Camp Refugees

  So we made it to a refugee camp - Kayaka II Settlement. Urban refugees to not live like Camp refugees. The ones here in Ndejje are integrating and developing opportunities because a city can offer that. In a camp they have one option: farming. Unfortunately Monday, the day we arrived, was a public holiday so the action at the camp was very quiet. It was Women's Day and they were gathering to celebrate with traditional songs and dances. Fortunately for us Jacques was able to accompany us to the camp which gave us a very intimate feeling of the people and the place. 

In 2005 he conducted research with a Harvard Graduate Student, Sarah Dryden, on educational integration for refugees. They worked very closely with a number of families and students living inside the camps. For 2 years, they sponsored secondary education for a number of girls. As it happens though, the funds became unavailable and these girls had to return to life in the camp. As we were walking along the road, the respondents from many years back came running out of their huts immediately recognizing Jacques. The excitement was flattering. One family invited us inside their home, a small traditional mud hut sleeping at least 8, where we chatted for a few minutes and then upon leaving offered us one of their live chickens. This is a sign of high honor around here which was simply amazing to witness: refugees with next to nothing handing over precious food to a man they hadn't seen in 5 years. Sometimes people with very little to give surprise you with how much they can give. 

Life on the camp is a purely agricultural existence. The problems: they have no fertilizer, very little land, and no storage facilities for their crops. When they take their crops on foot to the market miles away, they have very little bargaining power because their yield is small and because of who they are. Farming will not be enough to lift these folks from the poverty they experience. 

NGOs have not yet come to educate them on the newest ag sciences and techniques. The government would rather see that aid going to nationals. Camp refugees are therefore left to wait for handouts. Monthly rations of beans, rice, and cooking oil helps but it is never enough. They are constantly living in instability. They are not allowed certain permanent things like metal roofing sheets, bricks or cement. They can't cultivate banana plantations which would significanlty improve their income because the government doesn't allow it. They perpetuate this belief that these refugees are temporary visitors when many of them have lived in the same place for over a decade. This mentality is crippling. They give them land. Why not allow them to develop as any other village would? Economic integration would benefit all parties, nationals and refugees. Unfortunately the government doesn't see it that way. There is just one secondary school at Kayak that from my understanding is a last resort learning opportunity that still costs too much for these families. 

I would really enjoy seeing some changes take place especially for young, aspiring adults. Lets us pray that Global Ties can be successful. Lord, thank you for opening my eyes a little wider each day.