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RefugePoint Presents at Conference on African Refugees
Every year, the Ethiopian Community Development Council hosts an international conference devoted exclusively to African refugees. This year, Operations Officer Marty Anderson represented RefugePoint and led a panel on how NGOs can help to identify vulnerable refugees and refer them for resettlement. More information about the conference, held in Washington, May 2-4, 2011, can be…
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NPR/WBUR Here and Now 2011: Under Threat in Libya with Nowhere to Run
NPR/WBUR Here and Now 2011: Founder and Executive Director Sasha Chanoff discusses the plight of refugees in Libya.
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Message to RefugePoint staff across africa
Dear RefugePoint staff, I know everyone has been working extraordinarily hard this year. In Nairobi our caseload has increased significantly. We are busier than ever there. Those of us working in locations across Africa often face adverse and sometimes even dangerous conditions. But our work is paying off in amazing ways. We’ve exceeded the goals…
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“Using My Strength”
As I mentioned in my last post, on December 1st buses spread out through refugee-populated areas in Nairobi to promote the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Community workers spoke, performed skits, and sang songs in order to educate men, women and children about gender equality and the many problems caused by sexual and…
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Gender Based Violence
One of the most significant challenges refugees face is insecurity. After fleeing violence in their home countries, refugees often arrive to a country of asylum and continue to deal with issues of safety. They might not have any documentation, they might be alone and often they do not speak the language. These challenges put them…
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ABC World News 2010: From Darfur to Martha’s Vineyard
ABC World News 2010: ABC World News covers the resettlement of one Darfuri refugee family that RefugePoint (then Mapendo International) helped. Lana and Munawar Kabashi of Darfur remember the killers — Arab militias called the Janjaweed — riding into their village on horseback and shooting, burning, and destroying the homes and massacring the villagers. In the…
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How we Enter a Room Does Matter
I interviewed a refugee today who is paralyzed from the waist down. She was only about five years old when she was struck with a mysterious fever that robbed her of the ability to walk. Forty years later, she has adapted to her disability but still does not know what caused it or if there…
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Becoming a Refugee
Hassan is an educated man, speaks fluent English, has a university degree and is enthusiastic to do any type of work that he can find. Living in Kenya as a refugee, however, he has been unable to support his family and, given the lack of security in his country, he cannot return home to Sudan.…
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Protracted Refugees
Hassan and his family, refugees from Sudan, have now been in Kenya for over ten years. When one refers to a “protracted” refugee situation it is one in which the refugee cannot return home in the foreseeable future and is therefore in a state of limbo for at least five years — but often decades.…
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Life’s Barest Edge
RefugePoint founder Sasha Chanoff is featured in this week’s edition of The Forward on the occasion of being awarded the 2010 Bronfman Prize for humanitarian leadership.