'Operation Empower' Reveals Plans for Activity Center

New Libya Foundation, Canadian Libyan Council and Al Sanad team up to give youth and women near the border a fully functional activity center

More info to follow soon.

Remada Camp May 26 Photos

We visited Remada again yesterday and this time we thought we would provide the children with some oral hygiene kits. More photos after the jump

Photos

The Situation in Numbers

45,000.....# of Libyan Refugees in Tunisia

5.5..........% of the Refugees Staying in Camps

600......... # (estimated) of Libyan Families living in Tunis the Capital

+300,000.....# (estimated) of Libyans dislocated since February

2000.....# of Libyans Hospitalized in Tunisia

Update: Remada morale high amid border tensions

Nizar and his friend Ahmed pose with 'victory' signs
 in the Remada Camp

Remada,Tunisia

As we enter the dry dusty Remada Camp, we are immediately greeted by a pack of libyan boys we met last time around. Today they are all full of smiles and energy, many of them carry notebooks or toys that were recently handed out, and are excited to tell us all about them.

Yusuf emerges from the school-tent with his notebook and charges towards me with his hand out; safe to say he remembers me. The 9 year old boy from Zintan, Libya tells me about life in the camp and expresses his desire for more toys and especially another soccer ball since the first one deflated. I ask him about his meals and if he is getting enough water and he gives me a thumbs up replying "meeya, meeya" translating to "100,100" a libyan way of saying things are great.

Remada is indeed improving steadily, and it is in the most part due to the cooperation of many organizations focusing their efforts more on this camp in recent weeks. The food and water issues have been resolved, the toilets have increased in number although quality is still in question, but their still remains a gap in information extrapolated from the women in the camp. We were adamant in filling this gap as best we could; working with Al Sanad (Social and Cultural Support Society) we managed to bring a bus load of 45 Tunisian and 5 Libyan women volunteers to the camp to help us. Among these women were a few general practitioners, gynecologists, and nurses that were more than willing to commit to a long term volunteer schedule. These volunteers aided in assessing the needs of Libyan women in the camp and even brought clothes and medicine that were in demand by families at the camp.

As far as camp equipment and maintenance goes, we are in the process of purchasing fridges to keep water and food cool in storage and also attempting to tackle the sanitation problem with easy to access garbage bins and more cleaning products. In an attempt to keep the kids busy when they're not in school, we plan to install a playground by the end of this week that provides a safe alternative to running around the dangerous tent-poles in the campground.

The Qatar funded camp in Tataouine is expected to open in a matter of days, and the goal is to have most of the families in Remada relocate to this camp. It has high roof strong structured tents, water supply, higher quality toiles, a pre-installed playground and a lot more free space to develop.


For More Photos of the Remada Camp Click Here

TheRecord - Libyan refugees in Tunisia get a local helping hand

After leaving the comforts of Waterloo Region, Sohyb Basir now finds himself in the heat of Tunisia’s desert, doing anything he can to help.

The 21-year-old last week headed for the Libya-Tunisia border to assist refugees who fled the fighting in Libya, and now live in camps near the border.

Travelling with his brother-in-law, Basir made his way through Tunisia on the weekend, visiting four refugee camps. “It’s overwhelming,” the University of Waterloo graduate said in an interview via Skype on Monday.

“At the beginning we just sat down and looked at each other and said, ‘Wow, this is completely over our heads compared to what we expected.’”

The camps are made up of rows of tents housing hundreds of families who fled with few belongings, and far less cash.

While most camps are functioning well — with proper meals, and even activities for children — one in Remada had only small, flimsy tents and a shortage of bathrooms.

Basir said there is a lot of pride in the culture of the Libyan families living in these overheated tents, and many of the older men he spoke to at Remada wouldn’t open up. “They’re almost too ashamed to come out of their tent to greet me because they don’t want to show that they’re living in such terrible conditions.”

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Photos: Tunisian Border Refugee Camps

Refugee Camps Improving, Remada Still a Concern

Upon arriving in the Dehiba Region of Tunisia, your automatically blown away by the change of climate to a dry scorching heat wave. The road to Dehiba from our hotel in Zarzis is desolate and every twenty kilometer stretch is met with a checkpoint patrol, but making it to Dehiba was no where near as stressful as the reality that hits you as you enter the camps.

The first camp I visited with my fellow volunteers was the UAE managed Dehiba Camp. The guards at the gate check our passports and as soon as green passport is flashed, talks of politics and our perspectives on the revolution going on in Libya are immediately brought up. We explain that politics is not the nature of our visit and emphasize that our arrival is purely for the sake of humanitarian needs of our country's people.

The lot in front of the camp is filled with cars and trucks parked there for weeks now as the families are settled in large sturdy tents. The first row of tents houses the older men who, at the moment of our arrival, were out on mattresses under the shade of their tent-flaps. They greet us with smiles and a slight sense of curiosity that gives you the impression they have come to expect all sorts of visitors with different intentions. We sit with them and converse about things such as the food they have been served and the services provided. On the most part they expressed no real concerns and seemed content with the on-going support of the UAE group. Children are seen playing near the tent-site and smile as we pass by, for them, the realities either havent sunk in or they're simply far too young to understand.

We travel another 50 km to a small town named Remada. Here we find a camp organized by a Tunisian group named Attaouin working alongside the UNHCR and Islamic Relief. Although it represents a culmination of efforts, this camp unfortunately requires the most immediate attention. Tents are ragged and flimsy, the toilets are scarce and of low quality, and the children are present in high numbers. A large tent contains stacks of water bottles and supplies, but it remains open to the heat and the water is left to boil.

It's not all bad news however, Islamic Relief has managed to pitch up a few educational activity tents for the children and this has done much in relieving the stress bared by the parents. Attaouin have enough tents to accomodate many more refugees but there remains a gap in information that we could not extract from individuals living in the tents; mainly women refugees. We hope that in the next few days we can work with local groups in getting right into the tents and get some clues as to whether stories of rape and kidnapping are more than just rumours. With this information we can move forward in providing sufficient therapy and medical assistance as a part of our relief work.


Tomorrow we will be visiting some hospitals and homes said to housing more Libyan families in Djerba and Susah. More to follow soon.