Friday, April 28, 1995 — North Shore New

= om en

WV woman

stele

4

back from
East Africa

LIVING FOR four months in an
African refugee camp, 10 miles
(IS km) from Rwanda, West
Vancouver's Christine Tokar
siuw death, disease and squalor.

By lan Noble

News Reporter

Given the opportunity, she would
return.

“You get immediate results for
your efforts” said the Red Cross
worker, “You can see how you can
make a difference.”

In Tanzania's Benaco refugee
camp. population 200.000, ‘Tokar
worked with “unaccompanied chil-
dren” — the thousands of orphaned
children fleeing ethnic violence in
Rwanda.

Most ef the children’s family
members are among the 500,000
killed in fighting between Rwanda’s
Hutu and Tutsi groups, said Tokar.

Aid workers photographed the
children, checked their backgrounds,
and then placed the children with Rwandan
refugee families.

Tokar. a former social services and youth
services worker, also helped to reunite children
with their parents, She recalled a “wonderful”
reunification of a 24-year-old boy with his
father, who had thought his son was dead.

“It was unbelievable.” Tokar said. “He was
crying and laughing. The neighbors were crying
and laughing.”

When she arrived at the camp in December,
however, she was overwhelmed.

Refugee families — sometimes with five to
10 people — lived in 6.5-foot x 10-foot (2 mx

: 3m) bamboo and plastic shelters.

The shelters provided little protection from
rains or cold. Temperatures plunged to 7°C
(45°F) at the 6,270-foot-high (1,900 m) refugee

Hillsides denuded of trees by refugees sur-
rounded the camp.

Refugees suffered from cholera and typhoid
fever.

Malnutrition, especially of women and chil-
dren, also haunted Benaco.

Refugees received rations of maize, beans.
corn soya flour and oil every 10 days, and soap
every 20 days.

“It’s pretty minimal.” Tokar said of the food
provided.

Suil, the refugees persevered.

The people’s desire to help themselves and
others struck Tokar. She said teachers offered to
teach and others such as engineers offered their
services,

People tried to create routine and normalcy
although grief and horror haunted them.

Before war broke out, refugees were “regu-

ony
Os

Jar people” with homes, children and aspira-
tions for their children. Whether those hopes
will be ever be fulfilled is unknown, Tokar said.

“That's the real tragedy of refugee situa-
tions.” she added.

Now, with the camp's routine more settled,
people have time to reflect on the brutality they
have experienced. Children, some who watched
their parents shiughtered, are experiencing post-
traumatic stress syndrome.

They are prone to depression and mood
swings, Tokar said, adding adults are experienc-
ing similar difficulties.

Tokar expects the primarily Hutu refugee
camps to be there for a long time, even if the
news headlines arent. ‘

Refugees, she said, cannot be sure they will
be safe if they return to Rwanda, especially in
light of the 2,000 Hutu refugees tnassacred

REO CROSS”) aid = worker
Christine Tokar (above)
helped orphaned children in
Benaco (left), a refugee camp
for Rwandans fleeing ethnic
strife. Benaco is in Tanzania.

recently by Rwandan troops,

She worries that a lack of continuing media
coverage will create an out-of-sight, out-of-
mind mentility. But the tragedy continues.

In March. the camp faced a critical food
shortage, but the international community was
not aware of it.

The rains swamping the area do not bode
well for refugees. Along with year-old living
quarters now sprouting holes in the plastic,
tefugees may have to depend on less reliable -
food deliveries by truck. The weakened popula-
tion also makes a tempting target for diseases.
which thrive in wet weather, said Tokar.

The challenge now, said Tokar, is to ensure
the refugees receive the aid they need. In
Canada, Tokar will continue her fundraising and
public-relations work for Red Cross
Intemational Services.

i Brakes blamed; dinner ruined

MICHAEL ARNOLD had a
close call and his North
Vancouver family has a new
‘home air-conditioning system
thanks to faulty car brakes.

By lan Noble
News Reporter

The cooling system is in the
kitchen, where a car crashed through
a wall after rolling through the
garage and back porch,

“We live in’a very cold house
“right now,” said. Heather Knight,
Arnold's sister.

Amold said the hole has been
boarded up but there are still gaps.

The accident happened Sunday
afternoon in the 400-block of East
20th Street. Amold was outside
smoking and enjoying the sun while

vaiting for his potatoes to cook.

He heard a boom and then anoth-
er, very loud boom.

Amold ran back inside the house,
got everyone out and scurried into

the kitchen,

[n the same room where Amold
had been cooking his food, a small
‘Toyota sedan was parked.

“It pretty much would have dev-
astated me had [ still been there,”
Arnold said.

“It sort of spoiled supper.”

His fish and potatoes were all
over the place and the stove had been
moved four feet (1.2 m), he said.

The car's front right tire sheared
off, the back door was airmailed into
the front right comer of the kitchen,
and a headlight ended up in the living
room,

Amold calied 9-1-1 and attended
to the driver, Neill Comba, who lives
on East 2tst Street.

:-Comba said his brakes and emer-
gency brakes failed.

Amold's garage is at the end of a
lane. Amold said Comba hit the
garage — the first boom — and liter-
ally launched himself on a quick tour
of Arnold's property.

He flew about 33 feet (10 m)

through the air before hitting «the

Photo submitted

FAULTY BRAKES caused driver Neill Comba to career down a lane and drive into Michael
Arnold's kitchen on East 20th Street. Comba received a cracked sternum in the Sunday accident.

back porch and blasting through the
kitchen door.

Neighbors who heard the boom
rushed over, and snapped photos for
their albums.

The car was wedged in so tightly
a tow tuck took 30 to 40 minutes to
free the car, Arnold said.

The house. he said, suffered
$30,000 damage.

That total does not include -the

back porch.

Amold added that the garage,
which is now barely standing, cannot
be repaired.

North Vancouver RCMP say no
charges are pending against Comba,
who was taken to Lions Gate
Hospital.

Comba said he suffered a cracked
sternum, before adding that he would
rather not talk about the accident.

“I'm tired of the whole thing,” he
said. ;

Police estimated damage to the’
car at $8,000. Ironically, Knight is
trying to sell her Porsche. The car,
which is usually parked in the
garage, was in the front yard when
the accident occurred. ;

-“[ think things would have been a

. lot worse if the car had been in the

garage,” Arnold said.
nak