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AlertNet Newsblogs

Homeless in the mountains of Pakistan
19 Jun 2009 12:39:00 GMT
Author: Mustafa Qadri

The Pakistan Army is in the middle of its largest ever operations against Taliban forces in the troubled region bordering Afghanistan. Up to 2.5 million are believed to have fled the once quiet, scenic mountain ranges. At a camp in Risalpur, 50 miles south of some of the fiercest battle zones in the Swat valley, I talked to schoolgirl Mannu.

Among the bare dwellings of Risalpur's industrial area, buildings donated to the displaced by local businessmen that have been transformed into miniature cities, I met eleven-year-old Mannu, a fearless young student unfazed by the traumas that have, for the time being at least, destroyed her ancient village community.

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Saving the lives of African children by waiving health care payments
19 Jun 2009 11:24:00 GMT
Author: George Fominyen

Child-sensitive social protection is of critical importance in West and Central Africa: it has the highest regional under-five mortality rate in the world at 169 per 1,000 live births and accounts for more than 30 percent of global maternal deaths, according to UNICEF.

A policy brief released this week on the Day of the African Child by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London highlights that financial constraints are a key reason preventing children and women from getting better access to health care in a context of widespread poverty.

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Refugee Day: Putting host communities centre stage
19 Jun 2009 07:12:00 GMT
Author: Joel Charny

In the world of refugees and internally displaced people, host communities tend to be nearly invisible. They are the backdrop to the core drama of refugee protection, part of the scenery. Or perhaps a source of cheap labor for the manual and clerical tasks that undergird camp operations.

On the occasion of World Refugee Day, however, let's attempt to put host communities on center stage where they belong.

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On the run in Kenya: An orphan's story
18 Jun 2009 17:34:00 GMT
Author: World Emergency Relief

"They cut my mother to pieces because of an election."

Winnie Njeri is 13 and comes from Kenya's Rift Valley province. In 2007, after disputed elections, violence erupted across the country leaving an estimated 1,000 dead and 260,000 uprooted. This is Winnie's story:

My name is Winnie and until 2 years ago I had a very good life. I was lucky to be born to a good family. My parents worked hard and were wealthy. I went to the best school in the village, I ate the best food and I had never in my life been hungry. At that time I thought that my life was normal and that it would always be this way.

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Fleeing from genocide in Burundi
18 Jun 2009 15:02:00 GMT
Author: World Emergency Relief

By Ben Carter

In 1994 Nyangoma Esperance and her six children fled their home near the Burundi capital. They feared murder at the hands of their own neighbours. For 15 years she has worked hard to build a new life for her family just 6km away but she still dreams of going back.

Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world with some 80 percent of its population living on less than $1 a day. Like most Burundians, Nyangoma supported her family through farming. She lived with her six children and her father in a place called Gakunrwe, near the capital city, Bujumbura.

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