Refugees - The Other Side of The Coin
When I hear or read the word refugees, my mind transports me to places like Darfur, and I think about human cruelty imposing suffering on other humans.
I also think about people's hospitality of countries that open the doors to accommodate those people that have fled from their native land.
During my professional life, I traveled to several countries affected by political conflicts or terrible living conditions.
I witnessed starvation, epidemics and political displacement of human masses.
I am not sure I understood all the consequences generated by wars and persecutions that led people to find protection.
In some places persecution is only an excuse to justify political power games.
The civil war in Liberia gave me the opportunity to begin understanding the impact that refugees cause in countries and places where they were seeking protection.
I have read about the tragedy of the child soldiers, people abandoning their land or people being murdered, but I never imagined what I experienced in Danané; one of the Ivorian cities that hosted refugees from Liberia.
I was there working at that time.
In 1969 The Ivorian government awarded Santafric, an African-American company a contract to study existing conditions and recommend nationwide environmental solutions.
(1) I traveled for the first time to Ivory Coast as a member of a team of consultants.
The purpose of the project was to study the sanitation conditions of 57 cities in the Interior of the country.
One of the 57 cities included in the study was Danané.
Danané is a small town located in Danané Province, Western Cote d'Ivoire; near the Guinea borders and 16 miles from the Liberian border.
The study estimated that the population of Danané in 1969 was about 8,400.
The city infrastructure and the public services were not capable of servicing the entire population.
The population growth was high and in 1980 when Santafric completed the study, the estimated population was over 12,000.
During that period the city infrastructure and public services hardly improved.
Several Ivoirian cities located on the border with Liberia received refugees from 1988 to 1998; during that period none of those cities were able to host refugees because they were not in a position to share limited hosting resources.
The table included below shows the evolution of the refugee population in Ivory Coast during the Liberian conflict: Historic Evaluation of Refugee Population - Ivory Coast.
Year - Refugees 1989 - 0 1990 - 300,000 1991 - 275,000 1992 - 250,000 1993 - 300,000 1994 - 350,000 1995 - 300,000 1996 - 325,000 1997 - 210,000 1998 - 150,000 ____________ Data - UN Refugee Agency Statistical Year Book 2004 In 1992, I was hired by the USA Peace Corps as an urban infrastructure consultant to investigate areas where Peace Corps volunteers could assist the local authorities.
The project included the study of 10 cities of the Interior of the Ivory Coast.
One of those cities was Danané.
In early September Teresa, a Peace Corps volunteer, and I arrived in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast.
Abidjan was a modern city, with many fashionable stores and restaurants from France.
Abidjan was then known as the "Paris of Africa".
We stayed for one night in Hotel Ivoire, famous for its ice skating ring.
The city had an excellent infrastructure.
The next day we departed to the interior of the country, and we arrived at Danané.
The city was not the small village that I saw in 1969.
I observed that the infrastructure was in poor condition.
My first question was, "What happened here?" Teresa informed me that one of the reasons the city was neglected was because Danané hosted more than 10,000 refugees from Liberia.
Later the Danané city planer informed us that the population of Danané in 1991 was estimated at 25,000 people including the refugees.
With the information I had from my previous study I estimated the population at 15,900 people, with the number of refugees soaring to over 9,000.
It was not difficult to understand what happened in Danané, the city could not sustain the swift increase of the combined populations.
The impacts of the over populated city were in: - Public Services Deterioration - Schools
Both waves of peoples have their impact on the quality of life of people in those countries.
International institutions, like the UN must consider providing financial and technical assistance to those countries where their quality of life has been affected.
(1) Sectorial Study of Sanitation and Drainage for Cities of the Interior of the Ivory Coast 1980.
Santafric - Societe d'Equiment des Terrains Urbains - Cote D'Ivoire.
I also think about people's hospitality of countries that open the doors to accommodate those people that have fled from their native land.
During my professional life, I traveled to several countries affected by political conflicts or terrible living conditions.
I witnessed starvation, epidemics and political displacement of human masses.
I am not sure I understood all the consequences generated by wars and persecutions that led people to find protection.
In some places persecution is only an excuse to justify political power games.
The civil war in Liberia gave me the opportunity to begin understanding the impact that refugees cause in countries and places where they were seeking protection.
I have read about the tragedy of the child soldiers, people abandoning their land or people being murdered, but I never imagined what I experienced in Danané; one of the Ivorian cities that hosted refugees from Liberia.
I was there working at that time.
In 1969 The Ivorian government awarded Santafric, an African-American company a contract to study existing conditions and recommend nationwide environmental solutions.
(1) I traveled for the first time to Ivory Coast as a member of a team of consultants.
The purpose of the project was to study the sanitation conditions of 57 cities in the Interior of the country.
One of the 57 cities included in the study was Danané.
Danané is a small town located in Danané Province, Western Cote d'Ivoire; near the Guinea borders and 16 miles from the Liberian border.
The study estimated that the population of Danané in 1969 was about 8,400.
The city infrastructure and the public services were not capable of servicing the entire population.
The population growth was high and in 1980 when Santafric completed the study, the estimated population was over 12,000.
During that period the city infrastructure and public services hardly improved.
Several Ivoirian cities located on the border with Liberia received refugees from 1988 to 1998; during that period none of those cities were able to host refugees because they were not in a position to share limited hosting resources.
The table included below shows the evolution of the refugee population in Ivory Coast during the Liberian conflict: Historic Evaluation of Refugee Population - Ivory Coast.
Year - Refugees 1989 - 0 1990 - 300,000 1991 - 275,000 1992 - 250,000 1993 - 300,000 1994 - 350,000 1995 - 300,000 1996 - 325,000 1997 - 210,000 1998 - 150,000 ____________ Data - UN Refugee Agency Statistical Year Book 2004 In 1992, I was hired by the USA Peace Corps as an urban infrastructure consultant to investigate areas where Peace Corps volunteers could assist the local authorities.
The project included the study of 10 cities of the Interior of the Ivory Coast.
One of those cities was Danané.
In early September Teresa, a Peace Corps volunteer, and I arrived in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast.
Abidjan was a modern city, with many fashionable stores and restaurants from France.
Abidjan was then known as the "Paris of Africa".
We stayed for one night in Hotel Ivoire, famous for its ice skating ring.
The city had an excellent infrastructure.
The next day we departed to the interior of the country, and we arrived at Danané.
The city was not the small village that I saw in 1969.
I observed that the infrastructure was in poor condition.
My first question was, "What happened here?" Teresa informed me that one of the reasons the city was neglected was because Danané hosted more than 10,000 refugees from Liberia.
Later the Danané city planer informed us that the population of Danané in 1991 was estimated at 25,000 people including the refugees.
With the information I had from my previous study I estimated the population at 15,900 people, with the number of refugees soaring to over 9,000.
It was not difficult to understand what happened in Danané, the city could not sustain the swift increase of the combined populations.
The impacts of the over populated city were in: - Public Services Deterioration - Schools
- limited space
- Insufficient number of bilingual teachers
- Limited financial resources.
- Limited number of medical center
- Limited number of doctor
- Limited financial resources.
- Drainage structures,
- Road conditions,
- Scarcity of potable water,
- Collection and treatment of solid and liquid waste.
- Increase of crime
- Unemployment
- Sicknesses spreading like cholera and AIDS.
- Depression due to desperation
Both waves of peoples have their impact on the quality of life of people in those countries.
International institutions, like the UN must consider providing financial and technical assistance to those countries where their quality of life has been affected.
(1) Sectorial Study of Sanitation and Drainage for Cities of the Interior of the Ivory Coast 1980.
Santafric - Societe d'Equiment des Terrains Urbains - Cote D'Ivoire.
Source...