- RefugePoint
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RefugePoint (formerly Mapendo International) is a non-profit organization that "works to fill the critical and unmet needs of people affected by war and conflict who have fallen through the net of humanitarian assistance." RefugePoint is based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and Nairobi, Kenya. They have worked primarily in East Africa and are now expanding their work to include other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. RefugePoint is a member of Refugee Council USA, a coalition of U.S. non-governmental organizations focused on refugee protection. [1]
Contents
History
RefugePoint was founded in 2005 by Sasha Chanoff and Dr. John Wagacha Burton. While conducting refugee rescue operations with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Sasha became aware of the unseen and therefore unmet needs of the many refugees living in urban settings.[2]
Since its inception, RefugePoint has engaged in a strategic partnership with the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University, building off of their common goal to engage others in critical thinking about all sides on an issue.[3]
RefugePoint continues to evolve and serve the needs of refugees both from their office in Boston, Massachusetts and from their clinic located in Nairobi, Kenya.[4]
In 2006, RefugePoint won an Echoing Green Fellowship [5] and was named a Waldzell Institute "Architect of the Future."[6] RefugePoint received a Draper Richards Fellowship in 2007.[7] In 2010, RefugePoint's efforts were awarded with the Charles Bronfman Prize.[8]
On June 29, 2011 Mapendo announced that they have changed their name to RefugePoint, "in order to better reflect its core mission of protecting the world’s most vulnerable and forgotten refugees."
From Sasha Chanoff, RefugePoint’s executive director, explained that the organization’s staff have been impressed for years by the many refugees who relate that contact with RefugePoint became the turning point in their lives. “Our effort,” he says, “is to provide lasting solutions for people fleeing from persecution, war, and genocide. The new name, RefugePoint, reflects the moment when those most at risk see the possibility of deliverance from lives of fear and desperation and a path opening up toward new lives for themselves and their families.”[9]
Projects
RefugePoint (formerly Mapendo) works in East Africa to identify and assist refugees who are at high-risk for personal harm. Because of the very sensitive nature of RefugePoint's work, specific operations concerning those RefugePoint is assisting must remain confidential. Broadly, RefugePoint's work revolves around the needs of displaced people. They care for immediate needs through their clinic in Nairobi, while searching for more durable solutions.
The Clinic The medical clinic in Nairobi was created to provide health care to marginalized and impoverished refugee survivors of trauma. Staffed by Kenyan medical professionals, it serves HIV positive people, torture survivors, widows with children, and others at risk who have urgent medical needs and no access to health care.
Rescue and Protection RefugePoint identifies and assists individuals, families and groups of people fleeing war and conflict who need urgent and lifesaving assistance. They work with governments, the United Nations, and other aid agencies to identify durable solutions for people in danger. They are actively assisting refugees across east and central Africa through this initiative.
Awareness Programs RefugePoint seeks to raise awareness and understanding for marginalized refugee communities. To this end, they have undertaken a series of photography and video projects. The information is exhibited and distributed in the United States through collaborations with refugee resettlement agencies and community-based organizations.
Media
The Boston Globe featured an article on Mapendo International's (now RefugePoint) efforts on its front page on June 18th, 2009.[10]
The New York Times cited Mapendo's (now RefugePoint) involvement in the effort to resettle survivors of the Gatumba camp massacre.[11]
The Skoll Foundation's Social Edge highlighted Sasha Chanoff and Mapendo (now RefugePoint) in a video on their website.[12]
Elle Magazine in France wrote an article on Mapendo's (now Refuge Point) efforts in the April 23rd, 2007 edition.[13]
Leadership
- Sasha Chanoff, Executive Director
- Amy Slaughter, Director of International Operations
- M'Imunya J. Machoki, Kenyan Board
- Anne Marie Burgoyne, Portfolio Director, The Draper Richards Foundation
- Richard Wayne, Co-founder, Capital Crossing Bank
- Lorna Brett Howard
- Wendy Ettinger
- Désirée Younge
References
- ^ http://www.rcusa.org/index.php?page=home
- ^ Lang, Marissa (7 June 2010). "Inspired by relatives, he's doing a world of good for refugees". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/06/07/inspired_by_relatives_hes_doing_a_world_of_good_for_refugees/.
- ^ http://www.mapendo.org/TuftsInstitute
- ^ http://www.mapendo.org/whatwedo
- ^ http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/sasha-chanoff
- ^ http://www.waldzell.org/site?page=189
- ^ http://www.draperrichards.org/fellows/mapendo.html
- ^ http://www.thecharlesbronfmanprize.com/2010chanoff.php
- ^ "RefugePoint: News". http://www.refugepoint.org. http://www.refugepoint.org/news/. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
- ^ Smith, James F. (18 June 2009). "The rescuers". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/06/18/congo_refugee_to_receive_un_humanitarian_honor/.
- ^ Bernstein, Nina (5 August 2007). "Safe From Persecution, Still Bearing Its Scars". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/nyregion/05refugees.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1%20&ore.
- ^ http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/global-x/archive/2007/05/29/sasha-chanoff
- ^ http://www.elle.fr/elle/societe/les-enquetes/refugiees-en-danger/(gid)/106317/(article)/106318
- ^ http://www.mapendo.org/node/99
External links
Categories:- International nongovernmental organizations
- Refugee aid organizations
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