OUR PROJECT:

The Backpack Project was created so that hungry and frightened children in the Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Chad can attend schools run by our partner, the International Rescue Committee. Filled with shoes, books, school supplies, soap and toothpaste, the backpack allows each child to make the most of school under the most difficult of circumstances. Each backpack also contains something intangible, but essential to their well-being: hope.

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Put Tzedakah on your back to school list!   14,000 school-aged children and their families have fled to the Oure Cassoni refugee camp in eastern Chad to escape the ongoing genocide in Darfur. A donation of $36 provides one child with the essentials for an education and a healthy life - and hope for rebuilding their future. Every dollar donated to the JWW Backpack Project will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, through the generosity of a local family foundation.

THE REFUGEES:

• Since February 2003, approximately 230,000 people have fled to refugee camps in eastern Chad to escape the ongoing violence in Darfur.
• Indescribable levels of violence and persecution at the hands of the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia have left physical and emotional scars on the majority of refugee children.
• Lack of meaningful opportunities for learning puts the children at risk of recruitment into fighting forces, crime, substance abuse, and other harmful activities.

OURE CASSONI CAMP:

• The Oure Cassoni camp today hosts approximately 27,000 Darfuri refugees.
• Over half these refugees - approximately 16,000 - are children or adolescents under the age of 18.
• 14,000 children in the Oure Cassoni camp are school aged. Most of these children do not have and cannot afford the materials necessary to attend school.   

BACKPACKS: FOR EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND HOPE

• Education plays an essential role in restoring structure and normalcy in the lives of conflict-affected children and youth.
• Distributing educational supplies to children enables them to become more engaged in lessons and activities, and encourages students to stay in school.  
• Supplying children with hygiene items enables them to put into practice the safe practices they learn in school to help stem preventable disease.  

OUR PARTNER :

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) manages the Oure Cassoni Camp and provides a full range of programs and services, including clean water and sanitation; preventive, curative and reproductive health care; preschool, primary and secondary school education; protection services, targeting vulnerable children and adolescents and adults, and programs to respond to the unique needs of women.   In the Oure Cassoni Camp, the IRC supports the provision of education to over 10,000 students in three primary schools and nearly 4,000 children in 20 preschools.   In December 2006, the IRC launched a secondary school program, which serves approximately 100 students.   All education programs are conducted using the Sudanese curriculum to ensure that when refugees return home, they will be on par with their peers.   Education in the camp is offered free of charge.  

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Host an event with an engaging Jewish World Watch speaker at your home, work, parent association, library, synagogue or church to learn more about the genocide in Darfur.
• Organize a fundraiser to help bring backpacks to these children. Contact info@jewishworldwatch.org for ideas.
• Make a donation: A $36 donation supports one child by providing age-appropriate school supplies, textbooks, shoes, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste - and hope for rebuilding their future.