Partnering with Osire Refugee Settlement

225 km outside the Namibian capitol, Windhoek, and ** km from our site in **, the Osire Refugee Camp is home to 7000 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly displaced by the ongoing DRC conflict but also Burundi, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. The camp has a dark history, having been a detention center during Apartheid, but became a place of hope starting in 1992, when the Namibian Council of Churches and UNCHR began to steward it as a haven for refugees from the then civil war in Angola. Since then, the camp has been run at different times by the Africa Care Foundation, the Red Cross, the Jesuit Refugee Service, and the Namibian Ministry of Education, but since the cessation of the Angolan Civil War and the repatriation of those refugees, the smaller settlement has been run by UNHCR Pretoria.

Today, Osire is considered one of the best run refugee settlements of its size. Residents have access to clean water, monthly food rations, and a well-staffed clinic. The settlement boasts primary and secondary schools fully integrated into the national education system. Because Osire residents have full freedom of movement, children participate in sports and science competitions around the country.

60% of homes in Osire have electricity and 40% have internet access, which means particularly motivated learners can participate in higher education, and many do.

Two acute problems face the residents of Osire:

First, climate change. While residents have gardens where they have traditionally grown bountiful food crops like onions and white maize, the soil is degrading and water is in short supply.

Second, cuts to aid. Even before the recent slashing of USAID budgets, Osire had seen dwindling support. Because the settlement is so far outside Windhoek, opportunities for work are scarce, and cuts to the aid are catastrophic.

R3 is helping.

The arrival of Biochar production in the area means improved soil nutrition, improved water retention, and best of all, improved career opportunities.