Self-esteem Workshop Held In The Lugufu Refugee Camp
by Souraya Ahamada
As part of his immersion trip in Africa, Mr. Akito Tanaka
– a former worker of a software consulting firm – decided
to organise a self-esteem workshop in the Lugufu Refugee
Camp for some of the refugees residing there.
His aim was to make them understand that they are useful
resources for their community and their camp and that it
was up to them to improve their conditions.
Mr. Tanaka used a structured approach, which consisted
of students exchanging ideas on their life and their
problems in Swahili and French, while progressively
that they have the power to change things.
Self-esteem
Education Key To A Better Life
by Lakshmi Poorna
Mr. Ashok Pillai, the central coordinator of
RESPECT
University talks to Lakshmi Poorna about the
importance of education for refugees, the objectives of
the RESPECT University, the courses conducted and the
University's aspirations for future.
Lakshmi: What is the significance
of education, especially at the tertiary level, in
uplifting refugees?
Ashok: To answer your question one may
have to answer "what is the significance of education
in uplifting the refugees?"
It is estimated that 27 million children and youth
affected by armed conflict, including Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs), do not have access to
formal education
(
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC)
Global Survey of Education in Emergencies, February
2004).
According to United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
- Education helps meet the psychological needs
of children and adolescents affected by conflict
or disasters that have disrupted their lives,
studies and social networks.
- Education is a tool for protecting children
during emergencies.
- Education provides a channel for conveying
health and survival messages and for teaching
new skills and values, such as peace, tolerance,
conflict resolution, democracy, human rights,
and environmental conservation.
- Education for all is a tool for social cohesion,
whereas educational discrepancies lead to poverty
for the uneducated and fuel civil conflict.
- Education is vital for reconstructing the
economical basis of family, local and national
life and for sustainable development and peace
building.
Education Key
