Appreciate the Little Things

When in refugee camps, the water supply is far away and the people there had to walk long distances just to get water for their families.  Some camps distributed the water in trucks but the lines were often long and many people would wait for hours to get very little water.  Sometimes the water they were fortunate enough to get would be contaminated and some would get sick and others would die of bacteria in the water (UNCR).  This specific photograph is of a Camp in Zaire which is in Africa.  This camp is one of many that were used in the Rwandan Holocaust in 1994.  Conditions for them were terrible.  No shelters to live in, hardly any food or water, and many died in the camp because of the terrible conditions.  The people that were in the camp were mainly Hutus who were trying to escape the terrible fighting and wanted to a start of a new life.

It's hard to imagine a life like that.  I've never had to do anything but turn on the tap for water or go to the store for food.  I can't imagine not having that luxury in my life.  Not only that, but to have no food and to be living under a tarp or sheet in a camp.  To some people, this is just everyday life.  These people were able to appreciate the more important things in life like family and friends and striving to better themselves.  It's too bad that today we have so many things that get in the way of things that are really important.

Salgado, Sebastiao.  Photograph.  "Migrations: Humanity in Transition [The Human Family in the World]."  Legends Online.  PDN & Kodak Professional.  n.d. Web.  24 Feb. 2010

UNCR.  "Access to Water in Refugee Situations: Survival, Health and Dignity for Refugees."  Technical Support Section Division of Operational Support.  n.d. Web.  24 Feb. 2010.

Faith and Forgiveness

We just read this book in my English class about the Rwandan Holocaust.  I wrote a review for it on barnesandnoble.com.  If you would like to read my review and others click here.

Still able to have Fun

 This photograph is of the Camp of Benako located near the Tanzania border in Africa.  These children are playing on a pile of dirt that was dug for the latrines.  In the camp, the piles of dirt were where all the kids played for fun.  This camp is one of the places that those affected by the Rwandan slaughter in 1994 went to for safety and protection.  There were around 500,000 people in the camp who were of the Tutsi tribe, fleeing from all the killings (Thomas).  This massacre was brought about all because of discrimination of people being part of different tribes.  While there were a lot of people in the camp, there were many sicknesses that were spread throughout the camp especially between the children (Thomas).  They had very little food and the people running the Refugee Camp just would tell the Refugees to hold out until more help could come.  There wasn't any good shelters to protect anyone from the elements of weather, just fabric tents.  

I think that it's really cool that amidst all the hardship that families went through, these children are able to find ways to have fun and enjoy themselves regardless of how bad their conditions were.  There isn't much information about the camp today but I think it still probably has people living there today in the same harsh living conditions.

 Salgado, Sebastiao.  Migrations: Humanity in Transition.  New York: Aperture, 2000.  Print.

---.  Pamphlet.  Migrations: Humanity in Transition.  New York, Aperture. 2000.  271.  Print.

Thomas, Annie.  500,000 find Refuge at Camp.  The Independent: World.  Web.  17 Feb. 2010.

Abandoned

Photograph: Salgado, Sebastiao.  Photograph.  "Migrations: Humanity in Transition [Leaving the Land for the Cities]." Legends Online.  PDN and Kodak Professional, n.d.  Web. 10 Feb. 2010. 

These babies are left, playing on the roof of FEBEM (a foundation for child welfare).  About 450 lived there and about 35% of those that live there, were abandoned, left on streets, or their parents dropped them off because they could no longer take care of them.  This foundation is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Recently, the FEBEM is now a place that houses juvenile boys and girls.  Some define it as a "child concentration camp."  There are about 900 adolescents which is very overcrowded for the location of the foundation(Lakatos).  I'm sure the kids staying there aren't treated very well.  There isn't much information about this foundation and an article said that no one really knows what goes on in there.

One part of the article about Brazil's child torture centers, including FEBEM, talked about some of their torture methods.  The most common was locking the kids in a closet for hours only in their underwear.  Another is suffocation because it doesn't leave marks.  I can't imagine living in a place, abandoned, and being tortured when half the time, it's not the kid's fault for being there in that situation.  Unfortunately, it would take a lot of money to even start trying to fix this problem. 

Lakatos, Suzana.  Brazil's Torture Centers for Kids.  Brazzil.  September 2003.  10 Feb. 2010. 

Salgado, Sebastiao.  Photograph.  "Migrations: Humanity in Transition [Leaving the Land for the Cities]." Legends Online.  PDN and Kodak Professional, n.d.  Web. 10 Feb. 2010. 

Stuck Away from Home

Photograph: Salgado, Sebastiao.  Photograph.  "Migrations: Humanity in Transition [The Human Family Around the World]." Legends Online.  PDN and Kodak Professional, n.d.  Web. 3 Feb. 2010. 

The United Nations ran camps in Kenya in which youth was separated from their families and sent to the refugee camps.  They went to these camps to avoid fighting in a civil war.  I can't imagine having to do that.  It basically was a lose, lose situation for them because fighting in a war isn't any better than having to stay in a refugee camp.  I'm sure none of them wanted to be there and were counting down they days to when they could be reunited with their families.

There are currently refugee camps still in Kenya.  The Huffington Post, an online newspaper, said, "[the camps] currently play host to at least 320,000 refugees, from Kakuma camp in the drought-prone northwest to the massively overcrowded Dadaab camp in the east.  Men, women, and children all try to go about their daily lives, coping with cramped living conditions, water shortages and the grinding drudgery of having your independence taken away."  Later in the article, it says that the camps were actually made for only 90,000.  That means that there are currently more than 3 times as many refugees there.  I'm sure, it's a lot more cramped than we can probably imagine.  Then, adding shortages of water makes life a lot harder than any of us could even imagine.  These camps run by the UK "estimate that it will need around $91 million this year to improve conditions for existing refugees"(Offer). 

Salgado, Sebastiao.  Photograph.  "Migrations: Humanity in Transition [The Human Family Around the World]." Legends Online.  PDN and Kodak Professional n.d.  Web.  3 Feb. 2010. 

Offer, Joanne.  "Looking Beyond Somalia's Pirates and into Kenya's Refugee Camps."  The Huffington Post.  International Rescue Committee/Huffpost Contributor.  1 April, 2009.  Web.  3 Feb. 2010.