Refugees United in Uganda, Feb. 2011 – Part 1

In early Feb 2011, David and I headed to Kampala, Uganda, with Rick Gershon from MediaStorm. Also joining us was RU ambassador Mads Mikkelsen.

We set out to further document the life of Refugees United and our mobile refugee family tracing tools; a visual journey we had begun a few months prior at MediaStorm’s Brooklyn studios.

MediaStorm, a brilliant multimedia production company, are great at finding, and telling, the compelling story. In our case, we decided to speak in-depth with some of the refugees searching for missing family through Refugees United, and to record their story for the world to understand better their hardships. This, coupled with David and I sharing the seeds sown to grow the organization will hopefully lead to a rich understanding of what we do, and why we do it. 

Uganda is a beautiful country: Lush, fertile and somehow with an untouched sense to it. Poverty is rampant, though spirits are high.

Arriving in Entebbe on the 3am flight from Istanbul adds to the red-eye factor, but delights in piloting through empty streets otherwise heavily congested. We hit the sack at 5am with a tight schedule kicking off a few hours later.

Next morning we met with David Agoya, who works for Refugees United in Kampala, performing outreach work with primarily the Congolese, Rwandan, Burundian and Somali refugee communities. David had arranged for a couple of community forums with the various groups, as well as personal meetings with refugees interested in telling their story.

During the morning we spent some time walking around the alleys surrounding Refugee Law Project’s offices, speaking with the various refugee groups, though hampered by the attention we attracted. Rick’s heavy and expensive looking equipment certainly drew a few interested eyes, and it didn’t take long for one situation in an alley to heat up: a refugee, high on glue and certain we were responsible for his predicaments, became enraged and wanted answers. Answers we didn’t have. As nerves became jumpy, other refugees arrived and calmed the situation, gently escorting the enraged gentleman away. A smile and courtesy will get you very far.

Back at Refugee Law Project’s offices, we met with the first group of refugees wanting to tell their story. One especially stood out, a young Congolese refugee named Francois*, 22 years of age, soft spoken though vivid, and with much to tell.

He had escaped Congo the year before with his 3 siblings aged 7, 8 and 10 years, after his mother had been killed and his father had disappeared. The militia had sought his father to kill him because he had treated both sides of the conflict, holding true that a person is a person, and treatment should be denied no one.

Coming to their house, the militia found only the mother, raped her in front of the children and then shot her to death.   

Francois fled with his 3 younger siblings, fearing for their life and unable to contact their father. They ended up in Kampala.

Children of a doctor, they had all received education and were eager to learn. After one year in Kampala, Francois spoke English almost fluently, despite him not knowing one word when he arrived. Beyond jumping at every opportunity for education, Francois also spends 14 hours a day collecting plastic bottles that he sells for between 2-4 dollars a day, keeping him and his siblings alive, if barely; more on that later.

At the beginning of our talk, Francois states matter of frankly: “Why am I collecting bottles 14 hours a day, providing for three small children? I should be in school, I should be making something of myself.” However, fate has dealt him a different hand and at the age of 22, Francois has taken on a responsibility few could ever endure.

With a wide and bright smile, Francois leaves on a shiny bicycle, off to fend for himself and his siblings. We are to see much more of him in the coming days.

So, this brings us to the end of Part 1. Please read on in next installment to learn more about Refugees United’s mission to help refugee families reconnect.

David & Christopher

*Name changed to protect identity