The Chad Relief Foundation (CRF) was initiated in April, 2007 by a group of people in Santa Barbara, California dedicated to improving the lives and prospects of the people of south Chad , with particular attention to the 50,000 refugees from the Central African Republic living in camps outside of Goré and Maro. These are the forgotten refugees for whom there is no media attention, celebrity presence or geopolitical significance.
This campaign aims to raise the funds required to complete projects planned and underway. We have $31,000. We need $60,000 more.
Catherine Swysen, CRF Vice-President, reports from Chad.
Completed projects:
1. Wheelchairs (seated tricycles). About thirty refugees in the southern camps and an equal number of people in the surrounding villages have paralyzed or missing legs and can only move about by crawling. This project provided each of them with a seated tricycle enabling them to move about the area in which they live. Cost $10,500. In November 2010 a second grant for repairs and maintenance training of $8,300 was provided to CRF's partner, CARE International. In November, 2011 and additional $3,000 was allocated to provide tricycles to seventeen refugees in Yaroungou and Moula camps.
2 . Additional border structure (including well, pump and 4 latrines). Refugees from the CAR tend to cross into southwest Chad at two points where tracks suitable for vehicles cross the border. The refugees must then wait at the border, sometimes for weeks, until the UN can send trucks to pick them up. In early 2008, one of these crossing points had a structure to shield the refugees from the sun and rain as well as latrines and a well producing potable water. The other crossing, near the tiny village of Bitoye, had no facilities. Refugees lived in the bush plain and simple. CRF financed the construction by CARE of a shed, four latrines and well at a cost of $15,500. These facilities are used by villagers when no refugees are present.
3 . Secondary school. Tens of thousands of children in the five refugee camps in south Chad cannot go to high school. Throughout refugee camps in Africa, the UNHCR provides facilities only for primary education. CRF joined with UNICEF, CARE and the Chad Ministry of Education to plan, finance and construct a secondary school, grades 7-9, in Beureh village, located between two refugee camps and in easy walking distance of both. The school also serves local children from the ten villages in the Beureh area. The school has eight classrooms, an administrative office, separate toilet facilities for girls and boys and a well to produce potable water. Classes actually began in November 2008 in makeshift quarters in anticipation of the new buildings. The UN is paying the fees for all refugee students and will provide their uniforms as well. The total cost of the school is $111,000. Of this amount UNICEF provided $60,000 and CARE gave $12,000. The CRF share was $39,000.
4. Medicines. On each trip to Chad we try to hand carry medicines to the doctors in charge of health services in the camps or for the local population. In 2008, thanks to the generosity of Direct Relief International plus a small amount of CRF funds, we were to provide $26,500 worth of medicines to Dr. Henry Mwambo Esame, a Cameroonian doctor working with COOPI in the Goré camps. In 2009-10, AmeriCares, an NGO in Stamford, CT, entrusted us with $79,000 worth of antibiotics that we transferred to the District Medical Officers in Goré and Danamadji. It also provided us with $2,700 worth of non-prescription medicines and medical supplies which were delivered to a UN doctor, Aimé Namululi, in Danamadji and to the district hospitals in Goré and Danamadji. The total value of all medicines delivered to health authorities in south Chad is $108,000.
5. Protection of Women & Children. This project is intended to reduce discrimination and violence against women and children through improving understanding of gender roles and human rights, raising awareness of children's rights respecting abuse and neglect, educating both men and women about family planning, and reinforcing existing women's and SGBV (sexual and gender based violence) committees. CRF financed a three-step program of the Association des Guides du Tchad (AGT) that initially trained women members of AGT from six areas in Chad in the rights of women and children and in techniques of female empowerment. Once trained, these volunteers sensitized women and children in the refugee camps about gender-based sexual violence and the rights of women and children. Finally, the instructors will conduct extensive training of a smaller number of women so that they can continue the effort after the project is completed. The project cost $31,800.
6. Football field at the Beureh School. When students at the Beureh Secondary School were asked by CRF what they needed most, they replied “a football (soccer) field”. The school administrator and the Parents Association, helped by the UNHCR, submitted an application in September 2009 that was funded in November of that year at a cost of $4,500. The field has been built and was inaugurated by CRF Board members in January 2010. In May 2010 $850 was transferred to the Parents Association to pay for balls, uniforms and shoes. In November 2010 an additional $660 was transferred specifically to buy uniforms and shoes for girls.
7. Oxen and plow units. The priority need of the 13,000 refugees living at Yaroungou is to increase agricultural production. In cooperation with COOPI, an Italian NGO, CRF has enabled groups of farmers to buy oxen and plow units that increase production by bringing additional land under cultivation as well as making more efficient use of land already in production. These units cost $523 each and CRF initially funded 39 units at a cost of $20,400.
8. Mosquito nets. The refugees most vulnerable to fatal cases of malaria are children under 5 years of age. One way to protect those children is to protect their mothers when pregnant. CRF has started a program of providing long-lasting impregnated mosquito nets to pregnant women in the three camps near Goré in cooperation with the Mentor Initiative (UK). One thousand one hundred nets were purchased in June 2010 with the first $5,000 provided by CRF.
9. Solar power. This project provides solar power to the health clinics serving Amboko, Gondje and Dosseye refugee camps where the nearest electricity grid is many miles away. The clinics are open 24 hours a day, but the only light available at night was from kerosene lanterns. The refrigerators were also powered by kerosene. Kerosene is expensive, dangerous and not always available. CRF, in conjunction with CSSI, a Chadian NGO, designed and constructed solar facilities that provide light for the clinics and power for refrigerators in which medicines and immunization materials are stored. CRF's costs were $30,000.
10. Football field at Goré. Goré village has been the headquarters for the UNHCR and its NGO partners since 2002. One stepping-stone in successfully integrating the CAR refugees into the local population, a long-term UNHCR objective, is providing some equity in outside assistance. In January 2010 the government official in charge of the district in which Goré is located asked CRF to build a football field in the village that would, unlike the field at the local church, would be open to all children without charge. The field was inaugurated in May 2011 with CRF personnel in attendance. The CRF cost was $6,500.
11. Vitamin A. CRF in conjunction with Vitamin Angels, a Santa Barbara non-profit, and CSSI is providing Vitamin A for 14,000 children in the three Goré and 2 Maro camps. The cost of materials and transport to N'Djamena are born by Vitamin Angels.
12. Solar power (Stage 2). The solar project was extended to provide power for lighting and refrigeration at health centers at Moula camp, at Yaroungou, an ex-camp, and Maro village. Our partner again was CSSI. The cost to CRF was $51,000.
13. Equipment for Girls' Soccer Teams. In May 2011 we noticed that girls' soccer teams, unlike boys’ teams, in Goré played in bare feet. This project provided soccer cleats, socks and shin guards to all the girls playing in the local league. The cost was $2,400.
Projects in negotiation:
Institute a program of multivitamin distribution to lactating mothers in the three Goré and two Maro camps. Explore opportunities to support family planning programs in the three Goré camps. Partner CSSI (Chad) and Vitamin Angels (Santa Barbara).
Take initial steps in effort to keep girls in primary and secondary schools in the camps, including funding the hire of female teachers. Providing books and teacher training materials to schools in the Maro camps. Partner ACRA (Italy).
Initiate a program to fund the annual purchase of 1,500 long-lasting, impregnated mosquito nets. Partner MENTOR (UK).
Fund the purchase of additional oxen and plow sets for groups of Yaroungou farmers. Partner COOPI (Italian).
Provide medicines and medical equipment to the District Hospital in Goré. Partners DRI (US) and AmeriCares (US).
