Darfur Dream Team Presses for Sudan Refugee Kids

Tracy McGrady might not make the US Olympic basketball squad next summer in London, but that isn’t stopping him from leading the Dream Team.

The Darfur Dream Team, a group of NBA players headed by the former Houston Rocket, is partnering with humanitarian organizations like the Enough Project to create the Sister School Program, an initiative that aims to fund educational programs in Eastern Chad’s refugee camps, where over 250 000 people from Sudan’s Darfur region have been forced to seek shelter for nearly a decade.

Human rights activist and co-founder of the Enough Project, John Pendergast was at the UN to discuss the initiative during a book launch for What You Wish For, a collection of short stories from internationally renowned children’s authors, released by the nonprofit Book Wish Foundation. 

The Book Wish Foundation will donate 100% proceed from book sales to help UN High Commissioner for Refugees develop and fund libraries in refugee camps in Chad.

The idea for the Darfur Dream Team Sister School Program came about after Pendergast travelled to the region with McGrady in 2007 and both spent time talking with children in refugee camps. Pendergast says the importance of access to educations was emphasized by nearly every child they spoke to. 

“Their choices in a long term refugee situation are bleak. In the absence of quality education, they perceived themselves to have no future.” he said.

UNHCR’s New York director Udo Janz says educational resources in the camps are  scarce, and while 88% of camp children are enrolled in elementary school programs , the number of them able to pursue secondary education is only around  2%.

Although education for Sudanese refugees has for the most part taken a back seat to other priority issues, Pendergast says the long term benefits of educational programs for children who grow up in camps can’t be neglected.

“We could, yes, just focus on the policies that would stop the problem. And yes, we need to get food and medicine to people, but we also need to acknowledge and lift up the dreams and aspirations that young people have.” he said. “Having the opportunity to go into a little room, and be able to go off into other worlds, and read and be challenged and excited by other cultures and other ideas is terribly important for building a future set of people who are going to govern the country down the road.” 

Pendergast says the Sister School Program wants to go beyond typical fundraising initiatives by creating direct relationships between students and encouraging dialogue.

“Suddenly these refugees, who are to most American citizens far away victims, become people that young people in the United States are getting to know and can advocate on behalf of and in support of in the future.”

So far, 26 American schools have taken part in the program’s initial technical trials, with students exchanging messages, pictures and videos with their African counterparts. Program coordinators are currently working to find partners in the telecommunications industry to help develop cost effective ways of connecting camps in Eastern Chad to American classrooms.

Over 275 US schools in 41 different states have signed up for the program. Teachers interested in taking part can find more information on the Darfur Dream Team website.

Famine Stalks Somalia: UN Urges World Action

Somalia is facing a level of famine not seen since the 1980’s, senior UN officials have warned, calling for massive humanitarian assistance for the southern part of the country. 

An acute drought and continued fighting have forced hundreds of thousands of civilians into already overcrowded refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, where over 1400 new refugees are seeking shelter every day. 

“I believe Somalia represents the worst humanitarian disaster in the world” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutteres told journalists during a visit to a refugee camp in Kenya on Sunday. “And that is why we need to do everything everything we can to make it possible to deliver massive humanitarian assistance inside Somalia.”

 Threats from militias and a worsening security situation over the past months have left much of Southern Somalia out of the reach of aid agencies. Last week UN officials in Somalia welcomed the decision by al -Shabaab, a militant Islamic organization in control of large portions of the country, to allow humanitarian access to those in need.

But the rapidly growing number of displaced peoples has also put additional strain on neighboring states. Kenya and Ethiopia, who are struggling to manage the effects of the food crisis on their own populations, are continuing to see a large influx of displaced people.

The town of Dadaab in Northern Kenya is currently home to the largest refugee encampment in the world and operating well beyond its capacities. Over 350 000 people have sought shelter there, and 10,000 new Somali refugees are arriving every week. 

Over the weekend, Kenyan government officials turned down a UN Refugee agency request to open an other nearby camp to better manage the overflow of displaced people.

“You can imagine what it is like in a camp that was built for 90 000 people that now host over 360 000 people” UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos told reporters today. “The implications in terms of access to water sanitation, our ability to supply the most basic services to those people are extremely limited.”

Amos said she was “disappointed” the Kenyan governments decided to turn down the UN request and urged the international community to do more for the Horn of Africa. 

“We urgently need a united approach to the relief effort so we can avoid a descent into the famine like conditions last seen in the 1980’s.” she said “It’s clear that the effects of this drought are going to last for at least the rest of this year, and the situation in drought affected areas is expected to worsen. The need to do more now is urgent, but in addition, we also need to plan for the longer term, to help people rebuild their lives when the situation improves.”

UN, Aid Agencies Shut Out Of Western Libya

International relief organizations have little or no information on the conditions and humanitarian needs in large portions of Libya, and such information is proving extremely hard to come by, says UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affair Valerie Amos.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon yesterday, called on Libyan authorities to offer humanitarian organizations unimpeded access to the country, but so far virtually no organization has been able to travel to the Western regions. 

A United Nations assessment team reached the Eastern opposition stronghold of Benghazi yesterday, where it reported that security situation was calm and that most humanitarian needs in the areas surrounding the city had, for the moment at least, been met.

However the humanitarian situation in Tripoli is for the most part unknown. The United Nations presence in the capital, which was already limited before protests broke out two weeks ago, is now reduced to a few Libyan national staff members who are unable to carry out their work due to safety concerns. 

Ms Amos, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs who is scheduled visit the Tunisian border this weekend,  says that she has received reports that government security forces were preventing Libyans in Tripoli and other Western areas from fleeing.

The security situation along the Western border also remains uncertain . Although tens of thousands have crossed into Tunisia in the past two weeks, Amos says there are unconfirmed reports of a build up of heavily armed Libyan forces along certain border areas, preventing people from leaving.

“Our concern now is that the number leaving Libya dropped sharply yesterday” Amos told reporters.

Amos was able to confirm that as of yesterday, 172 00 people had already fled Libya, the large majority of them foreign laborers. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that there are approximately 1.5 million migrant workers in Libya, nearly a million of whom are Egyptian nationals, along with tens of thousands from Tunisia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Philippines and several countries from Sub-Saharan Africa. These migrant populations are often more likely to be victims of violence. Sub-Saharan Africans from Libya and neighboring countries are often accused of being  mercenaries hired by the regime to crush the protests and have been subject to violent retribution. Egyptian and Tunisian migrants have also reportedly faced attacks and threats from Gaddafi loyalists, who blame them for inciting the popular uprising.

Although a transit camp offering shelter, food and water has been set up on the Tunisian side of the border to accommodate the tens of thousands who have fled, foreign nationals from these countries often find themselves trapped in the region for extended periods of time.  Amos said IOM and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were working with partners to secure return flights and travel for those who have not yet been evacuated.