Here it is the very First Issue of the Magazine edited by RESPECT REFUGEES International that includes the most important articles from the E-zines published in 2009 and the beginning of 2010.
Hope you will enjoy reading the magazine and you will share this with your friends.
Available from now at RESPECT TV the new TV channel as support to all refugees people around the world.
The goal of the project is to let people understand deeper and deeper life of refugees people and see with their own eyes what is going on apart from their lives.
The following letter was submitted to RESPECT International from the principal of the Calvary Baptist Church School in Monrovia, Liberia, seeking help to rebuild its system.
To Whom It May Concern
The Calvary Baptist Church School System was established in 1964 by a group of Mid-Baptist Missionaries from the United States of America, who two years earlier established the Calvary Baptist Church.
The purpose of establishing the school was threefold:
To provide kids with a strong foundation in reading, writing, and speaking.
To impact sound Biblical training as a basis upon which spiritual and moral foundation of kids can be built.
To cater to the educational needs of the Children of church members.
RESPECT International continues to dedicate all the resources possible to improve the education of refugee students. In order to help more people there is a need for more resources. To find out ways in which you can help please visit our website. http://www.respectrefugees.org/
RESPECT (Refugee Education Sponsorship Program – Enhancing Communities Together) is hosting an international poster contest! Students from all parts of the world, Azerbaijan to Canada, Japan to Zimbabwe, will be using their creativity and artistic talent to further RESPECT’s mission of promoting awareness of refugee issues among non-refugee students.
Contest Theme
We begin the poster contest by having students worldwide brainstorm the theme. Once the theme is decided, students create drawings or paintings based on the theme. Send your suggestions to: postercontest@respectrefugees.org.
Winning Entries
Winners will be selected in several age categories among refugee and non-refugee students, as well has categories for computer generated posters. Last year’s contest had thirty participants, from China, Thailand and USA. We selected a winners in the following categories.
Non-refugee 6-9 years-old
Non-refugee 10-11 years-old
Non-refugee 12-13 years-old
Non-refugee 14-18 years-old
As in years past, this year we are looking forward to selecting winners from among entries sent in by refugee students.
Ghana has the largest refugee and asylum seeker population of any country in west Africa with over 31,000. Many of these refugees are from Liberia and are staying in the Buduburam settlement near Accra. This camp has existed for over twenty years and hosts 40,000 refugees from the Liberian civil war. In 2008 the governments of both Ghana and Liberia along with UNHCR reinitiated a voluntary repartiation program to allow Liberians to return to their counrty of origin. Half the Liberian refugee population in Ghana were offered the chance to return to Liberia and the UNHCR has helped thousands to return by air whilst many more are returning of their own accord.
25,000 people living in the camp are formar Liberian child soldiers. Children who from as young as nine were taught to hate and kill one another but who now live together in the camp.
Part of allowing these children to recover from their traumatic experiences in education. This lets them know that they have not been forgotten and gives them some hope for a brighter future. RESPECT International is dedicated to providing free education to as many refugee students in Ghana as possible.
To celebrate the inauguration of the new Online United Nations Volunteer (UNV) site on December 5, 2008, AshokPillai, RESPECT University coordinator, was invited to participate through video conference as an online volunteer of RESPECT University at UNV, India, New Delhi.
The UNV headquarters are in Bonn, Germany, and held here the conference was attended by local online volunteers and officials. The event provided an opportunity to highlight the value of online volunteers. Ashok informed the audience of RESPECT International’s programs and the opportunities it creates for both refugee students and their online volunteer tutors, both of whom gain immense satisfaction from the experience.
“RESPECT University may be about post-secondary education to refugees and IDPs, but it also formed a bridge which brought people on both sides of the fence closer. RESPECT University is a virtual institution yet it holds out hope for a better tomorrow for the less privileged.
Those present seemed to appreciate the work of online volunteers associated with RESPECT University and its work and achievements may be documented in an effort to inspire others to join online volunteering.” MohammedRiazuddin
“Even Einstein was a refugee, and the difference between success and failure is determination.”
This is a quotation from BilombeleAsukulu: a refugee originally from Democratic Republic of Congo who fled to Nyarugusu Refugee Camp in the United Republic of Tanzania in 1996. Whilst living in the camp he was struck by the hopeless situation the youths of the camp found themselves in. After escaping violence in Congo they now had no education and no way to build a future for themselves.
What little that could be done for them was done. Holding classes under a tree with no blackboard or materials. Some of the youths gave up, some returned to Congo to join the militias whilst a few remained in education. Seeking to bring hope to the young people he started NECH: New Educational Center for Hope.
He made contact with RESPECT International in 2003 via the Internet. This contact enabled him to use RESPECTs experience and resources to affect change in his community. Some of the activities now available in the camp are letter exchange programs, RESPECT University programs, HIV/AIDS campaigns, human rights campaigns, peace and reconciliation education, conflict resolution education, orphans education sponsorship and unmarried mother support.
Currently, there are 130 children in NECH, with funding for materials coming from fees paid by students, founding members contributions and donations. In the future Bilombele hope to continue building on what he has started and provide more resources, including books, to aid the children’s learning.
To find out more about the work RESPECT is doing please click here.
Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, serves people who have been forcibly displaced from their home countries due to war or persecution from countries such as Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia andSudan. It is administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and, according to their current statistics, the camp population stands at just under 50,000 refugees.
Produced by journalists from each of the countries of origin is the independant news magazine KANERE, or the Kakuma News Reflector. The magazine was started to create a more open vision of society within the refugee camp and a platform for fair public debate on refugee affairs. The magazine contents include:
a letter from the editor introducing the contents
Arts
Community and Culture
Education
Health
Peace and Security
Human Rights
News Updates
Also, international contributers add to the online magazine. A print version of this is distrubuted within the camp.
The opportunity for communication that this magazine provides in invaluable to the refugees. Once they are admitted to the camp they cannot move freely around the country but must apply for a permit. The refugees now have a voice and readerc can learn what life in a refugee camp is really like from the people who live there day in day out.
Located in Kampala, Uganda, the RESPECT University students are urban refugees whose countries of origin include Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Somalia, and Burundi. Due to wars and genocides in the surrounding countries Uganda has witnessed an influx of refugees. Many of these people go straight to the capital Kampala while others move there from the refugee camps seeking more opportunities and better living conditions.
One of the problems the refugees face is that they don’t speak English. This hinders their day to day existence as they cannot communicate what they want. It also impacts their futures because they cannot study at English speaking universities, apply for jobs or testify in court against the people responsible for violence and discrimination against them. Also without regular paid work they cannot afford to pay for medical care or education.
This is where the RESPECT Functional Adult Literacy Program comes in. It offers refugees free adult literacy courses. This enables the students to improve their lives and the lives of their families.
The Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) at Refugee Law Project (RLP) is currently coordinating the following courses with RESPECT University: Early Childhood Development, International Human Rights (English), International Human Rights (French), International Relations, Business Administration, Small and Medium Business, Persuasive Writing, and Information Technology. A total of 62 students are enrolled in these courses.
The program started with the placement of a small notice inviting people who were interested to fill out registration forms. At this stage there were no tutors and so subjects that would be taught were yet to be decided upon. Therefore, the students were asked what they would be interested in learning, after which RESPECT University coordinator, AshokPillai, connected them with tutors. Interest in the program was far greater than initially anticipated.
Many students were keen to learn English. This would enable them to continue their education in English speaking universities or relocate to English-speaking countries. Some wanted to be able t read newspapers of listen to news broadcasts to keep up to date with world affair and the situations in their own countries. Others wanted to become English teachers or work as interpreters. Some simply wanted to make their daily lives in Kampala easier by improved communication.
Ernest Bugumba was born in Uvira, South Kiivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1988 Ernest survived only on rain water as he walked for a week to a refugee camp after he escaped a massacre in Makabola, Uvira. He completed his education in the Republic of South Africa, gaining a diploma in Information Technology. He believes in positive thinking and the power of encouraging and inspiring youths.
Today he is the founder and executive secretary of Assembly of Good News for all Nations Youth (AGNY) which is a refugee organisation for children and youths in Republic of South Africa. The organisation aims to educate refugee children from a variety of African countries to empower and prepare them for the future.
Ernest plans to expand the organisation by setting up a computer centre for refugee children and youth to help with their training and education. He also plans to work with RESPECT in a cultural letter exchange with the students. This gives them the opportunity to exchange stories and make friends, giving them hope for a better future.
He also wants to help refugees who are disabled, affected by HIV/AIDS and living with the effects of xenophobic attacks despite the challenges of not having enough resources like computers, study materials or finance.
Recent Comments