Changes: Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp

Revision as of 22:31, 9 September 2014

Last edited: 31 August 2009

In June 2008, work began spreading solar cooking to the Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp in Chad. Oure Cassoni houses 28,123 refugees. A manufacturing plant was built in the summer of 2008. As of July 2009 about 8,000 solar cookers are in use. A group of refugee women have been trained by the project to manufacture the cookers and twenty-five auxiliary trainers have taught the women to solar cook at a rate of 800 women per month. The women in the camp are completely trained and solar cooking as of July 2009.

In early 2005, solar cooking was introduced to Darfur refugees living in the Iridimi Refugee Camp in Chad by Dr. Derk Rijks of the KoZon Foundation. Jewish World Watch’s Solar Cooker Project (SCP) adopted this endeavor in 2006 and has expanded it to provide solar cookers and training to three refugee camps so far.

Replacement cookers are provided for the families, which are made up of 5-7 people per tent, often one woman as the head of household, with up to three of her own children and three orphans.

The area is devoid of vegetation; there is abundant sun and very little rainfall—between 3” and 5” (7.5 - 12.5 cm) yearly. The main food currently distributed is maize meal, a food the refugees commonly eat. It is sometimes accompanied by a maize-soya-meal mixture, if available. The pulse plants most frequently distributed are yellow and red lentils, white and red beans, and sometimes pigeon peas.

It requires cooking for about three hours, depending on the clarity of the sky. The heat from solar cookers is slow and gentle, so while the food stays longer in the pot, it doesn’t stick to the walls or need to be regularly stirred, which is an advantage over the potential to burn food with fire. Women can do other things while the food is cooking, without worrying about stirring. Additionally, there isn’t the lingering smell of smoke as there is with a fire—like women everywhere, these refugee women are conscious about their appearance, even in these very difficult conditions. Solar cookers are also able to be used to pasteurize drinking water, reducing incidence of water-borne diseases especially in children.

The SCP’s partners include Solar Cookers International, which provides technical assistance, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which manages the camps and coordinates NGO activities, and Tchad Solaire (“Chad Sun”), the NGO that runs the SCP on the ground in Chad.

Organizations providing financial support for this project have included: Netherlands Refugee Foundation, Jewish World Watch, as the North American Coordinator of the Project, the Darfur Assistance Project, the Dora Levit Family Fund, and the Hesed Fund. Logistical and communications support from the UNHCR and CARE is invaluable in continuing project operations.

Jewish World Watch is handling donations for this project and your support is needed!

News and recent developments

August 2009: New Jersery Coalition Responds to the Crisis in Darfur is a group which is currently raising money to provide a solar cooker to each family in the Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp. It has been demonstrated that once the need for women to leave refugee camps is reduced, the amount of violence committed against women and girls falls by over 80%. For more information about this project, click here.

The Benefits of Solar Cooking

Solar cooking helps reduce the need for frequent firewood collection outside the relative safety of the camp, reducing the risk of violence towards women and girls.
Two solar cookers can save one ton of wood each year.
There is no need to tend a fire so women are free to do other tasks while food is cooking.
The production of the solar cookers provides income-generating opportunities for female refugees.
Solar cooking, as part of an integrated cooking method, reduces the amount of wood necessary for cooking, helping to alleviate tensions between the refugees and locals, whose already slim wood supply was suddenly impacted by thousands of refugees.

What You Can Do

Help provide more refugee camps with solar cookers by raising AWARENESS and raising FUNDS. Make a donation. Just $30 supports one family by providing two solar cookers, training and two pot holders.

External Links

http://www.jewishworldwatch.org/refugeerelief/solarcookerproject.html
Spring 2008: The Women of Iridimi - A film by Barbara Grover

Contact

See Jewish World Watch.Jewish World Watch

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+{{GoogleTranslateLinks}}
-== About the Solar Cooker Project ==
-Jewish World Watch (JWW) works to fulfill the post-Holocaust oath of “Never Again” to combat genocide and other dire violations of human rights internationally – the current genocide in Darfur being one of the most pressing issues. JWW mobilizes the community through three modes of action: education, advocacy, and refugee relief. The Solar Cooker Project is part of JWW’s refugee relief arm—immediate support to the people affected by such atrocities, in this case women and girls.
+{{Updated|8|31|09}}
-JWW’s Solar Cooker Project (SCP) is committed to protecting refugee women and girls from rape and other egregious forms of violence. Women and girls who have fled the genocide in Darfur, Sudan are particularly vulnerable while performing the critical task of collecting firewood for cooking. The SCP’s mission is to reduce the frequency of these heinous crimes by providing women from refugee camps with an alternative cooking option: the solar cooker. Solar cookers, which don't require firewood, enable women to remain within the relative safety of the camp.
+In June 2008, work began spreading solar cooking to the '''Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp''' in [[Chad]]. Oure Cassoni houses 28,123 refugees. A manufacturing plant was built in the summer of 2008. As of July 2009 about 8,000 solar cookers are in use. A group of refugee women have been trained by the project to manufacture the cookers and twenty-five auxiliary trainers have taught the women to solar cook at a rate of 800 women per month. The women in the camp are completely trained and solar cooking as of July 2009.
+In early 2005, solar cooking was introduced to Darfur refugees living in the [[Iridimi Refugee Camp]] in Chad by Dr. [[Derk Rijks]] of the [[KoZon Foundation]]. [[Jewish World Watch]]’s Solar Cooker Project (SCP) adopted this endeavor in 2006 and has expanded it to provide solar cookers and training to three refugee camps so far.
-The vision of the JWW Solar Cooker Project is to create measurable impacts in the refugee camps that are in line with the United Nations Millennium Goals developed in 2000. Specifically:
+Replacement cookers are provided for the families, which are made up of 5-7 people per tent, often one woman as the head of household, with up to three of her own children and three orphans.
+The area is devoid of vegetation; there is abundant sun and very little rainfall—between 3” and 5” (7.5 - 12.5 cm) yearly. The main food currently distributed is [[Hard porridge|maize meal]], a food the refugees commonly eat. It is sometimes accompanied by a maize-soya-meal mixture, if available. The pulse plants most frequently distributed are yellow and red lentils, white and red beans, and sometimes pigeon peas.
-*Dimiish the vulnerability of women to sexual violence and provide them with greater personal security.
-*Create an environmentally sustainable solution by using the renewable energy of  the sun and drastically reducing the reliance on firewood.
-*Contribute to a global partnership for development by training and employing refugees in the assembly and repair of solar cookers, which provides them with decent work.
-== Specifics About the Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp ==
-As of June 2008, work has begun spreading solar cooking to the Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp in Chad. Oure Cassoni houses 28,123 refugees and is the newest camp to be adopted by the Solar Cooker Project. A manufacturing plant was built in the summer of 2008. Currently about 8,000 solar cookers are in use.  A group of refugee women have been trained by the project to manufacture the cookers and twenty-five auxiliary trainers have taught the women to solar cook at a rate of 800 women per month. The women in the camp are completely trained and solar cooking as of July 2009.
-In early 2005, solar cooking was introduced to Darfur refugees living in the Iridimi Refugee Camp in Chad by Dr. Derk Rijks of the KoZon Foundation. Jewish World Watch’s Solar Cooker Project adopted this endeavor in 2006 and has expanded it to provide solar cookers and training to three refugee camps so far.
-Replacement cookers are provided for the families, which are made up of 5-7 people per tent, often one woman as the head of household, with up to three of her own children and three orphans.
-The area is devoid of vegetation; there is abundant sun and very little rainfall—between 3” and 5” (7.5 - 12.5 cm) yearly. The main food currently distributed in Iridimi is maize meal, a food the refugees commonly eat. It is sometimes accompanied by a maize-soya-meal mixture, if available. The pulse plants most frequently distributed are yellow and red lentils, white and red beans, and sometimes pigeon peas.
 It requires cooking for about three hours, depending on the clarity of the sky. The heat from solar cookers is slow and gentle, so while the food stays longer in the pot, it doesn’t stick to the walls or need to be regularly stirred, which is an advantage over the potential to burn food with fire. Women can do other things while the food is cooking, without worrying about stirring. Additionally, there isn’t the lingering smell of smoke as there is with a fire—like women everywhere, these refugee women are conscious about their appearance, even in these very difficult conditions. Solar cookers are also able to be used to pasteurize drinking water, reducing incidence of water-borne diseases especially in children.
+The SCP’s partners include [[Solar Cookers International]], which provides technical assistance, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which manages the camps and coordinates NGO activities, and Tchad Solaire (“Chad Sun”), the NGO that runs the SCP on the ground in Chad.
+Organizations providing financial support for this project have included: [[Netherlands Refugee Foundation]], Jewish World Watch, as the North American Coordinator of the Project, the Darfur Assistance Project, the Dora Levit Family Fund, and the Hesed Fund. Logistical and communications support from the UNHCR and CARE is invaluable in continuing project operations.
+Jewish World Watch is handling donations for this project and [http://www.jewishworldwatch.org/donate/solarcookerproject.html your support is needed]!
-, and Tchad Solaire (“Chad Sun”), the NGO that runs the SCP on the ground in Chad.
-Organizations providing financial support for this project have included: Netherlands Refugee Foundation, Jewish World Watch, as the North American Coordinator of the Project, the Darfur Assistance Project, the Dora Levit Family Fund, and the Hesed Fund. Logistical and communications support from the UNHCR and CARE is invaluable in continuing project operations.
-Jewish World Watch is handling donations for this project and your support is needed!
-== The Benefits of Solar Cooking ==
+==News and recent developments==
+*'''August 2009:''' New Jersery Coalition Responds to the Crisis in Darfur is a group which is currently raising money to provide a solar cooker to each family in the Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp. It has been demonstrated that once the need for women to leave refugee camps is reduced, the amount of violence committed against women and girls falls by over 80%. For more information about this project, click [http://www.njdarfur.org/ here].
+==The Benefits of Solar Cooking==
 *Solar cooking helps reduce the need for frequent firewood collection outside the relative safety of the camp, reducing the risk of violence towards women and girls.
@@ Line 41: / Line 29: @@
 *Solar cooking, as part of an integrated cooking method, reduces the amount of wood necessary for cooking, helping to alleviate tensions between the refugees and locals, whose already slim wood supply was suddenly impacted by thousands of refugees.
-== What You Can Do ==
+==What You Can Do==
+Help provide more refugee camps with solar cookers by raising AWARENESS and raising FUNDS. [http://www.jewishworldwatch.org/donate/solarcookerproject.html Make a donation]. Just $30 supports one family by providing two solar cookers, training and two pot holders.
-== Contact ==
-Jewish World Watch
-Ventura Blvd. Suite 206
-Encino, CA 91316
-www.JewishWorldWatch.org
--501-1836
-==News and recent developments==
-*'''June 2009:''' [[Wietske Jongbloed]] reports that all refugee families in the camp will have solar cookers by the end of 2009.
-*'''November 2008:''' [[Rachel Andres]] of [[Jewish World Watch]] reports that, "We have just started manufacturing and training women in our 3rd camp, the Oure Cassoni camp which houses 28,000 refugees." Read the [http://laist.com/2008/11/25/laist_interview_rachel_andres_of_th.php full text of the interview with Rachel Andres].
 ==See also==
 *[[Jewish World Watch]]
+*[[KoZon Foundation]]
+*[[Tchad Solaire]]
 *[[Refugee camps]]
+*[[Iridimi Refugee Camp]]
+*[[Touloum Refugee Camp]]
+*[[Gaga Refugee Camp]]
+*[[Farchana Refugee Camp]]
+*[[Chad]]
+*[http://www.jewishworldwatch.org/refugeerelief/pdfs/JWW_FactSheet_Mar09_lr.pdf Solar Cooker Project Fact Sheet (March 09)]
+==External Links==
+*http://www.jewishworldwatch.org/refugeerelief/solarcookerproject.html
+*'''Spring 2008:''' [http://www.jewishworldwatch.org/refugeerelief/womenofiridimi.html The Women of Iridimi] - ''A film by Barbara Grover''
+==Contact==
-== External Links ==
+{{See|Jewish World Watch}}
 [[Category:Chad]]
+[[Category:Refugee camps]]