The Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp

photo taken by Barbara Grover
Map courtesy of usaid.gov

Of the 28,125 refugees in the camp, 80% are women and children.  The area is devoid of vegetation.  Relief agencies provide the refugee with monthly allotments of uncooked food and firewood, but the given amount of firewood is not enough.  The refugees must then search for wood outside of the camps, thereby subjecting themselves to violence. 

Solar cooking reduces the need for frequent firewood collection which in turn decreases the amount of violence committed against women and girls.

Currently, the Solar Cooker Project has successfully trained and outfitted all the women in the Touloum and Iridimi Refugee camp.  The Coalition Responds to the Crisis in Darfur is providing New Jersey, in collaboration with Jewish World Watch, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the opportunity to help to provide solar cookers to women in the Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp an decrease the violence women face on a regular basis.