This report provides examples of the work your generous support has made possible this year. As you read it, we are confident that the progress shown will fuel your optimism and determination. Thank you for being part of our community!
As the post-earthquake situation in Haiti continues to evolve, AFSC is adapting to changing needs. After over a year working in the camps with displaced people, we are developing a teacher training program in partnership with the St. Charles Borromee school.
We asked Carmen Ortiz, AFSC’s Haiti Program Director, to answer a few questions about this new phase in her work:
General Secretary Shan Cretin is currently visiting AFSC's programs in Africa, and sent this report.
On August 29, I arrived in Harare for my first visit to AFSC’s programs in Zimbabwe. This morning, our program director, Nthanbiseng Nkomo drove Dereje Wordofa and me to a meeting with the partners and participants in the Hatcliffe Extension Project. The residents of Hatcliffe Extension have been displaced from their homes and resettled three times since the 1980’s, losing access to livelihoods, shelter, and basic services in the process.
Throughout the Horn of Africa more than 12 million people are facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. Somalis are fleeing the effects of conflict and famine – more than 1,200 people each day – and arriving in Kenya. AFSC is working to meet the needs of newly arrived refugees in the camps in Dadaab.
In the last few weeks, AFSC has worked with our partner Handicap International to purchase walkers and wheelchairs to assist refugees with physical difficulties. This allows them to better access food, water and other necessary items to survive.
It’s a small, very functional tool found in most American homes: a flashlight. When the electricity goes out, its beam is helpful, even comforting. And in communities in Haiti, flashlights can mean the difference between danger and safety.
An escalating food crisis is taking place in the Horn of Africa, creating a situation where at least 10 million people are in need of emergency relief in the region. United Nations officials are calling this "the worst drought in the area in 60 years."
The American Friends Service Committee is working in the Dadaab refugee camp on the Somalia-Kenya border and with local partners inside Somalia to support lasting peace efforts before this food crisis began. Now, our work is adapting to help people survive the humanitarian crisis.
I was born in Central Somalia in 1984. When the civil war escalated my parents decided to cross over to Kenya in 1991. I was told they crossed amid many hardships. These days I hear it is more difficult. I was only 8 years old then so I can’t remember how the journey was. I have therefore been a refugee for most of my life.
In Dadaab I managed to go to school. There are [many] youths in the camp and most of them are unemployed. Some of the youths engage in drugs and others even prostitution.
Somalia is experiencing the worst drought in decades. The Somali people are facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today. One in every three children living in South-Central Somalia is malnourished according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The drought’s impact has been exacerbated by the increase in food prices and ongoing violent conflict. The violence makes it incredibly difficult to deliver vital supplies of food, water and emergency provisions inside Somalia.
With the blockade and resulting crisis
in Gaza continuing with no end in sight, the American Freinds Service Committee
together with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Architecture
for Humanity recently released a report urging a major home-repair initiative
that will enable Palestinians in Gaza to reclaim their right to live in
dignity.
In a report entitled "Gaza Repair
Strategies," the AFSC and its partners propose a concerted effort
of small-scale home repairs that offers viable, safe, and dignified repair
The final stop on Arlene Kelly's trip to
Africa was a day and a half with the Burundi team of the AFSC. In a few
short hours a whirlwind of meetings took place with Burundian civil society
partners of AFSC-Burundi, with a couple UN offices, government ministries,
international partners and Friends (Quaker) partner organizations in Burundi.
Burundi has a large number of Friends
(Quakers), with the Friends Church of Burundi (église des Amis Evangeliqué
du Burundi) having celebrated its 75 anniversary in July of 2009. Friends'
AFSC's Adham Khalil is one of the great
young advocates of nonviolent social change in Gaza. Here is a brief clip
from the forthcoming Joe Public Films documentary on Gaza.
AFSC Board Clerk joins dignitaries at festive
event in Manica town.
On 18 September 2010 Arlene Kelly, AFSC
Board clerk officially handed over the AFSC's Mozambique Integrated Rural
Development Program (MIRDP) to OCODEMA (Manica Community Development Organisation)
in a public function held in Manica town. The handover was attended by
Dereje Wordofa, AFSC Africa Regional Director, community members, government
officials, NGOs and local media. The event marked the culmination of a
weeklong series of celebrations that took place in AFSC's partnering communities.
AFSC Board Clerk joins dignitaries at festive
event in Manica town.
On 18 September 2010 Arlene Kelly, AFSC
Board clerk officially handed over the AFSC's Mozambique Integrated Rural
Development Program (MIRDP) to OCODEMA (Manica Community Development Organisation)
in a public function held in Manica town. The handover was attended by
Dereje Wordofa, AFSC Africa Regional Director, community members, government
officials, NGOs and local media. The event marked the culmination of a
weeklong series of celebrations that took place in AFSC's partnering communities.
Scarcity of grazing land has led to conflicts
among pastoralist communities living along both sides of the Kenya and
Somalia border. In Elwak, Somalia livestock is the main source of livelihood
for the residents and the same is true for neighboring communities living
on the other side of the border in Kenya. Unfortunately with limited space,
violent conflict led to preventable deaths.
AFSC and local organizations believe
peaceful coexistence is possible through dialogue. From April to June 2010
communities came together to talk under the project: "Enhancing co-existence
Today, 80 Nargis orphans are gathered at
a monastery for their monthly get-together. The children are learning to
play a game called "Chickens and Eagles". Young volunteers divide
the children into groups of three and tell them to pretend to be "chickens".
Each time they hear, "Eagles are coming," the little "chicks"
quickly run into the arms of their arents. Those who do not run back in
time will be caught by the "eagles".
Seeing the children's happy faces and
hearing the sound of their squeals and laughter, one can easily forget
(July 12, 2010) During the first weeks
of April an AFSC assessment team in Haiti identified locations and ideas
for the next phase of AFSC's humanitarian work in response to the earthquake..
The team, which included the Regional Director for Latin America, Jorge
Laffitte, found that within the settlements or camps, there is a general
feeling of insecurity and fear particularly with regard to the prison escapees
and gang members who may be among the camp inhabitants. Fear is less present
in settlements with high levels of community cohesion and where residents
During the commemoration of the World Refuge
Day on 20th June 2010, some Somali and Ethiopian youth were sponsored by
AFSC to exhibit pieces of their photography, creative projects and cultural
dances in Nairobi. The groups travelled long distances from Daadab refugee
camp and from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia to share in Kenya's capital,
a regional hub.
A few months ago the young Somalis were
equipped with cameras and photography lessons and asked to document their
personal stories. The moving photos, videos and stories depicted the graphic
By Kathleen McQuillen, AFSC Iowa Program
Coordinator
Susan Johnson is one of only a handful
of outside persons allowed inside Gaza in the months following the December
2008-January 2009 Israeli war against Gaza. Traveling with the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in May of 2009, Susan interviewed and photographed
Gazans reeling from Israel's punishing bombardment.
It is said by Israeli apologists that
the devastating Israeli attack, which killed 1400 Gazans, was a response
to the rockets fired from Gaza. Yet the rockets from Gaza, which is essentially
Barack Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing as American nonprofit
organizations to thank you for the comments in your Cairo speech that recognized
the problems current rules for charitable giving create for American Muslims,
and for your commitment to correct the situation. We are seeking a meeting
with you and the appropriate representatives of your administration to
provide background information on how current national security rules create
A coalition of US and British NGOs sent
the following letter to President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Gordon
Brown and Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki:
Dear Sirs,
On the 5th anniversary of the start of
allied action in Iraq, we write to express our deep concern that so little
has been done by your governments to address the desperate plight of Iraqis
who have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the on-going conflict.
The movement of refugees is on a scale
not seen in the Middle East since 1948, and although more international