A Refugee’s Pursuit for Livelihood

Amani Kishonge Ruhimbana an entrepreneur, a French teacher and a community development worker has been a refugee in Kenya for six years.  Amani who is now in his mid twenties flee his country DRC Congo in 2007 as a result of internal conflicts and insecurity. Despite his status as a refugee, he tells me he has never regarded himself as a helpless person. Instead, he is ever focused in achieving his dream of becoming a leader in his country some day.

In an interview with me, he disputes the general perception held by many people who have never been in a refugee camp. “There is often a bad image created out there about refugee camps.  The usual general view by many outsiders is perhaps that a refugee camp is a densely populated place with a multitude of idle people not capable of making a living.”

“Many fail to see the obvious fact that a refugee is just like any other person, only that their normal lives have been disrupted. A refugee could be anything from a doctor, a teacher to an entrepreneur, a journalist or even a farmer.” Amani who now resides in Dadaab refugee camp tells me.

A refugee trader in Dadaab refugee camps-Picture by Mohamed Bashir-Internews Europe.

Dadaab refugee complex in based in North Eastern Kenya in Garissa County just about 80 KM from the Somalia boarder. It currently hosts a massive population of 430, 000 refugees and asylum seekers most of whom come from Somalia.

Thousands of men and women living in Dadaab complex, the worlds largest are resilient people who have walked long journeys in life. Through many income generating activities that freely happen in Dadaab camps, it is not hard to tell that many refugees are determined to make a living for their families despite the tough situation of having to live in isolation. 

Amani himself is very determined. Through his many walks in life, he tells me, his main focus is to surprise the world that a refugee can make it too.  

“Back in my country, I had just finished my Diploma in Commerce and my life was looking bright before hell broke loose. I had to flee. Members of my family were also forced to flee in different directions without a trace of one another. I ended up in Kenya myself. And so when I arrived in Kenya in 2007, I was settled in Kakuma refugee camp by UNHCR.” He explains.

He continues to explain to me how life can be very harsh if you are forced to flee and all over sudden happen to find yourself in a new country within a confined environment away from your loved ones. “I had never been in a refugee camp before. When I found myself in one, I thought my dreams would crash within no time. I almost gave up my hope.”

“I always held myself in high regard. In fact, my nick name is Prince which means the son of a king. The name was inspired by my great grandfather who was once a king in the Bavira Kingdom in my hometown. I always believed that I have the capability to do anything I ever wanted but I almost doubted myself when I was in Kakuma then,” he narrates.

Amani, a name which significantly means Peace in Kenya’s native language Kiswahili does not understand why his country has to be a subject of perennial internal conflicts. He tells me how he desires to be part of a permanent solution to his country. “I have my personal problems but in my head, I never stop thinking of problems facing my country.” He tells me.

He recounts how he later in 2007 reunited with some of his family members who had also been settled in Kakuma camp. That is when he decided to forget his miseries and focus on his future. He somehow repackaged himself and started getting involved in income generating activities within Kakuma camp.

“I got my first job as a French teacher in one of the primary schools in Kakuma. I also raised some money to establish a beauty parlour and a tailoring shop. Whenever I was not in class teaching French, I was either designing clothes in my shop or attending to my customers at my barber shop. I had acquired these skills while back in my country,” he adds.

Amani teaching French to Aid workers in Dadaab’sMain Office

Things were not rosy. He therefore had to think of other ideas. He then decided to open a salon shop with items that were donated to him by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), an NGO that operates in Kakuma. “It’s not everyday that you get an opportunity like that,” he says.

“My hair designing skills had impressed LWF officers so much that they decided to support me to advance my business.  To be honest, my salon was the best thing that ever happened to me in a camp. It did very well especially because I had good partners but it only did well for a short while. My competitors from the host community were not happy.” He pauses.

He then narrates to me how he began having random problems with unscrupulous business competitors from the neighbouring Kakuma town. Some attacked him several times despite reporting them to local authorities. “One evening, a gang attacked me in my shop and took off with my working items. I was badly injured and I had to seek UNHCR’s protection intervention. That is how I ended up being relocated from Kakuma to Dadaab refugee complex.”

Amani had some savings with him when he arrived in Dadaab’s Ifo camp. He immediately established a mobile phone charging shop outside the main street of Ifo. He also purchased a new tailoring machine with which he established a cloth designing shop.

He tells me how he found Dadaab very structurally different from Kakuma. “Ifo camp was very populated. There were hundreds of refugees from Somalia being settled there every day. The conditions in Ifo were harsher than they were in Kakuma and there were many existing businesses all over town. It was hard to penetrate but I had to venture into something anyway.” He says.

“Despite all the challenges, I settled down quickly and I made a lot of fiends and customers from different nationalities. People brought to me their mobile phones to charge for them. Some even brought laptops, ipads and iphones. My shop became a busy hub but I had to be more watchful because of all the expensive electronics under my care.”

Amani continues to narrate to me how he was already putting together big plans to expand his business just before an unfortunate incident happened outside his shop in late 2011. An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded right outside his shop. This was during the time when life in the camps was becoming unbearable due to insecurity.http://www.somaliareport.com/index.php/post/2363/Kenyan_Response_to_Attacks_in_Refugee_Camps. 
 

The explosion caused a stampede which found even him fleeing from his business leaving it unattended. “To my shock, I lost everything in my shop during the stampede which had created room for some people to rob me. All the expensive electronics had been stolen. My designed clothes had also been stolen. The arrival of the police made things even worse because they randomly arrested all people found within the scene of the incident including me.”He says.

 

He tells me how life turned upside down for him after that incident. Some of his customers who had lost their items in his shop began demanding him to pay for the stolen items. Some even threatened him.

He had no capacity to pay anything and so, he chose to seek protection from UNHCR again. UNHCR counselled him and offered him new shelter in a new settlement. He later applied for a compound management assistant job at UNHCR which he secured after a few weeks.  

Amani in his Compound Management office in Dadaab’s Main office

Even though he now lives and works in the UNHCR compound awaiting his durable solution, he says that he misses his relatives and friends back in the camps. “There are times when I feel like visiting my friends and relatives back in the camps but I really get scared because of what I went through there.”

Amani says that even though he has a job and a secure place to live, he is not entirely happy because he is not able to support his family with the little amount he makes. He teaches French to a few agency staff members working within the larger UN compound every evening after work. “What I would really love to do is to establish my own business first and then get a chance to further my studies even as I do these other jobs. I have people who depend on me you know!” He exclaims.

Our children are going to school but are they really learning?2

The recently launched government task force report on education proposes to change Kenya’s system of education from 8.4.4 to 2.6.3.3.3. If this is adopted, children will spend two years in pre-primary school, six years in primary school, three years in lower secondary school and another three years in upper secondary school. It also means that they will have to spend a minimum of three years at University. 

 Kenya has already changed its system of education twice. The first system, 7.6.4 was adopted in 1963 and later abolished in 1985 to make room for 8.4.4 system of education. These changes however have not succeeded in enhancing the quality of education to expected levels. Our children still face many challenges at school most of which have nothing to do with the system of education.

Uwezo Kenya has been conducting national educational assessments since 2009. These assessments constitute the largest study in Kenya’s education sector for children between 6 and 16 years old. In its most recent findings contained in the 2011 Annual Learning Assessment Report, it is clear that Kenya’s school learning levels are low across board. Nationally, 4 out of 10 children miss school daily and 7 out of 10 children in class 3 cannot do class 2 work.

The report also indicates that on average, every primary school has a shortage of 4 teachers while on a single day, 13 out of 100 teachers miss school. The prevailing acute shortage of teachers at schools affects learning. It may also shock you to know that 9 out of 100 children in class 8 cannot solve class 2 mathematical problems involving division.

The study found out that many children are not learning because they are unable to see the blackboard. 3 out of 100 children in a classroom today have unidentified eyesight problems and their learning standards are 27 percent lower than those of children with good eyesight.

These findings are without any doubt a reality staring at our faces and begging the question; are our children learning? 

Changing the system of education is off course necessary but it’s not enough. It’s not about the number of years children will spend at each level of education. It’s not even about the kind of examinations they will do. It’s about the seriousness with which our country will generally handle education matters. 

Schools will need to be well managed by their head teachers, well attended by both pupils and teachers, well supported by their government as well as parents. They will need to be provided with enough resources to run successfully and produce students capable of thinking critically. The government will have to train and employ more teachers and parents will need motivation to be more involved with their children’s education.

A shift from the reliance on examinations to the kind of education that will inspire basic foundation competencies with critical thinking skills and advances in science and technology will help bring the Kenyan education system in line with globally competitive standards. If adopted, the task force report will be the first step towards achieving this. 

It is our duty as Kenyan citizens to push for specific reforms in our education sector that will ensure tomorrow’s generations are provided with a first class education at all levels. We cannot expect to achieve anything much with the current system of education where our children do not have equal chances of learning. We ought to remember that education is a key pillar towards achieving Vision 2030.

 

Duke Kosprin

Are Children in rehabilitation schools learning?

Ten years have passed since Kabete secondary approved school was unceremonious abolished. Questions are still being asked as to why the school was done away with despite its benefits to thousands of children mainly from the streets.

Kabete was the only approved school providing secondary education for boys. The institution has since been turned into a children rehabilitation center providing elementary level of education.

The school got abolished barely ten years after being established through the now repealed Children and Young Persons Act of 1991. Besides Kabete, there are eight more centers across Kenya with just two for girls.

Latest figures put children in these centers at about 700. Four thousand more are in custody of juvenile remand homes waiting for their turn to join rehabilitation schools.

There are 11 juvenile remand homes (under the administration of the Children’s Department) in Kenya. These homes host homeless, abandoned or orphaned children and those with serious criminal offenses.

According to the Children Act 2001, juvenile courts are mandated to determine cases for children with both criminal and discipline problems. Those above fifteen are committed to borstal institutions which are under the prisons department. On the other hand, those below fifteen years with discipline problems are committed to rehabilitation schools for three years.

In rehabilitation schools, they are required to cover primary school curriculum but only a lucky few get to sit for KCPE. That is if they are retained for the full three years.

Philip Wapopa a manager at the Kabete center says that children in custody are equipped with technical skills besides school curriculum. “We have enough teachers qualified enough to teach them and to reform their behaviors.”

As a person who has worked for the department for over ten years, he reckons that three years is not enough to rehabilitate any child. “Initially, we used to be rehabilitated them until the age of eighteen.” He says.

He hopes that policy adjustments will be considered to do away with the three years limit and to mandate the department of children to resume providing secondary education.

Anactard Naam is a beneficiary of Kabete approved school. He grew without a father to look up to and his mother was destitute. In 1993 when he was just ten, he dropped out of school to help his mother at home.

A few years later when approved school had just come to his rescue, his mother passed on. He however remained in custody until his O-levels. “Had I been released out Kabete before my form four, I wouldn’t have become a career hotelier I am today. Secondary education is essential,” he charges.

Now a journalist at NTV, Simon Kigamba reminisces how approved school made him who he is today. He says that the school couldn’t have come at a better time in his life than in 1999 when he had no hope for education.

However after joining Likoni approved school in 1999, he made it upon himself to turn his life around for the better. He was later transferred to Kabete approved school to join form one.

Simon had to put up with many difficult conditions that prevailed during his time with a goal to make it in life. In 2004, his prayers were answered when he scored high grades in KCSE to make it to University.

He now wonders how it can be assumed that the poor children are being rehabilitated when nobody really cares about their future. “The act needs to be amended. The three years limit has to be done away with and secondary education must resume if those kids are to be helped.” He says.

Another beneficiary Boniface Lele never imagined that he could come from the streets and be a responsible man he is today. “I was in the streets because of poverty.” He remarks as he gets deeply disturbed remembering his ordeal in the streets.

“It is unfortunate that our country still has children roaming streets in this century.” He regrets and says that streets are no place for any human being especially a child.

Boniface however expresses optimism. “My life got changed at approved school because I got educated. The same can also be extended to our brothers and sisters from the streets in those rehabilitation schools and not just a token of it.”

Despite this outcry, Ahmed Hassan insists that the role of providing secondary education belongs to the ministry of education. He reiterates that the department of children which he directs can only follow existing laws.

Norkiso Owino however does not entertain the director’s remarks. The former approved school student currently pursuing his master’s degree rubbishes section 53 of the Children’s Act as draconian.

He adds that if the government was interested in helping destitute children, it wouldn’t have repealed the approved school section of the old law.

“What is the point of giving orphans and street children so much hope only to take it away after three years?” He laments and recommends urgent amendment to the act to remove the three years limitation and provide secondary education to compliment the technical training they receive.

Meanwhile, the number of street children in Nairobi seems to be swelling. It is suspected that the difficult economic conditions may be a major contribution to this.

These could as well be children released from rehabilitation schools after serving their maximum term of three years. The ministry of gender and children will need to move quickly and address these weighty concerns.

By Duke Mwancha

The Art of Being a Parent

Howdy folks, its twenty twelve right? Ooh! I think it is! Sometimes I get lost in the early nineties when I was six. Well, welcome to my read. It’s a roller coaster read in which I will pull no punches; beware.

 

Do you have (a) kid/s? Yes, No! I don’t, I am not a father material just yet. I have lots of love for little ones though. Clichés aside, little children are angels for real. You will make no sense of this anyway until you spend time with them to see how I mean.

If you don’t have your own, you may want to try those of your friend’s. Just give them your sincere attention, don’t act. Clean them, change their diapers, feed them, play with them, ride them around, make them laugh, do whatever you can to keep them happy until they sleep. If that is too much to do, then you can’t be any further from being a parent.

I chose to kick off my year at Kilimani’s New Life Trust, a home like no other with about forty five children. Only thirteen are toddlers. The rest are infants and they were all found abandoned in the streets some as young as only four days old. What an ordeal!

The forty five are lucky to the extent that they are well taken care of. But then I really don’t understand ‘why’ these little angels had to find themselves in strange hands at their tender age.

The fourteen toddlers, Shawn, Lukas, Ephraim, Ankas, Lydia, Christiana, Faggas, Noel, Max, Victor, Zablon, Tabitha, Jonathan and Meshack have become such friends that I can’t imagine missing even just for a day. I recommend you go visit them. Let’s face it; a child is the best friend you can ever have. I mean, all a child will care about is your attention, nothing more.

The forty five represent many more across the country not abandoned by insane people but some selfish and heartless irresponsible men and women.  I don’t belief that tough economic conditions have anything to do with it, its blatant rejection, just a nicer way of being cruel. They clearly do it because they know somebody will rescue them and take them to custody at some point.

For a while now, I have witnessed desperate uptight Kenyan women coming to New Life trying to find perfect children to adopt. They normally walk straight to the kids with smiles and hellos, a really nice gesture. What raises my eyebrows though is how choosy they can get. To them, some kids are beautiful and others are not.

The seemingly malnourished and those with darker skins get no attention from any of them at all. The act of showing open discrimination to innocent kids leaves no questions as to what kind of mothers they really aspire to be if at all.

My meticulous observation at the home has made me realize that I may after all not need a child of my own just yet. Not until that time I would have fully learned the art of being a father. I say this because I can’t be disappointed enough with the kind of parents I see around, not just in New Life.

Just because age is catching up with you or you recently got married and things are going well in your life does not necessarily mean you are ready for a child. You also don’t want to have a child because your folks and peers think that you should have one already. Neither should it be because your life sucks and you need a companion. I need no moral authority to tell you this, I just need pain.

On the other hand, you are probably that person who always provides for your children. You have them in private schools better than those of your relatives and neighbors’ right?  I assume that you also avail whatever it is within your means they need. You also have a nanny for them I guess, just to assist them with all they do!

You are that busy chap who understandably comes late at home and asks them, “Hey sweetie, look at what I brought you- did she feed you? By the way, do you like your school...” so on and so forth till you go to bed.Do you drive them to school? Is that all you do? Great, then you are a characteristic modern Kenyan father. Awesome parenting huh!

Somebody should answer me this, why is it that Kenyan parents and teachers like yelling at kids? I see that everywhere I go. It’s even worse with those who raise hands on them. You have no idea how they boil my blood. I hate my neighbors just for that. It’s really a lousy habit and if it does anything, it deeply develops anxiety in kids as they grow.

As a country, our parenting is obviously below capacity. That is why we have so many abandoned kids roaming streets and in children homes. You shouldn’t think you are a perfect parent because yours are with you. You too need a reality check at your home.

Parenting has got to be more than just keeping your children’s lifestyle better or at per with your neighbors’. It surely has to be better than showing off your son’s/daughter’s photo to friends. It has to go further than just dressing them well for snaps and posting their photos on facebook or buying them candy and ice-cream.

If God has blessed you with (a) kid/s of any kind, please give them all your attention. A child will need your happiness, time, stories and most importantly your friendship. He/she will need you to understand his/her language. Those other material things, any fool with money can do. 

Kosprin

Overcoming gender inequality in political leadership

Political analysts from different parts of the world agree that women have both a right and an obligation to active participation in political leadership. Studies in women and leadership have consistently shown that when women get into politics, they bring a different style and perspective of leadership. Even right here in Kenya, some impact has often been felt in instances where women have led.

The violent nature of Kenyan politics however has always hampered women from seeking political leadership. The few who hold political positions today have come a long way and none of them has had it easy. One of the reasons for this is off course the persistence of an extremely patriarchal political system Kenya has had since 1963.

The new constitution has however given Kenyan women a new momentum. They now feel ready to democratically take on their male counterparts for leadership positions in the public sector. Several organizations have been organizing forums and seminars to ensure the momentum continues into 2012 general elections and beyond.

Since the new constitution was promulgated in August 2010, a few women have been appointment to key public offices but this has not changed the statistics by any margin. According to a 2009 survey by the Ministry of Gender, only 30.9 per cent of those employed in the public service are women, 72 per cent of them are in the lower cadres. The same inequity exists in the judiciary, political parties, and political representation.

Women hold only about 10 per cent of the seats in the 10th Parliament. The situation would have been different if the country had necessitated a women friendly political environment like Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. The trio now leads global statistics on women’s representation in elective politics at 56.3%, 31% and 30% respectively.

The provision of special seats for women in chapter seven of the new constitution will obviously increase women representation in parliament and county governments. The new constitution has also promised to create a friendly political environment in future elections. This should encourage women to seek elective posts as aggressively as their male counterparts even as they remain upbeat about the special seats.

The third African Women in Political Leadership Conference held in Nairobi on August this year endeavored to put the issue of women leadership into perspective. The conference was organized by the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET). From their discussions, women seeking leadership were urged not to be motivated by the desire to dislodge men from politics.

The struggle for change will be futile if political campaigns are reduced to women versus men affair. This may trigger gender animosities which will deter citizens from focusing of the big picture of eradicating poverty. Women have succeeded in countries like Rwanda not on a gender platter but on transformational leadership and their motherly instincts they bring to the table.

Women must proof wrong skeptics who have perpetuated the notion that women forget the plight of their fellow women as soon as they occupy political positions. There have also been claims from various quotas that once women are in power, they succumb to stigma from men who ridicule and undermine them at the slightest mistake they make. While this may have been the case in the past, it should not be allowed in the new dispensation.

Even as women eagerly wait for 2012, it should be remembered that the gender equality evangelism is not an event but a continuous battle that has to be won at every point. This is the critical time that those in leadership should help strengthen the capacity of women by institutionalizing the gender policy. Working closely with commissions on gender equality and using monitoring and evaluation mechanisms will be an essential weapon.

Kosprin

How well have you utilized what you have?

First let me point out that complaining is a pedestrian term and it shouldn’t inspire you, this is rather calling it like I see it. The best way to kick it off is perhaps by saluting you for having sailed through your higher education successfully if you have. In this country where only a few are endowed with what you have, my congratulations can only be in order.

For the sake of arguing, let me refer to you as the cream of the nation but you need not to be carried away. Society may care less of what you have but what you know. In other words your degree or diploma is as good as its utility at your place of work. If you have a clue of what I mean, proceed to the next paragraph.

The job market these days seek for very high qualifications. Advanced university degrees have left first degree holders with no chance of joining the professional working class. As a result, society is no longer in fancy of mare first degrees, let alone diplomas. Desperation to have degrees is at its peak. Universities are smiling all the way to the bank owing to the number of desperate cases pushing it hard just to obtain that glossy paper.

Somebody once said that the biggest problem with a rat race is that even if you win, you are still a rat. Put it better if you can. I hate getting into the politics of performance but the professional reputation of many sectors in Kenya really sucks despite being controlled by “advanced degree holders.” By the way did you watch the striking dons last month? That was the caliber of our advanced degree holders laid bare. Their students of bad grammar, silly arguments and trouble in the streets are only chips off their old blocks.

I may sound mischievous but I am not so misguided. Take our forty gang cabinet as a sample. The few professors and doctors among them are the top performers right? I am told some of them are Harvard schooled.

It would have been encouraging if these advanced degrees added value to our nation and not reduced it to a bourgeois third world state it is. Did you know that over ninety five percent of top entrepreneurs in the world are not even degree holders? In my humble opinion, this advanced degree rat race situation will only perfect egoism.

Of particular interest is the tendency of my young graduate friends who have been caught up in this mess. Some of these kids are hardly into their first professional jobs but they are already rushing against each other into master’s degree classes. This degree has become fashionable rather than necessary. You can tell by how they vibe about it, no sense of plan whatsoever.

How will a master’s degree add value to a twenty six years old hack probably not even registered to any professional body? The rush to nowhere may be characteristic of my generation but we may soon have a country full of good for nothing advanced degree holders. 

Kosprin