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About Refugees > Anti-Warehousing > Worst Places for Refugees

Life in Shimelba Refugee Camp:  70% of the Camp Comprised of Refugee Children from Eritrea

From Prestige to Poverty

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Find out how one man went from being a lead prosecutor to a refugee in a lawless land. Click on play below to listen to audio.



“Living in a refugee camp is just like a prison. It's the hardest thing I've seen in my life. All my talents and capacities are useless here."
--Araya Issak, camp leader


Shimelba at a Glance:


Population: 14,000 refugees from Eritrea, 70 percent of who are children

Location: 30 miles south of the Eritrea-Ethiopia border

Influx rate: 500 new refugees/month

Why they flee:

  • Forced military conscription that often includes hard labor
  • Religious persecution

Daily struggles:

  • Shortage of food
  • Rape and assault
  • Banned from working
Can you imagine spending your childhood in a refugee camp? With no parents, no school to go to, how would you cope? It is the story of thousands of children from Eritrea who grow up in the Shimelba refugee camp. The camp is home to 14,000 refugees who have fled persecution in Eritrea. It is situated near the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia-an area that has witnessed extensive fighting over the years. A startling 70 percent of the refugees here are children, with 500 new refugees flooding the camp every month.

Take a moment to see how they live. Justin Shilad visited the camp in Ethiopia as part of a team to document the life of a refugee family. The following presentation has been adapted from his trip report.

 

The children of the Shimelba camp need YOU to stand up for them. Help is just a mouse click away.

 

Click to view a map that details the location of Shimelba:

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Learn more about the human warehousing of refugees around the world


 

Credits
USCRI would like to thank the following people who were instrumental in putting this story together:

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