The
North- Eastern part of Kenya is getting a new idea on how to better the lives
of the refugees that live in one of the largest camps in this area. What is
actually going on it that a new school called Dadaab campus of Kenyatta
University is opening up. This is not just a typical education that will help people
be safe in their daily life, like how to obtain healthy drinking water. The
education that the people are looking forward to is being able to obtain a
diploma from this new university. People who go to this school can get an
undergraduate or masters in many different studies like public policy. One person
who is very excited to go to this new school is a man named Noor Hassan. He explained
in the article that he wants to improve his skills so he can later move to Somalia.
There
have been problems since this idea came up; there have been wars and a lot of
them. The location of the refugee camps plays
a very big role on why so many wars have an effect on the new school and also
the refugees. The biggest reason is that
the camp and school are both located on the corner of the county of Kenya which
is very close to Somalia. There would not be any problems for the people of the
camp, but there is a war against the Islamic insurgents of al-Shabaab. These problems are not the only things that the
people have to worry about. There have been explosive devices that have
targeted many police patrols that are in the areas of the camps. Some aid
workers for the camps have also been kidnapped and because of that the movement
on where the aid can go is now very limited. Even with these problems that the camp and
University is facing other people are a part of a group called Windle Trust are
not stopping until the refugees’ lives are better off.
Marangu
Njogu who is the director of Windle Trust is also a very important person in a
project titled Borderless Higher Education for Refugees. He feels that the people need to be educated
so they can have their own power of their lives. The main goal of this program
is to prepare the people to go back home and to have an education when they do
leave the camps. Along with the education the program will not have any tuition
fees for the people who are going to the University at the refugee camp in
Kenya. There will also be more courses available for the people such as online
classes. A fund will also be opened so that there will be a way for people to
obtain food and transportation to get to the University. Technology is also
another thing that is improved for the refugees. With the help of Microsoft and
Kenyan telecoms there will be new computer labs opened and laptops will be
given to classes to keep track of attendance and other education information.
This
whole idea of opening a University by a refugee camp in Kenya is a very excellent
idea. Having people now in charge in their own lives and to stop being afraid
of how they will survive each day seems like a very positive step forward from
the people who have to live at these camps. In the article Marangu Njogu
explains that “education is as essential as emergency service”. This is very
true because without education people will always be stuck at where they are in
life, they will never be able to grow as an individual. These people were
misplaced and they lost everything when they came to the camp in Kenya, they
have the right to get a better education so their lives can become better once
they do go home. Another thing that I hope works in this new program is the
further education of girls in the area. Many countries around the world only
allow education for girls to a certain extent to where they have to stop. This is
a very new thing that I hope works. Every person, men or women, deserve a
higher education and with this new idea women will be able to achieve a diploma
in an undergraduate or master’s program. This program is also very new and with
knowing this there are many bugs that will have to be worked out over the years
but if the people of the community and program directors have hope for this University
they will be able to overcome many of the struggles that may happen.
Source:
Date 2/8/2013
12:09 pm
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