With You The newsletter for Australians supporting the UN Refugee Agency | 2017 Issue 1 African food crisis Millions of people face starvation as countries teeter on the brink of famine INSIDE On the brink of famine – Africa’s growing food crisis We stand together #WithRefugees A tale of two cities The Kyaka II Vocational Training Centre A day in the life of a UNHCR Emergency Coordinator Fresh approaches to refugee assistance Without us, refugees can experience dangerous gaps in vital aid. With us, they receive the practical assistance and protection they so desperately need. Contents Welcome 03 Thank you for giving refugees a place to call home 04 On the brink of famine – Africa’s growing good crisis 06 We stand together #WithRefugees Australia for UNHCR – please sign the petition and stand with us Naomi Steer in Galkayo, Somalia, 2011. 07 In February, South Sudan’s declaration of malnourished child has a 98% chance of A tale of two cities famine signalled a dangerous new phase survival if they receive timely therapeutic in Africa’s growing food crisis. feeding and care. Every donation to 08 With refugees among those most at risk, our African Food Crisis appeal has the The Kyaka II Vocational UNHCR is once again on the frontline. potential to save a child’s life and I hope Training Centre I was in Somalia in 2011, when famine was you will respond if you haven’t already declared for the first time in 20 years. In done so. 10 a hospital in Galkayo, I saw firsthand the We must not also forget the many refugees A day in the life of a UNHCR desperate condition of the people arriving who, having survived conflict and hunger, Emergency Coordinator that day. They had seen their last cow die; now need our help to look to the future. they had buried their children on the way; Our support for a vocational training centre 12 they were no longer able to breastfeed in Uganda is vital for giving young people Fresh approaches their hungry babies. skills, jobs and hope (p.8). to refugee assistance That experience was the catalyst Finally, I urge you to go online and sign for Australia for UNHCR’s first major UNHCR’s #WithRefugees petition (p.6). 14 emergency appeal. In the following You’ll be adding your voice to a global Run with team UNHCR weeks, we raised over $5.5 million to movement to protect the rights of refugees fund emergency feeding programmes in – at a time when many governments 15 Ethiopian refugee camps near the Somali around the world are closing their doors. Stories from the frontline border. This was the largest contribution Thank you for standing with refugees, those programmes received from a single and for the hope and help you give organisation and it had an extraordinary them through your support for Australia impact. One year later, I visited the camps for UNHCR. again and spoke to healthy, hopeful Cover image: Best wishes, A child has his arm measured with a MUAC people who, 12 months before, had been (mid upper arm circumference) band to screen on the brink of starvation. for malnutrition. We must not be overwhelmed by crises Photo credit: Australia for UNHCR like this. As Dr Ekutan says on p.4 of Naomi Steer, National Director this With You, even the most severely Follow me on Twitter @NaomiCSteer Our new website goes live! Australia for UNHCR has a fresh look online with the launch of our new website. We hope our supporters will find the new site inspiring and empowering — and easy to access on all mobile devices. www.unrefugees.org.au 2 With You | 2017 Issue 1 THANK YOU Thank you for giving UNHCR/ Sebastian Rich Australian donations have sheltered some of refugees a place to the most vulnerable refugees, including these children living in Al Jamea’a camp in Iraq, call home pictured with UNHCR officer Harith Al Janabi. Over the festive season, Australia Globally, UNHCR supporters have moved from refugee camps into rental for UNHCR supporters joined helped to provide thousands of UNHCR accommodation. Their living conditions a global campaign to support tents for use in emergency settings are often substandard and their earning UNHCR’s shelter infrastructure. as well as sturdy modular housing units capacity poor. With your support, for use in established camp settings. UNHCR has helped vulnerable Syrian You responded generously and in You have helped to construct dozens families insulate their homes against overwhelming numbers, donating of temporary shelters out of timber the cold and cover the cost of rent, nearly $770,000 to the cause. and tarpaulins, giving thousands heating and electricity. of people a roof over their heads. “I was very happy when I got You also provided other vital components this shelter. The walls protect of shelter – the floor mats, bedding, heaters, stoves and insulation materials us from extreme heat, extreme that helped thousands of displaced cold and the rain. They also families stay warm and dry during the give us a sense of privacy. northern winter. This was particularly We feel more comfortable crucial in northern Iraq, where UNHCR Australia for UNHCR has a fresh look online now that we’re under this roof. has distributed tents and shelter items Now, things will be better.” with the launch of our new website. We hope for 390,000 families fleeing the war-torn our supporters will find the new site inspiring city of Mosul. Raafa, a Syrian mother of four, recently moved with her husband and children and empowering — and easy to access on all Syrian refugees also felt the warmth into a sturdy, well-insulated refugee mobile devices. of your kindness this Christmas. housing unit in the Lebanese city After years in exile, many Syrians living of Saida. www.unrefugees.org.au in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan have 2017 Issue 1 | With You 3 COVER STORY Six month old Joseph from South Sudan receives a fortified milk mixture as part of his treatment regime at the stabilisation centre in Kakuma refugee Australia for UNHCR settlement in Kenya. On the brink of famine Africa’s growing food crisis As famine is declared in parts arrived in the camp in the past week. malaria. He will stay in the ward for of South Sudan and a devastating Already poorly nourished in South Sudan, at least two weeks and receive tube food crisis spreads across Africa, they have survived on nothing but roots feeding and intravenous fluids. The we visit a stabilisation centre and leaves on their journey to the other babies will immediately undergo Kenyan border. an 8 to 10 day regime of enriched in a refugee settlement in Kenya milk formula before being put onto that is treating hundreds of On arrival at UNHCR’s reception centre Plumpy’Nut™, a high calorie therapeutic malnourished refugees from in Kakuma, both mothers and babies paste widely used in the treatment South Sudan. underwent immediate health checks of severe malnutrition in children. and assessments. They were registered as severely acutely malnourished and Despite the severity of the children’s The stabilisation centre is attached referred to the stabilisation centre for condition, the recovery rate for malnutrition to the hospital in the Kakuma refugee emergency feeding and treatment. cases at the Kakuma stabilisation centre settlement in Kenya. For the past three is 98%. Without treatment, severely years, Kakuma has been receiving large The centre’s head nutritionist is Dr Jonah malnourished infants of this age are at risk influxes of refugees from war-torn South Ekutan. Over the past year, he has of death or lifelong health problems like Sudan, many of whom arrive in a severely seen increasing rates of severe acute stunting and cognitive impairment. malnourished state, requiring immediate malnutrition among the South Sudanese therapeutic feeding. refugees. Children are now showing the The mothers in the ward are also symptoms of starvation: emaciated limbs, receiving high energy foods to regain With South Sudan’s Unity State officially in swollen bellies, dry skin and lethargy. their strength and restore their breast famine and many other parts of the country Dr Ekutan explains that malnutrition is milk. “If the mother is healthy, the child suffering severe food shortages, nutrition always dangerous in young children is also,” says Dr Ekutan. “When properly facilities like this one in Kakuma are now but the risks are often compounded by fed in the hospital, their milk comes in crisis mode. illnesses like gastroenteritis and malaria. back and they are able to feed their Today, a group of mothers sit together babies again.” This is the case for five-month-old in the inpatients ward, holding their tiny Anyahou, the smallest and weakest baby babies in their arms. All of them have in the group, who is also suffering from 4 With You | 2017 Issue 1 A looming humanitarian catastrophe Help UNHCR respond While famine has been officially declared in South Sudan, three other countries — Countries in the Food Crisis Zone Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen — are all on the verge of a famine declaration. Refugee populations elsewhere in Africa are March 2017 suffering severe food shortages and the United Nations has sounded the alarm of a looming humanitarian catastrophe. MAURITANA With conflict and displacement by drought DJIBOUTI SUDAN being major causes of the crisis, UNHCR is CHAD YEMEN at the forefront of the emergency response. We have teams on the ground in all ten affected countries, including the famine NIGERIA SOUTH ETHIOPIA zone in Unity State, South Sudan. SUDAN • We are supporting emergency feeding CAMEROON SOMALIA programs and nutrition facilities like UGANDA KENYA the Stabilisation Centre in Kakuma.