AnAidWorker

Afar diary 2: Hope in the Midst of dust Storm

“How are you?” a sweet voice startled me. No one was more surprised than me to hear a English phrase in around here. I tuned around and looked at the origin of the voice. A Afari young girl was standing behind me with two jerry cans in each hand, smiling ear to ear, waiting for my answer. It took me few seconds to recover and finally I could reply. She walked up to me, put the cans down and introduced...

Afar Diary 1: How to live without running water

It was a long drive from Addis, around 670 kilometres on the pitch-black paved road heading to Djibouti. We stopped for the Night at Logyia, a small town along the road with restaurant, shops, bars and cheap hotels for tiered truckers to spend the night. I checked myself in one of the popular hotel for 30 birr (3 USD) per night. The room was small with a bed, a dim bulb overhead and a fan casting swinging...

More Politics with Somali Refugees

It was last month that the UNHCR announced of the influx of refugees from Somalia to Ethiopia. UMHCR and ARAR estimated almost 10,000 refugees already entered the country and expected to receive 25,000 – 50,000 refugees in next few months. Tens of thousands of refugees are already staying with the host community for past 2 years. It is hard to guess how many new refugees had entered the country...

110,000 displaced living miserably without help in Oromiya

Recent clashes between two Gerri and Borenas of Oromiya has killed at least 300 people and displaced more than 110,000 men women and children from Borena and Moyale zone of the region. Thousand of homes were ruined from both side and at least 15 schools were destroyed. The conflict has caused massive loss of property to an area already devastated by prolonged drought. The conflict erupted in...

Ethiopian government plays Politics with Somali refugee

After the withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces from Somalia, thousands of families are leaving their homeland and coming to Ethiopia with the hope of peace and security. According to The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees more than 10,000 refugees had fled in the past 6 months and thousand are living without any food, shelter or even drinking water. Since the beginning of the year, the influx...

Humanitarian Needs for Millions are Hostage to the whim of Ethiopian Government

I had the opportunity of attending the publication gathering of the Humanitarian requirement for 2009. Like many of my colleagues in humanitarian world thought, as usual, the government has manipulated the report according to its need. I also share their opinion. On January 30, the Ethiopian government, with the presence of representative of NGOs and donor organization publicly announced the findings...

Between death and starvation Eritrean refugees choose starvation

By the road that cut across the mountainous landscape of Eli Dar district of Afar region of Ethiopia, leading to the border to Eritrea, 0nly 30 kilometres from Eritrea and Ethiopia border, at least 500 families have taken refuge for last three months. They have fled form their newly formed country to escape form forced enlistment to army and long lean period of hunger, with the hope of looking for...

The Begining

I am an aid worker. I work for an international aid and development agency. I was visiting drought-affected communities leaving on most inhospitable areas of this world, surrounded by rocks and mountains created by volcanic irruptions thousands or millions of years ago. People on this arid land are nomadic, seasonally travelling long distance in search of water and pasture for themselves and their...

This is a test

This is a test of the emergency aid system. If this were and actual emergency you would not be getting any aid.