RESPECT International Blog

by Kelsey Parrish

Solomon Baimba, a 27-year-old information technology (IT) technician, is eager to take on the responsibility of representing RESPECT in his home country of Sierra Leone. In his current position at Xara Computer Training Institute in the capital city of Freetown, he teaches students about information technology.

As a RESPECT volunteer, he has plans “to expose the work of RESPECT to my country,” and to facilitate “active communication” between refugees in Sierra Leone and elsewhere. Though his passions are varied, Solomon has strong emotional ties to refugees and wants “to play a role in helping [them], whatever I do.”

This sympathy for refugees’ situations stems from Solomon’s turbulent young adulthood in Sierra Leone. Government corruption and illicit practices in the diamond trade erupted into a catastrophic and, as Solomon says, “senseless” civil war lasting for 11 years.

From 1991 to 2002, conflict between government-sanctioned authorities (primarily Nigerian troops in the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, or ECOMOG) and rebel forces (the Revolutionary United Front, or RUF) ravaged the country, leaving tens of thousands dead and more than two million persons displaced. Having witnessed the brutality, Solomon has “terrible stories” to tell about what he experienced.

One of the most upsetting memories for him to recall was a tragedy that happened within his own family.

“One of my cousins was killed by a Nigerian soldier,” he recounts. “He was a security guard, but he was mistaken for a rebel and shot immediately. The whole family mourned for that young man.” Solomon considers himself lucky to be alive, as many other young men were killed simply for finding food for their loved ones.

Though not one of the many casualties of the civil war, Solomon does feel the pain of being a refugee in his own country. Like many others, he now resides in Freetown.

“There are refugees in the capital city as well as in the provinces,” he says. “There are a lot of youths, children and elderly people as well: all are suffering for food, shelter, and basic needs. The situation is terrible…but you have to manage. Everyone is trying the best they can to help the refugees who have survived.”

Solomon intends to help improve the situation of refugees in Sierra Leone through the work of RESPECT. It has only been two weeks since Solomon became involved with the organization, but he has already registered a school. He looks forward to seeing his vision of a rebuilt Sierra Leone made real, saying hopefully: “There is a lot to come.”

Sources:

* BBC News – Country Profile: Sierra Leone

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1061561.stm

* Wikipedia – Sierra Leone Civil War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone_Civil_War

* U.S. Department of State – Background Note: Sierra Leone

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5475.htm

by Yi Ling Hwong

The Kakuma News Reflector, or KANERE, is an independent news magazine produced by Ethiopian, Congolese, Ugandan, Rwandan, Somali, Sudanese and Kenyan journalists operating in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. It is an independent refugee-run news source which has attracted considerable international attention.

On December 22, 2009, KANERE celebrated its first year of existence. For the past year, the news magazine has done a substantial amount of work in the fields of local news coverage, information sharing and international correspondence. The organization has received encouraging news coverage, archived under KANERE in the News.

In a letter to its readers, the editor of the online magazine stated that there were a few major changes and continuing uncertainty in the Kakuma Refugee Camp during the last six months.

This insecurity is reflected upon in a quote posted on the magazine from M.M., a Darfurian refugee who fled the Kakuma camp and is now in Nairobi: “I fear the man who shot me can still find me in the streets of Nairobi.”

Despite limitations to the operation and growing insecurity among refugees, Kanere is pressing on.

Some of the incidents highlighted include a refugee man who successfully thwarted an armed robbery by disarming the thugs; the relocation of thousands of Somali refugees to the Kakuma camp from Dadaab Camp.

The relocation has caused the Kakuma Camp’s population to swell to an estimated 53,000 refugees, resulting in congestion and other problems. Many activities have been carried out by humanitarian agencies in order to provide better service and protection to the new arrivals.

“When it comes to the issue of shelter, it was good at Daadab, but here [in Kakuma] we couldn’t even turn up. So we exchange our food rations for poles so as to erect tents with the materials,” read a post from a Somali new arrival to KANERE and mother of three children.

On the issue of health, a cholera outbreak currently threatens thousands, and the controversial “Mix-Me” nutritional supplement is going through another round of testing.

Health workers expressed concerns over hygiene in local spirit breweries and cited sub-standard food preparation at restaurants as a contributor to the cholera outbreak. Many of the bars in and around the Kakuma Camp have no latrines, while flies and other insects swarm the premises.

Health workers have suggested that these places be closed to prevent accelerated cholera spread of epidemic proportions. A Sudanese group leader agrees, stating that “people won’t enjoy alcohol when our people are dying.”

The editor of KANERE would like to thank its volunteer journalists, artists, editors, and supporters of KANERE for all the work done. It is hoped that these connections will strengthen and grow through the next year.

As Mr. Jackson Wachira, the KISWCD principal, said in a graduation ceremony speech at Kakuma: “I have a good message to take back to Nairobi. The conditions are not favorable and there is pain, but I can also see there’s hope.”

by Mohammed Riazuddin

Austin W Ngabwe, who was born on March 16, 1977, in Baraka, Democratic Republic of Congo, is a refugee now living in Kenya. Here in Kenya, he is volunteering with refugees from different countries such as D.R. Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan and Burundi.

He is also contact teacher at a school called Elite Friends Academy. Austin thanks Marc Schaeffer, founder and coordinator of RESPECT International, for helping his school to connect with many schools in the world through the letter exchange programme.

In the communities, refugees are facing numerous challenges, many of which they find hard to overcome in their present condition. Some of the major problems are:

• Lack of education among refugee communities: Because of this, they are not able to land a job. Austin sincerely appeals to organizations to come to their aid and provide some training institutions so that refugees may learn to be self reliant.He says that there are many youth in his community who have finished secondary education but they haven’;t attended college/university or any training institution. He feels that this situation is very dangerous because it could lead them to other abnormal behavior such as alcohol, drugs, gangs, etc.
• Maternity complications: This is a very big problem for women in this area. Community members are not able to pay the maternity bill and most of them give birth at home because they are not working. Just last year, they had four cases of child mortality in his community.
• Lack of proper food and shelter: Food and shelter are sensitive elements for refugee communities where the majority of the families have only one meal a day. Sometimes, even that is not guaranteed because some spend all day without getting food. Right now they have three families who had to leave their house and are living in the church because they haven’t been able to pay their house bill.

Elite Friends Academy is where the majority of the children from refugee and poor family communities are gaining free education. As of now, they have 85 children in the school. The challenges they face are lack of proper food, uniform, books, and other learning materials.

Austin understands that children cannot concentrate and perform well in class if they are not properly fed. He is planning to have a feeding programme that can be offered both at school and in the community at large.

by Luba Salam

Donna Graham is a sixth grade teacher in Detroit, Michigan, USA, who, over the past 18 years, has taught in diverse communities. She is teaching world history this year and feels refugee-related subjects would be a good fit to the curriculum.

She found RESPECT International as part of a link from her school website and identified well with the mission of the organization. Donna believes that collaborating with RESPECT and through its letter exchange program she, along with her students, can better learn about refugees, their lives and their issues as well as how local and international policies affect refugees.

Donna’s class is participating in a letter exchange program with some Liberian refugee students. According to her, building bridges among young people is very important and she looks forward to having a great relationship with their new pen friends in Liberia.

She and her students are very excited about making new friends and Donna feels the letters will make her lessons about global matters less abstract for the students. She wants them to understand that there are real people who are affected positively and negatively by the decisions of their governments and private businesses.

Her students have already received letters from the Liberian students. The letters were short; most stated their names, ages and tribes and a few told what their hobbies were.

But the Detroit students have responded with longer letters. At the same time they were sensible enough to make sure they didn’t end up bragging while talking about themselves.

As one of the students mentioned: “I did not want them to think I was bragging ’cause I had a new Xbox and bunch of new games.”

Donna had a discussion with them on the importance of ideas and not just material stuff.

In collaboration with RESPECT, Donna would like to support not only the letter writing effort, but also the efforts to raise awareness by introducing the organization to others in her school and encouraging them to write letters. She also has plans for arranging fundraiser activities. Her goals also include reminding other teachers to address the refugee issues when they teach, as it could be incorporated into any subject.

Donna thinks RESPECT can be more far reaching and effective with a major effort to increase awareness of the issue. She feels it is so easy to get caught up in life’s day-to-day demands, that issues like this get pushed to the side until they affect us directly.

When she began discussing this organization with other teachers she found that they were interested in knowing more. She is hopeful that her class will continue writing when they leave her for seventh grade.

Country:

• Democratic Republic of the Congo

Description:

• Bangwe Primary School is located in the Fizi territory, in the city of Makobola.
• Our school has 167 students. It is organised in three grades.
• The students’ parents are vulnerable and most students are orphans.

Comments:

• 30 students are interested by RESPECT International programme and would like to find a penpal. The life of the school children is very dangerous due to the vulnerability of their parents. We are asking to help these unhappy children. Without your support, nothing can be done.