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