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Liberia: communities open their hearts and doors to Ivorian refugees
25-05-2012 Photo gallery
Tens of thousands fled from Côte d'Ivoire to Liberia when violence broke out following the 2010 elections. But not all of these refugees choose to live in the refugee camps set up for them. Many prefer to live in host communities, even if these communities receive less assistance from humanitarian organizations.
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Download high resolution imageBawaydee has a resident population of about 1,500. Between them, they are hosting 900 refugees, so the ICRC has built a pump to handle the increasing demand for water.
High-resolution images
Media outlets are welcome to use these images, and can download them at high resolution via the “Download high resolution image“ link next to each one.
The images are also available at even higher resolution in .NEF format from our Library and Research Service.
All photos must be accompanied by the mention "© ICRC" and the name of the photographer, Pedram Yazdi.
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Download high resolution imageMabel explains that the ICRC built the pump in October 2011 following the influx of refugees. "The demand for water was very high at the time, and we were having to draw water from the creek," she explained. Mabel told us that the community has rules about when people can draw water, pump cleaning, etc. Over 100 people (refugees and hosts) collect water from the pump twice a day.
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Download high resolution imageIvorian refugees were sharing kitchen equipment with their hosts and were short of mosquito nets and sleeping mats, so in April the ICRC distributed these and other essential items to more than 2,500 refugee families.
Ivorian refugee Céline Zouhou (in the middle of the picture) was among the beneficiaries.
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Download high resolution imageCéline came to Liberia in late 2010 with her husband and four children, to escape the post-election crisis in her country. "We’re being hosted by Nancy, a very kind lady. She’s just lost her husband, and we’re a bit like her second family," explains Céline.
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Download high resolution image"Communities welcomed and hosted me when I went to Côte d'Ivoire as a refugee in 1990,” explains Nancy. “We’re from the same ethnic group and we speak the same language, even if the national languages on the two sides of the border are different. My three daughters are married to Ivorians and they live over there. We have relatives on both sides of the border."
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Download high resolution imageEver since the host families took them in, refugees had been sharing items such as kitchen equipment with their hosts and were lacking such essentials as mosquito nets and sleeping mats. In April 2012, the ICRC distributed a kitchen set, a tarpaulin, a plastic bucket, two mosquito nets, six sleeping mats, two blankets, six “lappers” (pieces of cloth), and six pieces of laundry soap to each of 2,500 families.
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Download high resolution imageCecilia has given a refugee family space to build a shelter and a small patch of land to farm. In February 2012, the ICRC and the Liberian Red Cross supplied each of 750 farming families who were hosting refugees with enough seed to grow rice on one acre of land (about 4,000 square metres).
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Download high resolution imageTo share with the media this atmosphere of solidarity and fraternity between Liberian host communities and Ivorian refugees, the ICRC decided to take two journalists from LBS (Liberia Broadcasting System) to Grand Gedeh County, near the border with Côte d'Ivoire.
"We have just burned and cleared this area so we can sow the seed provided by the ICRC and the Liberian Red Cross,” Cecilia explains. “We hope to have enough rice for our family to eat and some to sell. That way we can also continue to help the refugees we’re hosting.”
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Download high resolution imageIn February 2012, 750 farming families who were hosting refugees each received enough seed to plant rice on one acre of land (about 4,000 square metres). All being well, each family will produce 500 kg of rice per acre. Lawrence Sackor will be visiting the farmers and providing advice. "We advise farmers on how to boost their yield,” he explains. “The rest depends on the climate. Ideally, we’d like the families to be able to grow enough rice to feed themselves, sell a certain amount to raise money, and have some left over to sow when the next sowing season arrives."
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Download high resolution imageEver since Ivorian refugees arrived in Liberia at the end of 2010, the ICRC and the Liberian Red Cross have been helping them and their host communities by building and repairing water and sanitation systems, providing seed and farming equipment to host families and distributing household items to refugees.
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Download high resolution image"We gave some refugees land to build a shelter. We’re from the same large community. You see here how our children play together. They share the same language and the same roots."
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Download high resolution image"The environment is friendlier, children mix in the village and refugees help the community to develop farming," explains Céline, a mother of four. "We speak French in Côte d’Ivoire and they speak English in Liberia, but communities on the two sides of the border share the same regional language, the same culture and the same roots."
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