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A Joyful Graduation Ceremony for Refugees in North Uganda
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NRC, 15/06/2016
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On three consecutive bright mornings in June 2016, South Sudanese refugee and host community youth, with a great deal of excitement, flocked to their respective vocational skill training sites in Nyumanzi, Ayilo II and Ocea. Some of them wore gowns fashioned by their friends in the tailoring class and looked just like Makerere graduates. A six month journey had culminated in their graduating from short-term courses in one of eight different skills
that included bakery and catering, electronics, hair dressing and saloon management, tailoring and garment cutting, brick laying and concrete practice, poultry, horticulture, and carpentry and joinery.
The joyful graduation ceremonies took place on 7th, 8th and 10th June in Nyumanzi, Ayilo II and Ocea respectively, under the theme ‘Skilling Youth for Sustainable Livelihood’. In total, 485 trainees of whom 305 (63% females) completed the... |
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South Sudanese refugees adapt to a new life in Kiryandongo
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NTV , 05/01/2016
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South Sudanese refugees adapt to a new life in Kiryandongo.
Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement is bursting at the seams, with the authorities saying they are overwhelmed as refugees continuously flee war in South Sudan. There seems to be no end in sight for war that broke out in December 2013 in Uganda’s northern neighbour. The head of the refugee settlement told NTV that the looming drought remains a key challenge, with the population now standing at 54,000. For the past three months, the settlement has received an average of 123 people daily. Sheila Nduhukire filed this report from the settlement... |
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Regional emergencies push Uganda's refugee hosting to breaking point
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UNHCR, 21/12/2015
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KAMPALA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) – Three emergencies in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and South Sudan have push the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda to astronomical levels, forcing the east African country to look up to donors for support.
Uganda is currently host to 510,973 refugees and asylum-seekers (as of Dec. 10), making it the third largest refugee hosting country in the region after Ethiopia and Kenya, and the eighth largest in the world, UN Refugee Agency figures show.
This is the biggest number of refugees and asylum seekers the country has hosted in its history. The main countries of origin for refugees and asylum seekers are Burundi, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.
A new global report released on Friday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) shows that the increasing number ... |
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Kiryandongo School where pupils are taught in five languages
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New Vision News , 19/10/2015
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By Eddie Ssejjoba
Teachers at Conram Primary School located in Kiryandongo Refugee Resettlement have to use five different languages to communicate to pupils who come from different dialects and nationalities.
The school has 3,120 pupils, making it one of the most highly populated in the country; with majority of the pupils are from the Nuer and Dinka tribes in South Sudan. Others come from DR Congo, Kenya and Tanzania. Most of the children do not understand English, with majority of mature age pupils studying in lower classes.
The speech by the Right Rev. Fr. Francis Banura of the Holy Family Katukire Parish was last week halted when the Nuer pupils complained that they could not understand the translation from English to Dinka language.
The pupils raised their voices asking for a Nuer interpreter as well, but the school administration asked... |
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Refugee Haven, Kampala has become a global example of how best to help people who flee their home country
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Independent news, 03/08/2015
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Uganda is a developing country with meagre resources but despite that, the country is leading the way in terms of refugee response. For this, says Charlie Yaxley, the UNHCR Associate External Relations Officer in Kampala, Uganda deserves special praise. “Uganda has a unique policy towards refugees,” says Yaxley, “It already has land which has been designated for refugees before they even come.
In addition to the free land, the refugees have freedom of movement around Uganda. They are also allowed to seek employment; they are able to get jobs, to try and sustain themselves.
“They can try and open businesses if they wish. This is opposed to so many other countries which require refugees and asylum seekers to stay in camps all the time”.
Yaxley told The Independent in a recent interview that UNHCR commends the government for this “exceptionally generous policy.”
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Fresh off a UNHCR trip to Northern Uganda, Kristin Davis gets candid about witnessing the huge influx of South Sudanese refugees fleeing violence in their country
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UNHCR, 30/07/2015
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Emerging out of the dust clouds that gather closer and closer is a small minibus. It stops beside us, and an ancient-looking man unfolds himself from the vehicle, looking dazed. It is swelteringly hot and he's drenched in sweat. His daughter and her tiny baby are with him, and they, too, look lost and weary. In their confused state, they seek out the shade of a building while I run to get them water. But I can't stay with them...
An old woman who appears to be blind needs help out of the van along with her single, small bag. She is followed by a young couple with a baby who has terrible sores on his legs—the mother is rightly worried and anxious. The baby needs a doctor and a call is made, but there are plenty more in the van who need attention.
I am in Adjumani Refugee Camp in Northern Uganda with UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency. Adjumani is one of four refugee camps in this area.... |
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Breaking the Silence
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UNHCR, 06/03/2015
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At Nyumanzi refugee settlement in northern Uganda, where the sound of families preparing food hangs on the hazy, late-afternoon air, 18-year-old Suzan Yar Agot is making her rounds in a neighbourhood known as Block C. Once upon a time these afternoon strolls were aimless, an attempt to stave off the boredom of refugee life. Now Suzan walks with purpose, having found a way to help her community.
Suzan is one of 40 refugee volunteers – nearly all youth – working to encourage more refugees to report and help prevent sexual and gender-based violence.
“People come to tell me their problems because they need help and they know I can help,” she says. “I inform youth to change their culture and be aware of what is bad and what is good. Forced marriage is there, and defilement of children. Our people are not educated, but now they are changing. At first they didn’t know, but I t... |
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One Mother’s Courage
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UNHCR , 17/02/2015
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Deadly conflicts forced Nawat to flee from Sudan to South Sudan to Uganda. Now, a small miracle has made her family whole again.
It’s been a little over a year since I last visited the refugee settlements of Adjumani, in northern Uganda. It was here – in those early months of 2014, when many hundreds of refugees were arriving each day from South Sudan – that I first met Nawat Ali Aldud, a young mother whose story will stay with me forever.
Back then, Nawat was a broken woman. The mother of two small children, Kuku and Mamor, she had been on the move for over two years. The first time she fled – literally running for her life – was to escape fighting in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. She took refuge in Juba, the newly designated capital of South Sudan.
Then came news that her husband, a soldier named Jalal, had been killed in the fighting back home. Heartbroken, Nawat decide... |
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Wrestling for Peace
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UNHCR, 15/01/2015
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Barefoot and bare-chested, Athong Mayen crouches close to the ground, scoops up a handful of dirt and tosses it into the air – hoping to intimidate a man he has only just met.
The two strangers have a score to settle, but it’s all in good fun. As refugees from South Sudan, they are engaging in the traditional Dinka sport of wrestling.
Since he arrived at Uganda’s Nyumanzi refugee settlement in January 2014, Athong, 25, has been splitting his time between competing in wrestling tournaments and running a phone-charging shop in Nyumanzi’s now-bustling marketplace.
He started the business back in his hometown – Bor, South Sudan – when he was just 13 years old. But several months ago he left nearly everything behind when the conflict that has ripped the country apart finally forced him to flee.
The one thing on Athong’s mind was how he would survive after reaching Ug... |
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South Sudanese, who are again refugees in Uganda, see no reason to ever go home
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UNHCR, 16/04/2014
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ADJUMANI, Uganda, April 16 (UNHCR) – When Joseph Anyang Ngong took his family home from Uganda in 2005, he thought a safe and secure future lay before them in Sudan's Bor region. Now that his family are back in Uganda as refugees for a second time, he can see no reason to ever return to South Sudan.
Many of those arriving in Uganda from South Sudan in this latest wave of refugees are self-proclaimed old hands at displacement after fleeing during the 20-year civil war between north and south Sudan that ended in 2005. That conflict left an estimated two million people dead, 428,000 refugees in neighbouring countries and 2.5 million internally displaced.
The majority of refugees arriving in Adjumani, like 62-year-old Joseph, come from the turbulent Bor region of Jonglei state. The have travelled nearly 400 kilometres to reach Uganda, often after having sought temporary shelter in Ju... |
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