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| On the Front Line: Somali Refugees Seek Shelter |
| Remembering Senator Edward Kennedy: A Champion for Refugees |
| Surviving the City: Support for Urban Refugees |
| In person with Abraham ABRAHAM |
| Pakistan Emergency Thank-You |
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Tom Cavanaugh in Uganda 
While our Emergency Response Team is there to help people survive an immediate humanitarian crisis, the rest of our work focuses on assisting refugees build a new life. Here are just a few examples of how we are helping people to start again.
In this issue, we focus on UNHCR's successful activities in the following 2 countries: Bangladesh, and Tanzania.
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In the remote Bangladeshi village of Faruk Para, 34-year-old Kil Cer, a Chin refugee from Myanmar, weaves a blanket under a self-reliance scheme funded by UNHCR. © UNHCR/J.Musau |
Bangladesh 
Refugees weave together self-reliance and hope
Refugee women, including 34-year-old Kil Cer (pictured), gather each morning to weave colorful blankets in the remote Bangladeshi village of Faruk Para. They also are weaving a small-scale economic revolution, liberating their families from debt and dependence on UNHCR. This is part of a new UNHCR program to offer professional advice as well as small loans, to help people in remote areas become self-reliant. By selling her blankets, Kil Cer says she wants to weave a future for her children too, by investing in their education.
Read the full story on the UNHCR International site.
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Jane Goodall surrounded by Congolese children in Tanzania's Lugufu Refugee Camp. © UNHCR |
Jane Goodall: “Roots and Shoots” for refugee children
British primatologist Jane Goodall works to promote peace education and empower Congolese refugee children in Lugufu camp in Tanzania. She sponsors a program called “Roots and Shoots” which encourages tolerance and mutual understanding by bringing children together to clean a protected forest. They learn to preserve their environment, care for orphans and older people, or promote other forms of environmental awareness.
Read the full story on the UNHCR International site.
Remembering Senator Edward Kennedy The late Senator Edward M. Kennedy has been awarded the 2009 Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of his lifelong commitment to refugee rights. Senator Kennedy, who died in August at the age of 77, was selected by the Nansen Committee earlier this year in recognition of his work which helped millions of persecuted individuals to find protection and start new lives in the United States. He was the chief sponsor of more than 70 refugee-related measures.
The Nansen Refugee Award The Nansen Refugee Award is given annually to an individual or organization for their outstanding work on behalf of refugees. It was named for Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian polar explorer, scientist and High Commissioner for Refugees under the League of Nations, forerunner of the UN. Past winners include Eleanor Roosevelt and the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti. Humanitarian organizations honored with the Nansen Medal include the League of Red Cross Societies and Médecins Sans Frontières. In 1986, the Nansen Award was given to the people of Canada—the only country to have received the award as a nation.
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