Storys | NRC Flüchtlingshilfe Deutschland

Storys

Photo: Racha El Daoi/NRC

Beirut: Hunderttausende auf einen Schlag obdachlos

Farhiyo Iishaar Omar fears her daughter was attacked by lions.
Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC

Sie fürchtet, dass ihre Tochter von Löwen gefressen wurde

Wiederaufbau eines Krankenhauses in nur vier Wochen

Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC

Wir halfen 2019 über 9 Millionen Menschen auf der Flucht

Workers are restructuring the school building under NRC supervision- Harasta, Eastern Ghouta

Photo: Tareq Mnadili/NRC

Kriegstrauma: Zerstörte Schulen

Globaler Überblick

Tödliche Auswirkungen: die Pandemie in Konfliktgebieten

Vergessene Krisen

Drei Gründe zur Hoffnung

On the 10 April, the same day the first Covid-19 case in Yemen was confirmed, Muhsen Ahmed Mahyoub was fleeing his home.

Muhsen’s home village of Hareeb was a small and a peaceful one, not far from Sana’a city. On the farm he had inherited from his father, Muhsen kept goats and sheep, and planted corn, barley and wheat. He held on to this quiet life through five years of escalating violence. Even when a landmine took both his legs in 2016, Muhsen still steadfastly continued farming, thanks to the help of his children. The farm was his life, and his only source of income. How would his family eat, if they left?

But on 10 April, one day after a unilateral ceasefire was announced, the war finally forced him to flee.

First came the gunfire in the distance. When it grew closer, Muhsen called his wife and children together, and quickly rounded up the goats and sheep. Around him, other families were doing the same.

Muhsen hired a small pickup, loading his animals in the back, and struck out for the desert near Marib city. Here, a barren stretch of sandy land has in the last four months become home to 500 families from around Marib and Nihm.

It is known as Al-Swaidah camp, though there is nothing to mark it as such: no running water, no toilets, no electricity. It is just there.

Muhsen’s family assembled a tent for themselves from iron pipes and plastic sheets. But despite these conditions, Muhsen is just glad to be safe. “We felt we were the luckiest in the world when we arrived.”

Some families still have their goats and sheep with them. Muhsen has sold his animals to buy food and other basic items. “In my village, I used to eat from my farm and sell the rest. But here we are dependent on organizations to help,” he says. “It is true that we can get some food from WFP, but it isn’t enough.”

Muhsen is thankful to those organizations which have started to provide mattresses, water and food. But there is so much they still need, including latrines and proper shelter. Storms and floods have damaged several tents in the last few months.

“Before the war, I used to wake up before dawn and walk to the fields and work until ten. Then I would walk to the market to buy some things, and return to have my lunch with family. We sat together in the afternoon to chew Qat and talk—usually about farming. Nowadays, we are thinking all the time how to get food, how to get water and how long we can stay here.”

Muhsen has heard about Covid-19 but doesn’t consider it a threat for displaced people, as they have other, more pressing, worries. None of the displaced people in the camp have been taking any measures against Covid-19.

He has not heard of the ceasefire declaration. He has seen the families still arriving from surrounding areas, fleeing the ongoing fighting. And so far, the news from his hometown is that it has not stopped. “The battles are still ongoing, so we can’t return.”

Photo: Hassan Al-Homaidi/NRC

Flucht während des „Corona-Waffenstillstands“

Globaler Überblick

79,5 Millionen Menschen auf der Flucht in Zeiten von Covid-19

Mohamed musste Blätter essen

5 Fakten über die drei Krisen in Kamerun

Portrait of a displaced woman at one of the unformal sites hosting displaced families in Maiduguri, Northeast Nigeria.

Die vergessenen Krisen 2019

Three internally displaced men sitting in front of make shift shelters in the grounds of Glory Primary School in Kalemie town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: NRC/Christian Jepsen

Vergessene Konflikte

10 Gründe, warum wir Krisen nicht ignorieren dürfen

We use an illustration photo in order to protect “David’s” identity. The photo is from Brasil and was taken in August 2019. The man in the photo worked on a coffee farm in conditions analogous to slavery. Photo: Adriano Machado/Reuters/NTB Scanpix

Sklaverei hautnah

NRC education team takes precautionary measures against COVID-19 into consideration during distribution of High Energy Biscuits to displaced families in Lahj governorate.

The education team used to distribute these biscuits to children in schools as replacement for the food children would have been receiving in schools but nowadays the schools are closed so our team is distributing it to displaced families.

Photo: Abdulfatah Al Jaboly/NRC

Der Kampf gegen Covid-19 im Jemen

In September 2019, Mariam Farah Hussein, her husband and seven children fled Mogadishu for Bosaso, on Somalia's northern coastline. The family left their home during shelling on their neighbourhood that subsequently hit and destroyed their home completely.

“I lived in constant fear. There were a lot of explosions every day. People were killed every day, murdered – anything could happen. Because of this fear we decided to flee.”

“We have seen a lot of problems. When I left my home, it was hit by bombs. I suffered when I was travelling. After I arrived here, I forgot all my problems and fears. I feel safe.”

Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC

Sie floh aus einer der gefährlichsten Städte der Welt

The humanitarian situation in the South West State of Somalia is deteriorating, with thousands of displaced people arriving in Baidoa and other towns every month. They flee from rural areas due to conflict and drought which has destroyed harvests for three consecutive seasons. The ongoing threat of armed conflict is limiting the capacity of humanitarian organisations to deliver assistance outside of urban areas, forcing people who are severely affected to relocate to areas wherever support is available.

Stimmen somalischer Vertriebener

Seife rettet Leben

Rafsanjan Settlement is situated about 15 kilometres outside of Kerman city in southern Iran. It hosts 5,500 Afghan refugees, making it the largest refugee settlement in the country. Picture: Hamid Sadeghi/NRC

Iran: Träume auf Eis gelegt

Faduma Abdinor Mohamed, 39, was pregnant with her youngest child when both her father and husband were killed during armed attacks.

The compounding impact of drought left Faduma unable to feed and water her livestock, leaving her struggling to feed her children. When one of her sons became seriously ill, she sold her four surviving goats to pay for his medicine. She does not own any land but earned some money by working on other people’s farms. When the drought deteriorated, it was not possible to find any more work.

Eventually, the combined pressure of conflict and drought forced Faduma to move to Baidoa, an urban centre with greater access to humanitarian assistance.

“Children adapt to the place where they grow up and spend time. I want my children to learn, to help their parents and build a future … and get an education that can give them opportunities everywhere. That is why I brought them here.”

With help from her brother, who lives in Mogadishu, Faduma is able to send her four oldest children to school, but she continues to struggling to provide enough for them enough to eat.

“Last night we got something to eat from others. My children didn’t eat anything this morning. I had nothing to cook.”

Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC

„Ich floh, um meine Kinder zu retten“

Eine Momentaufnahme unserer Covid-19-Reaktion

Mohammed Abdulwahab, 33, belongs to a family with a long tradition of farming. He inherited this job from his father. He is a father of four children and farming is the main source of income for the family.

“When the war broke out, most residents fled their houses but we didn’t flee because we have livestock and we didn’t have anywhere else to go.,” Mohammed says.

“I remained in the house. But I had to leave the house every two to three days to bring food for the family and during that time we were unable to plant our land.”

Mohammed states that half of his farm became barren by the time fighting in his area stopped and farmers lost their source of income.

“The prices of basic goods such as food increased and since the farmers had lost their income they couldn’t afford to buy basic goods to survive. “We experienced real suffering,” he adds. “We were struggling until NRC intervened and helped us with seeds, farming tools, water tanks and money to pay for the cost of ploughing.”

Mohammed confirms that NRC’s support really helped the farmers and residents as the prices of vegetables decreased by half with more vegetables becoming available.

“Farmers got the seeds for free, so all of them planted their land and the yields were a lot so the prices decreased by half.”

Mohammed believes NRC came at the right time for his family and hopes more support will be available in the coming months, “I thank NRC for helping us to return to our land and hope they can continue to support us in the coming year.”

Photo: Nasser Abdulkareem/NRC

Landwirtschaft im Schatten des Krieges

A thoughtful Hamayadi looks on after sharing his story with us in Berberati, Central African Republic.

Zentralafrikanische Republik

In meinem Haus lebte eine andere Familie

The night Boko Haram attacked Halima’s village, her husband disappeared in the chaos and she had to flee alone with her four young children. Five years have passed and she has still not heard from him. She fears he was killed that night.

Halima, 32, is not the only one that has been forced to flee her home because of attacks from armed groups in the border areas between Cameroon and Nigeria. The Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria has led to significant protracted displacements in Cameroon’s Far North region, ranking Cameroon as the second most affected country (after Nigeria) in the Lake Chad Basin region. 64% of all humanitarian needs in the country, affecting approximately 2.1 million people, are concentrated in the Far North region. This includes 227,581 internally displaced persons (IDPs), 92,238 returnees (former IDPs), 96,727 Nigerian refugees, 406,700 host community members and more than one million other vulnerable people (Humanitarian Response Plan - HRP 2018). As more and more attacks are now also happening inside of Cameroon, it is leading to more insecurity and secondary displacements. For aid agencies, access is also increasingly difficult.

“After I fled my home, we stayed in Kourgui for two months hoping that life would be better there, but it was not easy at all, so I decided to come here to Mora".

Mora is a little bit further from the border and feels a bit safer. Halima now rents a small house in a compound with another family, trying to make a new life after having lost all she once owned. Back home she had a sewing machine that gave her a steady income. Without her machine or her husband’s help, she has struggled to make ends meet. Now, with the support from NRC, her situation has turned for the better.

Halima is part of a group of women that are selected for a fish farming project that NRC supports as part of our Food Security activities. A local entrepeneur, Boucar Adji, had set up a fish farming cooperative and NRC decided to provide financial support to this great initiative. The entrepreneur used the funds to expand the fish activities and intentionally hired displaced women to work with him at the cooperative. The women receive 15,000 francs every month from the cooperative for the work they do on the fish farm. Every morning for the past three months, Halima and the other members of the association meet to feed the fish and clean the premises.

In addition, NRC has provided financial assistance directly to the women to help them start up a small business. With the first of three cash instalments, Halima chose to buy peanuts that she now roasts and sells. The income from this and the work at the fish farm has made it possible for her to pay the school fee for two of her four children. It also generates a welcome addition of fish into their diet.

"If today my small family manages to eat fresh fish, it is thanks to the fish farming done by the association," Halima ends.

Photo: Ingebjørg Kårstad/NRC

Der Welleneffekt: Wie Fischzucht Leben verändert

10 Gründe, warum Menschen auf der Flucht vom Coronavirus besonders stark bedroht sind

Solidarität darf nicht an unseren Grenzen Halt machen

There are hand sanitizers at the main gate, and work with the committees distributing vouchers to people to ensure people sterilize their hands when they come to collect their vouchers and when they leave.

Photo: Nasser Abdulkareem/NRC

Angst vor den Folgen des Coronavirus

Al-Ezi Majed, 6, is washing his hands and face from the only water point in Souk Al-Lail camp in Amran city where more than fifty families live.

Photo: Nasser Abdulkareem/NRC

Wie wir das Coronavirus bekämpfen

The protracted crisis in the Donbas region of Ukraine is well into its sixth year. The contact line continues to separate Government controlled area (GCA) and Non-Government controlled area (NGCA) of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. This separation isolates much of the population in GCA from important services and livelihood providers in urban centres in NGCA. Along the 427-kilometre contact line, there are five open exit-entry checkpoints (EECP) in Hnutove, Novotroitske, Marinka, Maiorsk and Stanytsia Luhanska, where internally displaced and conflict-affected people cross to visit relatives, buy food and other goods, receive social payments and check on their property.

Since the opening of these EECPs, the number of people crossing the contact line continues to grow. Every month, there are about 1,3 million people recorded crossing through all five of the EECPs. Long queues and correspondingly, long waiting times at checkpoints continue to be reported. During their journey to cross the contact line, very often people face difficult weather conditions and slow processing times. These civilians who cross the contact line have limited access to basic services such as drinking water, latrines, weather shelters, heating, and medical care.

Photo: Dmytro Tielushkin/The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Sechs Fakten nach sechs Jahren Krise

FISHERMAN
Suleiman (45 years old) is a fisherman from Al-Hodeidah and now he is an internally displaced person in Ras Emran (Aden). His only income was fishing. Because of the war, he could not continue fishing in Al – Hodeidah after some of his friends were killed by airstrikes, and others were killed in the fish market which was hit by airstrikes several times.

He is afraid to face his friends fate since they were killed without having committed any sins- they were only fishermen. Because of the war, he faced many difficulties in Al-Hodeidah, the high cost of living, no money to buy fishing tools and the fuel for the boat to go out to the sea. Even before the war, his life was difficult and strenuous as he was staying out at sea for many days, but at least it was a safe life. Since the war started - he no longer feels safe.

When the clashes moved closer to the area where he lived, he heard people say that they should store basic food items because they would not be able to get out of their homes. Suleiman has a big family; one wife, 7 children and 2 grandchildren. He stored a few basic food items, which was enough for a few days. After a few days, the food was close to running out so he had to go out and buy some food and store it. He did this three times despite clashes coming to his area.

One day, Suleiman made a tough decision – it was about surviving. He fled with his family, and they left with only the clothes that they were wearing. He sold his wife's jewellery and his animals to pay for transportation and travel expenses. He fled to Ras Emran (Aden) where he could continue work as a fisherman. It took three days to get here.

As an internally displaced person he feels like a stranger in the area that he fled to. He cannot act or live as freely as he used to do in Al-Hodeidah before the war. He doesn't know the condition of his house in Al-Hodaidah. Maybe it was hit by an airstrike or is occupied by someone else. But the most important thing for him is that he and his family are safe.

Currently, Suleiman works together with other fishermen to provide a living for his family. But it is not easy to find enough work. He has a wife, 7 children and 1 grandchild. He works for a daily fee between 3000 to 5000 Yemeni Riyals, and he needs many things for his family to live as he and his family left everything behind when they fled.

Suleiman hopes that the war will end so he can return to his home. So that he can go back to his work. And his children can live in peace and safety like other children in the world and go back to school to finish their education. His message to the international community is to help and stand by Yemeni people in their ordeal and to do their best to stop this war in a peaceful manner and to make Yemen safe and secure for people.

Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC

Alles verloren nach fünf Jahren Krieg