Jesuit Refugee Service | USA | The Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa

Somalia, Eritrea and the Horn of Africa are at the center of one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Years of conflict and regularly recurring droughts have displaced nearly two million Somalis. People fleeing the autocratic regime of Eritrea, and refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan trek to Ethiopia seeking safety. In addition to providing services for urban refugees in Addis Ababa, Jesuit Refugee Service operates several projects in the largest of the Ethiopian camps for Somalis, Melkadida. More than 40,000 refugees live in tents at Melkadida, and JRS provides counseling, adult literacy and a variety of youth programs. To the north, Jesuit Refugee Service provides programs for 13,500 Eritrean refugees at the Mai Aini Refugee Camp.

Ethiopia: helping refugees cope with camp life (video)
(Washington, D.C.) April 29, 2013 — Mai Aini refugee camp in northern Ethiopia is home to more than 13,500 refugees from neighboring Eritrea. Jesuit Refugee Service provides counseling and recreational services to the camp residents, and provides a library and study space to help the refugees cope.
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Ethiopia: education provides a window to the world
(Dollo Ado) January 22, 2013 — When the adult literacy program started here in February 2012, the number of Somali refugees coming to the Jesuit Refugee Service centers in the Melkadida Refugee Camp were overwhelming and beyond the capacity of the classroom tents. Some of the students had to sit down or even stand to attend lessons through the open windows.
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New buildings will help education, counseling of Somalia refugees in Ethiopia
(Dollo Ado, Ethiopia) October 15, 2012 — Impressively positioned over a section of Melkadida refugee camp is the new Jesuit Refugee Service multi-purpose hall completed in August. Built to provide refugees in Dollo Ado with a space for indoor sports and games, the hall is easily the largest in the area.
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Ethiopia: Building mental strength
(Addis Ababa) August 20, 2012 — The importance of building mental strength and learning coping mechanisms during forced displacement was emphasized at a recent Jesuit Refugee Service life skills workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Ethiopia: refugees flee Somalia seeking security
(Dollo Ado, Ethiopia) June 16, 2012 - The Ethiopian Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs told Jesuit Refugee Service recently that the flow of refugees from Somalia into the Dollo Ado area has increased from about 300 a week to 1,000 a week. The refugees said they are given a stark choice in their homeland: give up a son to militants, or pay with livestock or cash for the militants to leave them alone.
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Ethiopia: activities underway to assist Somali refugees
(Dollo Ado, Ethiopia) December 20, 2011 — Jesuit Refugee Service has established a new education and psychosocial project to assist refugees from Somalia in Melkadida Refugee Camp outside Dollo Ado, Ethiopia. The camp currently hosts more than 40,000 Somali refugees.
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JRS to help Somali refugee children
(Nairobi) August 18, 2011 — Jesuit Refugee Service Eastern Africa Regional Director Fr. Frido Pflueger S.J., just returned from a visit to the Dollo Ado refugee camps in southeast Ethiopia. In an interview he describes his impressions of the situation on the ground and explains how JRS plans to help the refugees fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia.
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Ethiopia: meeting emergency needs of refugees
(Washington, D.C.) August 17, 2011 — The Jesuit Refugee Service Emergency Needs Program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, serves the needs of asylum-seekers and refugees from Somalia and elsewhere in Africa who seek to escape famine, war and persecution in their homelands. The program was established in 1997, initially as a parish outreach program, and became the ENP in 2004.
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Accompanying urban refugees in Ethiopia
(Washington, D.C.) July 19, 2011 — JRS operates two programs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The refugee community center — the only one of its kind in the city — offers language courses, library facilities, day-care services, computer classes and psychosocial support. The emergency needs program offers financial support and counseling services.
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