By United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) | sportsanddev.com | Brussels – The Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) 19 May highlighted how sport can… Read More »Olympic Refuge Foundation: Sport can offer hope to displaced communities during the COVID-19 pandemic
After leaving Venezuela and living for a year in Boa Vista, Brazil, Venezuelan refugee Ricardo José Blanco Rojas, 49 years old, is beginning a new chapter of his life in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, where he and his family have lived since February.
The Rojas family moved to the city of Seara thanks to “Welcomed Through Work,” a project funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and implemented by AVSI Brasil. A local food processing company hired Ricardo and his brother while AVSI Brasil rented an apartment for them for three months. The family also received social assistance for their first three months in the new city. As part of the project’s social assistance component, a social worker helps families integrate into their new community and workplace.
By Global Fund | reliefweb | Uganda – The COVID-19 lockdowns are making it difficult for vulnerable people to access critical health services, particularly in remote… Read More »Protecting Mothers and Babies from HIV during the COVID-19 Pandemic
This past Easter, a group of friends organized a fundraiser event in Boston to support the AVSI-USA campaign “Get in the Game” and raised almost $600 selling Ukrainian Pysanky Eggs
Since March 23, when the Government in Mozambique closed all schools to avoid the spread of COVID-19, 22-year-old Misnia Zefanias Vilaculos has been struggling with a major challenge:
“The most difficult part of this epidemic is not being able to be with my students, children are a source of happiness and creativity, I miss them so much,” says Misnia.
For the last year and a half, Misnia had been going every day to the Xtinza Cultural Center and to the ten elementary schools in the Nhamankulo slum, one of the poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of Maputo, to read and interact with children. With a strong passion for literature, Misnia not only shares the importance of reading but also helps students understand the messages contained in each story and imagine a better world. Not willing to interrupt this incredible encounter, AVSI moved Misnia’s reading session to a virtual platform. Now, instead of visiting the cultural center and schools, she goes to the local radio station where she reads a fairytale and leaves a message or simple greeting.
Amid COVID-19 epidemic, AVSI is reinventing itself to be able to carry out projects and accompany beneficiaries. In Kenya, inside the Dadaab refugee camp, one of the largest camps in the world (200,000 people are currently living there), we are using Zoom to train teachers to provide quality education to the refugee and host community schools. The activity is part of the project “Transitional Support for Integration and Quality of Education in Dadaab Refugee and Host Community,” funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).
Physical distance cannot prevent learning. As schools have closed all around the world due to the COVID-19 epidemic, it is essential that children can still learn, no matter where they are or how. In Ivory Coast, AVSI, with the DPCE (Directorate of Pedagogy and Continuing Education), is working with the Ministry of Education to continue providing access to primary education for all children through radio. The initiative My Class at Home” includes a radio show called “Little Stories of Uncle Marco,” in which students, teachers, and hosts read Ivorians short stories and tales.
The Torrealba Garcia family was planning to have a quiet Thursday, only interrupted by a small party to celebrate Richard’s 40th birthday. But this year the celebration was a bit different. Early in the morning, the Venezuelan family received a call from Todd Chapman, U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, who invited them to join him on a video call in Spanish. The encounter was organized by the U.S. Embassy, who has been checking in with the families integrated through “Welcomed Through Work,” a project funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and implemented by AVSI Brasil.
