Somali Protracted Refugee Situation, a retrospective

LWF World Service Ethiopia started responding to the Somali refugee crisis in on Somali Regional State following the large influx into Aw-Barre, Kebribeyah and Sheder refugee camps in 2007. Nine years on, LWF World Service Ethiopia continues to manage the water supply system and provide livelihood opportunities to refugees in Aw-Barre and Sheder camps where refugees are languishing in a protracted refugee situation. With increasing number and more headline-grabbing competing humanitarian crises, Somali refugees are caught up in protracted refugee situations and witnessing decreasing funding, crumbling infrasructure and declining provision of basic services. The inadequate services and facilities are exacerbated by the lack of durable solutions such as local integration, voluntary repatriation and resettlement which remain as elusive as ever. LWF World Service Ethiopia together with the united Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affair (ARRA) and other partners continues to work in both camps ensuring a dignified life in asylum.

17 October 2016

Photos: LWF Ethiopia

Aw-Barre refugee camp, circa 2008

Ibid.

Shelter in Aw-Barre refugee camp

A young Somali woman with her baby in Aw-Barre refugee camp

Traditional water well

LWF World Service Ethiopia-installed shallow well with a hand pump

Women pumping water, now near to their homesteads

A girl pumping water

The ubiquitous yellow 20 lit jerry cans

A time to fetch water but also a time to socialize

Washing a blanket with the feet

Pumping water

A young man pumping water - not a gender-seggregated role at least in this camp

Fecthing water with a smile, no longer a major chore and a long treacherous trek

Drip irigation as part of the livelihood support

Ibid.

Gone harvesting, a Somali man with a sickle on his head

World Service Director Eberhard Hitzler, an the then Resident Representative of LWF World Service Ethiopia John Halvorson and Ato Bodja Program Coordinator visiting with and sharing a laugh with children, Aw-Barre refugee camp.