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Here’s why people are fleeing the “banned” countries, and how the Executive Order has affected their lives.

Somalia

Yemen

Iraq

Syria

(by Dania Kareh and Eslam Mardini)

Hassan, 15, fills two jerry cans from a public well, and heads back home to his mother and sister in Aleppo. He will do the trip several times to fulfil their water needs. The young boy is one of an estimated 1.8 million people who were left without running water in Aleppo for nearly a month, as ISIS militants, in control of the main water source to the city, had reportedly shut down the water supply.

‘’Every other day, I do four or five round trips to the nearest public well, to fill my jerry cans and provide my family with about 150 liters of water. The task takes about two hours,” says Hassan, who speaks about water running in the taps as a “dream”.
All of Aleppo is now controlled by the government of Syria. But the Eastern part of the city, which sustained a long military offensive and heavy damages, still has not recovered from its near-entire destruction.  People who have returned to their homes have seen water shortages add to their woes. They now rely on public wells and trucks delivering water to certain points. Hassan, who moved from then rebel-held East to government-controlled West Aleppo three years ago, had managed to find a job in a local store to support his 7-year old sister Hanine and their mother Suad  after his father passed away from a heart-attack.

Though Hassan is back at school now in West Aleppo, his days are unlike any other teenager’s, as he has to worry about lack of water instead of focusing on his homework. “I get tired, but feel happy to be able to help my mother and sister,” he says.

To respond to this situation, Oxfam has rehabilitated seven wells which had been equipped with new hardware a year ago by its team. This activity was part of an inter-agency effort to maintain at least 122 wells and provide clean water to Aleppo residents, while UNICEF continues to supply fuel to operate 100 deep wells, and is supporting emergency water trucking at a daily rate of 6,000-8,000 cubic meters—reaching nearly 1 million people in need of water assistance.

Oxfam has also installed 4 tanks with a capacity of 45,000 each, and over 117 household water tanks (of 500 and 1000 litres capacity) to increase the storage capacity of water in  areas hosting a large number of people who were displaced from their homes.
Since the government of Syria and allied forces took back control of East Aleppo in December 2016, Oxfam has done the following to help people in need:

• Distributed nearly 4,000 Mini hygiene kits consisting of soap, washing powder, shampoo, sanitary pads.
• Distributed 11,553 Family Hygiene Kits consisting of washing powder, toilet paper, soap, tooth paste, tooth brush, shampoo, razor, sanitary pads towels, etc.
• Installed four latrines.
• Distributed more than 2,500 water bottles.
• Distributed more than 6,613 diaper bags.
• Distributed nearly 20,000 blankets.
• Distributed more than 3,000 packets of sanitary pads.
• Distributed 8,075 floor mats.
• Distributed 400 buckets.
• Distributed 1,155 plastic jerry cans.
• Distributed 5,950 individual winter kits containing fleece hats, scarves and socks for men, women, boys and girls.
• Installed 20 metallic water tanks of 1 m³ capacity and 97 metallic water tanks of 0.5 m³ capacities.

In early February, an Oxfam team completed the rehabilitation of a well in East Aleppo. It is part of a project to rehabilitate seven wells in the area that were equipped with new hardware a year ago. Given water levels in the wells had dropped recently, the Oxfam team lowered the water pumps inside them to keep the flow going.

Donate to our Syria conflict appeal

It was a Monday night, and we were hiking 26km worth of trails – only a quarter of the amount we would face in March in the Oxfam Trailwalker. We’d managed to wrangle three of our team members together on the same night – which is harder than it sounds – plus two extra friends for morale.

We walked down a long but familiar stretch of rural road, and talked about the effectiveness of the tram system in Melbourne. We followed alongside the Wairoa river and talked about our friend who comes here after dark to poach blackberries. Darkness fell as we hiked up a steep track in the forest, and we talked about how probably it would have been best to have five working headlights rather than two-and-a-half. The stars were out and we hiked along a forestry road up above the Village, and we talked about how there’s enough track up there to make a Trailwalker in Clevedon. And we walked down the last big hill thinking about what it was that was keeping us going on that Monday night.

“The small rivers and creeks have all dried out. The nearest water is ten minutes away. I fetch it in buckets and containers,” said Margaret Kondango, of Papua New Guinea, as I walk along sipping clean water I got from my kitchen tap.

“The drought has hit hard on this community… People are hungry, they don’t eat much; food is reduced. The yield of food crops has been reduced by more than 70 per cent,” said Silas Orrocco, also of Papua New Guinea, as I pick blackberries with one hand and hold trail snacks in the other.

Just like us, Margaret has a family. She is married with six children. Just like us, Silas has a job. He is the Community Leader for Sirumgoralo Village. Unlike us, they were forced to fight for basic necessities during a climate cycle that was beyond their control

El Niño occurs every few years and is caused by the heating of the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean. It left Papua New Guinea in a drought-like state during the summer of 2015/2016 which impacted upon access to clean water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. The cycle itself occurs every few years, the last one ending in early 2016, but the humanitarian effects on people like Margaret, Silas and their communities last a lot longer.

The effects of El Niño are just one of many things that are fuelling poverty in the Pacific. Developing countries in our neighbourhood are being affected by things they can’t control whether they’re to do with climate change and weather, natural disasters, economic issues, social injustice or inequality. Oxfam Trailwalker is Oxfam’s biggest fundraising event and helps to raise funds vital for implementing programmes around the world to combat the root causes of poverty.

Where these issues are concerned, it’s the ones who contribute the least that are affected the most. And that’s what kept us going on that Monday night. Oxfam Trailwalker does much more than physically challenge participants; it challenges poverty, inequality and injustice. It extends far beyond a sporting event, and that is where the true magic of it lies.

Oxfam Trailwalker is people empowering people in a very raw form. That’s what I love about it – it’s people simply being together and walking. Although ultimately we walk to get vital donations for Oxfam’s programmes, doing Oxfam Trailwalker is more than just giving a donation – you’re giving your whole self for a period of time, which is a beautiful act of support and is what’s so special about the event.

The comradery and shared goals of the event bring people together, both over the weekend and also globally through Oxfam’s programmes that are made possible by the money raised.

By walking, we’re enabling Oxfam to provide life-saving water, food, shelter and systems in the wake of humanitarian crises and natural disasters, we’re enabling people in developing countries to have a voice in the big decisions that will affect them, and we’re enabling poverty solutions to be implemented in the world’s most vulnerable communities, so people can lift themselves out of poverty and thrive.

In response to the drought conditions in Papua New Guinea last summer, Oxfam implemented a ‘WASH’ (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) response to improve access to sanitation facilities and safe water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Through the money raised in events like Trailwalker, Oxfam was able to provide support to 86,377 people in Papua New Guinea to date.

“Before Oxfam came many people in the community were sick and they died… because they provided toilets and water and how to be hygienic less people have gone to the hospital,” said Margaret.

“I am very, very happy for Oxfam coming here. In our traditional custom when we’re happy we scream. I want to scream but we’re in a closed room! So I just want to say that I’m very thankful that they’ve sent this training.”

Mobilising a huge group of people who all believe in the same cause is a very powerful thing, with very powerful results. Supporting the world’s most vulnerable people is made possible through events like Oxfam Trailwalker. And when it’s midnight on event weekend and you’re tired and cold and only half way there, it’s people like Margaret and Silas that keep you going.

It’s no skin off our back (although maybe a little off our feet) but it makes a huge difference in the lives of those with the least.

Oxfam Trailwalker 2017 is being held in Whakatāne on March 25th – 26th. Head to oxfamtrailwalker.org.nz to enter.

Eilish Maddock is a current intern at Oxfam New Zealand, working on the Media and Communications team, and is doing the Oxfam Trailwalker this year for the third time with her team ’50 Shades of Chafe’.

Last week, the news broke that President Trump had signed an Executive Order slamming America’s door on refugees.

This harmful and discriminatory act goes against our core values at Oxfam. Americans and people across the world are outraged, and they’re making themselves heard through all variety of actions from protests to court actions.

Send a letter

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Volunteer your time

At the end of 2015, more than 65 million people had been displaced worldwide. John Cho, Minnie Driver, Margot Robbie, Gael Garcia Bernal and others, help humanise this figure and lend their voices in support of those refugees who were forced to flee from their homes in search of safety, peace, equality and basic necessities.

“It was the night we decided if we could stay in Syria or not,” Al Madrigal reads on behalf of a Syrian refugee. “We had everybody in the basement. We were all afraid we were going to die down there. We decided we can’t all die. The kids have to make it. Some of us have to make it for the kids. We decided to split up and leave. The house… it was completely destroyed by a bomb. We were 11 brothers. Four of us are here. The others, well, I only see them in photos.”

John Cho lends his voice to a Syrian teacher still providing an education to children in a refugee camp:

Minnie Driver tells the story of a Syrian mother whose child dreams of being a doctor:

Margot Robbie lends her voice to an aspiring lawyer whose college was bombed:

Gael Garcia Bernal reads the story of a refugee who once devoted his time to poetry:

Oxfam’s new inequality report,  which found that just 8 men own the same wealth as half the world, is making headlines around the globe.  Since we launched the report have been inundated with questions from people who want to know a bit more.  Our response to the seven most frequently asked questions are outlined below. 

1. Why is Oxfam making such a fuss about the super-rich? It’s the numbers of people living in poverty that matter and poverty is on the decline. 

Oxfam is not anti-wealth but we are anti-poverty. Extreme inequality is trapping millions of people in poverty because the same economic rules that allow extreme wealth also cause poverty – think of tax dodging or companies choosing profits over wages. In fact, 700 million fewer people would have been living in poverty at the end of the last decade, if action had been taken to reduce the gap between rich and poor.

If we don’t end neoliberalism we’ll see more of what happened in the last 25 years, warns Oxfam. pic.twitter.com/i1CH3dswFY

— Johan Norberg (@johanknorberg) January 17, 2017

It is true that there has been great progress in reducing poverty in recent years – which is great news – but now experts like the World Bank are warning that this progress is under threat because of extreme inequality. The World Bank stated quite clearly in their most recent report that we can’t end poverty if we don’t end the inequality crisis.

2. Why is Oxfam criticising people like Bill Gates who give away huge amounts of money to charity? 

Oxfam isn’t criticising these men.  We are simply pointing out that our broken economies have created such extreme levels of inequality that just 8 men own the same amount of wealth as 3.6 billion people.

Many big corporations and super-rich individuals are helping to fuel this inequality crisis – by dodging taxes, or using their money and connections to ensure government policy works for them at any cost.  Big corporations, keen to maximise profits for their wealthy shareholders, are also driving down wages and the prices paid to their producers and failing to invest properly in the future of their businesses.

Wealthy individuals who use their money to help others should be congratulated. But charitable giving does not replace a company or individual’s responsibility to pay their fair share of tax or ensure their workers are paid a decent wage. Billionaire Bill Gates agrees – he says the first responsibility of the super-rich is to pay their taxes.

3. Oxfam’s inequality stats are hugely exaggerated. Many of the people in the ‘bottom half of humanity’ are not poor – they are graduates with student debts. 

This is the case for a tiny fraction of people. The vast majority of people in the bottom half of humanity are very poor people, who are struggling to get by.  People like Oanh in Vietnam  who is trapped in a cycle of debt because her health insurance doesn’t cover the cost of her medical bills.

Even if you recalculate the wealth of the bottom half to exclude everyone in net debt their combined wealth is equal to that of just 56 billionaires – this is still a huge and shocking disparity.

4. Oxfam talks about inequality but you pay your bosses’ fat-cat salaries – isn’t that hypocritical?

Oxfam is a confederation of 19 member organisations . The salary that each Oxfam pays to its own Executive Director differs – reflecting the size of the organisation as well as national market realities. In each case, the salary paid is entirely consistent with the individuals’ responsibility for running an organisation that is part of a major international humanitarian and development campaigning NGO.

5. Oxfam is anti-capitalism

This is not about ideology – it’s about common sense. A healthy market economy is key to tackling poverty and inequality but we don’t have that today. We have an extreme form of capitalism that only works for those at the top. That is why Oxfam is calling for governments to manage our economies so that they work for everyone and not just the fortunate few.

‘Shocking? Yes. Unfair? Yes. Inevitable? No.’ @DeborahHardoon on the research for ‘An Economy for the 99%’ https://t.co/s1bd8jY9Xd #wef2017 pic.twitter.com/NGsCA1fFIV

— Oxfam International (@Oxfam) January 16, 2017

6. Would the poor benefit if a few tycoons were less rich?

Yes – in a more human economy they would.

In a more human economy, the richer you are, the more tax you would pay – and this money would be spent on strengthening health care and education, infrastructure and investments in technology and medicines that can dramatically improve all our lives – and particularly the poorest.

In a more human economy, the tycoons would have a little less cash because they would have to pay their employees a decent wage – whether that’s the people who work in their factories, or the people who clean their homes.

In a more human economy, big business and the super-rich would not be able to accumulate such vast fortunes because they would not be able to use their money and connections to ensure the rules work in their favor no matter the cost to others.

7. Many commentators have highlighted how free market capitalism has lifted millions of people out of poverty – particularly in countries such as India and China. Isn’t capitalism working for the poor?  

Describing free market capitalism as the magic medicine behind the decline in poverty over recent years is naïve and ignores the crucial role played by governments to improve health, education and jobs in these countries – which are key for lifting people out of poverty. For example, China introduced a minimum wage in 2004 and India has a hugely ambitious social security program that aims to guarantee at least 100 days of work a year to every household.

We celebrate the progress that has been made in lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty but we also recognize that there have been many missed opportunities along the way.  If action had been taken to ensure that all sections of society benefited from economic growth, 700 million fewer people would have been living in poverty at the end of the last decade. The World Bank agrees – it has says we will not eliminate extreme poverty unless countries begin to close the gap between the richest and the rest by tackling inequality.

Oxfam is not the only one to recognize that a different approach is needed. An increasing number of voices from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Economic Forum, as well as many leading economists agree that we need a better way of managing our economies.

Oxfam’s vision for a human economy lays down some of the principles of an economy that works for everyone and not just a fortunate few.

Keep the questions coming! Follow us at @oxfamnz.

Join the movement now to end extreme inequality.