The Solar Cooker Project not only serves to protect women, but
also provides them with income opportunities through manufacturing
solar cookers, training others to use the cookers, and making carrying
bags to increase the cookers life span. It gives the women a sense
of pride to be able to contribute to their household. This project is active in the e Iridimi, Touloum and Oure Cassoni refugee camps in Chad. Jewish World Watch plans to
initiate this project in other refugee camps with the goal of reducing the
number of crimes committed against refugee women.
Janice Kamenir-Reznik (JWW Founding President), Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug (JWW Executive Director) and Rachel Andres (Director of the Solar Cooker Project) traveled to the Chad refugee camps of Iridimi and Touloum, sites of JWW’s landmark Solar Cooker Project.
Noah Sutton-Smolin's bar mitzvah project was a
good fit for his first name and his Torah portion
Rabbi Philip Graubart, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth El, gave a congratulatory hug to bar mitzvah Noah Sutton-Smolin yesterday, and commented that the 13-year-old's first name—like that of the biblical Ark-builder—means "comfort."
That being the case, young Sutton-Smolin set his sights higher than his name. His bar mitzvah project was intended not to merely comfort the refugee women of Sudan, but in many cases, to prevent them from being afflicted in the first place.
Rachel Andres, Director of the JWW Solar Cooker Project recently traveled to Geneva Switzerland as an invited guest of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
She attended the Humanitarian Symposium and Prize Dinner Ceremony a one-day international symposium attended by humanitarian and human rights decision-makers from around the world. While in Geneva, Rachel met with UNHCR representatives Craig Johnstone, Deputy High Commissioner; Hawa Sylla-Kane, Senior Desk Officer for Chad; Sudan and Chad Special Unit, Preeta Law, and Valentine Ndibalema, Senior Environment Coordinator. As the refugees will not being going back to Darfur for 2-3 years at the earliest, conversations focused on the a shift from working in “emergency” mode to a more “sustainable” mode.
A meeting was held with Dr. Robert Glasser, Secretary General of CARE International. CARE runs the Iridimi and Touloum camps in Chad where the first 2 Solar Cooker Projects operate. Rachel gave a presentation on the Solar Cooker Project and the evaluation of the Iridimi refugee camp project to the World Health Organization (WHO). Rachel also met with Derk Rijks, Founder and implementer of Tchad Solaire, the NGO that runs the solar cooker project on the ground in the refugee camps in Chad of the Chad projects.
JWW Meets with UNHCR!
In April and May 2008, JWW held meetings with top officials from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to discuss the Solar Cooker Project and its potential expansion to several new camps in eastern Chad. On April 26, 2008 representatives from Jewish World Watch had the honor of meeting with UN High Commissioner António Guterres and Michel Gabaudan, UNHCR's regional representative for the United States (DC) to make a presentation about the Solar Cooker Project. In May 2008, Janice Kamenir-Reznik, JWW Founding President, Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, JWW Executive Director and Rachel Andres, Director of the JWW Solar Cooker Project held follow-up discussions with UNHCR officials, as well as the Chadian Ambassador to the US and his wife on the topic. The discussions took place in New York following conference of the Charles Bronfman Prize upon Rachel Andres, JWW’s nominee for the award.
Rachel Andres Awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize for her work with the JWW Solar Cooker Project!
JWW Invited to Present Solar Cooker Project in Geneva
In December 2007, Janice Kamenir-Reznik (JWW Founding President), Rachel Andres (Director, Solar Cooker Project) and Sheila Wasserman (Chair, Women’s Committee) were invited to participate in a conference in Geneva, Switzerland on "Technical and Policy Interventions for Household Energy Initiatives in Humanitarian Settings" hosted by the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. The Women's Commission, a division of the International Rescue Committee, is part of a UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings (SAFE).
This forum provided the opportunity for JWW and Tchad Solaire to present information about solar cooking to other NGOs and UN organizations interested in household energy alternatives. The JWW presentation generated much interest and support among the workshop participants, and led to high-level meetings with representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). These meetings generated considerable interest in significant expansion of the SCP into other camps in Chad.
