Liberian refugees' new life grows

This is an inspiring story about this refugee family and their struggles to come here and how hard they have worked to build a new life. - - Donna Poisl

Litchfield Park farm is a far cry from civil war hardships

By Eddi Trevizo, The Arizona Republic

Jawn Golo watched flames destroy her home and possessions in the Liberian Civil War and thought that her world was over.

"I just thought that was the end of my life," said Golo, 50.

She and her husband, James Golo, fled with their children from Monrovia, Liberia's capital, in October 1990. They spent 15 years in a refugee camp in Ghana, enduring hunger, bouts of cholera, a son who was partially blinded and Jawn's monthlong paralysis from snakebite.

Nearly two decades after rebels burned their home on Africa's western coast, the family leads a quieter life in Litchfield Park, running an organic farm it started with the help of a refugee program. The Golos are among 1,190 resettled Liberian refugees in the state, according to the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program.
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