21,500 refugees are currently living in Guinea (UNHCR statistics). Civil wars in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone have caused tens of thousands of people to flee their homes and seek safety in Guinea. However, political uncertainty and a recent past of martial law have left Guinea unstable. Raising food prices and the decline of basic services have increased resentment in the counrty and therefore increase the chance of violence.
After the voluntaty repatriation programs allowing people to return to their counrties of origin an empasis in now being place on local integration. Those unwilling or unable to return to their countries of origin, integration is the most sustainable solution. On a voluntary basis refugees will be given the option to leave the camps and move to the neighbouring comminuities where communtiy based projects will help to integrate them. These programs are also aimed at areas where there are thought to be as many as 50,000 unregistered refugees. The environments around the refugee camps will also be regenerated.
The needs now are aimed at increasing the rights of the refugees. Freedom of movement, access to education, jobs, public services, health facilities, the right to buy and sell property, travel and identity documents, permanent residence and, ultimately, citizenship.
Alexandria Elementary School in Guinea, West Africa is just one of the schools in the country dedicated to providing refugee students with an education. Established by the UNHCR and the International Rescue Committee in September 2001. The school is currently attended by 557 students. They have three buildings, consisting of twelve classrooms and provide lessons from ABC through to class six. The subjects taught include English, French, Maths, Science, Social Studies and Health.
RESPECT International is working with this and other refugee schools in Guinea to make education available to as many refugee students as possible. To ensure, despite the disruption to their lives, that they have aspirations for the future and the means to persue them.
Also, the Letter Exchange Program seeks to educate non-refugee students about refugee issues by one-to-one correspondence with refugee students. This lets people in countries such as Canada, USA, Spain and UK understand what life is like as a refugee. Also, it allows refugees to learn what life is like in these countries and gives them hope for the future. In fact the Letter Exchange Program has encouraged a number of refugees to further their education at colleges and universities in countries like USA.
Alexandria Elementary School provides a vital service to the refugee community in Guinea and with international links that organisations such as RESPECT provide them with they can offer great opportunities to children whose lives have been disrupted by violence and war.
September 24th, 2009
admin
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
To learn more about our Global Letter Exchange click here.
September 7th, 2009
admin
The Mike Immaculate Group of Schools, consisting of nursery, primary, secondary schools and a computer college in Nigeria’s capital Lagos want to enter into a partnership with RESPECT International.
“I want to partner with your reputable organisation because I want a group of organisations encouraging communication between young people across the world,” says proprietor Ademola Ogunyebi.
The group of schools educates 36 refugee students and approximately 280 non-refugee students. Through school projects and RESPECTs Letter Exchange Program and student exchanges the group of schools aim to raise awareness and educate refugees. They also wish to get awareness on some of the schools’ educative projects.
In Nigeria education is free but not compulsory. There, a formal education consists of six years of primary school, three years of junior secondary school and three years of senior secondary school, in addition to four years of university or college education.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are approximately 11,800 refugees in Nigeria mostly from Chad, Liberia, the Republic of Congo and Sudan. Half live in refugee camps and half are urban refugees.
Please visit our website.
Or for our ezine click here.
September 7th, 2009
admin
Artists for Humanity will celebrate its 10th anniversary from December 19 to 25, 2009.
Begun December 19, 1999, in Kinshasa the capital of the Democratic Republic Congo by Amisi Mutambala, the Artists for Humanity initiative (ArtHum) mainly worked in the eastern part of the country with a regionally integrated vision.
Conferences, debates, concerts and cultural and arts-based displays on education, peace, human rights, HIV/AIDS will all take place over seven days in Uvira and Fizi territories (South Kivu province in DR Congo) as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Rewards of recognition will be given to actors both local and international who have distinguished themselves as ArtHum volunteers and work with communities in disaster.
Non-profit associations, foundations, enterprises, state institutions, religious structures as well as individuals who are interested are invited to join the event.
For further information, contact Amisi Mutambala at:
- Dieudonné AMISI MUTAMBALA
- Director & Founder
- Artists for Humanity, ArtHum
- Telephone: +243810343785; +25779979121
- Email: arthum_direction@yahoo.fr
Please visit our website.
Or for our ezine click here.
September 7th, 2009
admin
Opened as a day-care center to help families who could not afford to send their children to the local schools, the Elite Friends Academy was opened on January 3, 2005, in Nairobi, Kenya. With many of the children being refugees, orphans and victims of HIV/AIDS the centre was so named because they believe that the children are the leaders of tomorrow and deserve to believe in themselves and be integrated into the community.
From 27 students in 2005 numbers have increased to 73 in 2008. The Elite Friends Academy is a school working under a self-help group known as Ophrah African Foundation (OAF). The academy currently offers the following: baby classes, nursery classes and pre-unity classes.
The objectives of the academy are to assist the orphans and vulnerable within the community, to become an international center for promoting and assisting talents, to campaign and fight against HIV/AIDS, to rid drug abuse from among the community, and to work towards peace and reconciliation.
For further information see our website.
To celebrate the inauguration of the new Online United Nations Volunteer (UNV) site on December 5, 2008, Ashok Pillai, 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.” Mohammed Riazuddin
For opportunities for online volunteering visit the Online United Nations Volunteer (UNV) site.
For more information on RESPECT International visit our website.
“Even Einstein was a refugee, and the difference between success and failure is determination.”
This is a quotation from Bilombele Asukulu: 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.
Working to Empower
Forced Migration Review
Strategies for Hope
International Alliance for HIV/AIDS.
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.
To read the online magazine click here: Kakuma News Reflector – A Refugee Free Press
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, Ashok Pillai, 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.
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