May 27 10
Refugees learn skills
Translator Bhakti Adhikari of Burlington chats with his neighbor Sha Mongar, 62, who particpates in the New Farms for New Americans program at the Winooski Valley Community Garden area in Burlington. By Lynn Monty Droupada Luitel chatted with friend Parvati Subedi as they walked to their garden plot at the Winooski Valley Community Garden area in Burlington recently. They had been working on their gardens for five days straight and May 20 they had some broccoli seedlings to plant. The produce they grow they will sell at local farmers markets. Translator Bhakti Adhikari of Burlington helped New Farms for New…
May 25 10
Internal Displacement at Record High in 2009
According to the report Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2009 by NRC’s Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, the number of IDPs continued to rise last year, predominantly due to longrunning internal conflicts. “The massive population movements and shocking violence are a sad reminder of the price that civilians pay in armed conflict,” said Elisabeth Rasmusson. “Millions of people were newly displaced by conflicts in which combatants did not meet their obligations to protect civilians.” 6.8 million people were newly displaced in 2009, many more than in previous years, the report shows. While there were no new conflicts, the…
May 21 10
Gift of transportation: Local refugees benefit from bike giveaway
Afghan refugee Zahra Tahir waits in line after selecting a bicycle Wednesday night at Lutheran Social Services in south Fargo. David Samson / The Forum For 19-year-old Afghan refugee Zahra Tahir, getting her new bike Wednesday was something she looked forward to for months. The Fargo South High School student was one of about 140 refugees to receive a free bike as part of a giveaway project through area churches, Lutheran Social Services and the F-M Community Bike Workshop. A bike means big changes for Tahir, who is guardian to her two younger brothers. Before, even finding a way to…
May 20 10
Zambia’s last DR Congo refugees fear return home
Congolese refugees wash their clothes at Kala Refugee Camp MWANGE REFUGEE CAMP, Zambia — Ten years after fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Muzungu Makoi says he is still haunted by memories of massacres and refuses to leave his home in a refugee camp in Zambia. Four of his five children were born here, and the 51-year-old earns about two dollars a day selling sweets and razor blades from a ramshackle stall amid the plastic tenting and brick thatched homes. Nearly 34,000 Congolese refugees have already returned home to what passes for peace in the vast central African…
May 19 10
Palestinian girls nab science prize in Silicon Valley, praise at UN headquarters
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with students from UNRWA school 18 May 2010 – Three Palestinian girls educated in a United Nations-funded school in a refugee camp have made history by winning a top spot at an international science fair in Silicon Valley for a revolutionary walking cane for the blind which they demonstrated today for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. “This is a story about brain power not fire power. You are not only helping the blind, but helping the world to see,” Mr. Ban told the girls during their meeting today at UN Headquarters. “I am very impressed by your…
May 12 10
Here’s what’s gonna be a brief update from East Africa after a busy day full of meetings focusing on how we best bring the access to register and search on the refunite platform to the many refugees living in Nairobi and the Dadaab refugee camp in cooperation with our local partner organizations. Things are progressing well and we can’t wait to get into real action. If things go as we’re currently aiming for, we should be ready with a launch of registration points by mid-June. and don’t worry – we’ll make sure to catch your attention, once we have a…
May 11 10
Bringing Families Together Again in Haiti
30 Apr 2010 – There’s no telling how many children became orphaned or separated by Haiti’s earthquake on January 12, but there are no doubt many thousands. Some have been taken in by caring neighbors or strangers in homes still standing or in the hundreds of makeshift settlements scattered across Port-au-Prince and other devastated cities. Others have been placed in orphanages across the country. Every day, a small army of determined caseworkers hits the rubble-strewn streets to talk to children who have lost their families and to search for parents looking for missing children. This detective work is difficult and exhausting. But on those…
May 7 10
Jambo!
We arrived in Nairobi yesterday, all excited about the coming week. Over the next seven days, we are going to kick-start the East Africa outreach project with our many committed partners here in Kenya. So, we started out today with a fruitful and super-productive planning meeting with our main partners from the Refugee Consortium Kenya (RCK). We made serious progress in drafting a results-oriented plan of action, so that we can start the process of assisting refugees here in Nairobi and in the Dadaab camp in registering onto the platform. We are amazed by the level of engagement and commitment from…
May 3 10
Nairobi: Commission allocates 3 million euros for displaced Somali refugees in Kenyan refugee camps
A tented section of Dadaab refugee camps The European Commission has allocated 3 million euros in humanitarian aid for programmes to support refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab camps. Around 267,0000 refugees are currently accommodated in Dadaab, which was designed for just 90,000 people. The refugees have fled Somalia due to the ongoing insecurity caused by two decades conflict. Peter Zangl, the Director General of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), who is currently in Kenya visiting Dadaab, said: “Given the extreme overpopulation of the camp, living conditions have become particularly harsh. In 2009, we witnessed an average arrival of…
Apr 29 10
SOMALIA: From refugee camp to university campus
Young people in Dadaab (Cecila Prete Martinez/IRIN) NAIROBI, 28 April 2010 (IRIN) – They spent most of their lives in crowded refugee camps after their families fled violence in Somalia but now 22 men and six women have won scholarships to study in Canada. “I have waited for this day since 2006 [when he graduated from high school in the Dadaab refugee camp, northern Kenya] and it is finally here. My prayers have been answered,” said Ahmed Farah Nageye. Nageye, now 21, spent most of his life in Dadaab. “My family came here when I was two years old. I…
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