It is on many occasions that friends and new people I meet ask me that one question- what is life in a refugee settlement like? Actually, some have modified the question to assess my expectations versus experience of the refugee communities. To be honest, I had a rough picture of the environment and general way of life in a refugee settlement until my current GHC fellowship placement in Kyangwali refugee settlement, Hoima district in Uganda. I could imagine thousands of barely dressed miserable people lining up at a UN food store for the next day’s meal. A long queue of patients at a small clinic or at a bore hole collecting water, the crowded run-down shelters- all these I pictured in my mind. But thanks to my organization’s (Action Africa Help- International) reports and publications I read before traveling to my work station. My opinion and expectations were further biased on my first trip to the settlement by the bumpy and muddy road network of 96 kilometers from Hoima town. My first morning in the settlement began the road map to my current experiences.
I won’t say this is a land of milk and honey but it is quite a peaceful and conducive place for work and settlement. The major economic activity is farming and you will not miss the maize, rice and beans plantations plus the vast vegetation cover. Business in farm produce is booming plus other ordinary shops and eating houses not forgetting the bars in the trading centers of the settlement. People are settled in fairly modest housing with some exceptions obviously. In fact, on any ordinary day, you will be able to meet friendly smartly dressed, healthy men, women and children. We have three health centers in the settlement and one out of the settlement but accessible by the refugees! There are various water sources, solar and generator power at the offices, staff residences and some other facilities. “That sounds like a modest living and working environment in my opinion-” is my usual response to the question after all the explanation.
Doesn’t my response to that question I am always asked seem to over shadow the concerns and inadequacies in this kind of environment? I make it a point to explain the missing bits. Health in the settlement is still a great challenge attributable to inadequate resources and supplies, low household incomes and various behavioural and social dynamics to mention but a few. It is not a rare occurrence for children to fall sick or die of preventable illnesses like malaria, anaemia, nutritional complications, diarrhea, worms and others. In fact my imagination of the long queues at the health centers and during health outreaches stands valid! Women and children continue to be more at risk and actually affected. Poverty still bites hard amidst gender-based violence, psychological trauma, HIV/AIDS, poor sanitation, environmental degradation, child headed and single parenthood families and others.
The prevailing challenges and inadequacies are however not meant to underestimate the tireless efforts of the actors in Kyangwali refugee settlement and other similar environments. I have assessed data and information and heard stories that tell of how far worse Kyangwali settlement has come from to meet its current standards though much is still desired. It is at this brink that I show thumbs up to all humanitarian aid workers and all activists of health equity and social justice. I am indebted to GHC for making me realize and stand up for this cause. The journey is still long but we have to carry on. My biggest experience at the moment is that, “Every effort counts.”
