New Zealander Janna Hamilton spent two weeks in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, near the border with Somalia. Janna was the Humanitarian Media Officer for Oxfam International, the coalition of 15 Oxfam affiliates from around the world. In Dadaab, Janna saw first hand the food crisis and famine that is affecting people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya – as well as Oxfam’s effort to save lives and make families less vulnerable to future crises.
Blog
What is a famine?
Here we present Oxfam’s position on Somalia famine, explaining that the situation in Somalia is a “triple failure” of food production, food access and response. Crop failure and poverty leave people vulnerable to starvation – but famine only occurs with political failure. In Somalia years of internal violence and conflict has been highly significant in creating the conditions for famine.
April escapes the nightmare of human trafficking
Kus, Juri and April are from a very poor part of Lombok. They are just 15, 16 and 17 years old. Their families are uneducated and work the land.
Their village was approached by an agent of the human trafficking gangs (mafia) and the girls were offered “waitress training and work in a 5 star hotel”.
[Read more…] about April escapes the nightmare of human trafficking
Tari photo blog
Photo blog from Tari in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
PNG celebrates its 31st independence anniversary — September 2006.
And the Hela people in Southern Highlands province turned up in all their finery to mark the occasion at the Annual Rural Show in Tari. The show is organised by the Community Based Health Care, a local organisation supported by Oxfam.
Community Based Health Care promote agriculture, health and other village-based economic activities among rural communities in the highlands region, empowering people to be self-reliant and to lead healthy, sustainable lifestyles – and the independence anniversary show is the annual celebration of the their successes.
In September 2006, Oxfam welcomed the opportunity to have the Campbell Llive TV crew report on the huge contributions made by many thousands of New Zealanders through Oxfam Unwrapped gifts and on the positive impact our work is having in this remote corner of the world.
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| Typical Huli wigman among the Show crowd. |
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| Happy faces. |
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| Campbell Live reporter Claire Silvester, and camaraman Matt Hunter with a youth dance group. |
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| Oxfam’s Papua New Guinea Programme Manager, Steve Hamilton takes on a local wrestler – to the roars of the crowd – in a wrestling competition. |
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| Minister of Tourism for the Hela region – in his Show finery. He remembers as a child seeing the lights of WWII planes flying over his village at night – frightening his community who thought they must be evil spirits. |
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| Who got your goat? Oxfam Unwrapped offers an opportunity to buy a Christmas gift that will really make a difference to the lives of others. You buy a gift card with an image of a goat, cow, safe water for 500 people, or the chance to learn for 100 children. You send that card on to your friends, family or work colleagues – knowing that the gift is going somewhere it will make a real difference – such as the Hela people in the Southern Highlands. |
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| Camaraman Matt plays back footage to the delight of villagers. |
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| Susan Mulungu and her husband welcomed the TV crew to their home. Susan proudly showed off her prolific gardens and healthy livestock, and spoke about the value of the Community Based Health Care programme in bringing income security, safety for her family and community, and the growth of personal savings and good health. |
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| Susan was awarded Second Prize at the Show, for the quality of her produce. Through the assistance of the Community Based Health Care programme, Susan has received training assistance in animal husbandry and new ways of growing food. Her family has now been identified as a Model Family and she in turn works with other families within her community – developing their skills. |
Photos: Prue Smith/Oxfam
Public health in Corail camp
Richard Atkinson, Finance Manager for Oxfam in Port-au-Prince writes about a trip to see our humanitarian response work in Corail camp where Oxfam is responsible for providing water and sanitation to two camps sections.
One woman’s food journey
Local people call Sarlota Itlay ‘Mama Sarlota’. The 41 year old widow lives with her four children in Musaima village, a mountainous district in the Baliem Valley of West Papua.
