Apr 19 13
Refugees United Kakuma Camp Coordinator and outreach volunteers learn how to access and operate the platform www.refunite.org Refugees United and Kenya Red Cross outreach volunteer registers two women in her community. One woman is looking for her Nephew and the other is looking for her daughter. Refugees United and Kenya Red Cross outreach volunteer found someone she believes to be her sister during the training! Refugees United and Kenya Red Cross outreach volunteers register a Somali woman from their community who has been searching for her brother for ten years. By Guest blogger Rebecca Wainess, East Africa Project Coordinator. This…
Apr 16 13
Somali hospitality // outreach in Eastleigh, Nairobi
Maja Okholm, Refuges United’s Communication Assistant, reports from Nairobi, Kenya. Recently, I had the pleasure of spending an entire day with with Refugees United‘s outreach volunteer, Farhiya. Together we went on a work assignment to Eastleigh, an area in Nairobi with a large Somali population, sometimes referred to as ‘Little Mogadishu.’ Here, you really experience Somali hospitality first hand. Through this experience I also learned more about Refugees United‘s outreach programmes aimed at reconnecting families separated by conflict, war and disaster. The recipe is actually surprisingly simple, with only three ingredients, namely: one outreach volunteer (Farhiya), one community with a large refugee population…
Feb 21 13
Reaching out to Somalis missing loved ones with Radio Ergo
Together with the Somali radio station Radio Ergo, Refugees United commences radio campaign, targeting the many Somalis who have lost contact with family and friends during the war. Radio Ergo is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and produces humanitarian news for the Somali-speaking region, much of which is life-saving information for Somali families. As part of the radio campaign, Radio Ergo will broadcast short radio spots for families who have lost contact with missing loved ones. The aim is to reach out to families in war-torn Somalia and let them know that they can search for family via www.refunite.org. Furthermore, a live Sunday…
Feb 19 13
Targeting the youth of Nairobi // New radio campaign with Ghetto FM
Refugees United and the Kenyan radio channel Ghetto FM are joining hands in a new partnership, reaching out to the many young people living in Nairobi who are missing loved ones. Ghetto FM broadcasts in Sheng, a Swahili-based patois widely spoken in Nairobi and is very popular amongst the youth in Kenya. Together, Refugees United and Ghetto FM have developed an exciting radio campaign, which was launched last week. Check out pictures from our first spot here. The campaign includes prime time radio spots and dramas illustrating how to use Refugees United’s free, online tool to search for missing family and friends. With…
Feb 20 12
Kenya research project: First insights from the field
Your mobile phone beeps. You check it. A “Breaking News” alert: “Tensions grip most of Nairobi city following months of threat of attack by guerillas fighting from Ngong Forest.” These same guerillas have taken hold of the rest of Kenya and you are targeted because of your ethnic background. Your twitter timeline is suddenly frantic with new messages: all of them talking about attacks underway in various parts of the city and beyond. You run. You run and the next time you look back, you are somewhere along the border of Tanzania. You can’t turn back. You have left with…
Oct 6 11
Dadaab, Aug. 2011
Descending through the thin layer of clouds, the arid landscape of Dadaab appears below, pockmarked by the blue tents of the UNHCR hosting weary refugees. As we approach the short landing strip, the warm winds rising rattle the little propeller plane, dipping the wings on either side. Having left behind chilly Nairobi at 6 am, the warmth of Dadaab is a brief respite for my freezing toes, though soon, I, along with everyone else, wish for cooler weather – even during this winter “chill.” I disembark with a flurry of butterflies and head off to greet our partners, the wonderful…
Aug 11 11
Refugees United – Chapter 15
True to fashion in how David and I had lived our lives up to this moment, everything happened, resonated – and without much thought we threw our passion behind the quest of finding Mansour’s family. An echo between rationale and raucousness has determined our lives so far, and it has led us to deeply engaging and interesting moments, however heartbreaking some of them have been. Such is the liberty I suppose, for those fortunate enough to have been born into the luxury of freedom. I’m not sure what we expected to find in Moscow, nor what we expected may…
Jul 27 11
Refugees United – Chapter 14
One of the challenges of heading to Russia was getting an entry visa. Mansour was still waiting for his “official” Danish passport, known for its color as the red beet, traveling under a blue, temporary one. This alone made it difficult to get a visa. Moreover, per Russian requirements you need an invitation from a hotel, and a reason for your visit. Two longhaired broke guys and an Afghan refugee didn’t, it seem, make for optimal tourists. However, through our stint working as teachers with immigrants and refugees, we were able to claim it a study trip and obtain the…
Jul 20 11
Refugees United – Chapter 13
A heavy stone fell from the hearts of both when they found each other. A sense of belonging, of not being completely alone anymore, was how they described the feelings that milled about. Unfortunately, the answer to each of the brothers’ first question on the whereabouts of the rest of the family was that neither knew anything. However, they had found each other, and that provided some hope. With the reunion’s glow waning after a few days, reality came barging through the door. Mansour learned that, while “luck” had graced his life after Peshawar, Ali had been less fortunate. Sold…
Jul 14 11
Refugees United – Chapter 12, Peshawar pt. 2
Mansour left the house to meet the trafficker, anxious to learn any news. The guy had shared with him the previous day that he might be able to unearth information about one of Mansour’s brothers, Ali. Stepping into the trafficker’s office took immeasurable courage on behalf of Mansour, and we’re still dumbfounded as to how he racked up the nerve to question, to push this criminal that had much evil on his conscience. But push he did, and after bribing him even more, learned that his one younger brother, Ali, 9-years-old last they had seen each other, now lived in…
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