Caroline Gluck2013-05-21T18:00:58-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=caroline-gluckCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Caroline GluckGood old fashioned elbow grease.Happiness in Times of Hardshiptag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32420562013-05-09T02:35:25-04:002013-05-09T09:44:05-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
The wedding dance
Life is tough for Syrian refugees living in Jordan's sprawling Zaatari refugee camp in the desert. Most have lost everything they once had: their homes, possessions, their jobs and many loved-ones.
In the crowded camp, home to more than 100,000 who've fled conflict in Syria, it's a struggle to find the basics from food and water, to chances to send their children to school.
So it was very exciting to hear of some good news for one family as I toured the section of the camp where Oxfam was working: a marriage party.
Street leader, Rakan el-Wadi, told Oxfam staff that a young couple he knew were celebrating that afternoon and took us to the family caravan.
A self-declared "wedding planner" was already there, arranging aromatic bunches of leaves and wild grass in the prefabricated caravan that was going to become the newly-weds' home.
The mother of the groom had tactfully decided to move in with another of her children's family to give the young couple some privacy. They ushered me inside. Somehow, someone had manage to build a proper bed - not the normal mattresses piled up that most families have been using as beds.
The groom, 21-year-old Ahmad el Rajab was shy and blushed easily. He left his home in Dara'a three months earlier to avoid conscription in the army.
He told me that he and his bride, Nariman, hadn't known each other before they arrived in the camp, as they lived in different villages.
"It was fate", he said. "It was meant to be. I saw her visiting some relatives in this part of the camp. It was love at first sight. I knew straight away that I wanted to marry her."
Ahmad admitted that the camp setting wasn't the ideal place in which to get married, but he shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, we'd like to get married back home, but that's not possible now."
Some of his friends arrived, and they showed me the debkah, a Levantine folk line-dance, performed at weddings, as a cell-phone was used to play some music, amplified by an Oxfam loudspeaker that had been given to the street leader, to help him spread information in the camp . The thin floor of the caravan rattled as the men enthusiastically stamped their feet. An Oxfam loudspeaker comes in handy
We left briefly to return an hour later, when the party was getting underway. I was almost pushed into the caravan by excited relatives, to see the bride, her friends and family. It was an all-women affair.
Nariman was wearing a white bridal gown with a long train, which had been hired from a stall in the camp. Her hands and wrist were adorned with newly bought jewellery. The bride
A blanket hung up on the wall as decoration was inscribed with the words in Arabic reading "I love You", written inside the shape of a heart. The blanket reads: I love you
The children swarmed around one woman handing out some deliciously sweet traditional deserts, basbousa, a sweet cake made of semolina, soaked with syrup with an almond topping.
Basbousa
Then the women excitedly urged me to dance with them, laughing and clapping as they joined in. Their faces shining, people were laughing and smiling. A precious moment of joy and happiness puncturing a routine of hardship and struggle.]]>Helping the Disabled to Live With Dignity in Jordan's Zaatari Refugee Camptag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30946202013-04-16T16:00:02-04:002013-04-16T16:24:34-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
I met 12-year-old Sidra, who'd arrived just two days earlier, with her mother and brother on the main street near the camp entrance. They'd just gone to a hospital in the camp to register Sidra and request a wheelchair.
Sidra is paralysed from the waist down and had to borrow a wheelchair from a neighbour to get to the hospital. Her mother, Fatima, told me that the decision to leave Syria was largely because the fighting made it increasingly difficult to find medical help for her daughter. Even so, she said, her husband, a builder, remained behind because he felt he could still earn money for the family.
Sidra
"The main reason we came here was for my daughter's safety. In Syria, if it wasn't for my daughter's situation, we would not have left. Whenever there were attacks or bombings, people would go and hide in the shelter, but my daughter couldn't do that.
"Someone would have to hold here and stay with her. Without God's mercy, we would have been bombed and died long ago. Just the thought of my daughter being safe and secure here now is worth everything."
The family are hoping to move from their tent to a caravan which will offer more space and privacy. But their key concern is to get a chair for Sidra that can give her more independence to get around the camp.
"I'm very grateful for all the help we have received so far; the organizations here have been very good; they treat us and respect us very well," said Fatima.
However, with more than 171,000 actively registered refugees at Zaatari, it's a challenge for all agencies, struggling with funding, to provide the level of help needed.
Many other families are also on the waiting list for wheelchairs. 70-year-old Omayya is one of them. She suffered a stroke last year which left her paralyzed. The energetic grandmother, who used to manually harvest her fields, then cook and clean at home, now spends her day lying on a thin mattress in her prefabricated caravan.
Omayya
"Going to the toilet is the hardest thing," she confides. "I lie here helplessly all day alone unless someone comes to visit like my daughter-in-law. If I could have a wheelchair, I think things would be much better. I feel very isolated, lying here on the mattress."
Oxfam's social mobilization, gender and accountability specialist, Jeff Silverman, regularly visits Omayya, bringing emergency diapers, and has referred her case to organizations that assist people with special needs, who might be able to offer extra help.
Oxfam's own toilets and shower blocks, which are near completion in the camp, have been designed to provide disabled-friendly toilets and shower areas. The agency is also finding commodes for people like Omayya who are paralyzed or don't have a wheelchair.
"People with special needs, or elderly people who have physical or medical disabilities, are among the most vulnerable," said Jeff. "It's hard for them to get services during distributions or to access water/sanitation or hygiene facilities."
Jeff Silverman at an Oxfam shower block and toilets for the disabled under construction
With so many in the camp, it's easy for people with special needs, especially if they can't leave their tent or caravan to access help, to become isolated and almost invisible -- out of sight from those who might be able to help.
Hamda, a 35-year-old mother of seven from Dara'a, is determined that won't happen to her five-year-old daughter, Miriam, who was born paralysed from the waist down and relies on diapers.
Miriam is a lively girl, crayoning in a colouring book when I visit her family caravan. Her mother says she also loves to sing. "If any school could accept Miriam, she would definitely go:, said Hamda. "But the school in the camp told me they don't have the facilities to accept any handicapped children."
"Words cannot explain our difficulties each day, how hard it is. Miriam is so young and doesn't realize the problems for now."
Hamda and Miriam
But Hamda says she won't give up fighting for better opportunities for her daughter and seeking specialist medical help for her condition, which, she believes, could still be cured.
"I believe if she had a walker, it could help her. When she has a wall, she can walk a little on the back of her feet. There is hope. I don't believe she is a hopeless case."]]>Approaching Summer and Syrian Refugee Influx Adding to Jordan's Water Worriestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29296992013-03-22T01:38:30-04:002013-05-21T05:12:01-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
One of them is run by Khaled. But these days he's not at all happy. "There are problems every day," he says, shaking his head gloomily. Apart from his concerns about worsening security at Zaatari camp, whose lines of white tents you can easily spot from his rows of greenhouses and olive trees, one of his main concerns is the shortage of water and the extra strains that the large number of refugees could mean for water availability in the future.
Over three and a half thousand cubic metres of water each day is delivered into the camp at Zaatari, providing the growing numbers of refugees with clean water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Oxfam is working in the camp, installing water and sanitation facilities for more than 14,000 people.
Children collect water from Oxfam tap stands at Zaatari refugee camp: Caroline Gluck/Oxfam
It's placing a huge strain on Jordan, which is ranked as one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, well before the recent flood of refugee arrivals.
Faced with chronic water shortages, the authorities in Jordan, whose own population has been growing at an annual rate of 3.5 percent, have been forced to extract more water from the ground since the mid 1980's. It's just a matter of time before the main sources run out. In some areas, groundwater extraction is nearly three times the recharge rate.
In Mafraq governorate, whose population has swollen to twice its size because of the refugee arrivals, and where Zaatari camp is located, problems have already begun appearing. Most households in northern Jordan are connected to piped water which is topped up through water trucking.
The water system is old and creaking; and it is estimated that as much as 50 percent of water in the governorate is lost through leaks in the water network or by people illegally siphoning water from the system.
Metred water pipes at a household in Irbid, northern Jordan. The water is pumped into storage tanks: Laurence Hamai/Oxfam
In the summer, demands for water surge as temperatures soar and the population increases with tourist visitors and returnee Jordanians coming home to visit their families.
But as early as last month, there were signs of bigger problems to come. For two weeks in February, part of Mafraq town didn't have any water deliveries for two weeks, due to water shortages.
Local people say the refugee influx is making the water supply problem worse than normal. At one meeting, a host community told Oxfam staff that before the Syrian crisis erupted, water used to be delivered twice a week; now, they said, most areas only got water delivered once a week.
The costs of getting water are also increasing. With greater numbers of users and higher water consumption, households are finding the water pipes are running dry more quickly and are having to purchase more water from the tankers -- which incurs extra costs.
Most families also pay out extra for filtered water to drink, complaining that the tap water is not good enough for drinking.
But many Syrian families, who arrived with little more than a pocketful of money and the clothes on their back, can't afford to do this; and they've reported an increase in diarrhoeal cases among their young children who have no choice but to drink straight from the tap.
Jordan's water woes are likely to get worse. First, the government is considering scrapping subsidies for fuel and electricity, making it likely the cost of water will soon go up. Some of the country's well fields lie several hundred metres below sea level; and most lie at least 200 metres below ground level. In either case, water has to be pumped out from the ground via generators.
The monthly electricity bill costs the Yarmouk Water Company, which provides water to four governorates in northern Jordan, around 1.2 million JD each month (£1.1m); but the real (unsubsided) cost is more than three times higher.
Back at his nursery, Khaled tells me that he's had to destroy hundreds of olive trees and some of his saplings, because the cost of keeping them alive and watered is higher than the costs he can recoup selling his crops.
"Right now, it costs around 300 JD a day 300 JD (£279) to keep the heaters on in my greenhouses," he tells me. "It's just too expensive."
As summer approaches, the likelihood is that temperatures and tempers are set to soar, while the country's water tables and wells continue to diminish.
OXFAM IS A MEMBER OF THE UK'S DEC WHICH IS RUNNING A SYRIA CRISIS APPEAL http://www.dec.org.uk or 24 hotline 0370 6060 900]]>Working to Help Syrian Refugees in a Male-dominated Environmenttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.28336492013-03-07T23:16:46-05:002013-05-07T05:12:01-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
The energetic 27-year-old Jordanian joined the Oxfam team earlier this year, quitting her job at a private engineering company to work for the aid agency.
Instead of working on military and defense contracts and designing underground bunkers, she now helps to oversee work building toilet and shower blocks and installing water tanks at Zataari's refugee camp. She's been involved in drawing up quality, safety and inspection plans; liaising with and advising contractors; and carrying out on-site inspections to ensure standards are met at every stage along the construction project.
"I wanted to work with an NGO to help people here, to try to do something more for the community. For me, work shouldn't just be about the money," she said.
But she admits her first visit to the camp was a bit of a shock. "It was the first time I have ever been to a refugee camp and, honestly, it was overwhelming", she said. "I had only seen this on television, not first-hand. I realized this job was going to be totally different in terms of what it required of me than my previous work.
"It's been a life-changing experience for me. Helping to change people's lives is not an easy thing to do. It's also a difficult thing to realize that, as much as you want, you cant help everyone everywhere."
In Zaatari camp, Farah is a woman on a mission: determined to show that women engineers are just as capable as their male counterparts and making sure she is up to date on all the latest reading and research to make sure that no one can fault her. Farah's day-to-day work involves overseeing and inspecting the work of the (all-male) laborers and making sure everything goes to plan -- or if it doesn't, finding solutions to daily problems.
"Every day is crazy and every day is really busy," says Farah.
When I visit, she points out wide cracks in the cement floor of a new block which will house toilets and showers. "Look, the cracks are so wide," she says, pointing to the floor where she has marked in red ink the words "rejected."
"This will cause problems... the contractors will have to fix it," she says, shaking her head.
She's firm but polite as she speaks to the contractors, pointing out the problem. But they accept what she says. "I'm very demanding and quite strict, but they respect me," she says. "They realize I am not here for a fashion show, but I'm an expert and know what I'm talking about.
"Every day, big groups of women and children follow me as I work in the camp," she says. "The girls say they see me as a kind of role model and say they'd like to do work like me when they are older."
"The children in the camp love to see us work: they make sure they are awake and up and about when we arrive in the camp for our day's work."
Farah had hoped to recruit an all-female team to work with her, but the first female junior engineer she hired quit after a few days into the job. "It's a shame. This woman was very shy and it was really difficult for her to deal with the male laborers. You have to be firm," she says. "There are many women engineers in Jordan, but most chose not work on-site but stay working in offices. I've been working as an engineer for the last six years and I'm always the only female engineer on site."
Undaunted by some of the setbacks, Farah is full of plans and ideas. She's hoping to pass on some basic engineering and plumbing skills to some people in the camp; and to get women in the camp more involved with the work Oxfam is doing.
Spending most of her days in the camp, she says, is a tiring but rewarding experience.
"We're surrounded by children for most of the day. We walk together, we eat together, we share stories and dreams. When the time comes to leave the camp, we get into our car, tired and exhausted with messy hair and dirty jeans, with our faces a bit more darkened by the sun than the day before.
"We're thinking about how lovely a bubbly shower will be, but before closing the doors, the kids come and say 'See you tomorrow' and we close the doors with a big smile, forget about how dirty we are, or how lovely this bubbly shower will be and we start thinking about what can we do next for those kids."]]>Syria's Humanitarian Crisis -- Dramatically Deterioratingtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.27145262013-02-19T08:24:13-05:002013-04-21T05:12:02-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
]]>Love in a Hard Placetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26864072013-02-14T10:18:05-05:002013-04-16T05:12:01-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Aya, 17, and Mohammed, 21 are cousins and both originally from Daraa, in Syria.
Mohammed arrived in Jordan a year ago and is one of the lucky few to find work. But his pay, doing the nightshift in a restaurant, nets him only around $200 a month.
There is probably no money for Aya to buy a white wedding dress or veil. "Am I sad about this? Yes," she says her eyes downcast, but still finding it hard not to smile shyly at her father and family who are watching on.
The engagement party will be held in the family prefab in the camp next week, but it will be a small, intimate family affair. "There will be no music and dancing, because it doesn't seem right when back home, people are getting killed," said Mohammed.
"I never expected to get married like this, to be in a refugee camp," Aya said. "I'm sad that this isn't happening back home, because all the family, our loved ones and friends would be there. Now, we are all separated."
The couple plan to marry in a few months time. Mohammed is sharing a small room with Aya's brother, who also works with him in a restaurant But the couple will need some space and privacy to make their new life together.
"Life is very tough here," says Mohammed. "But that doesn't mean it should stop us from trying to live life normally. Life must go on, with or without the regime in Syria. I just wish all the family could be here."]]>A Refuge From Syria Conflict Still Brings Misery for Thousands in Lebanontag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.25012932013-01-18T02:46:52-05:002013-03-19T05:12:01-04:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Fatena, who used to live in Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees, in Syria, starts to cry as she tells me her family's story. Most inhabitants of the camp, near Damascus, fled when violent clashes between pro-regime fighters and rebel militants, escalated dangerously. Fatena says her family paid $400 to pay for a car to the Lebanese border. They arrived on Christmas Eve. "The drivers exploited our miserable situation and asked for much more money than normal", she said bitterly.
Fatena
The same is true for rents. With a large influx of more than 200,000 registered and unregistered refugees arriving in Lebanon, normal rental prices for even the most basic of buildings in many areas has increased two to three-fold as landlords have been taking advantage of the demand-driven market.
Fatena had to sell off her jewellery, including her wedding ring, to pay for the basics. She points to one pretty ring on her finger. "This is worthless. It's not gold, just a bauble", she said. "No use to anyone"
Safely inside Lebanon, families worry about the future. Most have managed to pay some rent now, but have no money for rental fees in the coming months. Their homes, which are often just garage spaces, are mostly damp, unheated and unfurnished. It's not uncommon for large family groups of up to 20 people to live in just two to three rooms. They worry about how they'll pay for food and heat, with most unable to find work; fret about their children's health, with many getting colds and bronchial infections, and whether their children will ever have a chance to go to school again.
The cost of living in Lebanon is way higher than in Syria. Life each day is a struggle, though many neighbors and family members have lent the newcomers what little they have including blankets, cooking utensils and some rugs.
Oxfam and its partners have also been distributing blankets and mattresses to some of the neediest families during what has been the worst winter weather conditions in 20 years.
Hanaa's family are among those who benefited from our help. Despite her difficulties, she laughs and jokes as she explains the set-up of where she's living. Three families, a total of 15 people, share a couple of dark rooms and more relatives are on their way.
Hanaa and family relatives sharing the same rooms
Its an old building, drafty and unheated. Seeping rainwater has caused large patches of damp and peeling paint on the walls. And in the bathroom, she laughs, pulling a face, there are rats.
Hanaa
"Lack of money is the biggest problem we face. We have no washing machine, no fridge, no gas, no winter supplies, no food, no way to find any work", she says.
Another relative living with her, Alaa, an English teacher, nurses her four month-old son. She and her husband have both been unsuccessfully looking for work. She says her two young children have become sick and developed bad coughs. Everyone huddles close to each other at night to stay warm.
Alaa and four month old son, Karam
"It's so expensive here", she laments. "But I have hope things will be better, that we can go back home and the violence will end. We used to live like kings [in Syria] but here we are like beggars. We beg for people's help. This is killing us: we feel so ashamed."
War games
Out in the courtyard, her relatives' children play. They've got wooden sticks, which they wield like rifles, and aim as if they are taking shots at each other in a war game. All are less than ten years old. Way too young to have witnessed the atrocities of war. But clearly, already scarred by what they have seen.
]]>Don't They Know It's Christmas?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23497392012-12-21T22:44:50-05:002013-02-20T05:12:02-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Christmas is coming
In the Philippines, a strongly Catholic country, the first signs of Christmas appear months before the actual event: shops playing Christmas carols on their audio loops, brightly decorated trees, neon Santas and reindeers are colourfully displayed outside shops and plazas. It is hard to get away from the holiday overload.
Festive spirit in shopping mall in Davao City
But in Compostela Valley province, on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, there are no obvious signs that one of the most important festive and religious dates in the country's calendar is just days away.
Instead, the scenery is one of utter devastation.
Devastated crops
Kilometers of crushed banana plantations; downed coconut trees; wrecked houses and public buildings.
Crushed banana plantations
The damage wrought by Typhoon Bopha has been immense. The latest death count stands at 1,050 with more than 800 people still listed as missing. The authorities in the Philippines estimate that agricultural damage alone stands at $235 million.
Families here have been left dazed and traumatized, trying to make sense of it all. Tens of thousands are still sheltering in temporary evacuation centers.
Their biggest immediate problem is getting enough food and water; working out how to repair or build anew their damaged homes; and figuring out a worrying and more challenging problem: How they're going to get through not just the next few days and weeks, but the coming months and years. What they're going to do when the emergency response mounted by local and international aid agencies winds down. How they're going to be able to rebuild their lives, with no immediate prospect of getting work.
Evacuation centre, New Bataan
The most devastated areas had never before experienced a typhoon, despite the fact that the Philippines often experiences 20 typhoons every year. It was one reason that so many crop plantations have been established in this part of the country, as it was considered to be safe from violent winds and storms that often hit other parts of the Philippines.
International aid agency Oxfam and its four humanitarian partners in the Philippines, who work under the umbrella organisation known as the Humanitarian Response Consortium, are responding to immediate needs: ensuring clean, safe drinking water; establishing temporary latrines in the overcrowded evacuation centres, and spreading awareness about safe hygiene, as well as handing out shelter, hygiene and water kits.
Cash lifeline
Families living in evacuation centers in some areas where Oxfam and its partners are working have also received cash grants of 1,500 pesos (around $40) allowing them to buy some basic daily necessities over the next few days.
"With this money, I'll buy some sheets for roofing, some housing materials, medicines and clothes for the children. I'm very happy to get this money," said mother of five Marites Oyo, 38.
Marites Oyo
"We were flooded and our house was totally destroyed. There is nothing left. Farmland was devastated. We work as day labourers and don't have land of our own. Finding work will be hard."
Surrounded by families with small bundles of possessions -- anything they managed to grab while running -- in an open sports stadium, Marites said celebrating Christmas was far from her mind.
"After the typhoon, it doesn't seem proper to celebrate Christmas. This time, on Christmas we will pray that this kind of thing doesn't happen again."
Another man sheltering in the same center, 45-year-old Carmelito Gapo, a father of four, snorted when asked the same question.
He used to work as a day laborer on the banana plantations.
"There is no point in celebrating. We have no work and there will be no immediate work in the future. Our Christmas 'bonus' was to receive the typhoon," he joked ironically.
Carmelito Gapo
But, in a sign of just how religious many are here, he conceded: "Yes, I will still go to church to pray. Despite everything, we're still grateful that we are alive.
"My children are very understanding. They realize it wont be Christmas as usual. I've explained things to them. In the past, I provided for their needs, but this year, we have nothing. It's the worst Christmas we'll face."
Others sheltering in the stadium said the same thing.
"We have no money, so the only thing we can do is to pray. It will be the hardest ever Christmas for us and New Year will also be very difficult," said 71-year-old Gaubiosa Cordovez.
Gaubiosa Cordovez
Mother of two Corazon Pedrico, who lost her home and a small store said she has other things to worry about.
"We will not have any celebrations; what is there to celebrate?"
Corazon Pedrico and her daughter Enwirly
"I don't know how we will get by now in the future. I lost the store; and I worry how to look after the children. How can they go to school? They don't have any school uniforms. We lost everything."]]>Typhoon Bopha: Families Struggle to Recovertag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23355052012-12-20T03:04:46-05:002013-02-18T05:12:01-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
]]>Typhoon Bopha -- Death Toll Risestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22977962012-12-14T00:46:39-05:002013-02-12T05:12:01-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Aid agency, Oxfam, and its humanitarian partners in the Philippines, the Humanitarian Response Consortium, are responding to help the worst-hit communities in Mindanao, setting up water supplies, installing latrines, providing basic shelter materials and cash grants for families still living in evacuation centres. See some of our work here...
]]>Huge Challenges Lie Ahead for Typhoon-affected Communities in the Philippinestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22826242012-12-12T04:03:59-05:002013-02-10T05:12:02-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Destruction wrought by typhoon Bopha
The drive takes us through dramatic scenery. Destroyed houses, downed power lines and kilometers of vast banana and coconut plantations, crushed by the massive gusts and rains brought by Typhoon Bopha. The nearly-ripe bananas, carefully wrapped in blue plastic bags, now languish forlorn in the mud.
Destroyed banana plantations
I've come here with teams from Oxfam and its humanitarian partners in the Philippines, members of the Humanitarian Response Consortium, who are beginning our emergency response in some of the worst hit areas.
Oxfam briefings with municipal staff
The teams set about their work. First, there are courtesy calls with officials at the municipal centre, where the relief effort is being co-ordinated. All around us, there's frantic activity. Lorries arrive with huge loads of rice and other food. Teams are preparing food bags for distribution. Outside, officials add fresh data on charts. It's just past 9am, and I scan the information.
9am sitrep
In the municipality, more than 10,000 families have been affected. About three and a half thousand people are staying in evacuation centres -- a grandiose sounding term for any building that can provide the most basic of shelters for families traumatised by their experience. Rescue and recovery teams have found 234 bodies so far. And the smell of deaths hangs in the air, which is why most people here are walking around wearing facemasks.
Setting up water bladder and tapstands
The team I'm with starts to set up water bladders -- large plastic sacs that can be filled with clean drinking water, connected to tap stands. Staff talk to displaced families, listening to the problems they're facing and their most important needs. They also discuss the need for people to try to follow basic good hygiene practices to prevent the outbreak of disease.
Public health promotion team
Over the next few days, we're distributing hygiene kits and water kits, as well as providing small cash grants to help people buy some basics -- food, shelter material and clothing.
The idea is to protect people's public health, especially vulnerable women and children, to prevent outbreaks of disease.
In one center, I meet 38-year-old mother of seven, Evelyn Traya. She's got cuts and bruises all over her body. She tells me falling coconut trees crashed onto their home, which was swept away by the gusts and rains that Bopha brought. While they were eventually rescued by police, she says quietly that they lost their eight-year-old son, Charlie.
Evelyn Traya
"We're very grateful for any help we receive," she says. "We don't know how we can go from here. Our farm was destroyed. We can't go back. We have nothing."
While Oxfam and our partners' first response is to focus on water and sanitation needs, the biggest challenge is longer term but just as critical -- helping people to get back on their feet.
Relief is coming in to help tackle the immediate needs of families. But they worry about what will happen after that.
They have lost everything they worked for: crops that they would eat and sell, their homes and possessions. Many families are just as worried about how they can continue with their children's education, which most families see as crucial in helping them have a better future.
""My crops were all destroyed. It will take six years for the coconut plantations to be recovered," said 80-year-old Epifanio Apsay Senior.
Epifanio Apsay Senior
He told me the area had never experienced a typhoon before and that, although there were warnings, people chose to ignore them
"We're very worried about the future. The support we are getting now wont last long", he said. "It will take us years to recover; we don't have anything. We need support from anyone who can support us, especially to find work."
His daughter-in-law Vivian, agreed: "We've been relying on passing trucks, asking people for help. We will face a really difficult time recovering from this.
"Our main concern is livelihoods and how we are going to feed ourselves. I'm also very worried about how my children will be able to continue their education, as we have no money now."
Before we leave, we head back to the municipal hall. Our team's public health engineers update officials about repairing the municipality's damaged water system.
3pm sitrep
I glance again at the information boards outside. It's now after 3pm. 21 more bodies have been recovered in the past six hours. It's a grim reminder of the severity of this disaster and how difficult the task will be to rebuild shattered communities.]]>Learning Lessons From the Pasttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22767132012-12-11T09:07:17-05:002013-02-10T05:12:02-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Francis Abuhan, family and neighbours
One man lay prostrate, his feet raised and dangling on the television set. Everyone looked exhausted.
Francis explained they'd been there since five in the morning -- returning to their homes in Cagayan de Oro city, Northern Mindanao, in the Philippines, to try to repair their homes and scoop out mud. They hoped to be able to move in later that night, he said.
Damaged homes
The city was one of the areas worst-hit by tropical storm Washi last year. It was also hit by Typhoon Pablo this year. When Washi made landfall in northern Mindanao last year, it dumped more than a month's worth of average rainfall in just 12 hours, sparking flash floods in the middle of the night and trapping hundreds of thousands of residents.
Francis, like many others, heeded early warning signals this time, panicked by talk of an approaching super typhoon, and took shelter in a temporary evacuation centre. Last year, his home was totally destroyed.
"Water reached the ceiling of the second floor of the house", he recalled. "We stayed on the roof from 11pm to 1am.. then we climbed to safety in the trees and spent the night in the trees. We thought we would die.
Francis Abuhan
"The government was well-prepared this time. There were teams of officials going from house to house, using loud speakers and telling people to evacuate. Officials took us to the evacuation centre. Last year, there were only centres for people to stay after the storm hit, not before", he said.
Even though it will take some time before basic services, like electricity and water, are restored to his village, Macasandig, Francis said he and others had learnt a lot of lessons from their previous traumatic experience.
"We learnt we needed to be prepared; if the government says we need to evacuate, we will and we did. Last year we didn't leave our houses. We didn't think anything would happen. Washi was a big lesson for us."
Aid agencies like Oxfam who responded to last year's disaster also worked with communities to explain the importance of what's known as disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Communities and local government authorities were taught about the importance of installing early warning systems, the need for families to prepare basic medical kits, water and canned and dry food stocks, to keep flashlights and phones charged in case of an impending emergency; to build their homes with sturdier materials and on higher ground.
Oxfam was also vocal in lobbying for a national disaster management plan. The new law was aimed at codifying a shift in the response of local authorities towards risk reduction, rather than solely relying on response and relief.
Engineer, Armen A Cuenca, is the deputy in charge of Cagayan de Oro's disaster risk reduction management office. He said better preparations this year were one of the reasons there were zero casualties in the city, which has a population of around 700,000. The authorities here installed an early warning system from the Department of Science and Technology, giving them the ability to give out accurate information quickly.
"Because of the right information now, using science and technology; using early and timely decision-making and having dedicated disaster risk reduction workers, we had no casualties.
Armen A Cuenca
"We have improved our in-house protocols at village level", he explained. "When we order pre-emptive evacuation, all of our fire trucks are used to sound sirens in high risk areas so everyone is notified. We used all media broadcasts for immediate dissemination of information. Now...we can have our community, Cagayan de Oro city, be a more resilient city."
Not far away, in the village of Calaanan, Minda Piquero shows me the emergency kits she'd prepared when she heard Typhoon Washi was approaching. She spent much of last year living in a tent after her home was washed away. She was relocated here and newly housed by the government. Oxfam and its partners, the Humanitarian Response Consortium, four local humanitarian organisations supported by Oxfam, worked with the community here, providing emergency and longer term support, including disaster risk reduction training.
Last year, Minda admitted that she ignored government warnings to evacuate and tells me she lost everything in the floods -- even her underwear was washed away. This time, she said, she was well-prepared.
"It's better now we are on higher ground. We feel safer and know we have had preparedness training and can take action. We feel more confident in facing emergencies."
Minda Piquero and her emergency food kit
Even so, she admits that many were fearful when they heard a typhoon was approaching. "The fear we faced when the storm approach came back. Preparedness is better; if you are panicking, you can do nothing. We prepared ourselves for whatever would happen."
"Because of the training we got ... we had knowledge, a better idea of what to do to prepare for disaster. Even though some people still panicked, we were prepared."]]>Experiencing Typhoon Bophatag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22691562012-12-10T01:09:54-05:002013-02-08T05:12:01-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Despite the many typhoon warnings in the past, the area remained untouched by the kind of devastation that typhoons have often brought to other parts of their country. So when warning signals were given that Typhoon Bopha was approaching, the sixteenth to affect the Philippines this year, most residents weren't too concerned about evacuating.
But four days after their homes, crops and possessions were destroyed or damaged by strong winds and rising waters from Typhoon Bopha, villagers still remain in a state of shock.
"I feel very thankful that I've survived and my family has survived," said farmer and father of six Gary Pido.
Farmer Gary Pido
"I have lived here for the last 44 years. We've never experienced a typhoon. In the past, we sometimes received notices that a typhoon was coming. But when they came, they never affected this area before. We have seen the worst effects of the typhoon only on television. I never thought this would happen to us."
More than three hundred families in the village, about half of the population here, are living under makeshift shelters: plastic sheets, normally used to dry rice, reinforced by banana leaves, and propped up by bamboo sticks. They've moved onto higher ground, fearful that their homes could once again be flooded.
Families in makeshift shelters
Some are wading knee-deep into river waters to check on what remains of their devastated homes and if they can retrieve any belongings.
There's no electricity and water systems have been damaged. But their biggest concern is access to food and worries about how they will survive in the future. Some emergency food supplies have been brought in by road from Laak municipal headquarters, but it will only last a few days. Women told us they'd started foraging the mountainsides for root crops.
Damaged crops
The municipal center is less than 40 kilometres away, but it's a bone-grinding, bumpy ride along unpaved roads that takes more than two and a half hours to reach. A bridge connecting Kadiwa village was partially destroyed by the typhoon so an Oxfam technical assessment team -- the first international relief workers to arrive here -- had to make part of the journey on foot.
Families are still in a state of shock, crammed together in their tiny shelters. Some rebuilding work is going on; others are trying to reinforce their flimsy makeshift homes.
Plastic "tent city"
A big worry is not just how they're going to get through the next few days and weeks but how they can recover their livelihoods.
The area was the rice granary for the entire municipality and as much as 1,000 hectares of rice fields now totally destroyed, submerged by mud and flood waters. Banana, coconut, oil palm and rubber plantations have been wrecked.
"Food is our most important priority. We were only given enough to last 2 days and there's only enough left now for half a day," said worried mother-of-nine Fatima Espinosa.
Fatima Espinosa
"Everything that we worked to build up has been destroyed. If the village captain hadn't gathered everyone together during the typhoon, we probably wouldn't be here right now. Our homes have almost all been destroyed or washed away, except for a very few."
Unlike last year's tropical storm, Washi, which is estimated to have killed at most 2,000 people, Typhoon Pablo hit mostly farming not urban areas and recovery will take far longer. Oxfam and its humanitarian partners in the Philippines are starting an emergency response in Laak as well as other severely affected areas in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces. It will be the biggest rural response to a natural disaster that they've mounted in the Philippines.
The mayor of Laak, Reynaldo B. Navarro, called the devastation the worst-ever crisis to hit the municipality and said it could take three to four months before families were able to produce any crops. His advice was for farmers to plant new crops, temporarily leave the area and to seek part-time employment elsewhere.
Farmer Richard Carado
"It will take two years to properly recover... it took that time for all my crops to grow," said farmer Richard Carado, looking forlornly at flooded fields in Kadiwa village. He grew coconuts and bananas on two hectares of land and is wondering how to support his family now. "It will take two years to get back to how things were."]]>A Cash Lifeline in Yementag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19701982012-10-16T10:55:04-04:002012-12-16T05:12:02-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/Today marks World Food Day. But millions of people in Yemen don't have enough food to eat; and five million people are severely food insecure, needing emergency assistance.
Aisha tells me she's 100 years old and things have never been so bad. Deep lines etch her weathered face and I can only imagine the harsh life she must have led.
I find her sitting on some steps in the crowded grounds of a school in Bayt al-Faqih district, Al Hodeidah governorate, western Yemen, where Oxfam is carrying out its cash distribution program, giving a cash lifeline to some of the poorest and most vulnerable families during the current hunger crisis.
Aisha instantly caught my eye. She immediately stood out from the crowd of mostly black-clad women in black headscarves and abayas, a loose cloak-like tunic covering the whole body. Tiny and frail, she was brightly dressed in a beautifully colored yellow, pink and blue tunic dress and pink and black headscarf.
About half of Yemen's population don't have enough to eat; and around five million people, like Aisha, are severely food insecure, skipping meals because they don't have the money to purchase food for the family and needing emergency assistance.
Oxfam has been helping more than 100,000 people in Bayt al-Faqih with cash payments. It allows them to purchase items that cover their most basic needs during the hunger gap season. It allows some of the poorest families to buy food and medicines during the most difficult of times.
The country's hunger crisis has nothing to do with a lack of food available in the shops and markets. The country imports around 90 percent of its food needs, but rising prices have meant that families are struggling to feed themselves, running up huge debts and resorting to some extreme coping mechanisms, such as selling off land and livestock, begging, pulling children out of school and marrying young girls off early for dowry money.
Aisha tells me she's going to buy some food and medicine today. Her husband passed away seven years ago. She now lives with one of her sons, a casual laborer in the market, his wife and two children; but they're struggling to get by. She says they haven't eaten in the past 24 hours and that often they go to bed with their empty stomachs aching.
"The main problem we face is hunger", says Aisha. "I'm so happy to get this money and this help from Oxfam today. My heart and hands are full of your kindness; I can feel there is someone looking after me".
I accompany Aisha, clutching the money she's received at the distribution center, and walking slowly with the help of a stick to buy some rice from a local shopkeeper to cook for lunch. We then travel by car a short distance to her village, Bayt al-Faqir, which translates as "house of the poor." It's an apt name. Aisha's simple mud-built domed house is falling apart; the ceiling on the roof is falling down. It needs repairing, but there's no money. The family has no land and no means to grow their own food.
Aisha gives me the tour of the small hut she shares containing little more than a wooden bed and some clothes and escorts me to her open-air kitchen. There are only empty pots and pans apart from the rice she's just purchased. "If we didn't get this help, we would be desperate", she confides. "We would suffer until we die".
Even so, the money she's just received will likely last only a few days. The family owe large sums of money to neighbors which they borrowed, desperate to buy food. They'll have to pay back debts and then start borrowing again on credit when the money runs out.
But the help that Oxfam has given Aisha and thousands of other families is giving them greater hope for the future. Families with seriously malnourished young children that I met at our first distribution round in July are able to pay for transport to go to the nearest hospital or health center, to pay for medicine and buy food. Among the families I met, parents told me their children's health has improved and they've begun putting on weight.
Aisha, too, believes things will get better. Her faith, dignity and resilience are deeply touching. As we hug goodbye, I can only pray that her confidence will not be in vain.]]>Surviving Yemen's Hunger Crisistag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19186402012-09-27T07:59:38-04:002012-11-27T05:12:01-05:00Caroline Gluckhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-gluck/
Yemen is in the midst of catastrophic hunger crisis with 10 million people -- almost half the population -- without enough food to eat and five million people needing urgent assistance. In the northern districts of Haradh and Abss in Hajjah governorate, one of the poorest areas of Yemen, families are fighting for survival and resorting to desperate measures to cope and feed their families.
Aid agencies have warned that the crisis threatens to derail Yemen's crisis threatens to derail Yemen's development and stability.
The hunger crisis in Yemen, which affects almost one out of every two Yemeni citizens, and is putting nearly one million children at risk of severe malnutrition, must be addressed immediately to put the fragile country on the path to a better future, eight international and Yemeni aid agencies said today.
The call for more targeted emergency funding came as foreign ministers from the U.S., UK, Saudi Arabia and other countries are set to meet with the Yemeni government at the Friends of Yemen donor conference in New York.
The aid agencies -- Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Islamic Relief, CARE International, Merlin, International Medical Corps, Yemen Relief and Development Forum (YRDF) and the Humanitarian Forum -- said that despite generous pledges of $6.4bn made at a conference in Riyadh, the humanitarian response was still dangerously under-funded with the majority of pledged funds being allocated to infrastructure and macro-economic stability.
This year's UN appeal for $585 million for Yemen's emergency needs is still less than half-funded. This shortfall could be closed with a fraction -- just over 4 percent -- of the funds promised in Riyadh. There is no reason for an under-funded humanitarian response, say the agencies.
Recent surveys have uncovered high malnutrition rates in Lahj in the south and Hajjah in the north, and agencies are now responding to needs in Abyan, which until recently was a no-go area wracked by fighting between the Yemeni government and insurgents. The aid agencies said that although longer-term funding was essential, it would not help Yemen achieve development and stability unless matched with immediate funding to tackle the worsening humanitarian crisis.
Colette Fearon, Country Director of Oxfam in Yemen, said:
With each passing day, the crisis gets tougher. Children's futures are at risk with some of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world. Women tell Oxfam that their lives have got worse since last year's political upheaval. They can't afford food or find work. Parents are pulling children out of school to beg, marrying their daughters early and selling what little they have just to get food today. They know this will make life harder in the future, but have little choice. People cannot survive on promises, however generous. It would take a fraction of the money already promised to fully fund the UN appeal.
The aid agencies urged donors not to repeat the mistakes of the past where funds were pledged to Yemen, but did not materialize. In 2006, five billion dollars was promised to Yemen, but in early 2010 less than 10 percent had been disbursed. They called on the Friends of Yemen to ensure a comprehensive strategy and accountable and transparent plan detailing how the money would be spent and by when, with clear indicators that national and international civil society could monitor. They said this would help ensure that humanitarian funding was quickly followed by investment to tackle the root causes of Yemen's hunger crisis.
Mohammed Qazilbash, Mercy Corps Yemen Country Director, said:
The humanitarian crisis is staggering and Yemen needs immediate assistance to help the millions of Yemenis who are hungry right now. As world leaders gather to discuss Yemen's future, we urge them not only to meet pressing needs on the ground, but to ensure that there is a plan in place to address the root causes of the crisis. Unemployment and high food prices mean that people cannot afford food today. By investing in the private sector, supporting market development, job training and youth employment programs, donors can give Yemenis a better future and break the cycle of hunger.
The UN is expected to request another £92 million to address needs in Abyan in the coming months. The agencies said this could be covered with just over one percent of the 6.4bn pledged.
"Malnutrition rates in Hodeidah have exceeded the emergency threshold by 100 percent, so Islamic Relief is launching a health, nutrition and livelihood programme there, it's aim is to save life," said Islamic Relief Country Director Hashem Awnallah, adding that the agency is also targeting Abyan and Lahj, but "more resources are needed to keep current operations in place and reach out further."
The call of the international aid agencies is echoed by Yemeni civil society. In a recent civil society conference in Riyadh, over 100 civil society representatives from across Yemen agreed that the humanitarian crisis should be a key priority for funding. The Yemeni diaspora is also campaigning for recognition of the hunger crisis through its Hungry4Change campaign.]]>
