Apr 26 10
School for Hope
Valentino Deng in his native town of Marial Bai, southern Sudan, where with American help he has founded a new high school. Photo: Nicholas D. Kristof/The New York Times Southern Sudan is one of the most impoverished places on earth, and this remote town lacks electricity and running water and is 150 miles from the nearest paved road. Yet, thanks to a remarkable young American who grew up here — and to readers who backed him — the town has become a magnet for young Sudanese dreaming of an education. From hundreds of miles around, boys and girls are streaming…
Apr 22 10
UNHCR welcomes Pakistan’s decision to extend stay of Afghan refugees
Former journalist Rehman Faizai now sells traditional Afghan cloths at a market in Islamabad. He welcomed Pakistan’s decision to let registered refugees stay longer. GENEVA, March 25 (UNHCR)– The UN refugee agency on Thursday welcomed the Pakistani government’s decision to allow 1.7 million registered Afghans to remain in the country for three more years, alongside continued voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan. The Pakistan cabinet on Wednesday endorsed a new Strategy for the Management of Afghans in Pakistan, which includes extending the validity of Proof of Registration (PoR) cards until the end of 2012. The cards, which are issued to registered Afghan refugees,…
Apr 21 10
Refugees fear for their kids
Western Cape authorities have threatened to remove the children of refugees who fled xenophobic violence two years ago. “I’d rather die drowning with my children in the ocean than give them away,” said Amelia Nikwakwira, one of dozens of refugees evicted from the Blue Waters refugee camp in Cape Town. The camp was set up for victims of xenophobic violence but the city recently won a court order that they be evicted from it. Though many refugees were reintegrated into their communities, about 200 people, including the Nikwakwiras, moved to a nearby area of grass on the beach. Cape Town…
Apr 20 10
Future Connector: Paul Rusesabagina (aka Mr. Hotel Rwanda himself)
Paul Rusesabagina is credited with saving the lives for more than 1,200 refugees during the Rwandan genocide that claimed over one million innocent lives. Rusesabagina, who was born in central Rwanda to a farming family was the assistant manager at the Hotel des Mille Collines at the onset of the genocide that was perpetrated by members of Interahamwe militia. The Interahamwe targeted people of the Tutsi race and also moderate Hutu’s at a time when the country was in the middle of both political and racial tensions. During the 100 day genocide, Rusesabagina helped to shelter more than 1,200 people…
Apr 19 10
Tanzania grants citizenship to 162 000 Burundian refugees
UN High Commissioner for Refugee, António Guterres, praise the Tanzanian government for its “unprecedented generosity and courageous decision”. Burundian women at Katumba settlement cheer after hearing that they will become Tanzanian citizens. UNHCR/E.Wolfcarius KATUMBA, Tanzania, April 15 – UN High Commissioner for Refugee António Guterres has lauded Tanzania’s landmark decision to grant citizenship to tens of thousands of Burundian refugees who fled to Tanzania in 1972. During a visit by Guterres on Thursday to the Katumba ward in the south-west of the country, Tanzania’s Home Affairs Minister Lawrence Masha told a gathering of so-called “1972 Burundian refugees” that the government…
Apr 15 10
Refugee All-Stars play to win
Music is therapy for the Refugee All-Stars, who met each other after a war in their W. African homeland. For the members of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, “African music” isn’t just a phrase; it’s a sentence. Or at least that’s how they used it at World Cafe Live Monday night, as if the music needed no subject or object to be complete. For a time, music was the closest to a home the group’s eight members had. As chronicled in the 2005 documentary named for the band, they came together in refugee camps after being displaced by the civil war in…
Apr 14 10
YEMEN: Making health care accessible for refugees in south
Healthcare discrimination has prevented some Somali refugees from seeking treatment in public hospitals (file photo) Photo: Adel Yahya/IRIN ADEN, 13 April 2010 (IRIN) – Volunteers at some hospitals in Aden, southern Yemen, have started a new initiative to help African refugees, mainly Somalis, access health care. Omar Abdu, a Somali refugee living in Aden’s Basateen area, is one of those who received help from the Health for All Association (HAA) NGO. He has successfully undergone an operation in the government-run Ibn Khaldoon Hospital to remove multiple stones in his bladder. “You need a lot of money to receive [this] treatment in a…
Apr 13 10
I, Tharuni Varghese has got divorce from my husband and caused separation from my own son, Thushar Andrew Mathew. I have seen him when he was six years old. From then on I was trying to trace my child. Now my son is 15 yrs old. I am grateful if you find him. When I searched for him somebody told me that he is studying in Baharin, the disaster is I am in India, Kerala, Pandalam. I am eager to see him. I am his mom and waiting for him to come to me. tharuni
Apr 13 10
i am looking for my dad..his name is Mohamed Haniff, he left Guyana on 24th October, 1993 for Canada with his parenst Bibi Akeela haniff and John Haniff to reside with his sisters Fazie and Fay, since that day I never heard from him, that was 18 years ago.
Apr 13 10
A Zimbabwe native helps refugees from her country in South Africa
Terry Hodson (center, with three men she helped resettle) began assisting refugees in 2007 after a man from Zimbabwe died while awaiting legal papers in Ms. Hodson’s home city of Cape Town, South Africa. Anna Telford/Adonis Musati Project Terry Hodson drives behind a white station wagon, almost identical to her own, carrying fellow volunteers around the curve of the road and under the highway overpass. In the shadows, five men huddle around a fire. Two wave. The others just stare. The two cars park. Within 10 minutes, more than 75 men emerge from the shadows under the bridge and form disorganized…
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