RESPECT International Blog

Refugees are people who flee their country because of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular political group. A refugee either cannot return home, or is afraid to do so.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been forced to flee their homes because of war or dangers. Unlike refugees, they remain in their own country. There are no specific international human rights laws to protect IDPs.

Every day, people become refugees to escape persecution or war. The persecution can be in the form of physical violence, harassment and wrongful arrest, or threats to their or their family’s lives. Exposed to danger if they remain in their own countries, refugees may have to face and survive mistreatment during their flight. Further danger may await them on arrival in the country of asylum. Teenagers are among the most vulnerable in any refugee population to the effects of violence.

Further information about refugees can be found on the United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR) website.
Refugee Education

Many potential volunteers may enquire where the scientific proof of effectiveness for the provision of remote education to refugees is. Most services these days are evaluated, piloted, and monitored formally in order to justify their existence. Furthermore, sustainability is a keyword for those who work in developing countries.

According to the UNHCR education is increasingly viewed as the “fourth pillar” or the “central pillar” of humanitarian response, alongside the pillars of nourishment, shelter and health services. The sudden and often violent onset of emergencies, the disruption of families and community structures deeply affect the physical and psychological wellbeing of refugee children. Education provides opportunities for students, their families and communities to begin, develop and maintain the trauma healing process and normalcy, and to learn the skills and values needed for a more peaceful future and better governance at local and national levels.

The restoration of education brings its widely recognized benefits – such as a contribution to productivity and economic development. It can also contribute to social stability by engaging young people in sustained constructive activity and self-development. There are also long-term implications for social cohesion: it is undesirable for one group of the population to be severely under-educated relative to other groups, especially where there is an ethnic dimension.

Schooling for girls leads to lower child and maternal mortality rates and increased female participation in economic and political decision-making. UNHCR worker Jacinta Goveas commented that children serve as a “release mechanism” for adults’ feelings of anger and hatred and that the adults’ conscious or unconscious indoctrination of children may lead to renewal of conflict in the next generation. She noted that children were taught songs about blood and revenge – but that given other subjects, they – and their teachers – responded favorably.

It is stated that where crisis arises due to ethnic conflict, it is crucial for humanitarian agencies to participate in the emergency education process rather than leaving it only to the community. Otherwise, local schools (possibly reflecting one side of the conflict) may become channels for transmitting hatred to the next generation, leading to additional crises in the future. Schools – and education in general – represent a mechanism to get “survival messages” to the community, in particular for adolescents, who may otherwise be prone to engage in militia training and other antisocial activities, or to suffer depression.

To find out more of take part visit us here: http://university.respectrefugees.org/

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.

RESPECT USA aims to enable schools in the USA to support refugee education by:

1. Increasing awareness of refugee issues in North American schools. This is done by distributing information packages to interested teachers including a full directory of refugee related teaching materials for all ages that can be ordered from various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for FREE.
2. Increasing communication between refugee youth and North American youth. We introduce a class or a school to a refugee schools in countries such as Azerbaijan, Guinea, and Kenya. Upon making the first exchange of letters, we consider that refugee school sponsored.
3. Encouraging activism amongst youth by encouraging North American schools to fund-raise and send material aid to their sponsored schools. After a couple of exchanges of letters and pictures we encourage the sponsoring bodies to try a fund-raiser to send material goods (from used microscopes to solar-powered calculators to pencils) to refugee schools in various countries.

Schools in Washington, Kentucky, and Connecticut are currently involved in RESPECT USA. Future goals include RESPECT to be implemented by high schools, adult literacy groups, and youth groups throughout all states, and to raise the level of refugee education and awareness.

http://respectrefugees.org/aff_usa.shtml

Sign Up Your Class
for RESPECT’s Letter Exchange Program

Our number one project is to introduce refugee and non-refugee students through our pen-pal letter exchange program. We receive letters from refugee students which we then forward to a non-refugee school. The students then reply to the letters, and new friendships are born.

Through this interaction students not only learn about another culture, but the experience can be used to help teach other subjects including:

* Language arts – teaching students how express themselves when they write letters.
* Geography – learning about other countries will take on new meaning because the students know someone in ‘that part of the world.’
* Math – learning about how much postage is needed to send the letters.

We ask non-refugee schools to include 2 or 3 international reply coupons with their replies to help defray the cost of postage.

Select one of the links below to learn more about how you and your students can participate.

Non-refugee School Information

Refugee School Information

A. Some information

- Any initiative that can promote the use of solar energy in our communities is welcome. This would be a window of opportunity for our organization “Artists for Humanity” (ArtHum), to explore the field of activity related to environmental protection, which has remained hitherto in our imagination, and many other related actions, despite the intentions of what we undertake.

- Long ago ArtHum was looking for an organization or network as a partner to develop certain activities on land, where activities that require both technical support and financial and material support. In other words, it would be unrealistic for our association, composed of people who volunteered for community causes during a decade (from December 1999 to date), to pretend to participate in this initiative without financial assistance and material consistent. Only with this kind of assistance we can return durability and increase our commitment to the cause of humanity.

- The term “refugee communities of war” should imply refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their host communities as they are all subject to the same fate, and this in several ways.

- Moreover, the country where the ArtHum association is based, the Democratic Republic of Congo is full of large tracts of forest and large rivers that are resource rich and compelling, a border area of interest and transcontinental for nature conservation and protection of threatened species of flora and fauna. Constituting much of what is called the “Congo Basin”, already proclaimed as world heritage, this forest and these rivers are exposed to enormous threats of destruction and abuse, which the need to find affirmative ways to limit  damage and reduce risks related to such threats by providing local communities with their African peers and partners in the international community, alternatives instead of using firewood and other deforestation practices.

- In the same country (DRC), with similarities in other communities in neighboring states, people are experimenting with certain waterborne diseases and epidemics that decimated due to the use of untreated drinking water (or non-pasteurized), whereas in a cooking system that does not cost much in terms of energy and other resources such as solar cookers, these epidemics and water borne diseases can be considerably prevented.

- Based on these realities, it is for us ArtHum members a civic duty to support the initiative called “cook food with only the sun: the solar cooker. ”

The use of these cookers can be very useful in our communities. We could use instead of “braisiers (cookers charcoal Bambule commonly called), wood fireplaces, electric stoves, kerosene stoves and ovens called” improved “.

The main difficulties we can mention, in anticipation, is not primarily on the use of solar cookers, but it is mainly related to material resources, financial and human resources (trainers trained & motivated) for preparation of participants an effective awareness campaign on land and supplying equipment to the needy population.

Open collaboration!

RESPECT University was established to provide post-secondary instruction to refugee students under the guidance of tutors from around the world. We see this as a logical extension of the mission of RESPECT International to link refugee and non-refugee schools worldwide.

To accomplish this:

• We use experienced teachers who want to use their knowledge and experience to help teach students in refugee schools.
• Many of our tutors develop their own curriculum on a subject in one of their areas of expertise.
• RESPECT International then matches the tutor with a group of students. RESPECT facilitates the initial contact between the tutor and the students, and helps, as needed, to coordinate the learning process.
• Each class normally consists of six students.
• Teaching and learning are carried out by correspondence, using conventional postal mail services, although contact with local coordinators is maintained via email. The tutor sends a series of assignments which the students complete and then return to the teacher for comments and feedback. (Each assignment can take a month or more to be returned to the tutor because of limited postal service to areas occupied by refugees.)

If you are an experienced teacher, and are interested in volunteering to be a tutor, please complete our Tutor Information form. You will be asked for your name, contact details, qualifications and experience, subjects taught, and so on. Our coordinator will contact you, usually by email, within a week to discuss available opportunities.

If you are someone working with refugee students, and you feel your students would benefit from the educational opportunities RESPECT University can offer, complete a request form. You will be asked forcontact details, number of students, subjects of interest, and so on. Our coordinator evaluates your request and determines whether volunteers are available to meet your needs. Once that is completed, we will be in touch with the contact listed in the request.

In the future, we hope to expand the role of the University by:

• providing online courses on the web site for print out or for online study
• converting the course information and assignments from successful courses into web pages, to provide an on-line resource bank of learning materials.

If you have any questions or comments about RESPECT University, you can email our coordinator at university@respectrefugees.org.

If you do not yet wish to register as volunteer teacher or a student coordinator, but would like to be kept informed of developments of the University, please subscribe to our e-Zine.