Starvation in Somalia

DOLLO ADO, Ethiopia, September 30 (UNHCR) – When Hassen Ibrahim arrived recently in Ethiopia, the teenager had not seen his parents for more than two years. "As the eldest son, I stayed behind to take care of my grandmother, who was too sick to travel," explained the 15-year-old, shortly after crossing into eastern Ethiopia after fleeing drought-hit Somalia.

Hassen is one of an increasing number of unaccompanied children who are arriving at refugee camps set up in Ethiopia's Dollo Ado district. Most were obliged to stay behind to look after ailing or elderly relatives who could not make the arduous journey to Ethiopia from their homes in southern Somalia.

Many, like Hassen, made their own way to the border when the relative died or when it became too difficult to survive in their villages. But the journey to safety is fraught with danger, particularly for young males travelling on their own – unaccompanied minors are seen by UNHCR as highly vulnerable.

Those caught fleeing to Ethiopia are seen as traitors by the anti-government Al Shabaab militia and many newly arrived refugees have tales of seeing teenagers and young men being kidnapped, forcibly recruited or even executed.

Hassen was among the lucky ones who made it to Ethiopia unharmed and found their families. According to initial estimates, there could be as many as 2,500 unaccompanied children in Dollo Ado's four refugee camps. The number who failed to make it to safety is not known.

When his parents and siblings left for Ethiopia in mid-2000, Hassen stayed behind in their village to look after his grandmother. But she died last July, leaving Hassen alone and desperate to rejoin his family. "The goats had all died and there was no way for me to survive. I had to try to find my family," he recalled.

It took him three days to reach the border, traveling by donkey cart and foot, he said, adding that when he got to Dollo Ado, "I didn't know what to do. I knew that my family was here but there was no way for me to find them. I felt so distraught."

Within hours, UNHCR registration clerks managed to trace Hassen's parents and five siblings to Kobe camp. Two days later he was reunited with his family, who had been asking UNHCR staff every day if they knew of Hassen's whereabouts.

When he finally arrived in Kobe, the family was overjoyed to greet him, and his father wept with happiness. "I am so grateful to UNHCR for finding my family, I feel like I'm at home again," he told UNHCR staff.

Earlier this month, UNHCR, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children (USA) jointly carried out an extensive screening exercise to better determine the exact number of unaccompanied and separated children in the camps.

UNHCR's registration team plays a vital role in reuniting families by tracing relatives through a comprehensive database system which records every refugee's name, place of origin and clan ethnicity. Photographs and fingerprints are also taken to verify identity. For those children whose relatives cannot be traced, UNHCR will ensure that appropriate foster families are found so that no child is left alone.

"I hope that now I'm in Ethiopia, I can go to school. I've never been to school before," Hassen said as he played with the five-month-old sister he met for the first time after arriving in Dollo Ado. "I'm so happy to be back with my family. This is where I belong."

By Laura Padoan in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia

Visit UNHCR to learn more or donate

Flooding in Pakistan

5 Million Without Homes After Pakistan Floods Return


With more than 5 million people displaced by this year's floods, government estimates put the number of families in urgent need of emergency shelter at more than 200,000. Many of those suffering now after heavy monsoon rains had only begun to recover from last year's devastating floods.

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) teams are ramping up their distribution of tents and other emergency aid supplies to families displaced by severe flooding in Pakistan. UNHCR has committed to supplying 70,000 tents and 70,000 emergency aid kits containing household items as well as other relief items to flood victims.

UNHCR is calling on the international community for assistance to rush aid to families in Pakistan who have lost their homes two years in a row.
 
> Donate Now to Help Displaced Families
 

Somalia Famine- 10 ways you can help RIGHT NOW

Despite airlifting 300 metric tons of aid and counting, the situation in Somalia for tens of thousands of people remains precarious. Weakened by malnutrition and a perilous journey to safety, children are increasingly falling victim to measles and mortality rates remain high.


The famine now plaguing Somalia could quickly spread across the country and may affect other areas of the Horn of Africa if not addressed through rapid response. Please take steps now with some of all of these 10 simple actions:

1. Donate Online:

Donating online is the quickest and most direct way to ensure that your donations will support UNHCR's work in Somalia and the refugee camps where thousands of Somali famine victims arrive each day. It's fast, easy and secure.

Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine-affected areas.
 
2. Share This Video:


"Help the UN Refugee Agency Save Lives in Somalia"

In the last three months, 30,000 children have died from the effects of the famine in the Horn of Africa. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has called the famine in this war-affected country "the worst humanitarian disaster in the world."

Please share this video to let Somalia know we will not stop helping until the famine has ended.

3. Let Your Friends Know:

Now that you know how to help fight the famine in Somalia, share the knowledge! With more people taking action, the UN Refugee Agency will be able to rush additional aid to those affected by the devastating famine in the Horn of Africa.

> Share These 10 Ways to Help on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn

> Forward this email to your friends

4. Text SOMALIA to 80000 to Donate $10 to USA for UNHCR - the UN Refugee Agency.


Help fight famine and save lives in the Horn of Africa: Text SOMALIA to 80000 to donate $10 to USA for UNHCR - the UN Refugee Agency. $10 will be charged to your phone bill, with the funds going to support our work in Somalia. Plus, you can donate up to two times for a total contribution of $20.

5. Get a Blue Key to Show Your Support.

The Blue Key is our icon to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and inspire action. Donate $5 to the Blue Key Campaign and receive the Blue Key (available as both a pin and a pendant), and become a member of our online community of refugee advocates and champions. $5 gets you a Key, but additional donations are appreciated! All funds raised through the campaign will go to support UNHCR’s life-saving operations in more than 125 countries around the world.

You can also get several Blue Keys as gifts for friends to let them know about what you're doing to help the UN Refugee Agency's work in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

6. Join the Emergency Response Team.


Regular monthly gifts to USA for UNHCR mean our Emergency Response Team gets the support it needs to go straight into action when a crisis arises. A monthly donation is easy, cost-efficient, and makes such a big difference to our work – so much so that we consider monthly supporters as truly one of the team. Join the Emergency Response Team today!

7. Host a Fundraiser in your Community.

There are many different types of fundraisers or events you can organize. Some ideas involve a single person encouraging friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to make a donation. Others are designed for a group, such as a classroom, office or sports team, to do together. Your fundraiser can be big or small, anywhere from a public concert to an intimate dinner party with friends.

No matter what you choose to do, remember that USA for UNHCR is behind you, ready to answer questions and provide materials. Learn more.

8. Subscribe to USA for UNHCR's free eNewsletter to receive updates.

Sign up online to become a UNHCR Insider and learn more about the refugee cause. You’ll receive weekly enewsletters with an on-the-ground view of refugee emergencies from Somalia, Libya, Darfur, Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world.

9. Donate a Tweet a day to @UNRefugeeAgency.

JustCoz.org is an online relay system that lets you donate a tweet a day to help raise awareness for causes that matter to you. By donating a tweet a day to us, we'll be able to spread awareness together. And, it's completely free!

10. RSVP here to show your support on Twitter, then invite your friends by sharing the link.

Show you are supporting the UN Refugee Agency's work in on our Somalia Text-to-Give page. It's an online event - so you don't have to show up anywhere - but saying you're supporting our text-to-give campaign is free and helps raise awareness for others to give using their mobile phone.

Let's get this DONE!!! Thanks all!

Somali Refugee Children; a report from UNHCR

50% of Somali Refugee Children Suffer from Malnutrition


Levels of malnutrition among refugee children are catastrophic. Up to 50% of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia and Kenya are seriously malnourished, utterly exhausted and sometimes dying within 24 hours of reaching safety.

Please support UNHCR’s existing refugee relief in Kenya and Ethiopia and help us establish new camps to provide shelter, food, water and protection for thousands of new refugees.

According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, 25% of Somalia’s 7.5 million people are now forcibly displaced. "The drought, compounded by prevailing violence in southern and central parts of the country, is turning one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises into a human tragedy of unimaginable proportions," says Guterres.

Overcrowding is a major problem. Originally built for 90,000 refugees, the Dadaab camps in Kenya are now home to 382,000 people. On average, 1,400 more refugees arrive every day.

We have already delivered 100 tons of aid to Ethiopia by air. Now, a land convoy of 20 trucks, loaded with thousands of tents, is on the way.

You can help multiply these efforts. Your generous contribution will help people who are streaming into our camps with nothing but the clothes they wear.

Any amount will make a difference:

•$200 will provide an all-weather tent to shelter a refugee family.
•$100 will provide a refugee with a survival kit containing a blanket, a mattress, a kitchen set, a stove and soap.
•$50 will provide a therapeutic feeding kit to help feed five children.


Thank you,

UNHCR

Tragedy at Sea

“We are witnessing a humanitarian tragedy, with now more than one thousand people possibly dead.” - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

After weeks of airstrikes and bombings within civilian areas of Libya, the situation has taken a stark turn. Last Friday, May 7th, a boat carrying 600 refugees capsized while crossing the Mediterranean Sea in an effort to reach Europe. Although a few survived, it is believed most of these asylum-seekers have drowned.


As if this was not enough of a tragedy, UNHCR is receiving eyewitness reports from those who survived crossing the Mediterranean that African migrant workers are being forced onto overcrowded, unsafe vessels to face an uncertain fate on the sea.

“It is our shared obligation to be sensitive to the plight of these refugees and share the burden with Tunisia and Egypt," says Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Donate today. $350 will evacuate a stranded refugee to safety, away from the Libyan borders. Or, $100 provides a survival kit containing a blanket, a mattress, a kitchen set, a cooking stove and soap.

Angelina Jolie asks for more aid

Angelina Jolie, UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador Speaks Out: "More Aid for Libya & Ivory Coast"

One camp, many complexities. That’s what the UN Refugee Agency’s Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie encountered on Tuesday when she visited a camp near the Tunisian-Libyan border.

Jolie was on a two-day visit to Tunisia to highlight the plight of nearly 440,000 people who fled Libya into surrounding countries since early March. More than half of them are in Tunisia, most of them migrants who had been working in Libya and others from war-torn countries.

During her Tunisia visit, Jolie also called for more international support for the relief operation at Choucha transit camp, and led the way by donating an ambulance to transport the injured from the border and by sponsoring an evacuation flight for 177 people to return to their countries of origin.

While visiting the Choucha transit camp, Jolie met a family from Somalia that had been displaced repeatedly for 18 years. They first fled the conflict at home for the Middle East, but were sent back.

They then tried leaving by boat, but were arrested and detained in Libya for five months, even the five-year-old daughter. They arrived at Choucha camp two weeks ago.

"I hope this is the final place before you find the country where you can finally be at home and stop having to keep moving," she told them.

At the Ras Adjir border point, an average of 2,000 people continue to arrive daily from Libya. The Choucha transit camp remains a temporary home to more than 7,000 people who had recently fled the fighting in Libya.

UNHCR has airlifted massive amounts of aid, including tents for thousands of people at the borders and items such as kitchen sets, blankets, sleeping mats, jerry cans and tarpaulins. It has also set up a transit camp for 20,000 people near the border at the request of the Tunisian government.

The Goodwill Ambassador also spoke to an Ivorian woman who was listening to the radio for the latest developments in Ivory Coast. The woman had left her four-year-old daughter in Abidjan to find work in Libya, but had to leave for Tunisia amid the recent unrest. She was anxious because the last time they had spoken on the phone, the little girl had been without food and drink for days.

"Ivory Coast has seen unrest and poverty for years and the situation is complicated," said Jolie. "But if the fighting eases, it would be an important step. The first question would be – how quickly can the first influx of aid come? We have to get relief to them immediately."

Over 136,000 people have fled the Ivory Coast for neighboring countries since the post-election violence started in November. As many as 1 million others are believed to be displaced within the country.

To deal with this massive influx, UNHCR teams have set up a rapid emergency registration system. We are also distributing emergency aid across villages where refugees are sheltered and in the Bahn refugee camp.

However, the UN Refugee Agency needs donor help for its growing emergency response. Funding is needed for our operations in Liberia and Ivory Coast, including purchase and transportation of emergency aid supplies.

Follow Angelina's Lead. Support Humanitarian Aid in Libya and Ivory Coast.

A Letter from Angelina Jolie

Dear Reader,

You already know about the rapidly unfolding events across North Africa. Perhaps the world not seen anything quite like this before.

No doubt the latest news reports are showing you what is happening in the region. But what they may not show you are the terrified faces of mothers carrying their small children, the anguish of fathers desperate to protect their families.

We wanted to let you know that United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) is already on the ground responding to the needs of refugees and displaced people.

Make a donation now and help to provide emergency aid to tens of thousands of North Africans fleeing into Tunisia and Egypt to escape the persecution and killings in Libya.

Over 180,000 people are crossing the borders from Libya into Tunisia and Egypt. UNHCR is working with authorities to prepare a camp for people stranded in these areas.
We do not yet know the scale of the crisis we will be facing. But we do know that there are over hundred thousand people, frightened families, fleeing their homes with no possessions because their lives are in danger. All they want is to get somewhere safe.

I am appealing to you today to give an urgent donation to help UNHCR protect innocent civilians, provide them with emergency shelter, and offer basic humanitarian supplies to those who no longer have a place to call home.

Our teams on the ground tell us that we can't delay. People need help right now. With these new waves of uprising and conflict, there is and will continue to be massive new displacement. The world needs to address this moment. We have to give people safe passage, evacuation if needed, and ensure they have asylum.

We don't want to look back and find their deaths are on our hands..

- Angelina Jolie,

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador

Repatriation of Congolese from Zambia reaches 40,000

Refugee Camps Closing
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, September 24(UNHCR) –

The number of Congolese refugees repatriated from neighbouring Zambia by UNHCR since 2007 has topped the 40,000 mark.

Congolese refugees in the back of a truck after returning to Katanga province from Zambia.

The milestone was passed last Sunday when a UNHCR-chartered boat carrying 555 people arrived at Moba in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Katanga province after crossing LakeTanganyika from the north Zambian port of Mpulungu. On Wednesday, a further 527 refugees arrived in Moba from Zambia.  The refugees had been living in the Mwange and Kala refugee camps after fleeing their homeland to escape conflict. They now feel the security situation has improved enough for them to go home.

UNHCR plans to close Mwange camp on Tuesday and Kala camp next month, before the voluntary repatriation programme is wrapped up at the end of this year. Some 7,200 refugees were repatriated in 2007, when the programme began, and about 6,200 so far this year. A peak in returns was reached in 2009, when UNHCR helped almost 17,000 go back to the DRC by boat or vehicle.  The plan for 2010 is to repatriate 7,000. So we are way on target. The willingness of Congolese refugees at Kala and Mwange to repatriate is very high," Phillipe Creppy, head of UNHCR's sub-office in the Zambian town of Kawambwa, told journalists on Thursday. He said the milestone had been reached thanks to support from the two governments and donors.  Refugees who do not want to go home are being moved from Mwange to the Meheba Refugee Settlement in Zambia's North-Western Province.


Although other parts of the DRC remain volatile, especially the Kivu provinces to the north, Katanga has been relatively peaceful since the country's warring rivals signed a peace accord in 2003. Those arriving recently in Moba from Zambia have said they feel more confident about the situation in their vast province. 

"Even if I do not have a job in DRC, I have to go back home with my family. I have to go back because I am Congolese," Kibingwa Malinga, a 45-year-old doctor, told UNHCR after stepping off the boat that recently brought him and his family to Moba. Doctors will certainly be needed in Katanga's recovery.

On arrival at Moba, the boats carrying refugees home from Zambia are always greeted by a loud and cheerful crowd of happy relatives, government officials and aid workers, including UNHCR staff.

Some 20,000 Congolese refugees are still being hosted in Zambia, but most have expressed the wish to go home. Many have learned skills in Zambia's camps, including agriculture, fishing or carpentry. These will help them build a new life back home.

Indeed, some of the returnees are thriving in Katanga. Kasenge wa Kasenge, for example, came back from Zambia at the end of 2009 and opened a transportation company in Moba. He now owns three trucks and runs a general store. When he fled to Zambia, he had only US$250 in his pocket.  In Katanga, UNHCR and its partners also provide skills training for the returnees and support income-generation projects and micro-credit schemes. Returnees receive food and shelter assistance to get started and are offered transportation back to their home areas.

By Celine Schmitt in Moba, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kelvin Shimo in Kasama, Zambia

Another Goodwill Ambassador: Angelina Jolie

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Angelina Jolie, in Pakistan meeting flood survivors.

Her trip comes at a time when Pakistan is falling from the headlines, even though the situation continues to deteriorate by the day.

‎"This situation is on a scale that we've not really seen the likes of," says an emotional Angelina Jolie.

Making a Difference

Five years ago, Margaret Hahn along with members of Omaha, Nebraska’s Omaha Yoga School, created the Hike to Help Refugees to support the refugee cause and life-saving work of the UN Refugee Agency by raising funds for refugees from some of the most war-torn regions in the world.As shelter is often the primary need of refugees, Hike to Help Refugees has used the funds to provide all-season tents, which serve as homes and classrooms for refugees in places like Afghanistan and Darfur.The first hike, held in May 2003, had fourteen supporters hiking along the Wabash Trace Nature Trail, a historic sixty-three mile resurfaced railroad route running through Blanchard, Missouri to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Using a sponsorship model to raise funds, hikers garnered $4,352 to provide tents for refugees.
This year, the group held five hikes: three in Iowa, one in Wisconsin and one in Nebraska. Each hike is unique, incorporating different aspects including musical performances, refugee film nights, media appearances, auctions, and community festivals. Since the hike's inception in 2003, it has raised over $65,000 to support refugees, with more than 300 hikers participating in the program--100% of the funds go directly to the shelter needs of refugee populations. Now, coming into its fifth year, the Hike to Help Refugees is the largest grassroots fundraising campaign supporting the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in the United States.

For information or to start a Hike in your area, please visit http://www.hiketohelprefugees.org/.

A refugee’s road can be very long…take steps to make it shorter.

World Refugee Day, June 20

Every year on June 20 the world honors the courage, resilience and strength of refugees. On the United Nations designated World Refugee Day, thousands of organizations in hundreds of countries will come together to focus global attention not only on the plight of refugees and the causes of their exile, but also on their determination and will to survive and on the contributions they make to their host communities. This year's World Refugee Day has as its theme, "Home," in recognition of the plight of the more than 40 million uprooted people around the world.

The UNHCR will be running live feed of interviews and aid on their website, through twitter, and facebook all day June 20 in honor of World Refugee Day. Listen (or read) as they interview women and families who have been displaced by war and famine. They will also be setting up over 800 tents today for thousands of refugees from Kyrgyzstan.

Want to know how YOU can make a difference???

Learn more here and here

Donate directly to the UNHCR here or to Refugees International here

You can also check out the UNHCR page on Facebook here

Check back here for stories of real refugees, current crises, and all those who are helping make a difference...