US Ambassador Inaugurates Somali Refugee Community Literacy Center

Addis Ababa, January 09, 2003 (WIC)- The United State Ambassador to Ethiopia, Aurelia Brazeal, today inaugurated two newly constructed branch classrooms of the Somali Community Literacy Center (SCLC) in the Sarris area in Addis Ababa. The U.S. Funded project, which also includes a computer-learning center, provides literacy, numeracy, and skills training for Somali urban refugees.

A.U.S. Embassy Press Release said the Agency for the Assistance of Refugees, Displaced, and Returnees (AARDR), a local NGO, implemented the project in collaboration with the SCLC. The AARDR and the SCLC recently completed a similar U.S.- financed project in the Megenagna area, also in Addis Ababa, it was noted.

The Sarris and Megenagna classrooms and equipment were provided and equipped through an ETB 140,000 grant under the auspices of the "Ambassadors' Fund for Refugees in Africa, " an initiative of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. The Fund helps fill gaps in on-going refugee support programs that are not already being addressed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in recipient countries, the Embassy release pointed out.

The United States Government provided more than $196 million in refugee assistance for Africa in 2002, including over $41 million in funding for refugees and conflict victims in the Horn of Africa. Of that amount, nearly $8 million was earmarked for refugee assistance in Ethiopia, including programs to assist refugee children and support environmental rehabilitation of refugee-impacted areas. Such funding benefits refugees from a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds, including Sudanese Christians and Somali Muslims, it was learnt.

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