RESPECT International Blog

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.

Jenkins Macedo was born in Liberia, he was forced to flee to Sierra Leone after the Civil War broke out in the late 1980’s, then to Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana. His journey as a refugee lasted 14 years at the beginning of which he was separated from his mother.

“You are sometimes isolated from the greater society; you have lots of needs which include education, food, shelter, clean and safe drinking water, and so on,” he explained, adding that “refugees feel rejected because citizens of most host countries develop several stereotypes and prejudices which make it difficult to integrate or fit into their society.”

Jenkins recalled that “I lived in Ghana at the Buduburam Refugee Camp for about 11 years and the experiences there were much different from what I experienced in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Each country has it’s own laws and policies to deal with where the refugees live and their access to basic services. Often depending on whether the refugees are integrated into the communities of their host countries or treated separately.

“Things became even more difficult living in a refugee camp. Without employment and means to generate income most refugees find it difficult to survive throughout the day and they mostly relied on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the limited food supplies distributed per month,” he added.

In Ghana in 2004, Jenkins was intorduced to Marc Schaefer, founder and president of RESPECT. He then became program coordinator for RESPECT Ghana, which he did for two years before moving to the United States in December 2006 through the US Refugee Program.

He is now a student at Worcester State College, Massachusetts and still working with RESPECT as a technical advisor to RESPECT Ghana and a representative of RESPECT International based in Massachusetts.

“Working with RESPECT Ghana on the Buduburam refugee camp was great,” he said. “I was able to transform myself and overcome my own limitations, and develop the skills and zeal to help my people and unfortunate Ghanaians, Sierra Leonean refugees and countless other people from other parts of Africa.

“I like it and, someday, it is my hope to develop my own non-profit entity to help solve the issues of poverty in Africa by providing the skills that they can used to reduce poverty in their own communities.”

The Brownstones to Red Dirt website is the result of RESPECT International’s letter exchange program as experienced by non-refugee students in Brooklyn writing to refugee students in Sierra Leone. The website showcases the lives of students living in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, United States of America, with refugee students living in Freetown, Sierra Leone, aged between 10 and 12 years old. The website contains:

• A variety of photographs with subtle expressions.
• Inspiring videos of students from both countries talking about their lives and hopes for the future.
• Salone Diary: a daily report of the Brownstone Crew during their visit to Sierra Leone.
• Links to discover more about the places mentioned in the website.
• A mailing list to invite people to become part of the Brownstones to Red Dirt Community

Please visit this fascinating website: Brownstones to Red Dirt

Or for more information on this site click here.

For information on RESPECTs Letter Exchange Program click here.

Functional Adult Literacy

The aim of RESPECT International’s adult literacy program is to make adults functionally literate. The initial Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) programme provided three two-hour classes weekly: English, Entrepreneurship and Literacy. Class sizes ranged from 7 to 17, with a total weekly attendance of about 40. Held in a classroom which doubled as a waiting room for Legal Aid and Counselling clients with only a blackboard and chalk and 11 Functional Adult Literacy workbooks, it was a start.

The Program is Growing

Within a year they had 329 students enrolled. They established a four level program and a multi-level women’s program with three full time volunteer teachers. Moses Mugume, an intern from Makerere, assists Winnifred Agabo, the head of department of the FAL programme, with her research and training duties. David Bukenye is a full-time volunteer who supports the department by photocopying and assembling much of the education and training material, as well as taking care of photocopying for other Refugee Law Project (LAW) departments and the newest member, Rita Nammembwa. Gabriel Mugaruka has been assisting with teaching on a part-time basis. David and Gabriel are both refugees.

For more information click here.

A recent issue of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) online newsletter featured an interview of Mr. Ashok Pillai, the RESPECT University coordinator. You can read the article at http://www.unv.org/en/news-resources/news/doc/a-volunteer-without-borders.html.

Ntawangwanabose Célestin Buyore (or Célestin for short) is a teacher and a RESPECT International volunteer originally from the Republic of Rwanda, now living in Nairobi, Kenya and working at Saint Kizito-Kabiria. In Rwanda, 1994, between 800,000 and one million people were killed and it is estimated that some 500,000 people were tortured and murdered in a period of only 100 days.

“All of my relations died in the war,” Célestin said. “My mother and brothers were most likely killed in 1996 by the soldiers of the Front Patriotic of Rwanda (FPRInkotanyi) who are leading there now.”

Having survived the war Célestin now teaches at a school without funds. The school relies on small donations from the parents and the teacher work for free. The students there are proud to be getting an education and be part of RESPECTs letter exchange program. Many of the students are refugees who have lived in abject poverty. The letter exchange program provides them with an escape for a while as they learn about the lives of students from the United States and Canada.

“Due to poverty, the students are physically weak and many have experienced famine in their homes. They don’t have lunches. They get to school on foot and some are unaccompanied and orphans,” Célestin said. Taking part in the letter exchange program helps the students recover from the events of their past and look forward to a brighter future.

For further information on this story click here.

To find out more about the letter exchange program click here.

RESPECT International website.

The Problem

Many refugees arrive in Uganda with little or no spoken English. The problem this poses for them could be as simple as not being able to ask for a glass of water or as complex as not being able to testify at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where the people responsible for wars and genocide are brought to justice. It makes is difficult for people to find work or a place to live and prevents them from building secure lives for themselves and their families.

Also, many refugees want to continue their education which may have been interrupted by war or use the degrees they already have from their country of origin. Many refugees need an opportunity to build a future for themselves.

Where RESPECT comes in

The Refugee Law Project (RLP) is part of the RESPECT University in Uganda. The program provides free adult literacy programs in various African countries, allowing refugees greater freedom to communicate effectively in English thereby increasing their possibilities for the future.

It was started in order to help people tell their stories to (UNHCR) to bring war crimes to justice, however, it offers many more opportunities than that. For those who are illiterate, they can start with Basic Literacy, or Functional Adult Literacy for those who don’t speak English or even Higher Education Services to help where people need to learn English to go to college.

Through RESPECT volunteer tutors provide the opportunities for this education. One Congolese refugee student, Pierre Mulowe, had his medical training interrupted by the war. He was able to continue his education through distance learning at RLP with a tutor based in Canada.

RESPECT coordinators such as Joan McDonald in Kampala, Uganda, download course material and distribute it and upload completed assignments back to the tutors.

For more information on Joan McDonald, see below.

Further Information

More informaton can be found on our website.

To read more on this story visit our ezine.

Refugees in Uganda

Uganda is a haven for refugees from the surrounding countries who are escaping wars in Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burindi, Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kampala’s Urban Refugees

The word refugee often conjures up images of rural refugee camps however the city of Kampala has some 30,000 refugees living there. Some have moved from the rural camps whilst others go directly there from their country of origin. They are drawn there by the promise of better living standards and job opportunities but the reality of living as an urban refugee does not always offer descent living standards.

It is difficult for refugees to find permanent jobs either because they do not have a permit, they do not speak english or because they are discriminated against as foreigners. Without work they cannot afford medical care, or education and find it difficult to improve their lives and the lives of their families.

Our Work in Kampala

Since 2007 Joan McDonald has been working with RESPECT International as a field coordinator. She works to coordinate RESPECT university courses to refugee students in Kampala, communicating with tutors, downloading lessons and uploading completed assignments.

Refugee Law Project

Putting her certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language to good use Joan works with the Refugee Law Project: a Ugandan organisation whose aim is to protect and promote the human rights of refugees through Legal Aid and councelling, research and advocacy and education and training.

Learning English is a tool that people can use to improve their lives and the lives of their families. For those who cannot find work and therefore can’t afford the school fees the Refugee Law Project free adult literacy classes.

Further Information

For more information on Joan McDonald please click here.

To visit our website please click RESPECT International.

Or to visit the Refugee Law Project website click here.