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ETHIOPIA / GREEN REFUGEE CAMP
STORY: ETHIOPIA / GREEN REFUGEE CAMP
SOURCE: UNHCR
TRT: 2.29
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ FRENCH/ ARABIC/ NATS
DATELINE: 24 - 28 NOVEMBER 2009, SHERKOLE, REFUGEE CAMP NEAR ASSOSA, ETHIOPIA
24 NOVEMBER 2009, SHERKOLE, REFUGEE CAMP
1.Wide shot, refugee camp
27 NOVEMBER 2009, SHERKOLE, REFUGEE CAMP
2.Wide shot, UNHCR staff and locals surveying a field
3.SOUNDBITE (English) Kisut Gebre Egziabher, UNHCR Ethiopia:
“The widely held belief that refugees are about the destruction of the environment is being dispelled in this camp because of the harmonious relationship between the refugees and the locals and all our environmental intervention and awareness measures involve both communities.”
24 NOVEMBER 2009, SHERKOLE, REFUGEE CAMP
4.Wide shot, people in the camp
5.Med shot, seedlings being watered
6.Wide shot, seedlings being watered
7.Wide shot, tree groves
8.SOUNDBITE (French) Fides Nduwimana, Refugee from Burundi:
“We are trying to communicate to teach the people, the refugees how they can protect the environment. Above all to use dead wood, so when the refugees go to collect wood we ask them to only collect dead wood, and not to cut the living trees.”
25 NOVEMBER 2009, SHERKOLE, REFUGEE CAMP
9.Wide shot, women carrying dead branches for firewood
10.Close up, cooking pot on the fire
11.Med shot, men working the land
12.Close up, men working the land
13.Med shot, man working with seedlings
14.Wide shot, newly planted trees growing
15.Wide shot, men carrying tools
16.SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Yasid Hamid, Local Resident:
“I benefited a lot from this project. UNHCR trained us and gave us seedlings. Later we sold some of them, and we earned money to pay the school fees for the children.”
26 NOVEMBER 2009, SHERKOLE, REFUGEE CAMP
17.Wide shot, men manufacturing bricks
18.Med shot, man manufacturing bricks
19.Close up, man pulling brick from mould
20.Med shot, men building brick house
21.Med shot, men in classroom
22.Close up, teacher
23.Close up student
24.Med shot, “Roots and Shoots Club” sign at Sherkole Camp
25.Wide shot, “Roots and Shoots Club” meeting
26.Close up, board showing “Roots and Shoots Club” schedule
25 NOVEMBER 2009, SHERKOLE, REFUGEE CAMP
27.Close up water pump
28.Med shot, irrigation project
29.Close up, woman working the land
30.Wide shot, people working the land
31.Wide shot, people working the land
While world leaders debate reduction of carbon emissions and the melting arctic ice shelf, around the world there are smaller significant efforts to help preserve the environment and fight climate change.
A refugee camp might seem like an unlikely place for a conservation project but at Sherkole camp in the western highlands of Ethiopia, that’s exactly the case. And the results are positive.
SOUNDBITE (English) Kisut Gebre Egziabher, UNHCR Ethiopia:
“The widely held belief that refugees are about the destruction of the environment is being dispelled in this camp because of the harmonious relationship between the refugees and the locals and all our environmental intervention and awareness measures involve both communities.”
A main focus is wood conservation. When a refugee camp is set up the surrounding area can easily become deforested. Refugees need wood to build their homes and for fuel. The aim was to teach the value of wood and how to conserve it. Fides Nduwimana leads the women’s organization in the camp.
SOUNDBITE (French) Fides Nduwimana, Refugee from Burundi:
“We are trying to communicate to teach the people, the refugees how they can protect the environment. Above all to use dead wood, so when the refugees go to collect wood we ask them to only collect dead wood, and not to cut the living trees.”
The refugees also use fuel efficient stoves. These cookers significantly reduce wood consumption, so fewer trees are used and women make the risky journey into the forest less frequently.
The camp and surrounding villages also have a very active tree planting campaign. Over 349 hectares of trees have been planted here, or about 350,000 trees a year for the past 4 years. The trees are multi-purpose, some are fruit trees, some are for building, and others are sold for cash. The locals are also involved:
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Yasid Hamid, Local Resident:
“I benefited a lot from this project. UNHCR trained us and gave us seedlings. Later we sold some of them, and we earned money to pay the school fees for the children.”
Refugees and locals have also learned to build homes without wood. In the past trees were cut down, but now the refugees and the locals construct mud brick homes which are sturdier and cooler in the summer.
All of these projects required a change of life-long habits. Part of the projects’ success is due to the youngest refugees who make up more than 50 percent of the camp population.
An environmental curriculum is taught in the refugee schools and those lessons are mainstreamed into everyday life. A youth group, called ‘roots and shoots’, systematically goes out to educate the community about conservation.
The group meets once a week and takes the lead on specific projects. Water conservation is one of their aims. Since the camp is located on the top of a hill, it meant that water needed to be managed. Check dams are built to help irrigate the many vegetable gardens.
The project has become so successful and the harvests so rich the local community handed over 49 more hectares of land to the refugees to grow more produce. Many of the refugees have already gone back home and eventually Sherkole camp will be shut down. The refugees will take home valuable conservation skills and new traditions to help them survive once they return. This camp will then be turned over to the local community who will inherit a rich and plentiful parcel made more valuable by the refugees’ stay here.
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