On 20th June 2015, Uganda Red Cross Society joined other operating and implementing partners for Adjumani refugee settlements for the celebration of the world refugees’ day 2015 celebrated in Adjumani. The theme of the day was “REFUGEES ARE REGULAR PEOPLE, GET TO KNOW & SUPPORT THEM”. According to guest of honor, Gen. Moses Ali, the 2nd deputy prime minister, the theme reminds us that refugees have capacities just like any other person and these capacities have to be put to use.
Adjumani has over ten settlement homes that have become a home to thousands of refugees from South Sudan. Majority of the refugees arrived in 2013 with individuals like Agnes who came in 2006. This means that many of them are past the emergency stage, apart from Madi camp while the rest of the camps are in recovery stage. This means that the refugees are now less traumatised and have now settled in to make their lives more meaningful.
On same celebration ground URCS had helped the community in the recovery stage. 1950 households had benefited, 57% of the beneficiaries were refugees and the 43% are natives. Over 1200 household had been supported in crop production where URCS routinely provides them with seeds and farming equipment. 1950 households were provided with tree planting and 600 households were supported with energy saving stoves. Capacity building had also been done for the refugees which was evident I the patterns noticed in their approach to activities. Some of them had become local leaders, peer educators, while others were farmers.
Among the other things URCS does in these camps is Restoration of Family Links. RFL is a program that involves connecting people with their lost families. This is done by tracing their relatives from the last known location, then sending them Red Cross messages or giving them two minutes of the tracing phone call. This has helped the unaccompanied minors and other people to re-link with their lost families.
On the other hand, refugees had settled in and had established a new way of life. They had become farmers and others had established small businesses like carpentry and raring. According to Agnes, who had come to Adjumani in 2006 and had become a resident in the Mungula settlement, the place had become her home and she stresses that times had changed. She now believes there is a lot they can do in Uganda than spend their time wining.
In the general perspective, refugees are regular people, they too have lives and skills just like other people and they are willing to forge a life ahead. It is therefore our responsibility to ensure that we support them to fit in because anyone can become a refugee at any time. It was not their call but they made a choice to keep life moving.
Let’s get to know and support them, let’s serve humanity.