KRISAN REFUGEE CAMP FOUNDATION
DONATIONS:
To donate to the Krisan Refugee Camp Foundation, please use the following link: http://bit.ly/MFAadV
BACKGROUND
The refugees at Krisan Camp got a chance to tell their stories and ask for help from the international community when Myles Kwesi Hutchful (founder of InLight Studio) visited the camp to interview the refugees about the living conditions there.
Below is the official trailer for the documentary which will be released on June 20th, 2013.
THE MISSION OF KRISAN REFUGEE CAMP FOUNDATION
Krisan Refugee Camp Foundation is dedicated to providing food, clean water, nutritional supplements, hygiene products, clothing, medication and medical supplies to the residents of Krisan Refugee Camp. The website for the foundation is http://www.krisanrefugeecampfoundation.org.
KRISAN REFUGEE CAMP
Krisan Refugee Camp is located in the town of Sanzule in the Southwestern Region of Ghana, West Africa. It was established by the United Nations in 1996 as a safe haven for high risk refugees. It is the most diverse refugee camp in the world in terms of countries represented. Krisan Refugee Camp currently has a population of about 1600 to 1700 refugees from the following 12 countries:
Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although well intended, the camp’s isolation in Ghana’s southwestern corner has meant that Krisan Camp’s residents actually receive less attention and reduced access to opportunities for education, income-generating activities and health care than refugees in more populous areas.
CONDITIONS:
The prominent conditions on the camp are hunger, poverty, joblessness, physical and mental illness, marginalization, anxiety, vulnerability, trauma and degradation.
Hunger is the dominating condition at Krisan Refugee Camp as the refugees have limited access to farming or jobs. The UN and World Food Program stopped providing food to the camp in 2008. The refugees have limited access to farming or jobs and therefore are perpetually hungry.
Many of the Camp’s children are malnourished. Teenage girls and women engage in prostitution to feed themselves. A high percentage of the teenage girls are currently pregnant. HIV poses a serious threat at the camp. Many of the refugee boys work as fishermen’s assistants, helping the fishermen pull in nets, in hopes of getting some money or fish for food but they are often disappointed and go home hungry. Often, after a day’s work, the fishermen sometimes refuse to pay them if the day’s haul is too little.
Krisan Refugee Camp has limited electricity. At night, the camp plunges into total darkness. Dwelling and ‘walking in darkness’ is something refugees know all too well. Many refugees walk in darkness to avoid detection when fleeing from their hostile environments and when crossing borders to countries where they might be victimized. At Krisan Camp, they are reminded of this ordeal every night. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) proposed connecting Krisan Camp to Ghana’s electrical grid but postponed proceeding with the project citing a lack of funding to purchase a $10,000 transformer.
BRINGING THEIR STORIES TO LIGHT
In 2005, armed Ghanaian police removed two US Embassy officials from the Krisan Refugee Camp as they attempted to interview refugees about the living conditions there. Hours later, police also removed a Ghanaian Chronicle reporter and two journalists for Human Rights Watch from the camp and detained them at the police headquarters not far from the camp.
The refugees at Krisan Camp finally got a chance to tell their stories and ask for help from the international community when Myles Kwesi Hutchful (founder of InLight Studio) gained access to the camp to interview the refugees about the living conditions there.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
You can make a difference by donating to the Krisan Refugee Camp Foundation.
Your donations will be used to provide food, clean water, nutritional supplements, hygiene products, clothing, medication and medical supplies to the residents of Krisan Refugee Camp.
To donate now to the Krisan Refugee Camp Foundation, please use the following link: http://bit.ly/MFAadV
To learn more about the Krisan Refugee Camp Foundation, please visit http://www.krisanrefugeecampfoundation.org
All Donors will receive a honorable mention on our official website and newsletter, a receipt of their donations for tax purposes and a Thank You card from the Krisan Refugee Camp Foundation.
