19/04/2010

Refugee Camp Volunteering

Volunteer at a refugee camp abroad! Take part in meaningful volunteer projects humanitarian projects and help real people in need.

Inspire Volunteering offer a Kakuma Refugee Camp volunteer placement in Kenya. Incorporate volunteering in the Naphtali Empowerment Centre, a Children’s school / Volunteer Programme:

Volunteering at Kakuma camp for children and refugees: A unique and special project in remote Kenya. Kakuma refugee camp is in the northern corner of Kenya bordering Sudan and Uganda. Juba which is a major town in southern Sudan is only 424km from Kakuma. This refugee camp was as a result of an ensuing war in Sudan. Thousands of Sudanese were given safe haven in Kenya and as a result the UN had to come out to try and empower this people so that they can be enlightened and educated when they get back to their country. Kakuma also has a small town town that in a few years has rapidly grown to a small commercial centre. The area is semi arid and has temperatures that go up to 45c.The indigenous people here are called the Turkanas, they are a nomadic tribe that herds cattle and sheep. They tend to move from one place to the other looking for pasture. Due to these you will notice that their houses are semi permanent. The whole area apart from the UN compound which is basically developed the rest of the area is encompassed by mud and stick huts. Kakuma Refugee Camp is divided into 7 units in a an area of hundreds of square kilometers. This is for purposes of better administration. Kakuma also encompasses other refugees from other countries in the region that have war in their country. These are the Ugandans, Congolise, Somalis and Ethiopians. Currently the UN has been repatriating Sudanese refugees back to their homes on voluntary bases and many have left the camp, because of this they are also transferring Somali Bantus from another camp called Dadaab to Kakuma because of its organization and space left by the Sudanese who went back home.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT KAKUMA

Kakuma has very many interesting and attractive things which a volunteer will really find amusing and at times life changing. There are trees that are so poisonous that one has to be careful what they touch.. There are snakes and scorpions and one also has to check their rooms well before they sleep.Most interesting aspect is that Kakuma being in lower lands their main water sources are rivers. These rivers flow from Uganda which is bordering Kakuma, so one moment the river beds are dry and the next the water is flowing. This is because Uganda is mountainous and rains a lot.The Turkana community attire which is traditional is also very amazing to see. Most of the children also walk nude because of the very high temperatures. These among the many interesting things you get to see in Kakuma.

Volunteering at kakuma camp for children and refugees

This is a school that caters for children between 5 years and 6 years old. It is situated in the heart of the camp. It is a school that offers education to Sudanese refugees from a predominantly large ethnic group called Equatorial tribe from Southern part of Sudan.The school teaches early childhood education using the Kenyan system of education. This was among the very first schools to be constructed in the camp. Most of the children who have gone and become adults and among them the Lost Boys of Sudan went through this school. This school is among 7 pre- schools in the whole of Kakuma camp..

STAFF OF THE SCHOOL

The school has a population of 120 children. It has only 3 teachers including the head teacher. It has 2 support staff, these are a watchman and a cook. All the teachers are from the Sudan community as they are encouraged to work in their own schools thus empowering them for the future of their country

SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

The school due to lack of teaching materials the children use chalk slates. This is never viable and good because they erase the work every time there is a new subject, thus the progress and records of the child is not well monitored..

DUTIES OF SCHOOL TEACHERS AND VOLUNTEERS

- Teachers report at the school at 7.30am.
- Inspection of toilets, classroom and supervision of sweeping of the compound. This is because of the dusty condition of the camp.
- Supervise that the tables and chairs are in place for the commencement of the lessons.
- Tires are also arranged and put into place. These are basically car tires which are used by the children to play with.
- By 8 am, the children are received at the gate. This helps to create an environment of friendliness and care which acts as a motivator for the children to attend class.
- Ringing of the bell where all children assemble for a parade where they pray, and the days activities are communicated to them. It also brings this small community together.
- The children are checked for hygiene. This is for teaching basic cleanliness it includes checking nails, clean clothes, clean groomed faces etc.
- They then go to class and teaching starts. These includes reading, writing , coloring, nursery rhymes etc Note that the volunteer here has to follow the time-table and curriculum offered in the school. Help and assist in anyway possible.
- School breaks at 10 am for a snack and play for around 30 min before they go back to class.
- School breaks at 12.30 pm because there is a lot of heat most activities in the camp almost come to a halt and resume at 3 pm when it gets cooler.
- The volunteer can break for lunch and take a break at the mess then prepare for the next day after the day cools down.

FEEDING PROGRAM

The school also has a feeding program where children are given porridge and biscuits at 10.30 am. This also acts as a motivator for the parents to bring their children to school instead of keeping them at home. Volunteers are encouraged to assist in the making of food and thus be pro active and help the limited staff.

OTHER INFORMATION

The classes are divided into two with 60 children in one classes. This is so because they lack enough teachers. Most interesting is that they have a lot of space but they are forced to use only two rooms only. The school head teacher is a very humble lady who works tirelessly to ensure that these children get the best education possible. Due to the repatriation of the refugees to their country the school had been closed down for some time. As a result the school lacks many resources and they are just working to equip it again. Another reason that the organization is working very hard to return to normalcy is the upsurge of many refugees from Somali who are being transferred to Kakuma.

NAPHTALI EMPOWERMENT CENTER

This is a part of a wide network of empowerment activities just in the outskirts of the Kakuma Camp. The community that hosts the refugees in the camp came up with a program where as much as the refugees were getting help the indigenous tribe here also needed education and a lot of empowerment They are a nomadic group and a result were not getting any education because of moving around. The area semi-arid these people rarely lived in one place at a given time. As a result there was need to start this center. This center has a primary school, an adult literacy class, a child worker trainee school or teacher training, a feeding program for the children and the community, a small bush school for children who are unable to access the school and a church for spiritual guidance. It also has started a small children orphanage with 11 children living in a semi-permanent structure made of mud. Recently the structure fell apart and the children are now living in the local pastors house temporarily.

These activities below encompass the Empowerment center. Again volunteers can engage with this as much as possible and in any way required.

ECHAMI LEARNING CENTER

School is located on the out skirts of the camp. This means it is not in the camp. The school however caters for both Refugees and indigenous Turkana children. The schools run by a network of community leaders and members. These include the local church, the local pastor, formers teachers of the refugee camps and the community itself. The school caters for 165 children and has a total of 7 teachers. It also has 4 supports staff that include cooks.The population of the school is mostly Turkana with Sudanese, Rwandese, and Burundi refugees. It has 4 classes which are from standard 1 to 4. It is run using the Kenyan education curriculum. The volunteer must also in this case be able to work around this system which is mostly basic education.

ACTIVITIES OF THE SCHOOL

- School starts at 8 am every day where the children attend an assembly before going to class.
- Classes start and the children attend lessons until 10.30 am. The lessons involve English as a language, Math, Science, Social Studies which include History, Geography, and Christian Religious Education.
- They then break at 10.30 am for tea and porridge.
- They then return to class for classes until 12.30 where lunch is served for the children. Because none of the children go home for lunch and the support staff is not enough, the teachers are called upon to help in this exercise. So the volunteer will also be able to help and work together with the teachers.
- The children then attend classes at around 2.30 because the heat is too much and attend more classes until 4 pm.
- They then have ball games on alternative days or attend clubs. These clubs would be like debate clubs where the children enact a parliament and debate on various issues which their little minds can comprehend. This is very interesting because you are left amazed by how bright these children are.
- The school then winds up for the day and the children run home to their small villages.

FACILITIES OF THE SCHOOL

- They have 7 classrooms.
- A semi-permanent kitchen
- A staff room
- A head teachers office
- Church that serves the whole community and happens to be the largest building.
- Pit latrines or pit toilets that are used by the children and teachers
- A run down semi-permanent building that used to house the orphans.

CONSTRAINTS OF THE SCHOOL

a. Text books are a problem as the school is unable to provide for them and the parents are very poor that they cannot afford them
b. Exercise books
c. Pens and pencils
d. Uniforms for the orphans
e. Games materials which would include footballs, netball's, skipping ropes, and basketball
f. Tanks to store water for the kitchen as they have to look for water from rivers
g. Buckets and basins for serving food to the kids
h. Mosquito nets for the orphans.
i. Shoes for the orphans

Also note that unlike other schools Echami Center runs throughout the year expect December holidays. Over August holidays the volunteer will be able to teach and interact with the other programs that are ongoing at these period.

FEEDING PROGRAM

The feeding program is basically funded by the community through the church and well wishers. The program caters for the children and their families. Most of the community around the school cannot afford 3 meals a day. Most of them are very poor and the majority are refugees. The program is able to provide cooking flour to the community and the children. The program works throughout the week. On weekends they go to the bush school to feed the children who are still tied down by the cultures of their ethnic group. Most of these kids herd cattle the whole week and are only able to attend school on weekends.The feeding program on weekend also cater for children from neighboring schools who come to the center on the weekends.

ADULT LITERACY CLASS

Turkana community having have lived for many years following their cultural practices. Most of the adults never had a chance to an education. As a result most of these people are illiterate. When the refugees came to their vicinity with the UN and other organizations they were made aware of the need of an education. The class also attracted refugees and the program became very successful. The program still has its challenges which include small attendance when the adults think they can read and write. The main aim of the program is to teach basic English language and to read and write. The class does not run like normal school as they have their own program. It from August to December .It also only operates for only one hour per day. They are approximately 30 students at any given time .

CHILD WORKER TRAINING OR TEACHER TRAINING

This program was started by the teachers in the Echami Center. They came up with a conclusion that what the whole community lacked was a qualified teachers. Most of the schools in these area have many children who are seeking for an education but the ratio of teachers to pupils was not viable. Most of the schools have to look for volunteers or cannot afford to pay teachers. The Echami community therefore decided to come together and train these child workers. They are taught how to handle and teach children. At the end of their training they are able to teach and psychologically able to handle these children. The teachers attend classes over the holidays which are 3 months of the year. These months are April, August and December. Note that the volunteers who choose these time will be involved in the program.

POKOTOM BUSH SCHOOL AND FEEDING PROGRAMME

This is a very interesting program. Although it is run only one day a week it is a very amazing and fun experience to get involved in. The school is basically under a tree and in inside the bush in the mountains of Turkana. The school is run by the Naphtali Empowerment Center. The school caters for the very traditional of the Turkana group. The Pokotom project have to bring food with them so that they can attract the community to the school. The children are in proper traditional attire which is basically a beaded necklace on the waist without any loin cloth for the boys and a cloth wrap and necklaces for the girls. Most of these children move around so much as they are a nomadic tribe that the center is trying also to enlighten the parents on the need of education and that is why the program uses feeding as way to congregate them so that they can create awareness on the importance of education.

ACTIVITIES OF THE SCHOOL

- The food is prepared for transportation. Remember this only happens on Saturdays only.
- The food is then loaded onto bicycles for transportation. This is because there are simply no roads so cars cannot be used
- The volunteer and the child workers then ride the bicycles to the bush. The volunteer has to be accompanied at all times to the school.
- They get to the place where they have reserved for the school and start lessons.
- The food is then given to the children.
- The distribution of the food to the community is done every fortnight
- They also organize sports for the children .

CONSTRAINTS

There is a need to simply construct a make shift class at least to cover the children from the very hot sun.

- Iron sheets for the small structure
- Nails
- Timber
- Books
- Pens and pencils
- Food for the program that includes flour, maize and beans.
- Text books

HIV AND AIDS TESTING AND VOLUNTARY COUNSELING CENTER

HIV/AIDS in Africa has become a pandemic. It has especially affected the refugees because they are coming from a place that has war so they were not very well sensitized. Apart from that the camp has its own social difficulties that fuel the spread if the pandemic. A Voluntary Counseling and Testing Clinic is a place where patients go and test for the virus and at the same time time go through counseling. These clinics were opened all over Kenya to encourage people to know their status. It has been hugely successful with thousands of people attending them.

ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTER

In the Kakuma Camp it also doubles as a mobile Clinic where the personnel at the clinic travel the vast camp see patients who are bedridden with AIDS and advising them on home-based care. These clinics are free and are funded by the government and the organizations in the camp. They also holds meeting with the refugees to create awareness on the disease. This include behavior change among the refugees. It is important because they have a lot of cultures that help fuel the spread of HIV. The center will also go to the homes and have what they call home level counseling and testing. The center also offers Prevention of mother to child transmission or popularly known as PMTCT. This is where they treat and offer information on how not to transmit the virus to an unborn child. Early attendance for ante-natal care and testing will help prevent these. They also offer Anti Retro viral Treatment or ARV. This is administering drugs so that the virus does not multiply and also the right foods to eat. This is the most important life saving mechanism that has been very effective to patients. It is currently prolonging many lives as patients are now living very positively.

They are also taking care of orphans and vulnerable children who have been infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Due to the virus affecting the body immune system TB or tuberculosis is very prevalent. They also run a very effective program for treatment and management of these disease.

Sexually transmitted diseases also fuel the spread of the virus so they also run an awareness and treatment program for these. Every week on Wednesday the center distributes condoms on dispensers that have been put around the camp. This is a condom promotion that helps in creating awareness of safe sex. Apart from the above activities the mobile clinic makes up to 30-45 home visits every day. This is done in the afternoon as in the morning they counsel around 6 people every day who come for a first testing intervention.

FACILITIES OF THE CENTER

- A waiting area or reception with literature on HIV/AIDS. These is also the first time to come into contact with the patient. It also used for quality assurance. It is also the mobilization room.

- The next room is what is called the counseling room where the counselor takes the patient through the counseling process. This prepares them on how to take the test.

- The next room is where the test is administered and they keep records and charts on the entire program.

STAFF

They have 10 members of staff that cover all the zones in the camp.

Volunteer in Kenya with children

Professionals in education, child care, medical, Agriculture, Nutritionists, Christians or Church Groups. Experienced travellers only. The children at the schools have not had anything like a normal upbringing. The experience of the desperation of hungry, sick and needy children can be shocking to many. Those wishing to get to the hub of real need, roll sleeves back, get dirty, and help people and children who live really in another world to our own. Despite the exposure to poverty you will see the locals, the children and the other aid workers are very hospitable and will leave an indelible impression in your mind. Volunteers must be flexible with varied tasks based in and around the schools and centres. If you want to reach further out and touch the lives of people who live in another world to our own, this could be for you.

More Information: www.inspirekenya.com/refugeecampplacement.htm