Update from Alex, June 2014Hi Crisi, |
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do you have Mobile phones That you don't need any more?
Mobile phones, even if they are "dumbphones" ("Knochen", in German), are useful for safety in Uganda. Since the introduction of mobile phones, personal safety has increased a lot: less kidnapping and violence, especially in the countryside.
If you happen to have even spare old Smartphones, tablets or laptops - please bring them along, they can be used to teach English to refugees, using the devices and Babbel. I'll still be in Berlin until June 28th.
If you happen to have even spare old Smartphones, tablets or laptops - please bring them along, they can be used to teach English to refugees, using the devices and Babbel. I'll still be in Berlin until June 28th.
Imagine ...... that rebel armies raided your town, killed part of your family, so you ran. Fled by foot or what ever way you could get out of your home in the DR Congo. After days or weeks, finally you arrive in the capital of a friendly country: Kampala, the capital of neighbouring Uganda.
But then you can't get a flat, you can't get a job, you can't talk to anybody and ask for help: you don't speak any of the languages they use in Uganda. You may have been a student, doctor or vendor in Congo - in Uganda you can't be anything, and you have no money. If you could speak English, maybe you could find your way. |
IN SHORT: the goalI'm fundraising to buy ten computers (used laptops / smartphones are also welcome! *) in Kampala, Uganda, for the Xavier Project, because computers provide a sustainable means of learning: Congolese refugees will use them to learn English independently and learn computer skills at the same time.
They may have been doctors before, students, street vendors or housewives and mothers - they've lost almost everything. Without speaking English, they stand little chance of surviving, getting jobs or integrating into society. * Even French books for learning English will do good! |
LanguagesSpoken in Congo:
French, Lingala, Kikongo and more native languages Spoken in Uganda: English, Luganda, Nkole, Tooro ... English is the most common language in Uganda that connects the people from different areas with different dialects. |
Why use computers ? And how?Instead of giving English classes when I'm there, I want a more long-lasting impact: 10 more functional computers and free access to Babbel's online language courses will give the opportunity to learn at their pace, when they have time, even long after I'm gone. They can pass the skills on to other refugees and show them how to use computers for learning.
The computers will be hosted in the headquarters of the Xavier Project. |
The Congo ConflictSome call it "The Great African War". It has not one single cause but a variety of roots (read more here, or use an interactive map). The world's bloodiest conflict since World War II has been going on since almost 20 years in the DRC.
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REFUGEE LIFE IN UGANDAUganda is hosting more and more refugees due to the ongoing rebel war in Eastern Congo. Since 2008, the number of refugees in Kampala alone has grown ten-fold:
from 5000 to around 50 000. This is everyday news - another breakout of violence, another several thousand. There's no infrastructure for refugees in the city: they depend on chance level for housing, food and money. A few private or NGO projects, e.g. Xavier and YARID Projects, try to help them out with funding, health aid and education. |
The Xavier Project
The Xavier Project was founded in 2008 by Edmund Page from the UK. Its mission is: providing opportunities to refugees in urban areas of Kenya and Uganda so that they can take back control of their lives.
- See more at:
http://xavierproject.org/about and
http://urban-refugees.org/the-xavier-project
- See more at:
http://xavierproject.org/about and
http://urban-refugees.org/the-xavier-project
how i got to do this
I live in Berlin, Germany, and work for Babbel.com, a company that makes online language courses. In February 2013, I travelled in Uganda and met Edmund from the Xavier project and its sister project YARID. I attended a few English classes - very crowded, but they are eager to learn! - and in Xavier Project's small computer hub, I tried to teach several refugees how to use the computer and how to learn English with Babbel. (Babbel is actually a pay-service, but I'm able to get them codes to use it free.)
It was a success as far as it could be!
Unfortunately, most of the computers in the hub are dysfunctional. Only 1-2 out of 12 were okay to use.
That's why i want to fill the hub with ten computers that actually can be used! They will be taken care of by the staff of Tamuka Hub.
It was a success as far as it could be!
Unfortunately, most of the computers in the hub are dysfunctional. Only 1-2 out of 12 were okay to use.
That's why i want to fill the hub with ten computers that actually can be used! They will be taken care of by the staff of Tamuka Hub.
Get to know Some of them
Nyota, 58, from Goma
Since I arrived in Uganda in 2009, I stay with a Congolese family of 4 members. I have planned all my entire to stay in Uganda and am always on look on how I can fully integrate, in my late 50’ sincerely I can’t apply for resettlement. Uganda is my home after all I lost everything from the war to the extent of losing touch of my children.
I thank the Ugandan government for having allowed us as refugees to engage freely in business, it’s good that refugees are treated like in the same like Ugandans in the employment sector, that’ why we have managed to survive jewelry business that we sale on the streets of Kampala but my plan future is to open up a consultancy firm basically helping with research in the refugee community.
I have done a feasibility study into my constancy firm but biggest challenge is the English language, not the common song of financial related issues. If any humanitarian organization could come up with a English programme which can easily be accessed even while doing of our businesses that will be great. Am not saying that in Uganda we do not have English centers but the problem is the time, I have enrolled for English classes in four different English language classes and failed and the reason is very simple ‘time’, the class time was always conflicting with my business time. If I can master the English language definitely I will change my people’ lives especially my fellow refugees regardless of their nationalities and also my constancy firm will open since I will ably communicate effectively especially with my targeted researchers ‘whites’.
I thank the Ugandan government for having allowed us as refugees to engage freely in business, it’s good that refugees are treated like in the same like Ugandans in the employment sector, that’ why we have managed to survive jewelry business that we sale on the streets of Kampala but my plan future is to open up a consultancy firm basically helping with research in the refugee community.
I have done a feasibility study into my constancy firm but biggest challenge is the English language, not the common song of financial related issues. If any humanitarian organization could come up with a English programme which can easily be accessed even while doing of our businesses that will be great. Am not saying that in Uganda we do not have English centers but the problem is the time, I have enrolled for English classes in four different English language classes and failed and the reason is very simple ‘time’, the class time was always conflicting with my business time. If I can master the English language definitely I will change my people’ lives especially my fellow refugees regardless of their nationalities and also my constancy firm will open since I will ably communicate effectively especially with my targeted researchers ‘whites’.
Robert - who became a teacher
My name is Robert. I came to Kampala, Uganda as a refugee in 2008. I came here because security in DR Congo was generally deteriorating, and also some members of my family were put on a list of people to be eliminated due to their political opinions and ethnicity.
I come from a French speaking country, and very quickly I realised that if I want to integrate into Ugandan society I need to learn English. I looked for places to learn English. I went to English classes at Jesuit Refugee Services, but I found that the classes were very big and that the teachers taught students like they were babies.
Then I went to Refugee Law Project and started studying there. I spent a lot of time by myself trying to learn English. I also tried to make Ugandan friends so that I could practise my English.
About one month after arriving in Kampala I helped to start an NGO called Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID). We realised that refugees need to know English, so teaching English has been one of our key activities since we started. Initially I was not a teacher, because my English was not good enough, but after a few months I had learnt enough to become a teacher, and I have been a teacher ever since. I am now the Executive-Director of YARID, and I use English every day in my work. Knowing English has opened up parts of the world which were previously closed to me, I can now converse easily with Ugandans and many people outside Africa. Knowing English has also helped me to be employed as a French teacher, as I am able to explain things in English if students do not understand.
I come from a French speaking country, and very quickly I realised that if I want to integrate into Ugandan society I need to learn English. I looked for places to learn English. I went to English classes at Jesuit Refugee Services, but I found that the classes were very big and that the teachers taught students like they were babies.
Then I went to Refugee Law Project and started studying there. I spent a lot of time by myself trying to learn English. I also tried to make Ugandan friends so that I could practise my English.
About one month after arriving in Kampala I helped to start an NGO called Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID). We realised that refugees need to know English, so teaching English has been one of our key activities since we started. Initially I was not a teacher, because my English was not good enough, but after a few months I had learnt enough to become a teacher, and I have been a teacher ever since. I am now the Executive-Director of YARID, and I use English every day in my work. Knowing English has opened up parts of the world which were previously closed to me, I can now converse easily with Ugandans and many people outside Africa. Knowing English has also helped me to be employed as a French teacher, as I am able to explain things in English if students do not understand.