A couple months ago I blogged about the virtues of "solar cookers" -- devices designed, chiefly for the developing world, to reduce the often-dangerous reliance on ever-dwindling firewood (and reduce carbon emissions a la fois). Now I see that one particularly ingenious cooker, cutely called the "Kyoto Box," has won first prize in a "green" technology contest.
It is made from two cardboard boxes, which use reflective foil and black paint to maximise absorption of solar energy.
Covering the cooking pot with a transparent cover retains heat and water, and temperatures inside the pot can reach at least 80 [Celsius].
Perhaps by next year they'll have come up with an even better "Copenhagen box."
Among the many compounding issues that refugees face one of the most emotionally daunting is losing contact with friends and family members. For decades the Red Cross has been the venue through which family members become reunited. But now, two Danish web entrepreneurs , brothers Christopher and David Mikkelsen, have created an alternate way of putting lost family members in touch with each other. The site is called Refunite. Der Speigel explains:
The Red Cross system, though -- as efficient as it may be -- requires refugees to apply for help from a third party. Requests are sent first to Red Cross headquarters in Geneva from where they are then sent to personnel working in the conflict zone in question. Should Refugees United, as the Mikkelsens call their organization, attract enough members, it could provide the displaced with a new way to search -- one that they control themselves.
SNIP
"It's really just another search engine," Christopher Mikkelsen, 30, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "But the fact that it is specifically intended to help refugees find their families makes it a beacon. It is about helping the refugees and helping those people trying to help refugees."
Great work, Mikkelsens.
Image from flickr: A Kosovo refugee family in Macedonia
George Packer writes in praise of Lori Scialabba, associate director of the Refugee, Asylum, and Operations Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for her tireless advocacy on behalf of Iraq asylum seekers.
Scialabba was hearing from Iraqis on a regular basis. And this is why she deserves some sort of medal: far from discouraging the correspondence, she always wrote back quickly. My friend’s first e-mail has a time stamp of 2:26 P.M. Scialabba’s reply came at 4:52 P.M. on the same day. He thanked her at 8:21 P.M., to which she replied at 8:37 A.M. the next morning. One of her e-mails, to an anxious Iraqi-refugee applicant who was languishing in Jordan, was sent at 10:06 P.M. on a Friday evening. To Iraqis who had grown accustomed to a sluggish and indifferent American bureaucracy after growing up with a sinister Iraqi one, Scialabba’s responsiveness must have seemed angelic. And her alacrity was matched by her efficacy: she always got the case moving, and she persisted until it was resolved.
It's worth noting, though, that there is change coming from the top as well. In his big Iraq speech at Camp Lejeune last week President Obama clearly stated his administration's attentiveness to the needs of Iraq's displaced.
Diplomacy and assistance is also required to help the millions of displaced Iraqis. These men, women and children are a living consequence of this war and a challenge to stability in the region, and they must become a part of Iraq’s reconciliation and recovery. America has a strategic interest – and a moral responsibility – to act. In the coming months, my administration will provide more assistance and take steps to increase international support for countries already hosting refugees; we’ll cooperate with others to resettle Iraqis facing great personal risk; and we will work with the Iraqi government over time to resettle refugees and displaced Iraqis within Iraq – because there are few more powerful indicators of lasting peace than displaced citizens returning home.
That's via Refugees International, which is circulating a petition on behalf of Iraqi refugees.
Our friends at Refugees International are launching a new campaign urge President Obama to do more for Iraqi refugees.
Syria has been the largest receiving country of the estimated 5.5 million Iraqi refugees. It would only seem appropriate that Syria's generosity would be reciprocated with direct engagement with the United States. It's sort of shocking that the United States does not even have an ambassador in Damascus.
Adrianna Logalbo, director of Nothing But Nets writes to us from Dadaab, Kenya, where she is handing out insecticide treated bed nets to Somali refugees. Nothing But Nets and its partner the Union of Reform Judaism raised more than $1.2 million to provide long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to more than 273,000 refugees in four camps in Kenya before the summer’s rainy season. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will distribute the 128,000 nets over the next few weeks. (Readers should check out this post for more on the deadly malari-refugee nexus.) Adrianna has a special message for those who have supported Nothing But Nets, including many Dispatch readers.
Here's Adrianna:
It's been a long, hot, and eye-opening day in Dadaab, Kenya with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). I’m witnessing firsthand the struggles that refugees, UNHCR, and the UN agency’s partners go through each and every day here. Let me set the scene for a moment:
* There are 3 refugee camps in Dadaab: Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley
* Ifo was established in the early 1990s
* Nearly 250,000 refugees are living in these 3 camps – 3 times the capacity
* Each month, another 5,000 Somalians enter the Dadaab camps, but with no more room, they are not given their own living space
It is hot and crowded here, but despite these conditions, Dadaab is recognizably a community. And I had the chance to see this firsthand today as we walked around the Ifo camp with community health workers, distributing nets to women and the most vulnerable. The community health workers know exactly whom to target and spend time at each home not only explaining the importance of using the net, but also going so far as to hanging it up for people. Up until now, community health workers and doctors in Dadaab have had to choose which vulnerable populations should get nets, given limited resources. But thanks to YOU, the health workers and doctors no longer have to make these choices. We have been able to fund full coverage for nets (1 net for every 2 people) in the Dadaab camps, as well as Kakuma, the refugee camp in western Kenya. That's 128,000 bed nets! The nets will go a long way in preventing malaria illness and deaths in these camps. And I can assure you, these refugees are grateful for your support.
From UNHCR's YouTube Page: "UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt visited Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in Mae Hong Son, Thailand, which is home to 18,111 mainly Karenni refugees from Myanmar"
It sort of goes without saying that Angelina Jolie's value as a celebrity-diplomat is her ability to draw attention to the issue she champions. That's the point. But what is sometimes less explored are the trickle-down effects of this kind of attention--effects that are acutely felt by a mid-sized global issues blog like one.
Let me show you what I mean.
By simply writing "Video: Angelina Jolie.." in the title of this post, UN Dispatch will receive a not-insignificant bump in traffic. It happens every time -- and we are grateful for it. Because you, Brangelina fan, are now primed for our own pitch on refugees.
And here it goes.
Most people would be surprised to learn that malaria is the leading cause of death for refugees around the world. Sad, but true. The thing is, malaria is quite easily preventable. One simple, cost effective way to reduce the chances of contracting malaria is by sleeping under an insecticide-treated bed net. In fact, when bed nets are properly used and widely distributed, malaria rates can drop by 90%. (Bill Gates concurs).
The United Nations Foundation, (which sponsors this blog) has an on-going campaign through Nothing But Nets to cover over 600,000 refugees with anti-malaria bed nets. Through Nothing But Nets individuals can donate $10 to send an insecticide-treated bed net to a refugee family.
Until the day that a malaria vaccine becomes widely available, bed nets are one of the best stop-gap measures to control malaria, particularly in refugee situations. So, Jolie-Pitt fans, consider this your invitation to get involved, send a net, and save a life.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) just posted a video of Angelina Jolie visiting Burmese refugees in India. I'm not sure how recent the video is, but traffic always seems to get a bump when we post these videos. I wonder why?
The UN High Commission on Refugees shows us what life is like in the sprawling Somali refugee camps of Kenya. It is a sad site to see. These camps are already bursting at the seems--and with Somalia descending into further crisis UNHCR fears these camps will reach their breaking point.