WUNRN
https://medium.com/thelist/finding-hope-amidst-the-world-of-refugees-be2d4219ece7
Finding Hope Amidst the World of Refugees - Gender
Young school children
located in the Kwangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda
By
Susan McPherson* - June 8, 2015
Having traveled extensively
during my 50 years, I’ve witnessed extreme poverty and heart-wrenching
situations, when I lived in Bucharest, Romania as a young child, volunteered my
time in Kabul, Afghanistan and traveled as a tourist through remote parts of
Laos, Vietnam and war-torn Sri Lanka. But none came close to what I witnessed
first hand in the refugee camps and settlements in Kenya and Uganda. As a USA
for UNHCR board member, my goal in visiting these camps was
two-fold. One, I wanted to gain insight so I could authentically share the
stories of individual refugees’ lives and two, I could help develop some unique
business and entrepreneurial solutions to improve their livelihoods.
During our recent journey, we traveled to the Kakuma Camp in northwestern Kenya where over 200,000 refugees
reside. It’s about a 2-hour flight from Nairobi and we made the trek on a Monday
morning in early May 2015. The camp’s population consists of those that have
fled from civil strife in South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia. The camp is also host
to refugees from Ethiopia, D.R. Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea and Uganda.
As soon as the airplane door opened, we immediately
noticed the barren, dry land as far as our eyes could see. Trees were a rarity
and massive amounts of dust was swirling about. Attempting to grow anything in
this land’s soil would clearly be an extreme challenge.
UNHCR housing huts lay row after row. It was not a
pleasant picture and it was clear that those living here faced enormous
challenges to find work, raise their children and have any hope for a better
future. Nonetheless, they had a safe place to escape to and were provided
rations of water, food and electricity. What is unfortunate, however, is very
few can return to their homelands for the foreseeable future and they must make
the most of their current day-to-day lives.
We met a South Sudanese mother who had walked over 350
miles while 8 months pregnant, carrying her two young children.
We visited with 20 school students who ranged in age
from 6 to 17, all in the same classroom. We met a group of men who were
learning to type on computers in the technical training program using almost
ancient Windows machines.
When
asked why there were no women, we were told that so few complete secondary
school and without doing so, they could not apply.
Following our visit in Kenya, we traveled to Uganda, a
country that is known to be more hospitable to refugees as they are not forced
to reside in camps, but rather are placed in “settlements.” Some also can live
in urban locations such as Kampala, where we spent some time. During our visit
to this sprawling city, we met with community refugee leaders who shared some
of their challenges and struggles. Although, they are allowed to work under
Ugandan law, given the high-rate of unemployment in the country, most urban
refugees are unable to secure a job. Many complained of lack of viable
education opportunities for their children and less than palatable health care
services. Part of the population fled from the Democratic Republic of Congo,
speaks French and has lived in Uganda now for more than 10 years. Others fled
from South Sudan, Rwanda, and other neighboring countries.
The remainder of our journey included two days spent in
the Kwangali Refugee Settlement, a sprawling “village”
located in the Hoima district in the southwestern corner of the country and
only reachable via a long and arduous two-three hour drive over unpaved, bumpy
roads. We visited an elementary school, which was in disrepair, but were
welcomed by fifty-plus school children singing upon our arrival.
We
learned that there was only one secondary school to serve over 49,000 people
and the actual number of students topped out at 400.
For many students, the journey that would need to walk
each day would range from 15–19 kilometers. How could any parent feel
comfortable sending his or her child on such a trek on a daily basis?
The sheer isolation of the area was troubling and made
one wonder how those who live there could ever actually consider being
integrated into their host country.
During much of the journey one could certainly feel a
sense of hopelessness. At many points, I found myself asking what could I
realistically do to help improve these peoples’ lives. Finally, however, I
found some optimism after meeting a young urban refugee, known as Ikayak
Martha, a 24-year-old student born in South Sudan.
Ikayak Martha
Martha lost her father when she was four. He was killed
in the civil conflict in that country. With danger looming, Martha and her
mother fled across the border into Uganda to the refugee settlement where her
grandparents had already gone.
While no one would choose to live in such a place, there
was one very real benefit that Martha would soon take to her advantage. The
settlement had a school funded by UNHCR. If Martha had stayed in South Sudan,
she would have had less than a 50/50 chance of ever attending school.
Then tragedy struck again. When she was in fourth grade,
her mother died, and she was left in the care of her elderly grandparents.
Thankfully, she had caretakers, but it could not have been an easy road for
this young woman. Martha set her sights on secondary school. But secondary
school cost money, and there was none. She would go no further, but she would
not be alone. In that part of Africa, secondary education is a luxury few girls
enjoy. Less than one South Sudanese woman out of a hundred completes secondary
education. At this time, Martha became one of the fortunate girls. She became
the recipient of a scholarship from Windle Trust International.
“My
colleagues and I studied so hard,” she said, “bearing in mind that (education)
was the only tool we could use to change the status quo.”
And that she did. Not only did she complete secondary
school, she attended college. She applied to and was admitted to one of the
most prestigious universities in Uganda. An uncle came through to cover the
costs, but after two years the money was gone. Martha was forced to withdraw.
However, one-year later, a program funded by one of UNHCR’s donor governments,
Germany, came through with a program called the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative or DAFI.
“Armed with only the hope of a guardian angel to rescue my situation, I
withdrew,”
At this time, Martha just completed the final
requirements for graduation from Kyambogo University. She believes that her
engineering degree will help her build a technology infrastructure that will
bring Uganda into the developed world and is looking to the future with
optimism.
Martha is a role-model for girls everywhere.
While she may not know it, what she has accomplished is
insurmountable.
Students
like Martha are needed so we can shine a light on the potential of refugees and
refugee children around the world. Their numbers are growing and their
potential is tremendous.
*Susan McPherson
is a serial connector who believes business can be a force for good. She’s
founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a social-good communications
consultancy in New York City.