Helping Refugees Find a New Life
"If you're going to sponsor a family, it means you're willing to guide them, provide transportation, help set up their apartments," says Duhamel.
Duhamel attends Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Harrisonburg, which is where she learned about the opportunity to help. Several people from the church are involved helping the refugees.
"We were assuming we were going to get an Iraqi family, perhaps an Afghan family. And instead we found out on June 18 that our family was coming from Eritrea," says Duhamel.
Eritrea sits north of Ethiopia. The two countries have fought off and on for decades. Even when the countries aren't fighting, there's still tension.
Selam Gebregziabher has lived in both places. She's on a journey with her sister, Helen.
"They had to flee their own country and find refuge within Ethiopia, which was the enemy because their country has had such a dictatorial government that forces people into national service. So, it's like forced military training even for young girls," says Duhamel.
Selam says, "[Eritrea] was not safe, especially for women, children. They were abused there physically, psychologically. In general
The conditions in Wi’a concentration/training camp in the past 7- 9 months have worsened more than any other time. Food rations were reduced further to 3 pieces of sorghum bread per person per day without any supplements such as sauce except limited ration of tea. The shortage of food is compounded by the closure of the camp for family visits which used to facilitate the supply of food from families and relatives to the prisoners/trainees. The shortage of food combined with the very poor sanitation conditions, harsh environmental conditions, fatigue resulting from training exercises and almost non-existent health facilities and health care services in the camp has lead to sustained outbreaks of meningitis, typhoid and scabies resulting in alarming mass deaths. 
But the war, and the crisis in its aftermath, radically altered this three-pronged approach. First, the community-oriented feature of the website, although not totally abandoned, came to suffer as a result of the deep fracture within the Eritrean community that took place after the war. Second, Eritrea itself became off limits; and the dream of joining the Eritrean people in building the nation was indefinitely deferred. And third, as a result of the poisoned climate that came to prevail after the war, the idea of a greater community in the Horn and East Africa was abandoned. Instead, as is the case with most Eritreans, the political, humanitarian and existential crisis in Eritrea came to dominate the dialog in Asmarino – a debate that is still raging on. 
