Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 12:55:00 CET
From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de (Wam Kat)
Reply-To: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de
Distribution: world
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Network communication for refugees
Organization: Zamir = for peace, Zagreb
Content-Length: 7600    
X-Gateway: UC xclhh [UZERCP V3.99]


(Electronic) Connection between Refugee Centres
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The problem
-----------------

The war in former Yugoslavia has driven a lot of people away from their homes, the 
number of refugees and displaced people (further on only called refugees) is far over 2 
million. Most of this people are scattered around in refugee centres and private houses in 
Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and the rest of Europe (and even the world). Between all those 
centres and camps there  is only communication possible by normal mail and pay 
telephones (most refugee centres in Croatia (but also elsewhere) have a phone 
connection, but those lines can only be used by the co-ordination of the centre and not 
by refugees), since it is in most country impossible to phone from one pay telephone to 
another pay telephone it is impossible to reach somebody in a refugee camp by 
telephone if you are yourself in a similar position (if people want to talk to each other by 
telephone it needs a lot of co-ordination and help from third parties, somebody from a 
centre should phone to a normal telephone extension at a certain time in order to be sure 
that the person he or she wants to talk to is reachable at that connection).

Another problem with communications between refugees is that it is often unclear where 
somebody is, in many cases people don't know where there relatives and friends are,  
and if they are still alive even,  in most countries where refugees are brought to the policy 
is not to give the addresses of the people to third parties, because of security reasons. 
From Red Cross you can only get the answer if somebody is alive and even for them it is 
hard to find out where all the people went.

Electronic Networks
---------------------------

Electronic networks reach over the whole globe, thanks to gateways between all the 
different networks messages put on one network travel via other networks to the most 
incredible places. In the neighbourhood of nearly every refugee centre (especially outside 
the area of former Yugoslavia) there will be somebody or some group who has excess to 
a computer network (at least it is very good possible).

The idea
------------

The idea is to make electronic networking available for people in refugee centres to 
communicate with each other and with the other people around the globe. This can be 
done in many ways, but is needs active involvement of a lot of people around the 
networks of the world.

The cheapest solution would be people who visiting refugee centres and collect 
messages (written or typed) and put them on it computernet (in a special conference 
otherwise it never would be traced back). This messages could be brought by others to 
nearby refugee centres in the hope that the person for which they are is in that particular 
centre (answers could be collected and send back to the original poster of the message, 
who takes it of his network and brings it to the centre he or she got it from in the first 
place).
Another solution would be to send out people (and that can even be done by public 
transport) with Laptops (with portable modem and small printer) to visit refugee camps 
(especially in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and BiH), which collects messages in an short of 
off-line BBS.  He or she can stay for a few days in a refugee centre and give people the 
possibility to type in there own messages (with their own private account on that BBS). 
Once a day this person can make a netcall, via a pay telephone to a central node, from 
where it travels further on the nets. 

A more expensive solution would be to use a desktop computer with mobile telephone 
installed in a small van for this (a camper to make the message collector more free to 
travel).

Also it would be possible to install computers for public use in every refugee centre, f.e. 
to be used for education purposes, which are open a few times a day to collect 
messages. Those computers don't have to be connected to a telephone line (first of all 
who will pay the telephone bills and secondly, maybe more important, it is nearly 
impossible to get telephone lines set up to refugee centres). The files which normally are 
send over the networks can be collected on diskettes and transmitted by some of the 
above mentioned ways.

So far the technical part. Now how it can be used.

Searching for people
----------------------------

The first thing for what it can be used is to trace people back. Names of persons who are 
looking for relatives and friends can be collected, both in centres in former Yugoslavia as 
well as abroad and put on the net in the hope that in the end a direct connection between 
those people can be established. Of course this need some co-ordination and people 
who are running up and down all those entries in the hope that some of them are looking 
for each other. That is if bringing the lists with print outs to refugee centres would work.

Communications between people in refugee centres
------------------------------------------------------------------------

After people have found each other, they probably want to stay in contact with each other 
and exchange messages (since normal post is often very very slow, to and from Croatia 
it can go up far over one week). This messages can be private, but also discussions 
about how to continue from here, bringing people from the same village of town back 
together and maybe they start to make plans for the future rebuilding.


To spread around news about the Home land
---------------------------------------------------------------

Many refugees abroad can't read or understand the news in newspapers and on 
television about there home country. Via electronic networks newsbulletin can be issued 
in which the latest news is given in their home languages.

Communications between people in refugee centres and others
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But of course it can also be used to bring people in contact with people in refugee 
centres who themselves don't live in such situation. F.e. support groups which like to 
collect materials for people in refugee centres can directly ask what is needed and stay 
in contact afterwards to see what happens with their aid. Schoolchildren al around the 
world can communicate with children of their own ages, which lives in different situation 
(not only the human contact will be good, but it helps people to learn English or any other 
foreign languages and modern history in a very attempting way).

For educational purposes
-----------------------------------

In many refugee centres there are not yet schools (although ins different centres they are 
building up there on educational system), a problem is that there are no books in the 
languages of the people from Bosnia in most of the countries where they are. Teachers 
can use electronic mail to do remote teaching and get help from specialist around the 
world.

Etc.
-----

There are of course a lot more things to think about, but I leave that to your own 
imagination.

How to establish this
-----------------------------

Since it is networking it can be build up in parts, as said before you can do it different 
ways and each way has it's own price. Groups around the world can find out what they 
can do, maybe some can donated only help on the own network, others can donated 
money to cover telephone and travel costs, other can maybe even donated a laptop 
computer or even a mobile unit. You never know.