Feature - Young refugees keep hopes alive

In the heat and dust of Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, in northern Kenya, there is little for the estimated 220,000 inhabitants from Somalia and Sudan to do but survive. They fled raging civil wars in their own countries, more than a decade ago, in search of temporary safety for themselves and their children. But despite the staggering odds, a flicker of hope is emerging among young refugees who are not only learning to cope with their predicament, but are also looking towards a brighter future. YOUTHFUL HOPES Dama Diriye is one such young refugee. Despite living in Dadaab camp since 1991, when civil war broke out in her country, Somalia, she sees the refugee camp as just one challenging phase in her life. Her role models include Karl Marx and Madeleine Albright, both world famous personalities who were once also refugees. At the age of 16, Dama is about to complete her fourth and final year of secondary school education - despite numerous obstacles, such as the threat of early marriage and domestic responsibilities. "The refugee youth can achieve as much as any other youth in any part of the world," she says. "With hard work and determination, we can realise our dreams." REFUGEE DAY Dama is among hundreds of young refugees who recently travelled to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to mark World Refugee Day last month. In a colourful ceremony presided over by Kenyan Home Affairs Minister Moody Awori, young refugees - mostly from Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo - displayed numerous skills ranging from arts and crafts to clothing design and catering. The theme of this year's celebrations, "Refugee youth building the future", focused on the need to equip young refugees with the necessary skills to participate in peace making and the future reconstruction of their respective war-torn countries. EDUCATION VITAL But for this, young refugees - who make up more than 60 percent of displaced people around the world - must have access to quality education, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said. According to Arun Sala-Ngarm, the deputy UNHCR representative in Kenya, refugee children are still locked out of crucial life-changing education opportunities. In Kenya, for example, there are 39 primary schools in refugee camps catering for 53,000 children, of whom only about 3,000 have access to secondary schools. Even fewer - a paltry 158 - make it to university level, he added. "Our main challenge is the provision of education for as many young refugees as possible," Sala-Ngarm said. "Education not only provides skills and knowledge - it is a critical investment in the youth and future of our societies." VULNERABILITY Because of their special circumstances, refugee youth are also more vulnerable to threats of violence, drugs, and HIV/AIDS. In the case of girls, early marriages and domestic burdens are an additional impediment, Sala-Ngarm pointed out. Refugee youth also face a daily risk of forcible recruitment by regular or rebel armies, and become easy targets for exploitation, he added. "Most of the youth in camps have seen the normality of their lives blown away by flight, have risked their lives on the way, and seen friends and family die. A good number were born in exile, inheriting the burden of their parents' loss," Sala-Ngarm said. But Dama is determined not to be a victim of war. "Life may no longer be what we had planned or hoped it would be. At times we are lucky, other times we are not, but hopefully we will live to learn from our experience," she says.