Field visit in 7/5/2006 :

Al-Kharaz Refugee Camp & Urban Refugees in Aden..

Al-Kharaz is the settled refugee camp "new village " it is near Huwereb District in Lahaj governorate North West of Aden governorate. where huge of Somali refugees are living in , it is dry field, hot and humidity windy environment, it is 140km drive from Aden, it was three hours in ruffle road and two hours in back sea side road, it is isolate place in general the citizens of the near village are not causing many problems to the Refugees new Camp
But not 100%.
Al-Kharaz refugee camp is not tents as the previous refugee camps ,it is rooms made by blocks, it contains 40 bloc of each bloc contains 25 rooms and 25 toilets square with one water tap and one small square built for the garbage, the rooms are 6x4 square and toilets are 2x2 square each family of ten or more then ten refugees are sharing one 6x4 room and one toilet 2x2 where 25 refugee families are sharing one water tap and one garbage collector ,The hot, humidity and the windy, the running water all day long beside the garbage are created so many disease such as blood-pressure ,sugar, Tb, bilharzias, Malaria & chronic diarrhea for the children and caused bad health problem with out enough medical care..
Refugees in the field 5% of Refugee Families are the refugees get support from their families living in abroad ,about 15% Refugee Families are the refugees having small business inside the field such as qat sellers, traders, café's and shopkeepers but the 80% refugees are very poor having no thing they can not get even the food of the three meals ,Al-kharaz refugee camp is isolated place there is no Civilized villages near al-Kharaz refugee camp the refugees can work accept "khour Umaer" which is three hours drive from the refugee camp and it is sea-side they can work as fishers ,instant they have no enough equipment to do good work and it takes about week to collect some fishes then sell it ,at the end of the week they come back less then 10$ , 90% of the refugee men are jobless inside the camp,
As the income of the refugee person is very low ,the poverty and the hunger are increasing the social problems getting worse and worse that caused to the refugees violence between the refugee families that made easy for the refugee mother or refugee father to kill or burn them self's with their children , to run away from their children or to have bad-habits that caused also the refugee men to feel irresponsibility of their families and most of refugee men get mental problem because of the joblessness in the refugee camp as big amount of refugees in the camp started to beg inside the camp it self + un development of the Education ..

(The Beggars!

As well the urban Somali refugees in north of Yemen in Aden, their life is getting poorer and poorer year after year in this year is the worst year that passed in the refugees life history that caused to appear a new phenomenon which was not refugees life style in past years, huge of urban Somali refugees living in north of Yemen Aden until Al-kharaz which is the refugees-camp are " beggars" on the streets or in the refugee-camp it self that caused to the refugees un save life and effected in every side of their life and put them in risk ,violence, criticize, and humiliate, the difficult ,the hunger , the joblessness and the helpless life to the huge Somali refugees in north of Yemen caused to become beggars on the streets instant to forget the Good name of their country and their human reputation because the hunger did not teach them any value of life but teach them unforgettable lessons which is full of pain and sorrow in their life….

Begging is the most horrible job human can do in his/her life, it is very bad habit, even thou the time and the place are ruling the humans life, they have no choice rather then to beg the citizens to survive their mean of life, as the urban refugees in Aden are not getting enough medical care, education or any other support from any place, simply they die lack of medical treatment, malnutrition as well there is no job, no education, no thing….. Accept begging is their job they go to every day and they rely on more then every thing else )
In side the field and Aden there so many humanitarian local organizations working under the UNHCR for the refugees such as:
Raddar Barnen: Refugee Education
CSSW: Refugee health care
WFP: Refugee food support
ADRA: Refugee Social well-fair
SHS: Solidarity Humanitarian Society

14 years is long life and Somali refugees in Yemen life situation getting poorer and poorer specially those last years because of the hunger , diseases, un development of the economical & Educational are reached to the refugees to become baggers inside the streets in Yemen because there is no deferent between the refugee camp and the urban refugees…

Over View
Socially: Refugee's needs awareness for early marriage, vocational training, life Encouragement and Food support, because the hunger is the basic of the all problems facing the refugees as the social consolers are not enough qualified instant they have no enough authority to do all they want as well there is
Refugee Older Committee:
Refugee Woman Committee
Refugee Youth Committee
Refugee Bloc Committee
All those Committee are connected to the local NGO's and the UNHCR in Aden, their ability is only to salve tribe problems, to share paying of the starve money and to stop if the refugees get angry and wants to do hunger protest but it was much better if there would be committee stands for the refugees name that informs the hidden and the internal refugee problems that always cause death or deep hurt also have enough ability to inform all what is good for the refugees and their future.

Economically: The income generation program is not active, it would be good to courage the refugees men the same of refugee women ,if the refugee mothers are house hold ,the income generation program did not show to the refugee men the responsibility of their families because there is no job for the refugee men and they end the grams of the flour, even the local NOG's running programs in the field are not giving chance of work for the refugee men they give the chances out side the camp people the "citizens" no body knows why those NGO's working inside the field accept Raddar Barnen NGO, are not giving chance of work for the refugees is it despise for the refugee people or less trust? As well to pay much care to the poorest refugees inside the camp not to compare the better life refugees to the poorest life refugees in the field and to give them chance of work, if the un-companion children and up of 60 age people ,the orphan and the sick mental refugees can not work to make special cases and help them in special there wont be any refugee bagger or street corner children, because the aid coming from the UNHCR thru those NGO's is not enough to the refugees it is good to give chance for the refugees to be independent with out waiting any help from any NGO' because this is the time supposed to the refugees to be independent 14 years is enough period to develop .

Medically: the water running on the ground all day long can cause so many health problems as the 25 refugees families share one water tap and have not enough material to keep in , they keep all their water in oil gallon with out cover and they do not cabaret the drink water and the use water ,where the oil gallon appears fangs and around the water tap so many insects that causes parasite worms , diarrhea, malaria and kidney infection ,all causes death or deep health problem as there is no enough medical care any emergency for the refugee patient may be died before they reach to the patient the nearest hospital which is in Lahaj governorate three hours drive from the Al-kharaz refugee camp.

Educationally : in Al-kharaz refugee camp there is no lack of Education but there is lack of encouragement for economical problem even thou Raddar Barnen local Swedish NGO offering every thing to the refugee children their needs of the school if it is food or all the material of the school needs the children can not study well because of the family economical problems effecting them so the children are always in stress they can not be as they want to be and can not study what they want to study ,most of the refugee children they stop their study in the primary School because they prefer to help their families instead of studying in difficult and stress weather in their family, it caused to the refugee teenager un development of Educational and Economical both and stay poor for ever in 14 years,

The settlement & the weather problem: Al-kharaz refugee camp is dry field, hot and humidity, windy environment, the refugee family of ten or more then ten persons living in one room imagine how their life can be? It is embrace life specially the ladies can not be feel free in their room because the room never being empty always is busy, when they want to change their cloth or to well come their friends they should announce be fore hours to use the room ,as well the same for the guys ,it would be good if there would be two rooms for the big families at least to hide them self's each other, and in the summer time it would be good also if the refugees effected blood-pressure, sugar, TB ,anemia and so on to make them special cases and keep them a place near the city that any emergency can save their life otherwise in the summer time and the field I saw will cause so many refugees to pass away because of the weather problem and ignorance.

Suggestion

T he UNHCR and the local NGO's would be good if they work hard to gather and try to solve those small problems facing the refugees that caused un development of huge of refugees in 14 years in every side of the life and still no body knows how long it will take and how will be the refugees life, if the refugees life stay like this in the coming time and no thing is change. in this moment refugees hard life already created allot of violence between the refugees and if there is no urgent solution this may will cause so many problems will happen between the Yemeni citizen and the refugees, of course at that time no thing will be in hand, but now there is still time for solution and also It will be good if there will be Extra NGO make sub-limitary for the refugee children instant give deadline the poverty and the lost people no body knows if they are alive or death, and make Campaign for the bagger refugees to stop totally the begging ,because the modern problem can cause difficulties or risk in the future of the refugees or between the refugees and the citizen is begging.

if that is possible ?

Aamina is the example of the Coming problem to the Refugees

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