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Displacement

Imagine having just minutes to take what you could from your home before fleeing from disaster or war. This is the reality for millions of displaced families, who languish in overcrowded camps or lonely city streets with no idea when — or if — they can return home. Mercy Corps helps these families with basic supplies and shelter, temporary jobs, makeshift classrooms and preparation for a hoped-for return.

Video: Posted October 15, 2008 by Jacob Colie

Gathering Around the Well

Country: Central African Republic

Topics: Water/Sanitation, Displacement

Blog Post: Posted August 24, 2010, 5:20 am by Pete O'Farrell

Homemade signs and help

Country: Pakistan

Topics: Water/Sanitation, Health, Emergencies, Displacement

This medical tent, operated by Mercy Corps' emergency team here in Sindh Province, is serving about 150 flood-displaced women every day. Photo: Pete O'Farrell/Mercy Corps

For the most part, it looked like all the other tents in this growing camp for internally-displaced persons (IDPs), currently populated by more than 3,000 people who've been driven from their homes by Pakistan's floods. The non-descript white canvas triangular tent was no more than eight feet by 10 feet, with some basic red carpets on the bottom keeping the dust at bay. The only thing that separated this tent from the hundreds of others was a small homemade sign saying, “Mobile Medical Unit.”

In the hundred-plus degree heat, a Mercy Corps team has set up mobile medical tents for women inside this burgeoning camp in Sindh Province. Our team works for days before moving to another camp to provide medical aid. The doctors — working with donated medicines — treat all different types of illnesses such as rashes, water-borne diseases, eye infections from the dust and symptoms of dehydration from the intense heat. Twenty-five women sat in the waiting room, which was no more than a tent with some basic floor mats to keep people out of the intense sunlight. Before the day is over, more than 150 women will be treated.

On the other side of the tent, another Mercy Corps colleague was leading 50 women in a two-hour hygiene lesson. These classes teach women basic hygiene for their new living conditions where the dust, heat, shared water sources, latrines and new surroundings present challenges very different from their home villages. At the conclusion of the course, the women received a hygiene kit with soap, bandages, cloths and other essentials.

The floods in Pakistan are the worst in well over 100 years. The UN says that more than 20 million people have been affected and at least four million are homeless and displaced. Thousands of camps just like these have been set up in cities and the countryside across Pakistan.

Mercy Corps has worked in Pakistan since 1986 and responded to previous disasters such as the 2005 earthquake and 2009 Swat Valley displacement crisis. The experience gained from those previous crises has allowed our teams to efficiently and effectively respond to the immediate needs of the people.

I arrived in Pakistan just two days ago from Portland to lend any and all assistance to our teams on the ground, and I am in awe of all they have done in such a short time.

Blog Post: Posted August 20, 2010, 9:42 am by Shagufta Jeelani

Delivering aid to flooded-out families

Country: Pakistan

Topics: Emergencies, Displacement

Rasalat's father, Yaqoob, has an illness that prevents him from working. So the family completely depends on Rasalat's income as a day laborer. Photo: Raheel Ayaz/Mercy Corps

This was written by my colleague Raheel Ayaz, a monitoring and evaluation officer here in Pakistan:

Sixteen-year-old Rasalat Khan is a member of one of the 161 families who received emergency food and tool kits from Mercy Corps on Wednesday.

Rasalat's father, Yaqoob, has an illness that prevents him from working. So the family completely depends on Rasalat's income as a day laborer.

He tells us that water ransacked his two-room house, triggering the collapse of three side walls and washing away all items in the household -- including furniture, crockery and tools.

Across the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan, families are dealing with similar levels of destruction. Houses are filled with mud, water is polluted, bridges are washed out and there is no electricity available. People are struggling to survive.

We're distributing 330 tool kits to help Swat Valley families rebuild after the flooding. Each contains a wheelbarrow, shovel, hammer and other implements. Photo: Raheel Ayaz/Mercy Corps

Since Rasalat's neighbors are in the same situation as his family, he could not borrow tools like a shovel, a pickaxe or buckets to clean debris.

"Today I am very happy," he said, "as I have some food to feed my family for few days and also got some tools and equipment."

Each food kit contains rice, lentils, cooking oil and powdered milk. Each tool kit contains a wheelbarrow, shovel, hammer and other implements.

"I am not only able to clean debris of my house but can also help my neighbors who are facing same problem," said Rasalat. "Inshallah, soon I will rebuild walls of my house and we will have shelter again."

Blog Post: Posted August 13, 2010, 10:31 am by Brian Oakes

Bringing food to Haiti's hungry families

Country: Haiti

Topics: Food/Nutrition, Emergencies, Economic Development, Displacement

Since the first weeks after January's earthquake, the Mercy Corps team has been working with families in extremely poor villages like Sarazin, in Haiti's Central Plateau. Photo: Fabiola Coupet/Mercy Corps

Families in Haiti’s Central Plateau and Lower Artibonite have been going hungry – not because food is not available, but because they cannot afford it.

We know that it will take much more than seven months to get Haiti’s devastated economy to a stage where it can adequately support Haitians – providing the jobs they need to take care of their families. We know that even before the earthquake, these families struggled with food security. And we know that this situation must change.

With support from USAID, Mercy Corps is taking the first step to address the dire situation in the Central Plateau and Lower Artibonite. Families in these areas have generously taken in thousands of people who left Port-au-Prince after the earthquake - adding more mouths to feed when they already struggled.

A £8 million grant, under the new Emergency Food Security Programme in Haiti, will allow us to provide emergency food aid to families in need – and to support local economies by purchasing the food from nearby markets and vendors. We welcome this new effective and efficient food aid initiative.

Photo: Fabiola Coupet/Mercy Corps

Twenty thousand families, or approximately 100,000 people, will benefit from this programme. For nine months, we will give them vouchers for monthly supplies of staples like rice, beans, and oil. We estimate that nearly half of the people who receive this food will have been displaced by the earthquake.

One hundred thirty five small businesses will also benefit – providing food staples for these families and earning additional income.

This USAID-funded programme is a key element of Mercy Corps’ efforts in these underserved regions of Haiti. Separately, Mercy Corps is also providing emergency income to 20,000 families hosting internally displaced people through cash for work and cash grants. We will also run a voucher programme so these families can buy shelter supplies to improve their now-crowded homes, and we will help women buy supplies to start their own small businesses.

Long term, Mercy Corps is working to jumpstart these regional economies through improved agricultural production and small business support – so that families no longer go hungry, because they have the income to buy what they need.

Blog Post: Posted July 30, 2010, 5:39 am by Mary Tam

VIDEO: Bleeding hearts and pragmatic minds

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Topics: Displacement, Conflict & War

Ainash Mamatova and her husband had just finished remodeling their home earlier this year; it had taken them many years to save up enough money to do this. Ainash had worked at the bazaar for 16 years, mainly selling shoes. In June — when violence broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan — the two containers that served as both her warehouse and place of business were looted and one was badly burned, and her home was completely destroyed.

Ainash in her burned-out home. Photo: Mary Tam/Mercy Corps

Ainash broke into soft sobs as she explained that her children are now staying at two different locations, and she rotates between friends and family so as not to inconvenience anyone for too long. Ainash’s husband described how, at first, they did not want to run away and thought it was best to stay in their apartment. The second day of the violence, they witnessed their seven-year-old neighbour get shot in the chest from her balcony. It was then that he and Ainash decided they needed to leave, for the safety of their children.

In their absence, some sort of grenade or bomb was thrown in through their window. The entire apartment was decimated. We had to take careful steps to avoid wreckage and broken glass as they showed us the remains of their home, which was charred from floor to ceiling. Bullet holes decorated the walls. It smelled of cinders and sadness. Almost symbolically, the sound of a slow, ghostly drip came from what used to be the bathroom — a broken home’s tears creating dull splatters before being absorbed into ash.

Ainash wiped away her tears, saying she has many loyal customers who have come to her for years. But how does one restart a business with no resources? She has applied for a Mercy Corps equity grant so that she can purchase inventory and pay for a new space. With the money, she plans to buy goods from the wholesale market and sell from a location she has found at a different bazaar.

Some people are even worse off than Ainash’s family — those that were beaten or violated during the violence, or were left with dead or missing relatives. It is a disturbing moment when you realize those who have lost their home, business and life savings can be considered lucky by some standard. My throat and nose stung a bit as I held back tears leaving Ainash and her husband. I didn’t want to be one of those “soft” development workers who can’t keep it together out in the field — and besides, they were not my tears to shed.

What I have to remind myself is that although we cannot help everyone, that doesn’t mean I should dismiss those we can help. Right now Mercy Corps has limited funds to issue these equity grants. There are thousands of people here who are out of work following the recent clashes. Not because they are lazy. Not because they are inept. Simply because they have lost everything and lack the resources to resume business operations.

What we need are more people with bleeding hearts and pragmatic minds. Those who will recognize the value and functionality of the equity grant programme. Those who do not need to be thanked, but will be happy enough knowing their contribution will make a meaningful difference for some stranger they will never meet.

Here's a short video I made during my visit with Ainash:

Blog Post: Posted July 22, 2010, 7:34 pm by Sandra Castañed...

Chile's first Comfort for Kids programs hold closing ceremony

Country: Chile

Topics: Children, Displacement, Emergencies, Health

Children and family gather for the closing ceremony of the first group of Comfort for Kids programmes in Penco. Photo: courtesy of EPES

On a chilly winter day in the community of Penco, we held the closing ceremony for the Comfort for Kids programme, implemented by the Educacion Popular en Salud (or EPES) Foundation with the support of Mercy Corps. Approximately 150 of the 200 children that participated in the programme in this community (there are more than 1,000 children participating in the entire programme) showed up for the celebration accompanied, for the most part, by a significant adult — mother, father, grandfather, grandmother or aunt.

Local authorities in attendance included representatives from the mayor´s office, the Talcahuano Health Service and The Lirquén Hospital Local Development Council, as well as a Senator and Council Representative of the community. The ceremony was covered by journalists from the local government as well as the Talcahuano Health Service.

During the ceremony, the coordinator of the Penco Department of Health and the community Senator offered a few words, and two children shared their experience of participating in the Comfort for Kids workshops.

Posters made by the children that read "After the storm comes the calm, after the rain comes the rainbow." Photo: courtesy of EPES

The Penco school hall was brightened with coloured balloons representing each group of children from the programme — in total, eight groups corresponding to the sectors of Nueva La Greda, Lomas del Conquistador, La Fech, La Ernita, Penco School, Jorge Montt School and Baquedano. Some groups came prepared with banners, thanking EPES for their support, others with drawings alluding to the hope for reconstruction after the disaster.

Each group was represented by one or two children who received, on behalf of the whole group, the diplomas made by EPES and handed out by the Senator and Council Representative and Department of Health. EPES also gave a certificate to and acknowledged the work done by the 13 facilitators who conducted the workshops, who after being voluntarily trained had the time and motivation to work in their communities with the children affected by the earthquake and tsunami. At this time a special atmosphere was created, as each facilitator was named, the children chanted the names of their “tias” or “aunts” as they were affectionately called.

Finally, the ceremony ended with a small celebration where all the children — together with their families and invited guests — enjoyed a delicious cake, juice and soft drinks.

Blog Post: Posted July 16, 2010, 10:19 pm by Lisa Hoashi

Photos from a busy day in Port-au-Prince

Country: Haiti

Topics: Emergencies, Displacement

Every day is a busy one for our team here, but today seemed especially so.

This morning, I headed out with Fabiola, our Haiti communications officer, to visit the camp called "MFD" (which stands for "Mobilisation Fraternelle Pour le Developpement"). Here Mercy Corps has given residents temporary clean up and rebuilding jobs. Over the last couple of months, when I've gone to visit sites where we've provided these jobs, the work has been mainly in the camps, digging drainage ditches and making other improvements to help prevent flooding.