Family separation represents an often-overlooked emotional burden facing the estimated 45 million people forcibly displaced by war, conflict, or disaster. In addition to the homes they have been forced to leave behind, a staggering percentage lose contact with friends and family in their scramble for food, shelter and safety. Refugees United and FilmAid have partnered to produce a new TV campaign for separated refugee families. This pilot project aims to harness the power of television to reconnect separated refugee families.
Filming interviews in Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya, where Refugees United maintains a mobile family-tracing programme, together with the Kenya Red Cross Society, FilmAid will create three short films to raise awareness of the Refugees United mobile family tracing tool.
“Families are realizing that this is an opportunity to reconnect with their missing loved ones. Our global platform is available in multiple languages and contains more than 253,000 searchable profiles, which means there is a high chance of finding long lost family,” says Germán Vega Cortes, Refugees United’s project lead in Kakuma.
Targeting Somali, French and Arabic-speaking audiences, these short films are expected to reach thousands of refugees over the course of eighty screenings in the Kakuma Refugee Camp alone. After these initial screenings, Refugees United plans to air the short films across Africa. Refugees United will also make the videos available to other organizations.
Kakuma Refugee Camp hosts more than 120,000 refugees, with a recent increase in arrivals taxing the camp’s resources. Refugees United is the only organization that provides a simple, mobile tool that empowers separated families to take the search for missing family into their own hands. Their work in Kakuma Refugee Camp with the Kenya Red Cross has already led to numerous family reconnections.
“Everyone has the right to know where their family is,” says Ida Jeng, Communication Manager of Refugees United. “We are able to employ both the power of film and the power of mobile technology to meet the complex needs of refugees searching for family members.”
“There is an opportunity here to use the influence of film to impact the lives of people made vulnerable by their lack of connectivity,” says FilmAid representative Stella Suge, Kenya Country Director. “By screening these films in the Kakuma Camp, we are able to reach local communities who are usually deprived of information. We want to engage in dialogue and showcase how they can benefit from the programme.”
The videos will air in French, Arabic and Somali. They will answer frequently asked questions, and feature testimonials from refugees and volunteers from the joint project led by Refugees United and the Kenya Red Cross Society in Kakuma.
“The Kenya Red Cross Tracing Programme’s main objective is to alleviate mental and psychological suffering of families who have lost contact with their loved ones as a result of conflict, civil war and natural disasters by restoring and maintaining the links. The need to restore family links has increased overtime with more people displaced from their loved ones,” says Anwar Said, Tracing Programme Manager at Kenya Red Cross Society. “Mobile tracing helps to empower refugees take the search for missing family into their own hands. Refugees United’s mobile tool allows people to publish as much information as they feel comfortable with, ensuring safety while giving any person the opportunity to directly reconnect with missing loved ones.”
Refugees United and FilmAid hope that these films will ultimately make possible the reconnection of family members separated by war, conflict, and disaster.
About Refugees United
Refugees United is a tech non-profit with the mission of reconnecting thousands of separated families across the globe via an online, mobile-enabled search tool that empowers people to take the search process into their own hands. www.refunite.org.
About FilmAid
FilmAid is a humanitarian and development communications agency that works in refugee camps and communities affected by disaster – where basic necessities such as food, safety and health care are needed. They are using film to provide life-saving information, hope and psychological relief to people who need it most. www.filmaid.org.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Germán Vega Cortes, Camp Coordinator, Kakuma Refugee Camp: gvc@refunite.org / Kenya mobile: +254 7 13 07 38 38 / Uganda mobile: +256 7 87 21 51 41
Photo: Refugees in Kakuma Refugee Camp line up for FilmAid castings
