Can you identify examples of refugees utilizing technology to maintain contact with the homeland?

@JonnyCeltics… you do realize the vast majority of refugees do not have electricity, basic food and water and therefore little or no access to social networking, right?

Those speaking for Somali refugee overcrowding in Kenya almost entirely in Minnesota – which has the highest population of Somalis anywhere outside of the African continent.

Haitians are not exactly refugees – as the vast majority of them remain IN Haiti living in tent housing. But again – they have little or no reliable electricity or running water—so social networking just isn’t on their radar.

Perhaps you should focus on 1st world groups like Japanese and New Zealanders (at least in Christchurch) displaced by earthquakes? There are large anti-nuclear online communities that have sprung up online (Facebook included) after last years quake/tsunami and the resulting nuclear meltdown in northern Honshu.

@geeky Mamma Yeah but I bet you they still have cell phones with international calling plans, unless natural disasters take out towers… People are still going to use their cell phones. Starving they will still use their cell phones.

I don’t know any personal stories of individuals using mobile technologies but here are a few things:

You might want to look at an organization called Refugees United

Here’s an article on the group

And here’s another one

also,

This might be interesting to you

There’s also an organization called Crisis Commons but I think they are more about using mobile technology to coordinate aid workers.

The Crisis Commons wiki

@GabrielsLamb Huh? In very poor countries the majority of those people don’t have cell phones. Depending on the natural disaster, there might not be any cell phone towers functioning. The best they can hope for is organizations having some sort of communication set up they can use.

@GabrielsLamb Look at the stats on this list.

Here are three more articles about Refugees United and how they are using cell phones to reunite refugees with there families with the help of Ericsson.

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

And just an extra bit o’ info in case you’re interested … here are some articles on different ways mobile phones and mobile technologies are being used in the developing world.