RESPECT Volunteer Visits Benin Refugee Camp
Logan Cochrane, a 22-year-old Canadian, could not help but accept the beckoning of Benin, a country in West Africa, last July.
The founder of Working To Empower (WTE) and a volunteer with RESPECT International, Logan was not visiting Africa for the first time, but the mission was the same.
"My trip took me through many African countries: Ethiopia, Burundi, DR [Democratic Republic of] Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria," said Logan, a recent anthropology graduate of the University of Victoria, Canada.
"Benin is humid, like Burundi, a peaceful place with a strong democratic presence. The country is small and so is its population. Cotonou, the unofficial capital, is a beautiful place being near the Atlantic Ocean. Beaches are picturesque, and not too far from the Port of No-Return, a symbolic representation of the millions of African slaves taken to the Americas," he explained.
But Kpomassè, the refugee camp he was visiting in Benin, was different for two reasons.
"There are well over ten nationalities at the camp: Congo-Brazzaville, DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Togo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Ogoniland (Nigeria), Guinea, and Chad," he said.
Apart from refugees and internally displaced persons, Africa is also home to half of the world's 40 million people infected with HIV, according to estimates by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
As a project manager and an HIV/AIDS educator, Logan had been to other refugee camps in Africa. But unlike other camps, Kpomassè has houses made of brick, and there is electricity.
"Even then, the work is the same: the majority of refugees know little about HIV. We planned to hold seminars and community works to change this," said Logan.
So what drew him to work with refugees and those with HIV/AIDS?
"The mass orphaning of children, in particular my work at an Ethiopian orphanage where many were orphaned because of HIV/AIDS and some children also carried the virus," he said during an online interview.
Besides visiting refugee camps, Logan's work has brought him into contact with the Groupement des Parents d'Eleves Refugies, or the Group of Refugee Student Parents (GPER) in Benin, the Tanzanian Center of Youth Development and Adult Education (CELA), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Caritas, and PP2, all of whom are RESPECT partners.
Logan, who founded Working To Empower (WTE), has been introduced to other RESPECT partners like Artists for Humanity (DR Congo), Center for Youth Development and Adult Education – CELA (Tanzania), New English Center for Hope – NECH (Tanzania), and Agoro Community Development Association – ACDA (Uganda) during his eight-month trip that began in January 2006.
Logan explained some of the work he did at Kpomassè: "We held a week-long seminar with 42 participants. It was followed by poems by the refugee children from Espérance Internationale (International Hope) which works in the camp. Afterwards we held a community education day through a video presentation. The camp is small, compared to others, numbering 700 refugees."
In comparison to Kpomassè, Lugufu camp in Tanzania that Logan visited early this year has 120,000 refugees.
In order to sustain the programme, he says two members planned to work on a six-month incentive program to continue HIV/AIDS education in Kpomassè.
In addition to having a seminar in Kpomassè refugee camp, WTE held a second seminar in collaboration with UNHCR and Caritas in Cotonou (Benin). This second seminar also had 40 participants, from nine nations – all refugees.
As with the Kpomassè seminar, all got T-shirts, meals, booklets, books, pens, etc. This seminar also has a long-term program within which HIV/AIDS education will continue for the next six months. The UNHCR and Caritas were involved in both training sessions.
During the program, Logan met two main challenges: "First, we had a problem of language. With more than ten nationalities, we had many different language speakers present. WTE had booklets in four languages to overcome this, and for the seminar, we found two common languages which covered all people."
His other challenge came from the government. "WTE has to be given permission to enter the camp. This process took three weeks, delaying the seminars," said Logan.
To those facing similar challenges elsewhere, he calls for patience and persistence, adding that connections like UNHCR were often useful.
On his trip, Logan kept abreast of international news and was saddened to hear about fighting in DR Congo after the August elections.
"When I left DR Congo, I made a prediction: If there is two months of peace with the election, Congo has a hope for peace. There has not been peace and it is rather sad actually. My good friends of DR Congo will continue to face difficult situations."
Like in the DR Congo, he keeps in touch with friends he has worked with in other African countries. "I'll continue to speak and work with them," he said.
Logan's trips in Africa will take him through various African countries, caring for orphaned infants and teaching teenagers about HIV/AIDS, up to September 2006.
How does he cope with being away from home for so long?
"We'll I've not been home since January. For me, I love my work and don't really need to cope at all. Sometimes when I am in places where I speak only partially the main language, such as Kiswahili, things can be harder. My family writes emails and all is well," he said.
At most of the camps he visited, his farewell parties were often emotional ceremonies. If he were to meet the refugees again, what would he ask them?
"We make many plans as I leave but often I don't have many ways to follow up as internet and phone connections are difficult. I try to motivate a sense of community responsibility so that refugees take a much more active role in the camp. So, I'd ask about what they're doing now. I'd ask them, What have you done with my teachings?"
RESPECT International and the Group of Refugee Student Parents (GPER), a RESPECT affiliate in Benin, are grateful to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Cotonou for their financial support and to Caritas for their advice.