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Saturday 04 July 2009

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Hear our Voices

A forum for people whose voices are often not heard, whose lives have been affected by catastrophe, be it natural or manmade. Many have been abused and denied their universal human rights; others have seen their livelihoods washed away by floods or lost to drought. Their personal accounts are a testimony to their struggle and their hope for a better future. Stories from aid workers offer a glimpse into the relationships between victims of humanitarian crises and the people who help them.

IRIN welcomes editorial and photographic submissions for inclusion on this page, reserving the right to select and edit as appropriate.

Africa

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more testimonies »]

Pia Ajuwa, "I am happy that I am finally home"
		Pia Ajuwa, 62, cannot recall when she fled Southern Sudan for Uganda. A mother of six, she returned in April to find that things had changed so much, she could not tell which house was hers in Nyakuro village. Ajuwa spoke to IRIN on 30 June: full testimony
Allan, "They call me tong-tong"
		Allan (not real name) was 10 when he was abducted in 1999 by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from a refugee camp in Adjumani, northern Uganda. full testimony
Lilly Atong, “I was Joseph Kony’s wife”
		Lilly Atong, 26, was first abducted by Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels from Amuru district in northern Uganda in 1991 when she was 10 years old. She was made a “wife” of the LRA leader Joseph Kony but escaped in 2005. However, during the Juba peace talks in 2006 she met Kony to persuade him to release other women and children, only to be held captive again in Garamba National Park, where the rebels were hiding. She managed to escape a second time and is now living in a rehabilitation centre in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu. full testimony

Asia	[ more testimonies »]

Anargul, “Self-immolation is the worst”
		Attempts to set oneself on fire (self-immolation) are an extreme reaction often practiced by desperate women who lack access to justice and protection. Anargul, 25, set herself ablaze in Herat Province, western Afghanistan, in a bid to end her misery, and ended up with burns to her chest, belly, neck, hands and face. full testimony
Hla Hla Aung, “We're not ready to afford food ourselves”
		Hla Hla Aung, a 35-year-old mother-of-six and resident of Mhawbi village outside Pyapon town in Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Delta, explains the challenges she faces one year after Cyclone Nargis struck, leaving close to 140,000 people dead and 2.4 million affected. full testimony
Futiya, "Hope keeps me here”
		Like other Rohingyas, Futiya, 26, has many questions over the plight of his people and their future. The Muslim residents from the northern Rakhine state are an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority and de jure stateless, according to the laws of Myanmar. full testimony

Middle East

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more testimonies »]

Saleh Al-Ali, “My sister has not uttered a word since the floods”
		It was a shock for her to see our sheep dying and our dwelling collapse. Since then we have noticed her psychological situation gradually deteriorating. full testimony
Jerald Sadoff, "You lose one year and you lose 1.7 million people"
		Over the past decade, scientists have intensified their efforts to create a tuberculosis vaccine that can prevent adult infections- which the currently administered Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has largely been unable to do- and protects young HIV patients, for whom the current vaccine can be lethal. Dr. Jerald Sadoff is president of the US-based NGO Aeras TB Vaccine Foundation, which funds and researches tuberculosis vaccines. full testimony
Nael, “I fear nothing now”
		January is one of the coldest months of the year… but in these cold conditions, we have to leave windows partially open to prevent them from shattering in the bombardments. full testimony

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