International Rescue Committee (IRC)

VOICES FROM THE FIELD THE IRC BLOG

Africa

Posted by George.Rupp on March 21st, 2011
Today I visited two more refugee camps. Unlike Shimelba, the Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps are relatively new. Mai Aini was established in 2008 and has a population of more than 12,000 Eritrean refugees. Adi Harush is in its earliest start-up phase and faces many challenges. more »
Posted by Jamie.Kelso on March 16th, 2011
Mark shares his personal commitment to changing culture when and where it is unjust and inhuman. By educating young men and empowering young girls, he is working in Karamoja, Uganda to stop a long-practiced terrible tradition of rape and helping a community to exchange a violent past for the promise and potential of a future built on equality more »
Posted by Tatenda Gonye on March 11th, 2011
Yesterday I wrote about how a decade of economic troubles has eroded Zimbabwe's water and sanitation infrastructure, leaving its people vulnerable to cholera and other water borne illnesses. Today I'll describe how my IRC colleagues and I are working in eastern Zimbabwe to help restore community water systems and respond to outbreaks of disease. more »
Posted by Tatenda Gonye on March 10th, 2011
Imagine if tomorrow people in the town where you live started getting suddenly and violently ill. You don’t know what’s wrong or how to help them. People are dying, sometimes within hours, because there’s no treatment available. And then the disease spreads to neighboring communities because no one knows how to stop it. more »
Posted by The.IRC on March 9th, 2011
At a rural health clinic run by the IRC where rape survivors receive counseling and medical care, Julie (not her real name) recalls the night she was raped by eight armed men wielding rifles and machetes. more »
Posted by The.IRC on February 23rd, 2011
The IRC's Hillary Margolis shares a moment when a group of women in Congo who, once empowered with knowledge about human rights, advocated for local laws to be changed in order to allow women to inherit land and hold property. more »
Posted by The.IRC on February 16th, 2011
Tamah Murfet says the IRC's village savings and loan program in Burundi is inspiring and empowering women in unexpected ways -- from giving them the courage to discuss money issues with their husbands to allowing them to earn a living for the first time in their lives. more »
Posted by The.IRC on February 9th, 2011
Female genital mutilation is common among certain groups of refugees in Northern Ethiopia. Kibrom describes what happened when a group of community leaders were given the opportunity to examine and reflect on the harmful aspects of this traditional practice. more »
Posted by The.IRC on January 26th, 2011
What keeps me wanting to go out every day and do this work is just that urge within me to see smiles on the faces of women who have not been able to smile for months or for years. more »
Posted by The.IRC on January 21st, 2011
“We don’t know how long the crisis will last,” says Dr. Folaranmi Ogunbowale, who oversees the IRC’s emergency health care response on the Liberia-Ivory Coast border. “But given the volatile history of this region, we have to be prepared for the worst.” more »

ABOUT THIS BLOG        COMMENT GUIDELINES        DONATE        ARCHIVE