SAFA Foundation with refugee youth in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the African countries hosting the largest number of refugees. Neighboring countries in conflict, it is home to nearly 900,000 refugees, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea.
There are 26 refugee camps in the country located on the borders with South Sudan (Gambella and Asosa), Eritrea (Shire and Afar) and Somalia (Jijiga and Dollo Ado). The latter is where our project is located. Dollo Ado is a remote place located 932 kilometers from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, which translates into at least 3 days by car. With a semi-desert climate, drought periods occur year after year and literacy and schooling rates are among the lowest in the country.
In Dollo Ado there are 5 Somali refugee camps hosting a total of 220,000 people. It is one of the most impoverished regions of Ethiopia, where the majority of the population is engaged in herding, mostly goats.
The project that we support from SAFA Foundation -through Entreculturas and the Jesuit Refugee Service- aims to alleviating suffering, improving well-being and dignifying the lives of refugees in this region through 3 lines of work: psychosocial support, non-formal education (basic literacy and vocational workshops) and youth dynamization (recreational, cultural and sports activities). Nearly 14,000 people will participate in the whole of this intervention.
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SPECIAL The lives of refugees in Ethiopia
The Jesuit Refugee Service works, with the support of Entreculturas, in the two most populated camps of Dollo Ado: Melkadida and Kobe. In both, 65% of the people are under 18 years of age, so we are dealing with a very young population, many of whom were born there and do not know any other reality. Following the work done building a school and four ambivalent spaces for young people since 2012, this educational and livelihood component is complemented by new lines of work that seek social rehabilitation, the creation of opportunities and the empowerment and self-esteem of young people. In the latter case, through vocational workshops, literacy and recreational, sports and cultural activities.
“Kalid fled Somalia on July 30, 2010, he remembers the date perfectly. Since then he has been in the Melkadida refugee camp in Ethiopia. “We fled because of many things, but mainly because of the drought, we were losing all the crops, and because of the war, two of my uncles were killed in bombings. Here in Melkadida we live in peace even though life is difficult.”
She lives with her parents and her 11 siblings, 5 girls and 6 boys. “Life here is very difficult, but I believe that if we have education we will have a future, the future we want.” As a result, Kalid attends the plumbing classes that JRS holds in Melkadida. “I’m learning how to assemble toilets, water pipes, showers, faucets, pull water out of the ground…. Now I can do small plumbing jobs here in the field, but in the future I will be able to work in this wherever I go or wherever I am.”
(Kalid Mahamed, 19 years old)
