The greatest fear of Muja Rose, a refugee from South Sudan, is that her daughter will starve to death. Uganda is at a breaking point in the throes of the biggest refugee crisis in Africa since the Rwanda genocide.
The children were playing when war found the family of 34-year-old Muja Rose in South Sudan.
Government soldiers arrived without warning in their hometown of Kajo Keji. They were immediately caught by surprise by a group of rebels. People were killed and their possessions were looted.
Rose’s husband was away, and in the crossfire, Rose made the toughest decision of her life.
”The only alternative was to run as fast as my feet would carry. I decided to take the children to Uganda,” says Rose.
Rose managed to take her own four children as well as two children who had lost their mother with her. She carried the youngest one on her back through the bush and stayed up all night to protect the children from wild animals. They had no food or water.
”The children were crying out of hunger and exhaustion. When we found a dry streambed, I tried to dig for water in the ground to have drinking water for the children.”
Food is a constant preoccupation
A year later, all the children are seated around a clay oven in the Bidibidi refugee settlement. The area, the size of Turku, has 290,000 inhabitants, which would make it the second biggest city in Finland after Helsinki.
The clay oven is located in the only shaded spot in the yard, and attracts others to seek shelter from the relentless sun. The aroma from the sizzling pot is familiar from any kitchen in the world: fried onions.
Rose chops a few eggplants from her vegetable garden and adds them to the pot, with 10-year-old Ayite stirring the stew.
”Once a week we cook eggplants, once okra, once vegetables. The remaining days we eat beans,” says Rose.
”The food has no variety and the children are sick all the time. They’re not getting all the vitamins they need.”
Food is constantly on Rose’s mind. Even though the demanding journey to Uganda has reduced the risk of becoming victim to bullets or rape, life is a taxing struggle to meet basic needs. She is not alone in this situation.
Over a million people from South Sudan have crossed the border to Uganda, almost all of them after July 2016.
Some refugees are lucky to have chicken that produce eggs. Most, like Muja Roses family, have left behind all their possessions when fighting broke out. Photo: Tatu Blomqvist
Taking care of the crisis costs about 560 million euros per year, but the international community has only met a third of the need. According to the UN, Uganda is at a breaking point. The refugees most feel this in the food rations that have been halved twice, says Bik Lum, regional head of UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The food aid delivered monthly includes beans, vegetable oil, salt, and maize meal. At the end of last year, the maize meal rations were cut from 12 kilos to 6 kilos per person.
”Some have risked their lives and gone to South Sudan to look for food in their abandoned homes,” says Lum.
One meal a day
Uganda, a country smaller and poorer than Finland, has despite its limited resources admitted all refugees into the country.
The Ugandan refugee policy is praised as forward thinking in the western world, since among other things, it guarantees everyone a piece of land to live on and cultivate. This does not mean that life in refugee settlements feels meaningful.
More land has continuously been cleared from previously unliveable bush, and growing things to eat is hard.
Rose’s yard is rocky, but as a woman with green fingers, she has managed to grow something. So has Wani Garanep, living in the neighbouring village, who participated in Finn Church Aid’s (FCA) cultivation training.
FCA has provided participants with seeds and tools. Sesame, okra, and tomatoes are growing next to Garanep’s clay hut. Since the ground is rocky, Garanep and his wife Kaku have learned to fill sacks with dirt. Onions and eggplants are growing in these sacks.
Wani Garanep’s family has managed to diversify their diets with vegetables after participating in FCA’s livelihoods training. Photo: Tatu Blomqvist
However, because of slashed food rations, the family has been forced to cut their daily meals from two to one. This goes for most of Bidibidi’s inhabitants.
”I would like to guarantee a good education for my children, but they can’t concentrate in school when they’re hungry, and they often come home before the school day is over,” says Garanep.
Garanep is a builder by trade. In South Sudan, he cut down trees and sold them as building material. The family could afford to eat meat.
Rose worked as a teacher, and the family had no shortage of food.
The hometown she left behind, Kajo Keji, was located in Equatoria, the breadbasket of South Sudan, known for its fertile soil. Before the war, the region was able to feed millions of people. Rose’s family had goats and chickens.
”When the children were hungry, they would pick fruit or cassava from our garden,” she says.
However, Kajo Keji is empty. Three quarters of the population of Equatoria have left their homes and Northwest Uganda is like one big refugee settlement that it takes hours to drive through.
Here, Garanep and Rose find it hard to find work with which to improve their families’ situation.
”Sometimes when the children are really hungry, they ask me ’mom, can’t we go back home to South Sudan so that we could eat.’ It’s hard to explain to them that there is still a war going on there,” continues Rose.
Life as a single parent is tough
After the meal, things get more active in the yard. With 13-year-old Gire and 9-year-old Diko in the lead, the children dig out a skipping rope. With great enthusiasm, Ayite counts her skips in English. This makes her mother happy.
They are more eager than usual because there are visitors, she explains. When the children are quiet and too tired to play, it is time to worry, she says.
Gire and Diko are not Rose’s own children, but after their flight together, they sleep together with Rose’s children.
”Sometimes they ask me where their mother is. Once the war is over, we will return to look for her.”
Life as a single parent is especially hard in the refugee settlement. Over 60 percent of the refugees in Uganda are under 18 years old, and most of the adults are women. When women and children fled, men took part in the fights – some forced, others voluntarily – or died in the conflicts.
In Rose’s yard, it is evident that she has to keep an eye on more than a dozen children, with barely no other parents in sight. Rose often worries about how long she will manage if the situation is prolonged.
”I miss my husband. I don’t know whether he’s alive or dead. I haven’t heard from him since we had to run away,” she says.
During the interview, Rose mends the trousers of her youngest child, 3-year-old Wani. They have to be taken in at the waist once again. Rose is most worried about 10-year-old Ayite, who has gone down from 25 kilos a year ago to just 19 kilos.
Being underweight makes Ayite vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.
”If she loses more weight, I might even lose her,” says Rose.
Text: Erik Nyström, photos: Tatu Blomqvist
This year, 60 percent of the funds collected in the Common Responsibility Campaign are directed to the Finn Church Aid disaster fund. Read more about FCA in Uganda here.
Finn Church Aid and Omnia Education Partnerships Oy offer qualification program for refugees living in Uganda.
From spring 2018 on, refugees in Uganda will have the opportunity to graduate from the Finnish Further Qualification in Entrepreneurship. The qualification program is organized by FCA and Omnia Education Partnerships Oy (OEP) in close cooperation with UNHCR.
”Finnish qualifications have a good reputation globally. The qualification training opens up new opportunities for both employment and further studies for the refugees,” says Ville Wacklin, the Project Manager of FCA.
Uganda has received approximately 1 800 South Sudanese refugees daily since July 2016. A total number of 1,4 million refugees are currently living in Uganda. Many of them start their own small businesses.
Not only qualification, but sustainable change
The qualification training aims at improving the refugees’ chances to succeed as entrepreneurs. The training is customized to the local context together with the Ugandan experts.
“Our model emphasizes sustainability. We train and certify locals as trainers who then go on to train at refugee settlements. The curriculum and assessment process ensure that we uphold Finnish standards,” says Mervi Jansson, CEO of OEP.
FCA and the European Union construct 28 blocks of 84 classrooms, 28 blocks of 140 stances of inclusive gender-segregated pit latrines and 40 teachers houses in Bidibidi and Omugo refugee settlements to ensure a safe and inspiring learning environment for South Sudanese refugees.
The cheers from Para elementary school travel a great distance from the schoolyard. Classes finish at 16.00 and the children from grades 5 and 6 are on their way home.
After a day of intensive learning, their minds are
set on future goals. A group of seven friends do not need much time to consider their favourite subjects, when asked. The answer is science and math.
“I want to become an engineer, so that I could for instance design and implement a water supply system at the refugee settlements”, says 16-year-old John.
Same-aged Mary would consider a career as an accountant because she likes to play with numbers, while Emmanuel, 17, longs to be a pilot or driver because he wants to explore the world.
16-year-old Scovia reminds that English is important whatever your dreams might be.
“I would like to become a nurse so that I could help sick people”, she adds.
Additional semi permanent classroom at Para Primary School.
21 000 pupils benefit from improved access to quality education
Over 60 percent of the arrivals from South Sudan are children under 18 years old. When arrivals peaked following the eruption of violence in Juba in 2016, it took months for most to continue their education in Uganda. Temporary structures, primarily tents, were set up in the settlements to meet the urgent needs.
Today, children usually resume their studies within days after their arrival, and efforts have focused on upgrading the temporary structures to semi-permanent classrooms of concrete from which refugees benefit. The tents are hot during summers and vulnerable to extreme weather conditions.
FCA is set to complete 28 blocks of 84 classrooms by January 2018 with EU humanitarian funding. The cooperation improves the learning environment in 7 schools in Bidibidi, one of the world’s largest refugee settlements and 6 schools in Omugo settlement, established in August. When finished, FCA’s and the European Union’s project will immediately benefit around 21 000 pupils.
At Para Primary School, the first two blocks of six classrooms and one block of latrines are finished, and the last part of the construction is well on its way.
“The learning centres are established with a high priority not only because of the importance of education, but as a safe space for children and youth”, Denis Okullu, coordinator of the project explains.
Training of teachers key to learning
The cooperation between the European Union and FCA also extends to the teachers, who have more than 1 500 pupils to care for at Para Primary School. One essential training of Teachers in crisis contexts addresses the challenge in dealing with such a large number of students.
“We use a lot of group work and working in pairs in order to manage the situation”, Andero Kasifa says.
A total of 237 teachers are to receive the training and Kasifa is one of them. The project also works on accommodation for the teachers, prepares them for work with children in a crisis context as well as involves parents in supporting a safe and productive learning environment.
Especially children who have been years out of school require attention in order to get back on track. A placement test decides their initial level, and through a process of accelerated learning, they can catch up and complete for instance three grades within one school year.
“The skills we learn help us to help them complete their primary level education”, Kasifa says.
Additional classroom under construction in Luzira primary school with funding EU humanitarian funding.
Despite increasing attention to the severe refugee situation in Uganda, the international community has done little to ease the crisis as it reaches a grim milestone. This is what’s going on.
1. Uganda is home to more refugees than any other country in Africa
With 1,3 million refugees by August 2017, Uganda hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world. The reason behind the severe influx is the conflict in South Sudan. Each day an average of thousands of refugees have crossed the border to Uganda since fighting re-erupted in the capital Juba in July 2016. Within the region, Uganda has received the highest number of South Sudanese refugees, now one million.
The number of internally displaced people included, four million South Sudanese have left their homes, and this makes it one of the largest refugee crises globally. Only Syria and Afghanistan are producing more refugees.
2. An overwhelming majority of the South Sudanese refugees are women and children
More than 85 percent of the South Sudanese refugees in Uganda are women and children, who have traveled by foot to escape a devastating civil war. According to their stories, adult males – brothers, fathers and husbands – have been killed, captured or recruited by armed groups. Opportunities for education and livelihoods are therefore extremely important for this refugee population.
61 percent of the South Sudanese refugees who have arrived since July 2016 are children under 18 years old. Having access to protective and quality education is an essential part of the rehabilitation process for these children whose childhood has been cut short through horrific experiences while fleeing their homes. The provision of education to these children does not only give them hope for a better future, but it also affirms them that their futures are worth believing in.
3. Uganda is at a breaking point
Uganda has one of the most progressive refugee policies in the world. After registration, refugees have the right to study, work, set up enterprises and move freely within the country – all the same rights as native Ugandans apart from the right to vote. Refugees also receive a plot of land at the refugee settlements for cultivation.
But Uganda is also one of the world’s poorest countries. The pace of arrivals has been tough to keep up with, and the UN has warned that Uganda is at a “breaking point”.
4. Uganda needs international support to maintain its transformational refugee policies
Uganda needs the support of the international community to keep . The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR says it needs around 570 million euros to ensure minimum humanitarian standards are met properly, but this far it has received only 17 percent of it.
The funding gap delays projects like providing permanent shelters by months and people are vulnerable to changing weather conditions. Children attend schools in temporary tents, easily taken down and destroyed by high winds and rains. Food rations have been cut several times and creating new plots for farming is an enormous task as new settlements open.
Text: Erik Nyström
Finn Church Aid supports education and livelihood opportunities for refugees in Uganda. Read more about our work here. Read an interview with Uganda’s refugee commissioner here.
In Uganda, refugees are immediately granted the right to education and work, says Ugandan Refugee Commissioner David Apollo Kazungu. He is coordinating Uganda’s response to Africa’s largest refugee crisis.
In 2016, more refugees crossed the border to Uganda than crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Their numbers totalled in over one million. Most came from South Sudan, which is where the largest refugee crisis in Africa originates.
Thus far, Uganda has succeeded relatively well in a situation that has driven Europe into turmoil. We interviewed Ugandan Refugee Commissioner David Apollo Kazungu on the Ugandan refugee policy.
How is Uganda managing the refugee situation?
“We have extensive experience in accepting refugees and many of our former and current government officials have been refugees at one point. The rights of refugees have been anchored in our legislation and in the founding principles of the UN, written out in the New York Declaration of the United Nations. The refugees are also an important part of the Ugandan national development plan. We treat them as an opportunity rather than a threat.”
What actually happens when refugees arrive into the country?
“Immediately after registration the refugees are given the right to study, work, set up enterprises and move freely within the country. They are also given a plot of land on the refugee settlements for cultivation. They have all the same rights as native Ugandans apart from the right to vote.
In my opinion, it is crucially important to invest in the education of refugees, because it empowers them. It will also serve them when they return to their home country. We have seen how education changes people.”
What is the role of Finn Church Aid in Uganda?
“Finn Church Aid has supported education in emergencies and also organises vocational education. For the refugees it is extremely important, because it provides them with practical, professional skills, and Uganda in turn benefits from their employment.”
Is Uganda ever consulted for advice in refugee matters?
“Yes. The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has stated that our approach could serve as an example for the entire world. We have exchanged ideas with and answered questions from many other countries, and have had observers visit from Malawi, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Zambia.”
Since July 2016, thousands of refugees have arrived in Uganda every day. How serious is the situation in your estimate?
“We are working with the refugees with very scarce resources. Our approach requires sustainable funding from the international community (last year, only 40% of the required 250 million dollar funding was covered). Uganda is committed to keeping its borders open to refugees, and the international community must, for their part, make sure that there are sufficient resources available to guarantee these people a chance for a life with dignity even as refugees.”
What motivates you in your work?
“Working for humanity, and the fact that I can, for my part, somehow respond to humanitarian needs.”
Et ole hyväksynyt markkinoinnin evästeitä nähdäksesi videon.
Each day thousands of refugees have arrived in Uganda since violence in South Sudan escalated last summer. Aid organisations warn of a severe lack of funding.
Text: Erik Nyström, Photos: Cornelia Kästner (Lutheran World Federation)
“We are at breaking point. Uganda cannot handle Africa’s largest refugee crisis alone,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a U.N. statement on Thursday.
South Sudan’s 3,6 million refugees now constitute the biggest refugee crisis in Africa. Globally only Syria and Afghanistan have produced more refugees.
Most remain internally displaced, but over 1,5 million people have fled South Sudan to neighbouring countries. Uganda hosts more than half of those refugees, a total of 800 000 in March.
Thousands have arrived each day since hostilities erupted into war in July 2016. Most arrive after wandering in the bush for days with horrific stories of indiscriminate violence, killings, rapes and forced recruitment of children.
South Sudanese refugees awaiting plot allocation in Palorinya refugee settlement in Northern Uganda. Around 90 per cent of the refugees are women and children. According to their stories all adult males – brothers, fathers and husbands – have been killed or captured. Photo: LWF / Cornelia Kästner
Severe underfunding is creating significant gaps in the crisis response of Uganda’s government and aid organisations. Only 36 per cent of the 251 million US dollars needed for 2016 has been received. This creates significant challenges in providing refugees with food rations, clean water and services like health and education.
The drought that’s consuming Eastern Africa has also complicated food production in Uganda. In November WFP was forced to halve food rations in order to provide nutrition for everyone.
“Further cuts can’t be ruled out”, fears Kaisa Huhtela, FCA’s humanitarian coordinator in Uganda.
UN agencies, humanitarian organisations and the office of the Prime Minister in Uganda issued an appeal to the world in December to bring an end to the suffering of the South Sudanese people. FCA was one of the signatories.
Uganda’s way of dealing with refugees has long received a lot of praise. Newcomers are provided with a small plot of land within local host communities, where they can settle down and live peacefully. However, the pace of arrivals has been tough to keep up with.
FCA works with the refugees in Bidibidi settlement in Yumbe district and Pagrinya settlement in Adjumani district. New settlements have basically been opened every third month, Huhtela says. A new refugee settlement opened in Palorinya in December already exceeded its capacity of 100 000 in February, totaling at 140 000.
Creating new plots for farming is an enormous task on the rocky grounds of the settlements.
“We can’t keep up with this pace of arrivals and the need of further settlements. Without increased funding it becomes ever more difficult to ensure refugees their basic human dignity”, Huhtela says.
South Sudanese refugees who have just crossed the border to Uganda near Pomoju border point. Photo: LWF / Cornelia Kästner
The first collection point behind the South Sudanese border, where all refugees are vaccinated against Polio and Measles. Photo: LWF / Cornelia Kästner
Refugees are transported for plot allocation in Palorinya refugee settlement in Northern Uganda. Photo: LWF / Cornelia Kästner
