Tag Archives: Dadaab

November 22, 2011 · 6:55 pm

Two SRP Students Become a Canadian Citizen: Manie Wollel & Halima Siman

Most of the time dream becomes a reality sooner or later in our life time.Today November 14, 2011 the Canadian Citizenship was awarded to 50 immigrants from 21 countries across the globe in Saskatchewan, Regina. Among them the two SRP students include Manie Wollel from University of Regina, and Halima Siman from SIAST. Both of us are originally from Ethiopia and Somalia respectively. We came from one of the largest refugee camps in Kenya through World University Service of Canada. Both of us got our Canadian Citizenship today [editor's note: November 16th].

For us this day is one of the most exceptional moments in our life for various reasons.The people and the government of Canada gave us an exceptional chance to continue our post secondary education and whatever we would like to do in our life. Here after we are becoming one of the proud Canadian Citizens. For that it is beyond our words to say thank you and to appreciate the people and the government of Canada in general and University of Regina in particular. Many thanks for WUSC Ottawa, URGR and WUSC Local Committe at the University of Regina. Without them I /we the SRP students could not make it. Exceptional thanks for our lovely, committed, and selfless fellow Canadian students, at the University of Regina, who are very close friends and family members at the same time : Jessica Brown, Aurora Elig, Andrea Hoffman, Merrissa, Haanim Nur and Janna to name a few.

Manie Wollel
When I was in one of the biggest refugee camps in Kenya, Kakuma Refugee Camp, I saw and met a number of foreigner visitors. All of them introduced themselves as Canadian citizens even though some of them came from the United States and other parts of the world. Mainly because most of the refugees around the camp consider Canada and Canadians as one of the most peace loving countries and friendly people in the world (Except the Harper Government – kidding!). Since then, I was extremely obsessed and had a dream to go to Canada. Unintentionally, one of my white shirts to protect the harsh climate at a time had a Canadian Map and flag with a maple leaf.

However, I had no idea how to get the chance to immigrate Canada. After two years of my stay, I heard the Scholarship called World University Service of Canada. Then I tried everything the best to get the scholarship and to migrate to Canada. Even though one of the deadliest competitions ever in my life, I succeeded to pass the scholarship and came to Canada as one of the SRP permanent residents.

After my four years of stay in Canada, I applied to be a Canadian citizen last October 2010.Today is one of the special moments in my life and my longest dreams become a reality. Here after I am one of the proud Canadians entitle to do and to travel anywhere in the world freely. Now with a Canadian Citizen ship the sky is the limit to do whatever I would like to do so. My first journey will start to visit my families in Ethiopia in the near future. I never saw and visited my families for the last 10 years. I missed them a lot. The last but not the least and once again I am extremely appreciative and thankful for the people and the government of Canada in general, and the University of Regina in particular !!

Sincerely,
Manie

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September 9, 2011 · 10:26 pm

Quick Link: Manie and Mohamed in SCIC’s EarthBeat

Check out Manie and Mohamed’s joint article in SCIC’s newsletter, EarthBeat, on the crisis in Somalia.

ps. don’t be afraid of the download – it’s legit, we promise!

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July 25, 2011 · 3:27 pm

Quick Link: Mohamed On the Crisis in Somalia

Mohamed Hassan, WUSC Regina sponsored student

Take the time to read this amazing interview by the Leader-Post with Mohamed Hassan on the crisis in Somalia, and what it means for all of those people now fleeing to Dadaab refugee camp.

Mohamed Hassan, now 22, left the camp for the first time last year, as the World University Service of Canada sponsored him to come to Canada. Though it is a dream come true, the accounting student said it’s hard to focus on school because he’s so worried about his family. A famine in East Africa is drawing 1,300 refugees every day to the camp, so resources that were always in demand are increasingly scarce.

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July 9, 2011 · 2:45 am

The Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp

More on Dadaab from Manie Wollel, also a sponsored student with WUSC Regina

It is heart breaking news to hear and to see the suffering and the death of our fellow refugees across the globe. At the moment one of the worst humanitarian crises is taking place in Dadaab refugee camp of Kenya which is one of the largest refugee camps in the world. For a short period of time, I was one of the former refugees in Dadaab. The camp mainly consists of a number of refugees across East Africa, but the Somalia refugees are the most dominant and outnumber the rest.

However, the camp is currently beyond its capacity to accommodate more refugees. Originally it was set up for 90,000, but currently it is over 350,000 refugees in the camp. Continue violence from civil war, maladministration, and drought are some of the major causes for the persistent flow for the Somali and the rest of refugees across East Africa, particularly in the Dadaad refugee camp.
    


Particularly for the Somali refugees persistent violence is one of the most common factors for their flow since a civil war erupted in Somalia two decades ago. Since then, Somalia has been controlled by war lords, UN supported dysfunctional transitional government, and Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-inspired al-Shebab extremists. This in turn has led Somalia as one of the failed states in the world without proper government for the last two decades. In addition to these, “East Africa is currently suffering from the worst drought in 60 years which risked about 10 million people who are in need of food aid. Somalia has been one of the worst affected countries in the drought-hit Horn of Africa region.”



The overall factors lead continues and dramatic flow of Somali refugees across East Africa. Based on the current UN refugee agency report, “about 1,700 Somalis are arriving daily in southeast Ethiopia, while in neighbouring Kenya about 1,400 each day reach the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camp, according to the UN refugee agency”.



For these reasons, currently the Somali refugees particularly mothers, elders, and children are dying from hunger and disease on their way. Moreover, the Dadaab refugee camp of Kenya is overcrowding and beyond its capacity to provide service. “Initially Dadaab refugee camp was setup to host some 90,000 refugee, but currently the number of refugees is over 350,000 with thousands more expected in the coming weeks. For this reason, the UN refugee agency chief Antonion Guterres called the plight of Somali refugees “the worst humanitarian tragedy” in the world today”.

In general, temporary food and financial aid would be one of the noble ideas to save the precious human life in Dadaab and the rest of refugee camps around the world, but as a durable solution resolving the existing problem by using different mechanisms, providing resettlement or sponsoring refugee students through WUSC or other humanitarian organization would bring a huge difference.

References // More Details in the Global News:
In Pictures: Somali refugees arrive in Dadaab
UNHCR chief urges more help for drought-hit Somalis
Inside worlds biggest refugee camp
African drought causing food shortages

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June 28, 2011 · 9:29 pm

Dadaab Refugee Camp: In the News, and a Response From WUSC Regina Sponsored Student Mohamed Hassan

In response to: World’s Biggest Refugee Camp Full: Report and Dadaab Refugee Camp is a City That Shouldn’t Exist

WUSC Regina sponsored student, Mohamed Hassan, on his life in Dadaab refugee camp and his take on the news coming from Dadaab in recent weeks.

As many of you may have read or heard before, Dadaab is the biggest and oldest refugee camp in the world. That is where I grew up, I dedicate all my life’s achievements to it, because the difficulties I encountered as a growing young refugee boy made me who I am today. After the break up of the civil war in my home country, Somalia, in 1991, my family and I fled to Kenya and was settled in one of the three camps in Dadaab called Dagahaley. By then I was an infant and I spent almost my entire life (19 years) in Dadaab and my family is still there to date. Apart from being a Canadian Permanent Resident, I don not have any identity or nationality to claim, you should not be surprised if I call myself a Dadaabian, because that is where I trace all my lifetime experiences; failures, achievements, joy, sorrow, hunger and suffering.

Having seen a lot of hardships in my life, I was always enthusiastic and never gave up in my studies. That is what made me come here. Being one of the best students in my camp, I got sponsored by World University Services of Canada (WUSC). This gave me opportunities I always yearned for. It gave me the only hope in my life to get out of the hardships I was always in. Now I have the chance to pursue my accounting degree and work hard to get to the next level in my life. Right now, I am only worried about my family who are in the middle of hardships. This makes me loose focus, but, I hope one day I will get well-wishers to sponsor my family and bring them here. By then I will have nothing to worry about and my life will be complete.

The situation in my camp is getting worse time after time. Due to its close proximity to the Kenya/Somalia border and the continuous chaos in my country, more and more refugees keep moving into it. Thus, the camp which was originally intended to be settled by 90 000 refugees is now holding up to 350 000 refugees and many more are coming to it. The humanitarian agencies working there are asking for help as they do not have the capacity to support all the people. Many new refugees come to Dadaab and end up not getting food and shelter for more than a month.

The security cases in Dadaab have increased significantly in the previous years. Many new-comers who do not have basic necessities tend to use violence to get food and shelter. They attack the other refugees who stayed in the camp longer and take away food and any valuable thing they come across. It is not their fault, they are doing all things to make sure they survive because they do not get support from the UN and other agencies who in turn face shortages. Besides that, many of the youth who finish high schools and do not get the opportunities to further studies or jobs go back to Somalia and join the armed militias who are destroying our nation.

The mismanagement of funds and corrupted bosses of many of the humanitarian agencies in Dadaab also plays a big role in intensifying the suffering of the refugees. For instance, several countries like the USA, Canada and Australia provide the long time refugees (those who stayed in the camp since 1992 like my family) with the option to get resettled in those countries. But it happens that many of the deserving people do not get the opportunities to come to these countries. Instead, some wealthy people, who stayed in the camp for less than a year, pay money and end up going to Canada, USA and Australia. I wish Transparency International had an office in Dadaab; many people would be sued and the victimized refugees would get their rights back.

Mohamed Hassan
Sponsored Student
WUSC Regina

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