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Wednesday 20 August 2008

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Hear our Voices

A forum for people whose voices are often not heard, whose lives have been affected by catastrophe, be it natural or manmade. Many have been abused and denied their universal human rights; others have seen their livelihoods washed away by floods or lost to drought. Their personal accounts are a testimony to their struggle and their hope for a better future. Stories from aid workers offer a glimpse into the relationships between victims of humanitarian crises and the people who help them.

IRIN welcomes editorial and photographic submissions for inclusion on this page, reserving the right to select and edit as appropriate.

Africa

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Séraphine Ngendakumana - "I have never been home, I know nobody"
		Having lived most of her life outside Burundi, Séraphine Ngendakumana, 36, returned in November 2006 but has remained in a transit site at Gitara in the southern province of Makamba since then. Like thousands of other returnees, Ngendakumana is awaiting resettlement. She knows her province of origin but has never been to the village where she was born. full testimony
Boubacar Seidi, Guinea-Bissau, “People tell us we must become less reliant on rice”
		Boubacar Seidi is a rice-farmer in Contuboel, Bafata Region, 80km east of Bissau. He is participating in the World Food Programme’s (WFP’s) food-for-work scheme through which villagers are encouraged to diversify their crops in exchange for food given during the growing season. The programme covers 29 villages in the Contuboel and Sonaco zones. full testimony
Abdoulaye: "I only spent three weeks there before they sent me home again...but I'm going back"
		Abdoulaye (not his real name), 27, tried to illegally migrate from Mali to Spain a few months ago, but he was intercepted by the Spanish authorities in northern Morocco and sent home. Since then he has been living in Gao, the last big town in Mali before the Sahara crossing, trying to scrape together enough money to try again. full testimony

Asia	[ more testimonies »]

May Thet, Myanmar, “I feel like crying when I see my friends going to school”
		Three months after Cyclone Nargis struck, most of the estimated 2.4 million storm-affected people are still struggling to rebuild their lives. May Thet, a teenage girl, has become the chief family breadwinner, collecting empty water bottles to sell in Mawlamyinekyun, one of the hardest-hit areas. full testimony
Soe Soe, Myanmar: "Life is totally bleak"
		That night I went into labour in a small bamboo, thatched house on the banks of the Pyapon River to deliver my first child. But as the wind roared, my husband and I struggled outside only to see our home destroyed right before our very eyes. full testimony
Nurse Moe Moe, Myanmar: "I want to do my bit"
		Over two months after Cyclone Nargis hit the country, leaving nearly 140,000 dead or missing and 2.4 million badly affected, thousands of people throughout the Ayeyarwady Delta are struggling to restart their lives. On the front-line of the relief effort, Moe Moe, 27, one of scores of government nurses working in the area, told IRIN in the tiny village of Thaman Chaung in Bogale Township what she was doing to serve her community. full testimony

Middle East

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Ibrahim Sayyid, Syria: “You have to study hard to escape life in a tent”
		When my father began to receive death threats from a Shia militia, we decided that living in the desert was safer than being Palestinian in Baghdad. He bought a tent and we left along with my four siblings in the summer of 2006." full testimony
Abed Akkawi, Lebanon: "I couldn’t pay the full bill so they wouldn’t let my wife leave the hospital"
		Eventually I told the [hospital] authorities I had divorced my wife because I knew that was the only way they would stop coming after me. The hospital let Wafa go and she moved back to Syria and divorced me." full testimony
Ahmed Hassan, Lebanon: "It felt like a kind of resistance to celebrate and dance despite everything"
		When we celebrated our engagement during the 2006 July War, the Israelis bombed Abdeh, on the edge of Nahr al-Bared and we ended up in the shelters. Then the fighting delayed our wedding. full testimony

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