All of our team has taking turns working on “shelter.” The population of camp is in constant flux. It would be a much easier matter if all the refugees were from the same place and spoke the same language, but instead you have new arrivals showing up daily who may not mix well with the current population. So it is a constant shuffling puzzle.
There is also a “blue zone” for single women and families and a “red zone” where single men live. There is also another area of the “red zone” that is specifically for Afghan families (the largest ethnic group in camp). No single women are allowed in the red zone, and EuroRelief women are not allowed to enter the red zone alone.
The job that Melanie and I had yesterday was to try to get Afghan families in the blue zone to switch to the Afghan family area of the red zone to make room for single women new arrivals to move into the blue zone. Here we are showing different units to a blue zone family. It was like being real estate agents. We pointed out which units were cleanest, closest to facilities, etc, and let this lady decide which one she liked best. She was willing to move, and we were excited because the move would have made room for 8 new arrivals. But her husband overruled her. They like their current spot.
When the Afghan relocation plan didn’t work, we went unit by unit through the blue zone begging single women to accept more single women into their tent. Nobody wanted to take the women from Ethiopia. When we finally got some to agree, it turns out the paperwork was wrong and the girls were from Eritrea. Nobody was happy. Sigh.
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| Many folks are quite resourceful. Here someone has made a drying rack from an old bed frame. |
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| These are the units made from IKEA. I did the English unit conversion, and they are 188 sq. Ft and 6 ft tall on the sides. |
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| The cats do not care what nationality you are. |
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