Photo Credit: Refugees International
08/25/2007

On returning to their villages many people find themselves without shelter. Lofa County suffered such destruction during the war that all housing had to be rebuilt. People arriving back to their villages without shelter end up living in substandard shelters like the one depicted in this photo. Such shelters do not protect people from the rain, which is a serious problem in Liberia where it rains 50% of the time. Building more shelters in the counties would reduce urban migration to Monrovia, the overcrowded capital city.

The Director of the Liberian Refugee, Repatriation and Resettlement Commission sees shelter as the priority issue for the country. She pointed out that Liberians have lived for too long with no sense of permanence or dignity in their lives, and that they need to build shelters which are an improvement on the way people were living in the refugee and displacement camps