Category: In the field
Follow stories from communities we’re working with around the world.
![Sangita Kafle holds her son *Nabin (3) .*Name changed. Photo: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam Nepal earthquake](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Nepal-earthquake_Sangita_648x431.jpg)
2.8 million displaced: Nepal survivors face second disaster
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The earthquake in Nepal has razed more than 70,000 homes to the ground and damaged countless others. Thousands of people are now homeless and sleeping outdoors, too afraid to return to their homes. Without clean water, sanitation and life saving aid, disease is imminent. Sangita, her husband and their two children are just on family who lost everything after the Nepal earthquake.
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![Photo: Shristi Rajbhandari Photo: Shristi Rajbhandari](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Nepal_aftermath3_Shristi-Rajbhandari_648X431.jpg)
Donations needed in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake
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Oxfam teams are now in Kathmandu responding to Nepal’s most powerful earthquake in decades. More than 3.5 million people are estimated to have been affected by the earthquake that hit on Saturday. Thousands of people are sleeping in the open to avoid being crushed in further building collapses and survivors are now vulnerable to hidden health risks. […] Read more »
![Two locals find safe ground in front of a destroyed structure in Bhaktapur region of Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo credit: EPA/Hemanta Shrestha nepal 1](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/nepal-1.jpg)
Kathmandu was ever a disaster-in-waiting
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Shaheen Chughtai (Oxfam’s Deputy Head of Humanitarian Policy and Campaigns) is in Kathmandu. She shares her firsthand experiences The densely populated capital of one of the world’s poorest countries clings to the slopes of the seismically unstable Himalayas. Read more »
![People search for survivors under the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi airstrikes near Sanaa Airport, Yemen, Tuesday, March 31, 2015. Photo: Abo Haitham Yemen Crisis](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Yemen_destruction_Abo-Haitham_648x431.jpg)
One aid worker is courageously telling the world what life is really like in Yemen right now
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Nuha is an aid worker in Yemen and speaking out the conflict now affecting millions of ordinary people in her home country. She shares a firsthand perspective on life in the midst of airstrikes and food shortages: “I am usually optimistic, but I’m not now. Even if the conflict ends soon the humanitarian situation will unfold. Then the shock and the extent of the suffering here in Yemen will become apparent”. Read more »
![Children play near open sewerage in Mukuru. Photo: Perou/Oxfam Photo: Perou/Oxfam](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/MukuruSlum_Perou_648x431.jpg)
A life-changing, life-saving toilet
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In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, almost two million people live in informal settlements or ‘slums’. Water and sanitation facilities are completely inadequate, disease rates are high and poverty is rife. Amy Christian travelled to the Mukuru slum in Kenya and discovered how one innovative toilet is saving lives and changing them for the better. Read more »
![Gender Action Planning Workshop in Cambodia. Photo: Worawan Sukraroek/OxfamAUS Worawan Sukraroek](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Mekong_WomenWorkShop_Worawan-Sukraroek_648x431.jpg)
Our gender champions: a story of Sary and Polin
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The Mekong river is a vital resource for poor and vulnerable people in the lower Mekong region, including essential water for fisheries and agriculture. Major development decisions — like dams — can affect the food security of the surrounding communities. The impacts of development on women and ethnic minorities is of particular concern. Read more »
![Leanne and her daughter. Photo: Amy Christian/OxfamAUS The aftermath of Cyclone Pam in Utas, Vanuatu. Photo: Amy Christian/OxfamAUS](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CyclonePam_Leanne_AmyChristian_648x431.jpg)
Journey to Ambrym: delivering aid to Vanuatu
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It was on Monday 23 March when the first Vanuatu ferry loaded its cargo of much-needed aid for some of the northern and most remote islands of Vanuatu. Oxfam had 400 hygiene kits on board ready to give to the worst affected communities on Ambrym Island. Read more »
![Photo: Phillippe Metois Photo: Phillippe Metois](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CyclonePam_Climate_PhillippeMetois_648x431.jpg)
Cyclone Pam: the ‘perfect’ storm
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Cyclone Pam is a tragic reminder that least developed countries – who have contributed almost nothing to the problem of climate change – are suffering the devastating consequences of global inaction. The price paid by the people of Vanuatu increased sharply last week. We must stand with them. Read more »
![Hygiene kits are distributed at Lycee Bouganville school which is acting as a temporary evacuation centre. Photo: Amy Christian/OxfamAUS Photo: Amy Christian/OxfamAUS](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Untitled-1.jpg)
“We have had to use all of our savings to buy food”
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“As our plane descended into Port Vila, I caught glimpses of the islands that make up Vanuatu between perfectly formed clouds, which looked still, as if in a painting — the blue of the ocean a calm turquoise canvas beneath. The islands themselves looked ravaged, trees torn and broken and houses left without roofs or walls. I found myself imagining how different this view would have been just a week before, on the eve of the biggest cyclone to ever hit the Pacific.” Read more »
![Lisa and her newborn son. Photo: Amy Christian/OxfamAUS Cyclone Pam Vanuatu. Photo: Amy Christian/OxfamAUS](https://oxfamautest.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CyclonePam_Lisa_AmyChristianOxfamAUS_648X431.jpg)
“My only thought was that ‘this is the end’.”
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Lisa was heavily pregnant when Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu. She and her husband decided to leave their home though and take shelter in a nearby church with some of their neighbours. They didn’t believe their house could withstand the storm. And they were right. Read more »