“Dr. Habteab Feseha, an Eritrean-American physician based in Arizona, said he’d never dreamed that he’d be organizing aid to a conflict zone.
For years, he’d watched fellow Eritreans escaping military service, economic hardship, or persecution settle in other countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. (Feseha’s organization, the Eri Yiakl Foundation, estimates that there are more than 260,000 Eritrean refugees in those countries.)
Then Covid-19 hit, and Feseha, along with a number of other members of the Eritrean diaspora, was concerned about the displaced Eritreans clustered together in camps – where sanitation would be less than dependable, social distancing impossible, and personal protective equipment hard to come by.
‘We cannot just sit idle, is how the idea came about,’ he recalled. ‘We need to ask every Eritrean from every corner of the world…to contribute whatever they can.’
Originally formed in April of 2020, the group’s goal was to prevent the pandemic’s spread in the camps by providing education, PPE, hygiene supplies, and medical aid, as well as training and equipping clinic and other health workers.
But things changed quickly. In November of 2020, civil war erupted between the federal government of Ethiopia and the ruling party of the Tigray region – where approximately 96,000 Eritreans had sought refuge.
‘We never thought that, at least in Ethiopia, there would be such infighting. We thought the refugees were safe in Ethiopia,’ Feseha said.
Because communications in the region were shut down, it has been difficult to understand exactly what is happening in the Tigray region, Feseha explained. ‘We don’t have a clear picture,’ he said.
Some reports have come out from refugees able to call family members and news outlets, but much still isn’t known about the situation. Although the fighting was officially declared over on November 28, Feseha said guerilla warfare is still ongoing.
However, one thing was clear: Tens of thousands of people – with both Ethiopians and Eritreans among them – were fleeing the region. More than 50,000 of them have made their way to Sudan, where another conflict, between Ethiopia and Sudan, was also taking place.
It was in Sudan, the members of the Eri Yiakl Foundation decided, that they would concentrate their efforts.
‘People are crossing into Sudan after traveling on their feet for three, four, five days. They’re hungry and they’re most likely going to have some issues,’ Feseha said.
The group currently has two goals. The first is to prevent Covid-19 among the primarily Ethiopian refugees arriving in Sudan by dispensing PPE, sanitary supplies, and information.”
View the whole story here: https://www.directrelief.org/2021/02/confronting-a-crisis-in-ethiopia-a-brand-new-nonprofit-finds-its-feet/