Thanks to support from UNICEF, LWF and UNHCR in conjunction with OPM, Sudanese nationals fleeing the war in their country are being settled, protected and equipped with survival skills in Uganda
By Moses Sserwanga
There has been an influx of Sudanese refugees in Uganda following a devastating 19-month war in Sudan that has displaced close to three million people. Among the thousands of fleeing Sudanese nationals now seeking refuge at the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, the majority are children and women.
These include some unaccompanied and separated children whose parents were either killed in the bloody war, or whose whereabouts are unknown. Faima Mohmm, a nine-year-old girl, is one of them.
“I fled the war in Khartoum with my mother and elder 12-year-old sister, Kahaan Eprhn. We were in a group of ten people and moved a long distance up to the Uganda border in Nimule, where we were received by a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHRC) team. After the registration process, we were transported to Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement and are now camped at the reception centre,” she narrates while thanking Allah that they are alive and in a safe place.
Mohmm’s story is shared by many other children who spend much of their daytime at the mobile Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs), which have been set up at the settlement’s reception centre to rehabilitate and offer psychosocial support to children affected by the Sudan war. The spaces, which are managed by Lutheran World Foundation (LWF) on behalf of UNHCR, have been set up with support and funding from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Uganda.
This six-month UNICEF-supported child protection intervention kicked off from 28th May to 27th November 2024 targeting the Sudanese influx. It accommodates both refugee and national child communities living around the settlement and provides individual care management and support to children with mental and physical health challenges, among others.
“The CFSs have been part of an emergency response since December 2023. We received support of US$68,370 equivalent to UGX260,629,091 from UNICEF to respond to the needs of refugee children by improving their living conditions and providing protection services,” explained Ms Winfred Mandeku, the LWF focal person for child protection.
“Several activities are carried out at the CFSs to rehabilitate children so that they can rediscover their socializing skills by playing games and learning to interact and share positive experiences with their peers. Our trained caregivers offer psycho-social support to improve the mental wellbeing of the children. The CFSs also help the caregivers to identify children who need protection from physical and psychological abuse. For children who need support to access other services, appropriate referrals are made to the different service points, with follow-ups made by the child protection caseworkers,” she added.
At Kiryandongo, Mohmm and her sister Kahaan are part of 125 children who are being helped to learn English, count, draw and shade pictures to improve their abilities to speak, write and engage in active sport while bonding with their peers.
“I love to come here (the CFSs) to meet and interact with my newfound friends. We are allowed to play various games including football and netball. We also play board games, and our facilitators give us learning materials to read and write,” stated Mohmm, who wants to be a nurse when she grows up.
The Kiryandongo Reception Centre Mobile CFS, just like others spread out in the settlement, has two facilitators male and female. Irene Achola, one of them, has witnessed firsthand how the CFSs are transforming the lives of these war affected children.
“Many children brought here could hardly speak. They were withdrawn and exhibited signs of deep fear. We could tell that they were traumatized by the effects of war. The CFSs have helped them to open up and enjoy their lives again, which is very encouraging to those of us who are giving the social care support,” she said.
“UNICEF support also helps LWF to identify and train caregivers of children with disabilities. So far, 29 caregivers have been trained to offer counselling services and social support to refugee parents to change their attitude towards their children as part of the positive parenting sessions. This is because concerns about neglect, poor feeding and lack of medical care were documented among families of children living with disabilities. We encourage parents to seek support and services for their children in a timely manner,” Mandeku said.
LWF is also utilizing UNICEF support to set up women and girls’ safe spaces where they can be given some life skills. The spaces also serve as counselling centres for females at risk of Gender Based Violence – and its survivors.
“At these spaces, we engage newly arrived female refugees in both soft and hard skilling activities. The soft part caters to their freedom of expression in order for them to openly share their experiences and challenges and find solutions. They are also given skills in tailoring, soap making and backyard farming practices,” Mandeku added.
UNICEF support has also helped LWF to train another 99 women and 21 foster families to acquire skills in business management. These skills include bookkeeping and financial literacy to empower them to be self-reliant and provide the basic needs of their families. This reduces vulnerability and helps lower sexual exploitation, abuse and Gender Based Violence. They are also trained to report cases of abuse by using the inter-agency Feedback, Referral and Resolution Mechanism (FRRM) line 0800323232 which is operational within the refugee settlement, and Sauti 116 for the host communities.
According to Mandeku, the women are given conditional monetary grants each to start-up businesses of their choice in order to sustain themselves and their families upon completion of training.
The foster families, according to Mandeku, are carefully selected following strict procedures in order to care for unaccompanied and separated children living within the refugee settlement.
Many of these children’s parents were killed and others separated from their families in the stampede and fleeing caused by the war.
Ms Nabila Ajilan (49), a single mother of three children, heads one of the foster families and takes care of two teenage refugee girls. Maaza Ather (17) is in Senior One at Panyadoli Self Help Secondary School while Arisa Jafar (15) arrived at Kiryandongo on 6th October 2024 and is yet to enroll in school. Both girls lost their parents and family members before they fled the war from different parts of Sudan.
“We like our new mother. We are quite stubborn, but she looks after us well. We are happy to be here, living in peace,” said the more talkative of the two, Ather.
As for Ajilan, all she wants is to see her newly adopted daughters studying hard to become responsible citizens of the world. “I want these girls to become doctors. I will be the happiest woman if my dream is realised,” she said, hugging the girls.
The government of Uganda through the Office of The Prime Minister (OPM) has welcomed UNICEF’s support to UNHCR’s implementing partner, LWF, and the various interventions that have been put in place at Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement. The OPM team, led by the Commandant of the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Mr Emmanuel Turyagyenda, said that at the beginning of the year, they faced an emergency following a huge influx of over 10,000 Sudanese refugees.
“We have managed to settle many of the refugees in the different cluster villages within the settlement and a limited number remain at our reception centre. All this has been possible because of the support from our partners UNICEF, LWF and UNHCR,” stated Shamil Adam, a Community-Based Protection Officer at OPM.
Editor:msserwanga@gmail.com
