RESPECT International Blog

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.

Have you ever wondered where RESPECT International has its headquarters? Or how to become a RESPECT volunteer?

These and other important questions are answered in RESPECT’s newly published Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Take some time to learn more about RESPECT and its Global Letter Exchange. There is a separate FAQ with information for refugee schools and non-refugee schools.

What if your question isn’t answered? Then email it to our webmaster and he will make sure you get an answer and will add the question to the FAQ.

An affiliate of Respect International Respect Ghana acts as a bridge between the refugee population in Ghana and the international community.

A dedicated team of volunteers works to raise awareness of refugee issues in Ghana. They are always working to build new ideas for raising awareness and linking refugee students with non-refugee students. They have a number of plans for the future towards these ends and readily collaborate with any organisation that is working for human rights and refugee issues.

RESPECT Ghana: Working for durable solutions

• Resettlement: RESPECT Ghana believes that this option needs to be explored fully to allow refugees to settle permenantly in a third country if they are unable to return to their country of origin or integrate sucessfully in their country of asylum.  This is a unique way for developed countries to help protect and support refugees who in turn have opportunities to contribute in other ways to their new communities.
• Repatriation: The descision to return to their country of origin must be taken by the refugees themselves and any return must be safe and dignified for the refugees and their families.
• Local Integration: The aggreement of a host country for the refugees to remain their permenantly.   There need to be opportunities for refugees to earn a living and become self-reliant in their host countries.   They need to be full members of the community without discrimination but also allowed to keep their own cultural identity.

RESPECT Ghana also actively pursues and supports innovatinve project schemes by refugees themselves.

How You Can Help

The first step is to recognise that refugees are not a threat but that they themselves are threatened.  They are ordinary people who need protection.

• You and members of your community can encourage the government to addopt policies at home and abroad which help refugees find peace and safety.
• You can support financially through donations and by providing International Reply Coupons for Our Global Letter Exchange Programs.

• Your ideas and information as well as proposals for projects or educational materials for refugees will be an incredible resource for the Refugee Communities we serve.

• Individuals and organization willing to partner with RESPECT Ghana and help make its dreams and plans become a reality, please do not hesitate. Kindly contact the Country Coordinator or the International coordinator.

• Country Coordinator
• RESPECT Ghana
• c/o FOBET
• Ayifli Fred Kodzo
• PO Box TA84,
• Ghana-Accra
• Tel – (233) 20-8160450
• ghana@respectrefugees.org

Respect Ghana

To learn more about our Global Letter Exchange click here.

Art teacher at Immaculate Conception High School Virgina Hernadez and her students raised some money to send art supplies to students in Elite Friends Academy in Nairobi, Kenya. They had a bake sale to raise to money. In the photograph Viginia Hernandez is holding a basket of the supplies they sent and the students are taking part in RESPECTs Annual Poster Contest. (For the results of the poster contest see below)

The students from this school were given these supplies by their teacher, Austin W. Ngabwe, who sent photos of the children with a note of thanks.

http://www.respectrefugees.org/

Refugees United is an independent, non-governmental and non-profit registered organization aimed at reuniting refugees with their families through the use of a unique Internet search engine.

• Free of charge
• Easy to use
• Anonymous to all but family

Read more about them on their website: http://www.refunite.org/

Since February 2009 the Centre for Youth Development and Adult Education (CELA) in the Fizi Territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been training Village Savings and Loan Associates.

Amka – Organization AVEC for micro saving and credit.

The organisation moved from Lugufu Camp in Tanzania when the refugee cam closed. The 24 staff run language programs, youth empowerment programs, adult education and vulnerable assistance programs.

CELA also aims to improve women’s social and economic conditions in Fizi’s rural communities. Currently there are five Village Savings and Loans Associates: Amka in Kasaka/Sebele, Umoga ni nguvu in Katanga, Matunda Bora in Mwamsombo, M’mwatelecha in Mwandiga, and Makene in Malala I.

Each of these communities has elected a group of 30 women to save money. Each of these groups governs itself and raises its own funds. The members meet on a regular basis to save money and buy shares. The share prices are set at a rate at which every member can afford to buy at least one share at each meeting.

The five CELA volunteers assist the groups in implementing the scheme and achieving their goals. CELA have also provided metal boxes with three keys to keep the money.

Other organisations such as CARE, Plan International or Oxfam have implemented schemes such as this with the aim of improving the lives of women within these communities by fighting poverty and promote women’s socio-economic development.

In addition to this the revenue generated will empower the women to become leaders, to provide choices and help them acquire civic, cultural, economic, political and social rights.

As the poorest members of the community women need resources to be able to make choices and fight oppression and exploitation.

In order to reach our goals, we are asking friends, partners and sponsors to financially support the VSL groups and raise their credit resources. You can also help to train the VSLA members about selection, planning and management of income generating activities and women’s leadership.

For further information, please contact M. Atuu Waonaje at atuuwaonaje@yahoo.com, +243 (0) 817 474 387.

by Uma Sharma

RESPECT International is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Poster Contest. The theme of this year’s contest was Bring Peace to the World.

Thirty participants, from China, Thailand and USA, took part in the poster competition.

Non-refugee Winners

6-9 years old:
Suen Ying Sum, Honk Kong (age 7)

10-11 years old:
Chan Oi Hei, Honk Kong (age 10)

12-13 years old:
Jirapat Sukraseranee, Thailand (age 13)

14-18 years old:
Tsoi Sin Ting, Honk Kong (age 14)

Non-refugee Honorable Mentions

6-9 years old:
Wong Suet Ming, Honk Kong (age 6)

10-11 years old:
Ng Cheuk Wing, Honk Kong (age 11)

12-13 years old:
Mak Hau Lam, Honk Kong (age 12)

14-18 years old:
Alise Owens, New Jersey (age 17)

However, the judges for this year’s contest were impressed by all 30 entries, making it very difficult to select the winners. We hope each student who entered the contest is proud of their outstanding artwork.

We are very grateful to this year’s judges: Bob Silery, Matti Liane and Virgina Hernandez, for their time and effort.

RESPECT International is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation which provides a variety of initiatives aimed at improving the lives of both urban refugees and those living in camps.

Around the world a team of volunteers work towards achieving RESPECTs main aims: to raise awareness on refugee issues among world youth; to build relationships between refugee and non-refugee students through a pen-pal program, and make the first two possible by promoting events and advertising RESPECT’s ideals in order to raise funds and recruit more volunteers to work with the organization.

Since RESPECT was founded in 2002, its activities have been well documented in the ezine: a publication which highlights the collaborative nature of this truly international organisation.

The Letter Exchange Program aims to bring refugee and non refugee children from many countries together, building relationships and promoting the children’s desire for rewarding friendships. This is beneficial because it:

• Stimulates curiosity and learning among the children.
• Creates the likelihood that as adults they will get seriously involved in refugee issues in the future.
• Increases awareness of refugee issues among the wider community as parents take an interest in who their children are writing to

RESPECT University (RU) was created to bring post-secondary education to refugees and internally displaced persons. This benefits people who have had their education interrupted by war and violence. It is important, despite this interruption, to continue to build for the future and cultivate hope. Through volunteer tutors and coordinators from many countries (Canada, United States, England, France, Pakistan, Brazil, for example) RESPECT U is now able to offer courses in different academic fields.

RESPECT U is a dynamic project. Coordinators in the field balance the needs and requests of the refugees with the availability of tutors in particular fields. The university began by teaching Social Psychology as a way of addressing the physiological needs of the refugees. Helping them to understand their own thoughts, needs and expectations and perhaps find ways to deal with the day to day suffering that haunts many of the students.

By the second year of operations RESPECT had already connected 1200 students from Azerbaijan, Benin, Canada, Guinea, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Taiwan, Uganda and United States.

Also, a network of affiliates and partners which is still growing provides material support and human resources which make the education and letter exchange programs possible.

It was with the help of organizations like iEARN, Roots & Shoots, the Winnipeg Refugee Education Network, Teachers Without Borders, and Reach Out, among others, and the fundraising events of non-refugee schools communities, that RESPECT could manage to send computers, books, school and office material, toys, and other equipments and goods to refugee schools.

During 2004/2005, volunteers from the francophone world (Canada, France, DRC, Guinea) set up a regular and increasing letter exchange in French, which gave more visibility to RESPECT in Europe and led to the creation of the RESPECT European branch in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2006.

After the success and growth of the first couple of years the next few years were a time of management and recognition of the results letting RESPECT take its place among refugee services worldwide.

The future for RESPECT is the hope to build contacts in and run the education and letter exchange programs with Refugee students and communities on the Thailand-Burma border, Afghanistan, Nepal and Azerbaijan. Also, the maintenance and growth of the initiatives which are already up and running to continue to improve the lives of refugees around the world.

To read more about RESPECT or subscribe to our ezine click here .

For more information on RESPECT University click here.

RESPECT International website.

The Salone Diary is a vivid account of life in Sierra Leone written by David LaMattina, from the Brownstones Crew. It recounts the day to day life of refugee children in Freetown over the period of a two week stay for their latest documentary Brownstones, Red Dirt.

Having already filmed children from Brooklyn speaking about their lives, the second part of the story was to record the Brownstone Crew meeting and interviewing the refugee children. Done in a rich narrative style, it gives an insight into a world often hidden from mainstream view.

The meeting of these two groups of children was made possible by the RESPECT Letter Exchange Program. This program put non-refugee students in touch with refugee students, allowing them to learn about each others lives and share their experiences.

David shares his experience of the letter writing in the Salone Diary. “These kids have nothing and with each letter they get from Brooklyn,they gain another possession. It’s quite a gift and they treat it delicately, examining it with care while they try to decipher what their pen pal’s life might be like.”

Beginning with the eventful story of travelling from New York to Sierra Leone, the diary goes on to describe the moment when the children first met and focuses on the lives of the Sierra Leone children. They are children who have experienced war first hand and lost their families as a result, some witnessing brutal murders.

Despite this they are children with great humanity and hope for their futures. They dream of making the world a better place and by telling their stories they can help everyone to do just that.

Discover the Salone Diary here: http://www.brownstonestoreddirt.com/

To learn more about the RESPECT Letter Exchange Program click here.

Or visit RESPECT International.

clipart provided by: www.worldatlas.com

• To help Lyberian former refugee youths recover from trauma through art and community
• To assist all young people gain an education and have dreams for the future
• To create art which gives people a voice in the world

These are the aims of the Liberian Youth Determination in Adversity (LYDIA). which are put into action through two programs: Youth House and the Women’s Scholarship Fund.

The Women’s Scholarship Fund allows former refugee girls, who have no other resources, pay school fees, buy uniforms, pay for food, trasportation and housing whilst they are getting an education.

Youth House is a home base for teens where they can take part in hip-hop, theatre, and art after-school programs, youth groups, community building programs, and AIDS awareness groups.

The following is by Jenkins Macedo:

“In 2006, the Fifth Project Theatre Company at New York University (NYU) and Professor Daniel Banks ran hip-hop poetry and theatre workshops with the displaced youth living on the Buduburam Liberian Refugee Camp outside of Accra, Ghana.

Teens gathered to learn beat-boxing skills, write poetry and create music in giant ciphers. We met so many open and talented teens, but at every workshop, there was one teenager who kept on surprising us. Her name was Lydia Mulubah.

Lydia was a powerful MC and beat-boxer and, in the male-dominated environment of the refugee camp, her sense of self, fearlessness, and passionate voice in poetry and art was something we were blown away by!

Right before we were to head back to New York, we learned that because of Lydia’s family situation, she would be unable to continue her education. Lydia expressed how much her education meant to her. I was the program coordinator of RESPECT Ghana and, along with several volunteers including Alfred Kayee, RESPECT Ghana’s assistant program coordinator, we set up a scholarship fund for her.

In December 2006, I was resettled to the United States through the US Refugee Resettlement Program and Alfred Kayee became the program coordinator of RESPECT Ghana’s activities at the Buduburam Liberian Refugee Camp in Ghana.

He was very instrumental in the continuation of Lydia’s scholarship. He is also leader of the RESPECT Dramatic Arts Club of which Lydia Mulubah was an active member.

In the past two years, Lydia has been doing well in school, (she graduated from 9th grade!) but recently, the UN refugee camp was shut down. Approximately 17,000 Liberian Refugees, many of whom have been away from Liberia, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone for as long as 15 years, all have had to leave Ghana – Lydia included. Alfred is also back in Liberia, but with constant violence, high inflation of food, and nowhere to live, the situation is very challenging.

At the moment Lydia is currently in school in Liberia. Danielle Levanas, a former graduate student of New York University along with other students of the Fifth Project Theatre Company and Prof. Daniel Banks, were instrumental in setting up a non-profit organization in Liberia. With its branch in the US, it will soon be able to bridge the gap in the lives of refugee youth in Liberia through the arts, education, and community services projects.

RESPECT Liberia is an emerging member of the RESPECT International networks while Liberian Youth Determination In Adversity (LYDIA) is an organization that has been registered as a non-profit community-based organization directly working with youth in Liberia.

Most of the current members of LYDIA were once member of RESPECT Ghana or the RESPECT Intellectual Club and it is great to know that they are willing to volunteer in these harsh and difficult communities to reach the lives of others.

I think this is great and can be better if we only unite our limited and scarce resources in working with youth in these communities in Liberia. I think instead of working separately as LYDIA’s and RESPECT’s staff members in Liberia we could either get into a partnership or unify the two organizations to reduce costs and also reduce the issues of duplicating projects.

Social change in today’s societies can only be possible when we network with like-minded individuals, institutions and organizations in accomplishing our set goals. That doesn’t in anyway means that RESPECT Liberia and LYDIA are going to emerge to become one entity, but building a partnership agreement that will benefit both organizations and at the same time fulfill their set objectives.

Introducing LYDIA youth to the letter exchange program that RESPECT undertakes will also expose those youth to other opportunities and widen their scope of the universe from the corners of Liberia.

RESPECT International, the mother organization of RESPECT Liberia is part of a global network of volunteers and organizations that have the capacity to create awareness and education globally about situations that these youth are encountering in Liberia. In unity we can achieve all that we anticipate to achieve in a very short period and our limited resources will be cost-effective.

We hope that someday both the staff of LYDIA and RESPECT Liberia can realize that working together makes changes possible. I am currently working with RESPECT Ghana and RESPECT International in making sure that RESPECT Liberia start to be an active organization in Liberia instead of one that is passive. I am also a board member of LYDIA and it is a wonder how LYDIA is growing so fast.”