June 22, 2007 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Ansel Oliver/ANN]
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) joined the international community June 20 in observing World Refugee Day, a day that honors the courage, persistence, and strength of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the world.
ADRA's humanitarian initiatives reach hundreds of thousands of refugees and IDPs, both by improving their living conditions in camps and then by helping them reintegrate into their communities and reestablish their lives once they have returned home.
A refugee, as defined by the 1951 Refugee Convention set up by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is someone who, based on a well-founded fear of persecution due to his or her race, religion, nationality, particular social affiliation, or political stance, is outside of his or her country of origin and is unable or unwilling to request protection from his or her home country.
Internally displaced persons have also fled their homes, due to war, natural disaster, famine, or other emergency, but still remain within the national boundaries of their home country.
In 2006 there were more than 14 million refugees and 24 million displaced persons worldwide, according UNHCR and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
ADRA is currently working with refugee and IDP communities that include Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Colombia.
In the Darfur region of western Sudan, ADRA has distributed 35 tons of emergency supplies for more than 16,000 people. A project is underway to construct 450 latrines and 70 wells in southern and western Darfur to meet the water and sanitation needs in the affected regions.
Helping to stem the spread of disease, ADRA has already built 3,500 toilets in camps and villages in western Darfur. An estimated 45,000 people in three IDP camps there have benefited from this initiative. In Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, ADRA is providing microcredit and literacy programs to IDPs and has installed 300 hand pumps in camps and settlements. ADRA has provided relief assistance for camps south of Khartoum, in addition to building a farming school and implementing various water projects in the region.
For more information on ADRA's work with refugees and IDPs, visit www.adra.org.
Copyright (c) 2007 by Adventist News Network.
