Oxfam is working with a Sudanese partner organization to respond to the humanitarian emergency that began unfolding in the summer of 2011, when armed conflict erupted between government and rebel forces in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile; in April of 2012, border clashes between Sudan and South Sudan triggered another wave of displacement in the same states; in all, more than 900,000 people have been displaced or severely affected by the recent conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Aid providers are unable to reach many of those who are caught in this latest conflict, but an Oxfam partner has reached 45,000 people with a range of interventions, including:
Refugees from the conflict between Sudan and the SPLM-N continue to flow across the borders into Ethiopia and South Sudan. In the camps of Jamam in Upper Nile, South Sudan, many are arriving in a traumatized state, having trekked long distances without enough food or water. But the conditions in the camps where they have sought refuge are dire: residents and aid providers have had to contend with severe shortages of food and water, soft soil conditions that interfere with well drilling, and huge price increases for essentials like fuel and food.
Oxfam is helping more than 32,000 refugees in the Upper Nile region gain access to drinking water and sanitation, as well as hygiene materials like soap, and we are providing cash relief to help people cope with rising food prices.
Read more about the Jamam camps.
]]>Oxfam and our partners are now assisting more than 330,000 people in Darfur who have been affected by the conflict that began in 2003.
Armed clashes in Sudan continue to drive people from their homes. In January, more than 100,000 people fled the gold-mining area of Jebel Amir in North Darfur. Oxfam and a local partner have been assisting thousands of families with clean water, sanitation facilities, and relief materials like plastic sheeting and blankets.
Oxfam America is working with local Sudanese partners and community members to provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene programs to more than 260,000 people in camps and villages in Darfur. Our water engineers are helping maintain the wells, pumps, tanks, pipes, and taps that deliver treated water to the settlements, and our sanitation and public health staff are ensuring that camp residents have latrines, bathing areas, soap, water cans, and access to the information they need to stay healthy under challenging camp conditions.
Many people affected by the conflict no longer have the means to make a dignified living. Farmers who have been displaced from their land, herders who have lost their animals, and widows who are trying to raise children alone have a range of needs as they try to restore their incomes. Oxfam partners have offered small business grants and loans, as well as vocational training and assets like donkey carts to many of the most vulnerable residents of the camps. In rural areas affected by the conflict, we are providing seeds, plows, and horse carts for farmers, as well as small business loans.
High-efficiency stoves can address an array of problems in Darfur. In a joint program with two partners, Oxfam America has supported local camp residents to assemble and distribute more than 15,000 stoves that are more than twice as efficient as traditional three-stone fireplaces. For the women who purchase their firewood in the market, the stoves reduce the cost of fuel and ease the heavy economic pressure on their families. But for those who must trek into the countryside to gather firewood, facing the risk of assault from armed bandits and militias, fuel-efficient stoves are even more critical. Read more about how the stoves have been making a difference.
Oxfam America's fuel-efficient stove program is helping protect Darfur’s fragile environment by reducing the need for firewood and charcoal.
Other environmental initiatives include planting and protecting tens of thousands of tree seedlings around school and camps for displaced people.
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With some champions in Congress and support from the White House, we're hoping to see domestic legislation that not only fines companies who pollute, but also uses some of these funds to help affected communities build their resilience. If we are successful domestically, we can lay the groundwork for a global deal at the UN Climate Change Conference this December—an agreement that will create a more hospitable climate for us all.
Also in this issue: A force of peace in Peru; Rebuilding in Bangladesh; Oxfam America's new role in Darfur.
]]>"You cannot compare the peace we got with what I lost," says Sarite Bonaya.
A 35-year-old Guji man, Sarite lives in the Oromia region near the Mormora River about a day-and-a-half's drive from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Forced from his home during the conflict, Sarite lost much of his wealth, including 233 heads of cattle.
But under an agreement brokered by a newly formed Peace Committee, Sarite, who is responsible for the care of 25 family members, got something even more important back: the ability to return to his home and farmland.
The agreement, reached during a peace conference among the Borena, Guji, and Gebra in April, settles for good the recent crimes they committed against each other and lays the groundwork for punishing future offenses and settling disputes.
In the Borena and Guji Zones near Ethiopia's border with Kenya, herding is the main means people have of making a living—a lifestyle in which they move their animals in search of pasture and water. Although most of the people in this area share the same background and culture, they are divided along ancestral lines.
Each of the different clans has its own system of governing which is adept at solving disputes and punishing crimes within that particular clan. The problem is that the only justice for a person who has had property stolen from him or a family member killed by someone from a different clan is to take matters into his own hands. In an area where guns are everywhere, retaliation has the potential to get very ugly—and it has.
Scarce resources and greed-driven cattle theft have always sparked minor conflicts between different clans. In the past, however, the various clans had agreements with each other in order to keep conflicts from spiraling out of control. Due to a weakening in their traditional governing systems brought about by the introduction of a more formalized, central governing approach, the clans' old agreements had been undermined, allowing violence to escalate.
In early 2006 a series of killings and retaliations brought on by scarce resources and cattle theft sparked separate conflicts between multiple clans in the area. By August, thousands of people had fled their homes in search of safer territory after losing much of what they owned.
By April of this year, everyone in the area had had enough and they turned to the Ethiopian Red Cross Society for help.
With support from Oxfam America, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, or ERCS, set up a conference in Alona village which brought together the Borena, Guji, and Gebra—the clans responsible for a great deal of the conflict. At the conference a committee was set up with 10 people from each of those clans. The clans elected the committee members, and they quickly got to work.
The committee reached a few key agreements to bring an immediate end to the violence. The most important of these was that people should not ask for compensation for what had been done to them in the past, and a repayment system was set up for future inter-clan killings and robberies in order to prevent retaliation. The Peace Committee saw this repayment system as the most effective way of keeping people from retaliating on their own.
Since April, the committee has met once a month in order to resolve outstanding issues and ensure that peace holds in the area. It has been conducting these meetings in various places where displacements had occurred. So far, the committee has been able to help people from six of the seven displacement locations return home. The most recent of these meetings was held in August in Darmee village—the place where thousands of Guji, like Sarite, fled from a year ago. A team from Oxfam America was invited to attend.
When we arrived at the village, we were quickly ushered towards the banks of the Mormora River. There, spanning the river, was what the villagers referred to as a bridge?a couple of steel cables, with some sticks tied between them, running 130 feet across the water. After a harrowing few minutes and many small, shaky steps we all made it safely over the rushing river 15 feet below.
After this experience it did not come as much of a surprise when, during the meeting, my translator leaned over and told me that people were identifying a root cause of conflict in this area as a lack of access to each other. Traditionally in this village the Borena live on one side of the river and the Guji live on the other, making casual social interaction a difficult task considering what they had to go through to cross the river. Members of both clans agreed that with more interaction they would act more like brothers and one clan would not have to feel threatened enough to flee the area as had happened last year.
The meeting—200 men strong—took place in the shade of trees in an empty school yard on the Guji side of the river. Soon, everyone had turned their attention to the fate of families displaced by the earlier violence.
A lively discussion took place between members of the Peace Committee, government officials, and those whose futures were being discussed. In the end, the displaced people agreed to return to their lands within the month under protections guaranteed by the arrangements reached in the Peace Committee.
However, they still remained adamant that something needed to be done about the bridge and the shortage of clean water which has led to outbreaks of waterborne diseases. They said that with better access to each other the Borena and Guji would act more like brothers and would not resort to violence in the future.
"I am very happy," said Qumbi Dhoto, 34, with a big smile when the meeting was over. He was one of those who had to flee his home there. "This discussion will help bring peace to the area."
]]>So, three times a week, and sometimes more, women from the Abu Shouk and Al Salaam camps head out on four-hour treks to scavenge for fuel. If they don't come upon any trees, the women resort to clawing through the hard-packed earth to reach bits of root that they can burn instead.
But hard work is only part of their problem. Looming larger for these women is the constant threat to their safety: By venturing even a short distance outside of the camps they could face harassment, sexual assault, or even death. Since early 2003, conflict has wracked this region, forcing more than 2 million people from their homes. Many of them have sought shelter in camps like Abu Shouk and Al Salaam. But the demands of daily living—the need for wood, for jobs, for food—often require them to leave the safety of those camps.
Now, Oxfam America, together with the Sudanese Agency for Environment and Development Service (SAEDS), has launched a $132,000 program that will help thousands of displaced women stay safer in this volatile place. The agency is providing 4, 200 households with fuel-efficient stoves that, in many cases, will completely remove the need for women to hunt for wood. Two thousand of the stoves are kerosene-fueled; another 2,000 are efficient wood-burning stoves; and 200 of them use gas. The project will benefit about 25,200 people.
Women were excited about getting the stoves, said Sahar Ali, an Oxfam America program officer, who paid a monitoring visit to Abu Shouk in late January.
"Traditionally, the provision of firewood and fuel for cooking has been the responsibility of women," said Ali, in a report she filed after the visit. "There are few other sources of cooking fuel available to them."
But with the introduction of kerosene and gas, they now have other options. And the small round stoves that burn wood efficiently—as opposed to open fires—means women will need to make fewer of the dangerous scavenging trips.
Still, convincing women that gas is a smart way to cook has taken some doing, said Ali. They worried about its hazards.
"This is the first time for them using gas, and most of the houses are made from wood," said Ali. "If it burns, it burns all the camp. They said we prefer kerosene—not the gas."
The hesitancy about gas notwithstanding, the new stoves are bringing another important benefit to the region, too: some relief for the environment.
"North Darfur is mostly desert, and the few trees that provided a nearby source of cooking fuel when the camps were first created more than two years ago are all gone," said Ali in her report.
It's a trend that Ibrahim Suliman, a program coordinator for SAEDS, has watched for the past four decades as it's crept across the region.
"When I was a child, most of Darfur was covered in forest—even North Darfur," said Suliman, a native of Dar el Salaam, a small village about 30 miles south of El Fasher. But in the last 30 years, those trees and grasses have given way to desert. Why?
"Because of overgrazing," said Suliman. "Because there is no planning for animal breeding. And the firewood for cooking. And for houses—people build their houses from wood. And charcoal traders."
But with the introduction of the stoves, some of that degradation can be slowed since less wood will be needed for cooking. Suliman has even convinced his mother to switch to kerosene.
"She's very happy. It's clean," he said.
SAEDS is taking its concern for the environment a step further: It has launched a replanting project in Dar es Salaam and plans to begin a similar effort around the camps.
"Our philosophy is to restock the forest and all these things will be improved," said Suliman. "If we try to stop cutting trees and every year we try to plant many new trees, within four to five years we will be able to restock a big amount of trees. And we'll be able to at least make the environment more attractive than before and people can find grasses for their animals and be able to cultivate again. It might take a long time, but we have to start."
In Dar el Salaam, thanks to SAEDS, about 4,500 new saplings are now growing.
"In five to 10 years, I'm sure it will be green," said Suliman.
Near El Fasher, trees might also grow again. Oxfam's project with SAEDS calls for the planting of 10,000 seedlings around the camps. Families who have recently received the fuel-efficient stoves will be mobilized to do the planting.
]]>For them, the fact that they were playing soccer together at all was what counted.
A few short years ago, school boys in Moyale—a southern Ethiopian border town where bursts of violence plague the region—would never have joined a game that teamed children from one ethnic group with those from another. The Gabra, the Borena, the Guji, the Gari—they just didn't get along.
But with assistance from Oxfam America, that dynamic has begun to change. The agency helped to plant the seed of peace at the Moyale Primary School, and its roots are now spreading throughout the district.
Through a series of three grants, Oxfam helped the Moyale Primary School, which now serves 3,000 students in grades one through eight, construct three new classroom buildings and equip them with materials, including books and computers. In conjunction with that, school officials launched a massive public education campaign, targeting parents in particular.
The message? Ethnic conflicts coupled with cultural expectations about the limited role of girls had caused enrollment in the school to plummet. A divided administrative system, with different ethnic groups aligned with each of the two divisions, had also left the school severely short of funds. The end result meant a generation of students was at risk of not being able to get the education that is so vital to their future success.
The solution? Improve the school facilities with the understanding that the buildings—and the opportunities they represent—belong to all the students and their families, regardless of their ethnicity. The school would also serve as a place for conflict resolution.
The parents embraced the idea.
"They are beside us today," said Tsegaye Desta, who recently became the coordinator of the school system after serving as the principal of the Moyale Primary School during its transition. "Before the coming of Oxfam America, the enrollment of students was very low. Now it's very high."
Work has helped pull the families together around a common cause. About 25 percent of the new construction on the school grounds has been carried out by community members, including students and their teachers.
"When they do it together, they build not only construction, they build peace," said Desta. "When there is peace and unity, it is possible to do a lot."
A small tree nursery inside the school compound has also served as a place for students to get to know each other.
"They forget about conflict. When they work in the nursery, they discuss things as friends would," added Desta.
With those new friends kicking up clouds of dust on the soccer field behind him, 15-year-old Tegalu Sale, took a break from the game to describe how things have changed since Oxfam began helping the school.
"Before the construction, there was no sitting place and not enough books," he said, sweat beading on his forehead. "We ran to the class to get a bench. The others did it too. Then, things happened."
And now?
"The conflict is minimized—and that's why we're here exercizing together," Sale said.
Besides the new construction, which has allowed class sizes to drop from as high as 120 students down to 50, the school has incorporated discussions about peace-building into its curriculum.
Teacher Aschelew Mokinnin doesn't have to look far for material for his students.
"Mostly we take the surrounding problems as an example, and the solutions—they're always discussing (those) face to face," said Mokinnin.
"There is great improvement," added Mulu Seba, an eighth-grade teacher. "The students' interaction is very nice. It's positive."
And that bodes well for students like Sale: His dreams stand a good chance of becoming true. "In the future, after I complete school, I will help myself and my family," he said. "I'd like to be a teacher or a master of a school."
]]>Tato Boru, 48 and the mother of five children, is a peacemaker. She leads the Moyale area women's peace council which Oxfam's local partner, the Research Center for Civic and Human Rights Education (RCCHE), helped to found.
Here, near the Kenyan border, many people make their living as herders. Droughts plague the region, and their consequences—shriveled pasture and water sources sucked dry—are particularly severe for families of herders and their animals who depend on those resources for survival. Tension over shortages can trigger disputes, as can concern about land demarcation lines drawn by the government. Add guns to the mix, and conflicts quickly turn lethal. Over the years, fighting in the area around Moyale has taken many lives.
One of several similar committees, the council Boru heads advocates for peaceful coexistence among the different ethnic groups in the region and helps mediate between them when conflicts start to simmer. There are also councils for young adults and village elders.
Giving an example of how her group works, Boru told about a recent dispute that erupted when a group of Somalis settled in a nearby village predominantly occupied by Gabra.
"There was a stone attack and there were a few gun shots, but no one was hurt. We felt it was time for our intervention," she said. "We went...and told them that land is the gift of God and we all can share it."
Accompanied by members from the other two councils, the women urged the sparring groups not to resort to violence, but to engage in discussions first, and if that didn't work, to take the matter to court. In the heat of disputes like this, council members try to visit the troubled village at least once a week. As things cool down, they cut back their visits to once a month.
Raising awareness is one of the key objectives of the peace council, and something its members take on regularly in both formal and informal settings. Occasionally, the women will ask community officials to organize a gathering of local people at which the council will then make a presentation. Other times, community events, such as weddings, can serve as an opportunity for peace teachings.
Peace initiatives like these are helping women reclaim a degree of authority that was once theirs—an authority that gun-fueled violence has severely eroded. With RCCHE's help, women are now speaking out about the suffering armed conflicts shower on their families. They are finding a voice and sharing their burdens of loss and sadness.
"Before this, we weren't in a position to disclose our feeling about conflict. We simply suffered with it. But now, we've got a chance to speak on peace and work on it. Our awareness and participation bring change," said Boru.
"In the late '90s, there was an awakening to the value of traditional conflict resolution methods," said Muthoni Muriu, Oxfam America's director of regional programs. "That's when the role of women in peace building really came on stage."
It's a role that is rightfully theirs: Women bear the brunt of hardship when violence rips through a community, leaving husbands dead, homes in ashes, livestock looted.
"They lose fathers, brothers, and sons," said Boru, seated on a low stool in the cocoon-like quiet of her tukul. "They take care of the wounded, the children, the animals. Even if they don't die, they have to shoulder so many of the burdens...the horror."
There is acknowledgement among men in this patriarchal culture that women bring something unique to peace work.
"They are better than men," said Boru Roba, a man and the leader of a peace committee for elders.
"Women can play both a fueling role and a cooling role in conflict," added another man, Galma Roba, a representative for traditional leaders. "If men get initiated for conflict and women interject, the men might change their minds."
Highlighting the awful consequences of conflict—the death, the destruction—against the broad benefits of peace is at the core of the women's strategy. It's an argument few can refute.
"When we try to sensitize them on the importance of peace, there is no man who opposes us," said Mako Dalecha, a mother of five children and a member of the peace council. "Peace—and rain—are the basis for life in our area."
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