Interconnections between children's upbringing, camps, and post-war villages: caregivers' lived experiences in northern Uganda.

Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, the erection of camps within and across state borders has become the most common response to the influx of displaced persons. Based on empirical evidence from northern Uganda, this paper aims to provide answers to two main questions: (i) how does the camp influence and frame the upbringing of children?; and (ii) how do caregivers shape and adjust upbringing within this setting and when they return to their 'former homes' ? Interviews and focus-group discussions were conducted with 48 caregivers living in Kitgum District, northern Uganda. Deductive thematic analysis was employed to structure participants' accounts of past and present interconnections between upbringing and (previous) encampment. By paying close attention to their (counter-)narratives, people's agency and coping are emphasised through the simultaneous forging of new interconnections (that is, discontinuities) and holding on to old interconnections (that is, continuities) between upbringing, the camp, and the post-war village.

A Sanctioned Encampment as a Strategy for Increasing Homeless Veterans' Access to Housing and Healthcare During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic intersected with a housing crisis for unsheltered Veterans experiencing homelessness (VEHs); congregate settings became high risk for viral spread. The VA Greater Los Angeles responded by creating the Care, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Service (CTRS), an outdoor, low-barrier-to-entry transitional housing program on VA grounds. This novel emergency initiative offered a protected outdoor environment ("sanctioned encampment") where VEHs lived in tents and had access to three meals a day, hygiene resources, and health and social services. OBJECTIVE: To identify contextual factors that supported and impeded CTRS participants' access to healthcare and housing services. DESIGN: Multi-method, ethnographic data collection. PARTICIPANTS: VEHs residing at CTRS, CTRS staff. APPROACH: Over 150 hours of participant observation were conducted at CTRS and at eight town hall meetings; semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 VEHs and 11 staff. Rapid turn-around qualitative analysis was used to synthesize data, engaging stakeholders in iterative participant validation. Content analysis techniques were used to identify key factors that impacted access to housing and health services among VEHs residing in CTRS. KEY RESULTS: Staff varied in their interpretation of CTRS' mission. Some conceptualized access to health services as a central tenet, while others viewed CTRS as an emergency shelter only. Regardless, staff burnout was prevalent, which lead to low morale, high turnover, and worsened access to and quality of care. VEHs endorsed trusting, long-term relationships with CTRS staff as paramount for facilitating access to services. Though CTRS addressed basic priorities (food, shelter, etc.) that traditionally compete with access to healthcare, some VEHs needed on-site healthcare services, at their tents, to access care. CONCLUSIONS: CTRS provided VEHs access to basic needs and health and housing services. To improve access to healthcare services within encampments, our data suggest the value of longitudinal trusting relationships, adequate staff support, and on-site health services.

Purity, Danger, and Patriotism: The Struggle for a Veteran Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic rendered congregate shelter settings high risk, creating vulnerability for people experiencing homelessness (PEH). This study employed participant observation and interviews over 16 months in two Veteran encampments, one located on the grounds of the West Los Angeles Veteran Affairs Medical Center (WLAVA) serving as an emergency COVID-19 mitigation measure, and the other outside the WLAVA gates protesting the lack of onsite VA housing. Study participants included Veterans and VA personnel. Data were analyzed using grounded theory, accompanied by social theories of syndemics, purity, danger, and home. The study reveals that Veterans conceptualized home not merely as physical shelter but as encompassing a sense of inclusion and belonging. They sought a Veteran-run collective with a harm reduction approach to substance use, onsite healthcare, and inclusive terms (e.g., no sobriety requirements, curfews, mandatory treatment, or limited lengths of stay). The twin encampments created distinct forms of community and care that protected Veterans from COVID-19 infection and bolstered collective survival. The study concludes that PEH constitute and belong to communities that provide substantial benefits even while amplifying certain harms. Housing interventions must consider how unhoused individuals become, or fail to become, integrate into various communities, and foster therapeutic community connections.

"They have their security, we have our community": Mutual support among people experiencing homelessness in encampments in Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unaffordable housing is a growing crisis in Canada, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, yet perspectives of people living outdoors in encampments have primarily gone unheard. We conducted qualitative interviews with encampment residents to explore how mutual support occurred within the social context of encampments. We found that mutually supportive interactions helped residents meet basic survival needs, as well as health and social needs, and reduced common health and safety risks related to homelessness. The homelessness sector should acknowledge that encampment residents form their own positive communities, and ensure policies and services do not isolate people from these beneficial social connections.

Geopolitical Borders and Psychic Borders: Is a Dialogue Possible? Toward a Geoclinical Practice Centered on the Subject of Migrants.

As the current burning topic of border closures demonstrates-whether they result from the Covid-19 pandemic or the construction of anti-migrant walls-in today's world, borders are making a comeback. My experience as a researcher in France's Calais Jungle, a migrant encampment situated close to the border with the United Kingdom-as well as the case study of a refugee patient seen in psychanalytic consultation in Paris-serves to demonstrate how the experience of borders enduringly affects the psyches and bodies of migrants. This article examines the close relationship between psychic life and geopolitical life, as well as the way in which the border experience desubjectivizes as much as it opens up the possibility of resubjectivation.

Atividade criadora no MST: o acampamento como “berço da criatividade” / Creative activity in mst: encampment as “cradle of creativity” / Actividad creadora en el mst: acampamiento como “cuna de la creatividad”

Este artigo trata de algumas discussões que foram empreendidas numa pesquisa mais ampla, que teve como objetivo geral compreender a mediação da música no MST em Santa Catarina. A pesquisa aconteceu por meio de um estudo em contextos e eventos coletivos neste estado, sendo que os recursos utilizados para construção das informações foram a entrevista, o diário de campo e a filmagem. As discussões neste texto versam sobre a atividade criadora e sobre o acampamento do MST como um contexto de criação de músicas, de sujeitos e modos de resistir e existir. Em relação à atividade criadora, estão presentes as contribuições teóricas, principalmente, de Vygotski e Vázquez. As criações das músicas no MST estão ancoradas, sobretudo, no cotidiano dos Sem Terra, sendo que o acampamento é o contexto onde a maioria das canções é criada...

This article approaches some discussions that were undertaken on a larger study, which aimed the general objective of comprehending the mediation of music in MST in Santa Catarina. The research happened through a study in collective contexts and events in this State, and the resources used for the construction of information were the interview, the field diary and filming. The discussions refer to creative activity and to encampment in MST as a context of creation of music, of subjects and ways of resisting and existing. Concerning creative activity, theoretical contributions are presented, mainly from Vygotski and Vázquez. Creations of songs in MST are anchored, above all, to the everyday of the landless, and the encampment is the context where most of the songs are created...

Este artículo trata de algunas discusiones que fueran emprendidas en una investigación más amplia, que tuvo como objetivo general comprender la mediación de la música en el Movimiento de los Trabajadores Rurales Sin Tierra, en Santa Catarina - Brasil (MST). La investigación se dio por medio de un estudio en contextos y eventos colectivos, siendo que los recursos utilizados para la construcción de las informaciones fueran la entrevista, el diario de campo y la grabación en película. Las discusiones en este texto son a cerca de la actividad creadora y del acampamiento del MST como un contexto de creación de músicas, de sujetos y maneras de resistir y existir. A respeto de la actividad creadora, están presentes las contribuciones teóricas, principalmente, de Vygotski y Vázquez. Las creaciones de las músicas en el MST están fundamentadas, sobretodo, en su cotidiano, siendo que el acampamiento es el contexto donde la mayoría de las canciones son creadas...

A survey on diseases suffering in 5 068 members of rescue teams in Weachuan earthquake / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective To investigate the incidence of diseases in member of rescue teams in the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province.Method Twenty days afer the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008,5 068 resucing staff of rescue learns as random and cluster sample were investigated and analyzed to find the factors impacting their fitness associated with their characters,diseases,work,and encampment styles.Results Members of rescue teams suffered from the following diseases:insect dermatitis (18.37%),tinea pedis (10.83%),acute upper respiratory infection (10.56%)and solar dermatitis (6.20%).Contrasted by work tasks,staff resucing on the front line had the highest incidence of acute upper-respiratory infection(11.04%) ,logistics workers had the highest incidence of tinea pedis(15.21% ),and more patients of acute gastroenteritis,insect dermatitis,gingivitis emerged from medical personnel group(P<0.05).The encampment sites were devided into three sorts:plain land,hillside and valley.The staff stayed at valley had higher incidence of acute upper respiratory infection (24.90%),insect dermatitis (36.50%) and tinca pedis (20.02%)than those worked at plain land and hillside (P<0.01).The incidence of acute gastroerrteritis(1.26%) ha staff resides hillside is lower than that in valley or plain land (P<0.05).Conclusions In the period of rescue actions in the guake-hit region,the members of rescue teams suffered from famihar diseases such as dermatitis and acute upper-respiratory infection,etc.The incidence of diseases is associated with their work tasks and the topography of cantonment.