Aid organisation builds housing units for African refugees

A new project is to provide 100 temporary shelters for 600 African refugees in Kharaz refugee camp 150km west of the port city of Aden.

[Read this report in Arabic]

The US-funded US$400,000 project is being supervised by CARE International. Construction work began in January 2008 and should end by mid-September.

Gareth Richards, head of Yemen’s CARE office, told IRIN the new complex would provide accommodation for the African refugees now in Kharaz’s so-called bush camp. “They will be able to live in reasonable housing conditions," he said, but he pointed out that only those who have been living in the camp will be relocated to the new houses.

According to Richards, solar power for community use (lighting and ceiling fans) will be installed at the new complex and there will also be a water and sanitation network.

The complex, Richards said, will also have shared garden areas for vegetable plots and facilities for youth activities, sport and education.

In Yemen, only the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is mandated to work with refugees. However, CARE said it had a memorandum of understanding with the UNHCR to implement the accommodation project, which will be managed by UNHCR once it is finished.

In late 2007 the UNHCR office in Aden started building 300 housing units in Kharaz camp, where around 9,000 African refugees, including Somalis, Ethiopians, and Eritreans, live in tents.

Temporary jobs

The CARE project is also helping hundreds of Kharaz camp residents get temporary jobs building the units. Local villagers in Lahj Governorate, including women, will also take part in construction work and the installation of solar panels.

"Refugees and local villagers participating in the construction work will have some training in specialised areas in construction, solar power installation and maintenance. We are working with the camp's management to ensure that refugees who get selected to participate in the construction work are representative of the refugee population in the camp as a whole," Richards said.

CARE started its activities in Yemen in 1992, after the government called on it to respond to the influx of Somalis into the country. Currently, it is implementing eight development projects nationwide.

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