THE RefugeeMAGAZINE Dadaab Edition ISSUE #7 SCAN THIS QR CODE FOR ONLINE VERSION FOCUS ON YOUTH INCLUSION: SIMAMA TV SHOW Youth In Daadab Refugee Camp Simama! To Voice Their Concerns RefugeeTHE Editorial ear ardent readers, it is our joy that just as we bid farewell to 2015 with the 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM SPECIAL EDITION of The Refugee IN BRIEF... Magazine, we are here yet again to usher Din 2016 with this 7th Edition telling interesting and SIMAMA! inspiring stories from the Dadaab complex. We also ACCEPT ME AS I AM capture the landmark production of a Television show focusing on Youth Inclusion that was produced here in Youth inclusion Campaign Dadaab by UNHCR in collaboration withFilmAid. In December 2015, FilmAid undertook a pioneering television production in the In this edition we relive the Activitie leading to and part Dadaab refugee camp. Simama - ACCEPT of the 16 Days of Activism whose culmination coincided ME AS I AM identified 50 young people from with the graduation ceremony of Filmid trained different demographics and assembled them Journalism Trainees . for a constructive discussion. Simama, Kiswahili translation for Arise Or FilmAid recruits and conducts annual training of youths Stand Up, is calling on the young refugees in Film Making and Journalism equiping them with the and the Dadaab community in general to skills to be able to tell their own stories in creative ways identify, speak up and construct a sustainable across print and film media. The 16 Days of Action run future for religious and cultural acceptance. from 25th November-10th December. The campaign spans these 16 Days in order to highlight the link Refugee Education: between violence against women and human rights. Mass School Enrolment Read true untold stories at the heart of the world’s largest Refugee Camp, Dadaab Refugee Camp, as told The mass enrolment campaign run every by Refugees themselves. These are inspirational stories year. It particularly aims at those who have no that tell the uncertainty of the journey that is life. taken advantage of the opportunities for free education delivered by partners like Lutheran From this edition consequently, we will feature creative World Federation (LWF). artists and their works be it poetry, fictional writing, painting etc. We look to give a platform to the talent harboured within the Dadaab refugee complex. We are 16 Days of Activism also exploring avenues of working closely with High School Writers’ and Journalism Clubs for exchange of The 16 Days of Action run from 25th knowledge and skills November-10th December. The campaign spans these 16 Days in order to highlight the As a publication of FilmAid Kenya, we remain true to our link between violence against women and duty of Informing, Educating and entertaining you. It is human rights. therefore our hope, prayer and wish that to each of us it be a rewarding year. Enjoy your read! CONTACT US [email protected] Editor in Chief ww.facebook.com/therefugee www.filmaid.org/publications THE Refugee This magazine was written by refugees living in Dadaab Refugee camps. It is produced by FilmAid with support from PRM RefugeeTHE STORIES INSIDE SCHOOL MASS ENROLMENT DRIVE Thirst for education awakens in Kambioos YOUTH INCLUSION: SIMAMA TV PRODUCTION Youths in Dadaab refugee camp voice their concerns on available opportunities and inclusion FILMAID INTERNATIONAL MANAGING DIRECTOR’S ITINERARY WITH HEADS OF AGENCIES IN DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP. Filmaid International Managing Director meets other Agency Heads in Dadaab Refugee Camp POET’S LOUNGE Topical poems by refugees: I will cry for my land More than my skin THE TEAM CHIEF EDITOR COPY EDITOR EDITORS PHOTOGRAPHY DESIGN/LAYOUT WRITERS ISAAC ONYANGO BERNADETTE OTIENO JIMALE MOHAMED MOHAMED JIMALE ISAAC ONYANGO MOHAMED AWIL ISAAC ONYANGO MOHAMED JIMALE JOSEPHINE PONY SIMON BOL AHMED HASSAN MONICA DHIEU EDUCATION KAMBIOOS MASS SCHOOL ENROLMENT Umoja primary school girls during the mass enrolment campaign in Kambioos By Jimale Mohamed n a refugee camp, there are very few operating in Dadaab refugee camp complex came opportunities for young people to further their together to encourage young boys and girls to enrol education. Without access to education, there into schools to take advantage of the opportunities are limited options available for the youth to that education brings. Icreate meaningful lives in their future. Education opens doors that seemed closed and enable limbs The mass enrolment campaign run every year, reach distances that seemed impossible. particularly targeting those who have no taken advantage of the opportunities provided by UNHCR in collaboration with education partners Humanitarian agencies such as Lutheran World 1 EDUCATION Federation (LWF). affirmative programmes, which abilities on learning, and to look for try to advocate for equity in ways of overcoming the challenges The march started at Kambioos’ opportunities. that may seem to be the barriers Furaha Primary school, and on towards their quest for education. through the town, with different He added that, “The choice of groups carrying placards and girl child education enrolment Is “Earn money, it can be lost, learn posters in support of girl child in the interest of the beneficiary something and it cannot be taken education. It was all songs of and a not a burden of the from you” Mr Bhatarai advised. support and conviction that it is education sector agencies; it lies He added that the refugee status the power of the ink on paper that predominantly with the learners is only but temporary and thus truly frees a confined mind. and their parents.” being educated will open up opportunities for the students The resonating message during Girls enrolling others when they go back to their the campaign being that all countries, because education can children, regardless of gender, The enrolment of students from never leave the educated. deserved an opportunity to get the streets of Kambioos into the education. It is a right to education classrooms has taken varied depths He further urged the education as enshrined in the Kenyan and breadths. These include partner agencies to involve the constitution, that the numerous outdoor campaigns, door-to-door parents in the clamor for education calls were directed towards the campaigns to subtle recruitment for the children, because most community to accept and support processes . There is another active times decisions about children’s the initiatives geared toward campaign set up by a group of education is made by the parents. providing education to children. girls, members a Girl Club at umoja primary school, aiming at enrolling LWF’s Education Officer, Noor their fellow girls into school. “The choice Hussein, emphasised the of girl child education benefits of education saying that, The girls have put all their efforts “Education lives as long as you live towards ensuring that their enrolment is in on earth.” He advised the students fellow girls are empowered and the interest of the that the best time they could be educated; their practical and noble educated is when they are still idea has been greatly hailed. beneficiary and young and energetic and can not a burden of the focus solely on books. He added Other clubs established in that, “The depth of education Kambioos include Learners’ education sector determines the strength of a Government, Learners’ Council and agencies; it lies person’s foundation.” Child protection Clubs all focusing their resources on the betterment predominantly with Muktar Osman, Assistant Education and provision of education the Officer in Kambioos urged both opportunities for Kambioos the young school going children children. learners and their and the uneducated adults to take advantage of opportunities The UNHCR Protection Officer, parents.” available in education such as Mr Dananyaya Bhatarai, was adult education which caters to also the guest of honor and he Muktar Osman, Assistant Education the needs of adult students, the also had encouraging words for OfFicer special needs program which the students. He told them to caters for the disabled and concentrate all their energies and The Refugee Magazine Issue # 7 2 YOUTH INCLUSION YOUTH INCLUSION: GIVING OPPORTUNITY TO YOUTHS TV SHOW By Isaac Onyango & Naomi O’Callaghan THE Refugee Youths in Daadab Refugee Camp during the filming of Simama Talk show. They voiced their concerns on available opportunities and their inclusion in the making of decisions that affect their lives YOUTH INCLUSION bout 100km from the border as part of UNHCR and partnering Simama, Kiswahili translation for of Somalia, in the deserts agencies’ strategy to deal with Arise Or Stand Up, is calling on of Kenya’s north-eastern youth radicalization. It is aimed young refugees and the Dadaab province, lies Dadaab at understanding the issues that communities in general to speak up, RefugeeA Camp. Hosting a cumulative affect young people in the refugee identify and construct a sustainable population of over 300,000 people community and covers issues that future for religious and cultural spread over five camps; Dadaab is might expose them to crime and acceptance. In addition to focusing currently the world’s largest refugee extremism. on acceptance, the production also camp (according to UNHCR November sought to identify weaknesses in the 2015 reports). UNHCR held a two-day workshop system that put the youth at risk of for men, women, young joining extremist groups. Originally inhabited by nomadic adults and interfaith groups with herders who traversed through Kenya’s the objective of advocating for The program covered one of a desert and the Somalia border in religious tolerance and amicable number of responses by UNHCR to search of pasture and water, the vast, coexistence among various the youth’s feedback for opportunities dry and dusty land became inhabited community groups. They focused that would improve the outcome of when civil unrest broke in Somalia.