can sell at the local market. Ghanaian laws limit what the refugees can do. Most desire to return to Liberia as soon as it is safe to do so. (They have been in Ghana for ten years!) President Tandoh is working hard to make this vision come true. Some people are born into royal lines in this life. Some magnify the royal lineage they bring with them.
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