UG 06 - GIVING A FUTURE TO YOUNG REFUGEES
Project Location
This project is being implemented in the Diocese of Arua, within the Rhino refugee camp. Specifically, in an area called Yoro Settlement Camp. Rhino Camp opened in 1980 and expanded during the South Sudan civil war, hosting the flood of refugees who flocked to Northern Uganda. In 2016, nearly 490,000 refugees found refuge in Uganda following the violent clashes that erupted in South Sudan in July of that year. Over 90% of the refugees are women and children.
Rhino Camp currently hosts approximately 200,000 refugees. Due to the dramatic and unstoppable daily influx, the resources the country makes available to refugees are becoming painfully limited: in Rhino, refugees are given rocky or sandy plots of land, which are difficult to use for self-sustaining farming and offer limited access to drinking water. Malaria remains the leading cause of morbidity among refugees (43%) and host communities (44%).
Project description
Yoro is one of the places where the Ugandan government has welcomed many refugees from South Sudan and some from Congo. The United Nations has stopped or significantly reduced food allocations for the population. We would like to offer a better future to young people in the camps and to the marginalized local population through technical education for self-sufficiency.
The courses we have already started are tailoring and computer science. The other course we would like to launch is hairdressing. This project aims, among other things, to launch this new course by purchasing the furniture, equipment, and products needed to get started. Many students cannot afford even the small fee we charge for the courses. For this reason, we have decided to provide scholarships for the most deserving. This involves 40 students: 20 in computer science and 20 in tailoring. As for the hairdressing course, if we manage to start it, we ask for sponsorship for 5 students.
Objectives
- Help young people acquire job skills for self-sufficiency
- Create small businesses close to the population for better money circulation
Beneficiaries
Direct: 45 students
Indirect: families and society
Referent sister of the project: Sr Mary Kevin Avaru
Project's costs