Krisan Refugee Camp 28 images Created 4 Aug 2015
KRISAN REFUGEE CAMP
Krisan Refugee Camp is located in the town of Sanzule in the Southwestern Region of Ghana, West Africa. It was established by the United Nations in 1996 as a safe haven for high risk refugees. It is the most diverse refugee camp in the world and has refugees from over 13 countries:
Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although well intended, the camp’s isolation in Ghana’s southwestern corner has meant that Krisan Refugee Camp’s residents actually receive less attention and reduced access to education, employment and health care than refugees in more populous areas.
CONDITIONS AT KRISAN REFUGEE CAMP:
The preeminent conditions on the camp are hunger, poverty, joblessness, illness, trauma and marginalization.
Hunger is the dominating condition at Krisan Refugee Camp as the refugees have limited access to farming or jobs. The UN and World Food Program stopped providing food to the camp in 2008. The refugees have limited access to farming or jobs and therefore are perpetually hungry.
Many of the Camp’s children are malnourished. Teenage girls and women engage in prostitution to feed themselves. A high percentage of the teenage girls are currently pregnant. HIV poses a serious threat at the camp. Many of the refugee boys work as fishermen’s assistants, helping the fishermen pull in nets, in hopes of getting some money or fish for food but they are often disappointed and go home hungry. Often, after a day’s work, the fishermen sometimes refuse to pay them if the day’s haul is too little.
Krisan Refugee Camp has limited electricity. At night, the camp plunges into total darkness. Dwelling and ‘walking in darkness’ is something refugees know all too well. Many refugees walk in darkness to avoid detection when fleeing from their hostile environments and when crossing borders to countries where they might be victimized. At Krisan Camp, they are reminded of this ordeal every night. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) proposed connecting Krisan Camp to Ghana’s electrical grid but postponed proceeding with the project citing a lack of funding to purchase a $10,000 transformer.
BRINGING THEIR STORIES TO LIGHT
In 2005, armed Ghanaian police removed two US Embassy officials from the Krisan Refugee Camp as they attempted to interview refugees about the living conditions there. Hours later, police also removed a Ghanaian Chronicle reporter and two journalists for Human Rights Watch from the camp and detained them at the police headquarters not far from the camp.
In 2011 and 2013, Myles Kwesi Hutchful gained access to the camp to interview the refugees about the living conditions there.
*Commissioned by the United Nations Refugee Agency (also known as UNHCR)
Krisan Refugee Camp is located in the town of Sanzule in the Southwestern Region of Ghana, West Africa. It was established by the United Nations in 1996 as a safe haven for high risk refugees. It is the most diverse refugee camp in the world and has refugees from over 13 countries:
Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although well intended, the camp’s isolation in Ghana’s southwestern corner has meant that Krisan Refugee Camp’s residents actually receive less attention and reduced access to education, employment and health care than refugees in more populous areas.
CONDITIONS AT KRISAN REFUGEE CAMP:
The preeminent conditions on the camp are hunger, poverty, joblessness, illness, trauma and marginalization.
Hunger is the dominating condition at Krisan Refugee Camp as the refugees have limited access to farming or jobs. The UN and World Food Program stopped providing food to the camp in 2008. The refugees have limited access to farming or jobs and therefore are perpetually hungry.
Many of the Camp’s children are malnourished. Teenage girls and women engage in prostitution to feed themselves. A high percentage of the teenage girls are currently pregnant. HIV poses a serious threat at the camp. Many of the refugee boys work as fishermen’s assistants, helping the fishermen pull in nets, in hopes of getting some money or fish for food but they are often disappointed and go home hungry. Often, after a day’s work, the fishermen sometimes refuse to pay them if the day’s haul is too little.
Krisan Refugee Camp has limited electricity. At night, the camp plunges into total darkness. Dwelling and ‘walking in darkness’ is something refugees know all too well. Many refugees walk in darkness to avoid detection when fleeing from their hostile environments and when crossing borders to countries where they might be victimized. At Krisan Camp, they are reminded of this ordeal every night. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) proposed connecting Krisan Camp to Ghana’s electrical grid but postponed proceeding with the project citing a lack of funding to purchase a $10,000 transformer.
BRINGING THEIR STORIES TO LIGHT
In 2005, armed Ghanaian police removed two US Embassy officials from the Krisan Refugee Camp as they attempted to interview refugees about the living conditions there. Hours later, police also removed a Ghanaian Chronicle reporter and two journalists for Human Rights Watch from the camp and detained them at the police headquarters not far from the camp.
In 2011 and 2013, Myles Kwesi Hutchful gained access to the camp to interview the refugees about the living conditions there.
*Commissioned by the United Nations Refugee Agency (also known as UNHCR)
