News & Media
Education and employment for Ni-Vanuatu
Photo: Glen Pakoa/Oxfam in Vanuatu
The youth population in Vanuatu is booming – and our local partner, Youth Challenge Vanuatu (YCV), specialises in offering these young people employment and enterprise training courses.
Aimed at those without school qualifications, YCV’s courses, which include life skills, internships and counselling, smooth their pathway into employment, enterprise or further study.
Ni-Vanuatu youth have to navigate hard realities – few jobs, a low-wage economy for unskilled jobs, and a high cost of urban living. Limited schooling opportunities mean that most young people don’t finish secondary school – in fact, only 32% even enrol. After leaving school, most have only two options: return to the family farm, or move to urban areas looking for work – areas where 35% of people are unemployed.
These challenges are particularly acute for disadvantaged youth – early school leavers, adolescent mothers and youth with disabilities.
Oxfam works through partnerships with local organisations on the ground, because who knows the community better than the ones living in it?
We’ve partnered with YCV to help them grow and develop their organisation so more young women and men will be able to thrive as employees and entrepreneurs, and engage as active citizens around the issues that are important to them. Most of YCV’s staff have come through the programme themselves, so they know the challenges these young people face – and the life-changing difference YCV’s support can make. Take a look at the stories of some of YCV’s graduates.
Vanuatu’s young people are the country’s biggest resource – with the right opportunities, these young people will be the leaders of Vanuatu’s social and economic development.
Together with YCV, you, and Oxfam, this is what the programme will achieve:
- Over 2000 young women and men develop their knowledge, skills and confidence to pursue their chosen career path.
- More young women and men are in employment, self-employment or further study, and are advocating around youth issues.
- Youth will access innovative, effective courses that give them the skills employers are looking for, as well as complementary services like internships, enterprise incubators, career and enterprise counselling, an electronic resource library, and careers events.
- YCV will develop a new course in social enterprise, giving youth the opportunity to learn the ropes of running a business while keeping the social purpose at the forefront.
- YCV will be a stronger organisation, able to demonstrate the high quality of their services, and with a range of income streams that allow them to continue to serve underprivileged youth.
Want to be a part of supporting awesome programmes like this? The best way to do so is to give a regular gift – long-term programmes rely on long-term support.
Rohingya refugees: Finding hope amongst the hopelessness
Life in the Rohingya Refugee Camps.
The impending monsoon rains are bearing down on the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh and there’s no getting around it – it’s going to be a really tough time.
I’ve just finished three weeks working for Oxfam’s Rohingya crisis response team in Cox’s Bazar and can remember one moment, standing in the pouring rain in the Rohingya refugee ‘mega-camp’. Everywhere I looked, ramshackle shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulins stretched into the distance.
People old and young were trying to find shelter from the downpour, and large puddles were quickly forming across the narrow brick road, with water running down sandy hillside paths.
As I was trying to take photos of a deep tube well Oxfam was drilling to provide clean water, numerous Rohingya refugees offered to take me into their shelters to stay dry, or brought me umbrellas. Such was the kindness of people who had endured unspeakable horrors that forced them from Myanmar into neighbouring Bangladesh.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SrGDqWBDA8″ /]
The camps are experiencing what they call the ‘pre-monsoon rains’ at the moment, where every couple of days a ferocious storm will hit for an hour or so. This rain is nothing like I’m used to.
The falling water has an almost physical quality, beating down on you, and the rain can be so heavy you struggle to see the other side of a road.
Trees are often blown over in the wind, and almost immediately, huge puddles form everywhere, slowing cars and trucks on the sandy, brick roads and draining into refugees’ flimsy shelters.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay6yK3rgjV4″ /]
It’s estimated that more than 600,000 people are living in the Rohingya refugee mega-camp alone – a population almost the size of Wellington, Dunedin and Hamilton combined.
The impact of the full monsoon on this many people in such desperate living conditions is what’s top of mind for aid workers. Yet despite this, I was struck by the way in which Rohingya refugees could find hope in what appeared to be a hopeless situation. They are denied citizenship in their country – they feel they have nowhere they belong and have nowhere to call home right now. No-one knows what their future holds.
They’re awaiting monsoon rains likely to bring floods, landslides and potentially deadly water-borne diseases. The United Nations (UN) estimates up to 200,000 people are living in at-risk areas of the camps.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-j2PmmDt-A” /]
As much as 2.5 metres of rain could fall on the camps over the next three months. But, the refugees I met certainly weren’t hopeless or despairing.
Parents were working hard to strengthen their shelters or volunteering for charities like Oxfam as community health trainers or with the UN as camp labourers helping prepare the camps for the coming heavy rain.
Among them was a young woman I met called Ayesha*, who was 18 years old. She fled to Bangladesh with her mother and three siblings after their father was killed in the violence in Myanmar.
It took them nearly 5 days to get to Bangladesh by boat and foot; others weren’t so lucky and drowned when their boats sank.
Life is tough in the camps without a father or husband – women can get missed or sidelined at aid distributions, and culturally, young women are not supposed to go out alone.
But none of this had dampened Ayesha’s spirit. She put up her hand to volunteer and now runs community health training sessions with her neighbours and other women.
She told me, “Now I work as an Oxfam volunteer, I teach people how to maintain good hygiene and I tell people what to do to have a good life. I feel good about it”.
As for the children, they played football wherever they could find space, and ran through the camps in happy bunches and practised English with aid workers – “goodbye, how are you, I am fine.”
*name changed to protect identity
Written by Dylan Quinnell, Senior Media Coordinator at Oxfam Australia.
After the earthquake: Nepal three years on
Three years on, we’re excited to introduce you to three women who were empowered by your support.
In April 2015, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Nepal, killing over 9,000 people and destroying or damaging over 850,000 homes. Three years on, we’re excited to introduce you to three women, Muna, Tirsana and Til, from Sindhupalchowk, Nepal, who were empowered by your support following that devastating day.
Meet Muna
“I cannot even imagine myself being able to live here if the tap hadn’t been rehabilitated. Life would have been really hard… You supported us when we were in such a dire situation. You helped us and I would like to thank you for that.”
Muna Tamang Giri and her children. Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Oxfam AUS
Muna is one of almost half a million people that Oxfam reached during the year following the earthquake in Nepal three years ago.
She was nine months pregnant when the earthquake struck, and was in hospital giving birth when the second big quake shook the country.
Before, Muna used to have to spend five hours a day collecting water from the nearest source. But after the earthquake, even that dried up.
“Finding water was really difficult. We had to go downhill to get water. If we could fill our pot as soon as reaching there, then we could be back home in 40 to 45 minutes. But if we had to wait in the queue, then it would take one to one-and-a-half hours to get back.
“Altogether we had to make four to five trips a day.”
Because of the donations from Kiwis and others around the world, we were able to rehabilitate a water supply system near Muna’s home.
Muna tending to her garden near her home in Sindhupalchowk, Nepal. Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Oxfam AUS
“From the time of the earthquake until this tap was installed, it was really difficult to find water.
“Now, that time is saved. We don’t need to make those trips. Moreover, we can grow our own vegetables. Because of the clean water, I think my son will not get waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, pneumonia or others.”
Meet Tirsana
“All the water was muddy after the earthquake. It was dirty. Due to constant quakes, the earth was shaking and all the water was muddy and dirty.”
Tirsana and her son Aman. Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Oxfam AUS
Tirsana was making four two-hour trips each day to fetch water before the earthquake, but thanks to Oxfam supporters, all of this has changed and she now has an extra eight hours a day to spend with her children.
“After the earthquake, Oxfam constructed this new water supply system and tank, which is nearby. I don’t have to spend time on collecting water. I can spend more time with my children, look after them, send them to school on time. I can keep my children clean.
“We have a water source so near… I don’t need to stand in a queue for water. Water comes to our house.
“Thank you for giving us water.”
Meet Til
“From that far away, although they did not see with their eyes, they saw with their hearts and sent support.”
Til collecting water from the new tap by her home. Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Oxfam AUS
The water source in Til’s village in Sindhupalchowk, Nepal, was left completely damaged after the earthquake.
“Water was scarce. Water would be collected the whole night in a tank and would be opened through a tap in the morning and then closed again after everyone filled their pots. That’s how we were managing.
“Oxfam came and provided some support. Oxfam gave us materials and then we could bring the tap nearby – after that it has become comfortable and it is good.
“If it was not fixed we would have faced a hard time. We would not have had enough water. Having this is like a godsend for us women.”
Til really enjoyed Oxfam’s visit, and loved the opportunity to be part of such an incredible story of success!
“Earlier, having my photo taken and being filmed, it was like a film on TV. You should have seen! I carried water, put a pot on the stove, made a fire and what not. We all laughed. At 60 I became the heroine of a movie.”
What we’ve achieved, thanks to our supporters, since the earthquake in Nepal is something we can be proud of – but there is still much more work to do. Many more people across the country are still without access to safe water, like Hira, who makes seven or eight 30 minute trips to get water each day, carrying 40 to 50 litres each time. “The water is very cold, and my back and whole body are in so much pain from carrying it back in the night. It makes me feel really sick.” To support people around the world like Hira, please think about making a donation today.
The earthquake in April 2015 – centred between two major cities, Kathmandu and Pokhara – left nearly 9,000 people dead and destroyed or damaged more than 850,000 homes.
Many of the affected people have received some support from the Government of Nepal and aid organisations, but others are still waiting for assistance. The government’s response has been beset by delays, and for the past several months the country has been in the grip of a fuel crisis.
As well as destroying and damaging homes, the earthquake also severely impacted employment. Many are still struggling to find work, while those who do often report that their incomes are below pre-earthquake levels.
Women, children, the elderly, ethnic minorities, those disadvantaged by the caste system and people living with disabilities have all been disproportionately affected by the earthquake and its aftermath. The problem of landlessness, widespread before the quake, has also worsened.
Oxfam was one of the international non-government organisations in Nepal to immediately respond to the 25 April earthquake. It has been working in seven of the 14 most affected districts: Gorkha, Nuwakot, Dhading, Sindhupalchowk, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. In the first three months, or the emergency period, we provided emergency food, water, shelter, latrines and awareness surrounding hygiene and sanitation to more than 400,000 people across these districts.
In the early recovery phase, Oxfam worked to prioritise providing improved temporary shelters, winterisation kits, income-generating opportunities for skilled and unskilled labour, and sustainable livelihoods support.
Kiwis to eat the same rations as Syrian refugees for a week
This week marks the launch of the Ration Challenge, a fundraising initiative which will see thousands of Kiwis eat a refugee’s rations for one week to raise money and awareness for Syrian refugees living in Jordan.
Ration Challenge asks Kiwis to eat the exact same rations as Syrian refugees receive for one week – just a small amount of rice, beans, lentils, fish, oil and flour.
The challenge aims to give New Zealanders a small taste of what refugees go through, while also raising money to support them.
An estimated 2,000 New Zealanders will take on the Ration Challenge this year which coincides with World Refugee Week (June 17 – June 24, 2017).
The idea for the Ration Challenge first emerged in December 2013, when Ration Challenge co-founders, Karen McGrath and Ben Littlejohn, visited Burmese refugee camps and witnessed first-hand the lack of food available for the refugees.
“I felt sick to the stomach at even the thought of living off such a small amount of food day in, day out, and it got me thinking what it would really be like to live on those rations,” said McGrath.
In 2018 the Ration Challenge has partnered with Oxfam New Zealand. Oxfam’s Executive Director Rachael Le Mesurier is excited to lead the launch of the initiative in New Zealand and give Kiwis a powerful way to show solidarity with refugees.
“The challenge is a practical, empowering and meaningful way Kiwis can raise money for Syrian refugees living in Jordan and in other parts of the world,” she says.
“The funds raised from the challenge will support Syrian refugees in Jordan by providing them with the food, medicine and psychosocial support they urgently need to survive, and will also help improve the lives of people living in poverty around the world.
“The Ration Challenge is more than just fundraising for much needed support for refugees. It’s an opportunity for us as Kiwis to show people living as refugees anywhere in the world that we stand together, and that we want to understand just a little of what they go through.
“It’s an important conversation starter – the challenge makes you want to talk to family and friends about it and take action to contribute to a more compassionate and just world,” said Le Mesurier.
The Ration Challenge has become a movement for change since 100 people first set out to live on the rations and raised $60,000. Internationally, tens of thousands of people have signed up to take part and together they’ve raised nearly $6 million dollars for Syrian refugees living in Jordan and other vulnerable communities around the world. Oxfam is excited to launch the Ration Challenge in New Zealand this year.
Registrants will begin receiving their ration packs containing all their rations over the coming weeks and will fundraise in the lead up to and throughout the official Ration Challenge week. Register for the challenge at www.rationchallenge.org.nz.
Women helping women survive and thrive in Bangladesh refugee camps
Blog written by AJM Zobaidur Rahman, Campaigns and Communications Officer, Oxfam in Bangladesh.
Photo: Maruf Hasan/Oxfam
Women helping women survive and thrive.
Rajiah, 46, fled violence near her home in Myanmar six months ago with her 15-year-old daughter. She is now living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
Rajiah is one of close to a million Rohingya people who have fled violence in Myanmar to seek refuge across the border in Bangladesh. This unprecedented number of refugees, of whom more than half are children, has caused a large-scale humanitarian crisis.
Rajiah has been surrounded by women throughout her life as the eldest of 10 sisters. She herself has five daughters, two of which are also in camps living as refugees in Bangladesh with their husbands, while the other two remain in Myanmar. Tragically, Rajiah’s husband disappeared when the violence broke out in Myanmar and Rajiah has no way of knowing where he is. Like so many women in the camp, Rajiah must head up her household alone.
Oxfam has come to know Rajiah as a leader when she was unanimously selected to represent her community during an Oxfam assessment of what their most pressing needs were. Rajiah is well educated and has been working with and for her community throughout her life. She told us that she delivered some 10,000 babies as a midwife in Myanmar.
Now, as a refugee in Bangladesh, she is making sure she puts her experience to good use and supports and provides information to the pregnant women in her community. Her name means “hope” – a true reflection of her personality and life’s work.
Rajiah brings leadership to Cox’s Bazar
Rajiah was born in a relatively affluent family in Myanmar. Education was an important part of her childhood, and her family made sure all the girls had eight years of schooling. Rajiah speaks particularly highly of her father, who she says was the greatest influence in her life.
Rajiah honed her leadership skills from a young age, starting at school as a class leader. Later, organisations who were working in her community, including the UN, selected Rajiah as one of their volunteers. She continued working as a health worker and played a major role in the vaccination process in her area, helping to prevent children dying needlessly from preventable illnesses.
Rajiah is outspoken and confident, a full believer in women’s roles outside the household. That way, she says, women can get knowledge and they can advance – and then other women can also come forward simply by seeing these role models. She is very keen on working and further helping her community, especially the women in her community.
Rajiah shares health information with a pregnant woman in her home in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Maruf Hasan/Oxfam
Oxfam is there
Oxfam is planning to organise women’s groups in the camps and Rajiah is the ideal person to lead this process in her community. With her leadership skills, kind and warm personality, she will undoubtedly make great progress with the women in the community.
Oxfam is also currently focusing on providing water and sanitation and adapting to better deal with the crowded conditions and sheer numbers of people. We are drilling wells and installing water points, toilets and showers.
We’re also helping people stay healthy and hygienic by distributing soap and other essentials and working with community-based volunteers to emphasise the importance of clean water and good hygiene, especially as monsoon season approaches.
Your support has been vital in this effort – thank you.
Rajiah on her rounds, walking through the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Maruf Hasan/Oxfam
