Educating children in Liberia's Bahn refugee camp - in pictures

Bahn refugee camp was built in January, about 15km from the town of Saclepea in Nimba County, Liberia. A vast area of bush had to be cut back to make way for the camp, which is 52km from Ivory Coast. The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, wanted the camp built to ease the pressure on villages along the border, which were witnessing an influx of Ivorians fleeing post-election violence. However, many Ivorians have chosen to stay close to the border, and have been taken in by Liberians. The NGO Save the Children has responsibility for education and child protection in the camp. The Norwegian Refugee Council helped build the shelters, and Médecins Sans Frontières is responsible for the camp's medical needs Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

Around 800 children attend the camp's primary school. The school is situated in the 'children's zone' at Bahn. Large tarpaulin sheets are nailed to pieces of timber to provide classrooms Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

There are no desks at the camp, so children sit on the floor to study. The school runs classes up to grade 6 Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

There are two large classrooms, and children either attend school in the morning or the afternoon. A second school is being built in another area of the camp. At the moment, there is no secondary school Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

Volunteer teacher Sammy Eloi, 45, takes a lesson, which is conducted in French Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

Volunteer teacher Leopold Deo, 45, teaches at the camp. As well as the school, the camp also has a 'child-friendly space' (CSF), which is an area in the children's zone for young people to meet friends, play, receive counselling and learn life skills. The CSF is particularly useful for teenagers who have finished their primary education. Fiona Bukirwa, Save the Children's child protection manager at Bahn, says she hopes young people will learn new skills that they can use when they return home, or to earn money while they are in the camp. Around 600 youngsters regularly visit the CSF Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

More boys than girls attend the primary school and visit the CSF. Of the 600 youngsters who visit the CSF, only about 100 are girls. Bukirwa says girls are often kept back to look after siblings Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

Although the UN is encouraging Ivorians to head to the refugee camp, many are choosing to stay in Liberian villages close to the border. Bukirwa says her NGO is looking at how it can support the education needs of children in these crossing points, 'to bring services to them' Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

Around 90 villages are understood to have taken in Ivorian refugees. In some places, Ivorian and Liberian children share school facilities, with children from one country attending school in the morning and the other in the afternoon Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

Israel Gbehe, 13, sweeps the tent that is home to him, his sister, Pacifique, and his foster family at Bahn. Israel and Pacifique fled Ivory Coast when armed men appeared in the town in which they were living. They fled without their parents and were placed with foster parents when they arrived. The Red Cross is trying to trace their parents. Israel regularly visits the CSF, while Pacifique attends the primary school Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

Adele Bouh is Israel and Pacifique's foster mother. Along with Bouh's 12-year-old daughter and husband, the group sleep on mattresses in a tent divided into two by a sheet. Bouh's husband, a teacher in Ivory Coast, is due to begin teaching at the camp's primary school in June Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

When people arrive at the camp they are given cups, bowls, utensils, buckets and blankets. The Bouh family earn money from a small stall outside their tent selling onions and peppers. The teaching work will also bring in some cash. The family receives rations from the World Food Programme. Adele says life in the camp is 'OK for now', but she had to leave behind many of her possessions when she fled and she doubts anything will be left when she gets back Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children

While she talks, Adele sits outside her tent with her foster daughter, Pacifique, five, on her lap. She says she is happy to be able to look after the children. She says they are now like her own Photograph: Jane Hahn/Save the Children