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FEATURE ARTICLES
The Exile Of Hilaire Nganga, Musician And Artist
by Sébastien Simonot
Refugees in Cameroon are organized in communities
which are represented by a committee called the
Collectif des Communautés de Réfugiés
au Cameroun (CCRC, Group of Refugee Communities in
Cameroon). Hilaire Nganga works for the CCRC as a
Vice President for the Cultural Commission.
When the United Nations
High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR) for the
first time asked the CCRC to arrange the 2006 Worldwide
Day for the Refugees in Yaoundé, Hilaire chose
this occasion to put his and his friends' story into
lyrics and music.
Hilaire Nganga
RESPECT Volunteer Raises Money For Library In Ghana
by Jason Smith
A total of $1,370 USD (approximately €1,080 EUR)
was raised in an August 12 and 13 yard sale in the
United States to send more than 400 pounds of books
to create a library for the
Buduburam
Community Refugee School in Ghana.
The yard sale took place in Lakeland, Florida, and was
made possible through more than 100 donations of goods
given by Southeastern
College students. "Nobody could have predicted the
immense influx of materials we received… I've
never seen so much stuff in my life," commented
RESPECT volunteer, Lillian Langford, who
organized the fundraiser.
Library In Ghana
PHOTO GALLERY
Mariko Miller (holding baby) with children near the
Agoro
Community Development Association (ACDA) office in
a refugee camp in Northern Uganda.
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AFFILIATES
RESPECT Volunteer Visits Benin Refugee Camp
by Dan Okoth
Logan Cochrane, a 22-year-old Canadian, could not help
but accept the beckoning of Benin, a country in West
Africa, last July.
The founder of
Working To
Empower (WTE) and a volunteer with
RESPECT International, Logan was not
visiting Africa for the first time, but the mission was
the same.
"My trip took me through many African countries:
Ethiopia, Burundi, DR [Democratic Republic of] Congo,
Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria," said Logan,
a recent anthropology graduate of the University of
Victoria, Canada.
Refugee Camp
FIRST PERSON
One Boy's Silence
by Mariko Miller
Living in the small internally displaced persons (IDP)
camp of Agoro, near the border of Sudan in Northern Uganda,
is a small 5 year old boy named David. His mother approaches
me with an aggressive desperation, and at first I am taken
back. Since being in Northern Uganda I have listened to
the stories of the many community members in the small
rural town of Kitgum and the IDP camps in the district.
I have heard women speak of being raped. I have heard
mothers cry about their dead or abducted children. I
have heard accounts by survivors of ambushes and attacks
by the rebels, and I have talked to many children who
have been victims of land mines, abduction and rape. I
have seen child headed households, where one child cares
for his many younger brothers and sisters, joining the
growing number of AIDS orphans in Africa. I have even
been offered babies by HIV positive single mothers. But
I don't know how to measure the suffering or what I
would even compare it to.
Boy's Silence
As in any newsletter or magazine, RESPECT e-zine is committed to striving for
interesting articles and announcements concerning refugee issues all around the
world.
If you have any suggestions or would like to contribute an article, contact the
e-Zine editor, Angela Carter, at
editor@respectrefugees.org.
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