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| Focus group presentation by Zakaria Odawa during the Kepler event in Kigali November 2019. |
RCGC KAKUMA REFLECTION.
I was still new to the
online learning system, I only had one year in the Jesuit worldwide learning
program of diploma in liberal arts, every student in the program both in the
diploma or Degree had learning facilitators and academic coaches. It was a
Saturday morning when Mr. Years my Academic coach invited me to attend a
session he conducted in JWL kakuma learning center, I never hesitated to
attend.
Mr. years shared with
me an another team of students about the pilot program of RCGC in kakuma and he
told us that, he invited us because of the commitment and the willingness to
give back to the community, giving back to the community was not new to me
since it was my favorite thing to do in kakuma refugee camp as a young refugee
youth leader living in the camp. I willingly accepted the suggestion of Mr.
Yeras which was to become volunteer mentor in the mentorship program for high
school students in kakuma refugee and Somali Bantu secondary schools.
A week later, orientation
session was called upon all the RCGC volunteers; I met with Years, Farida and
Mayen who took us half orientation session. The next week, Mr. Yeras shared
with me the names of five students and
their contacts which I was take them through in mentorship sessions, some of
the roles I was given as a volunteer mentor included:
·
To support the smooth transition from
secondary to higher education.
·
Following up the performance of the
mentees and support where they need to be supported.
·
Sharing the available scholarship
opportunities in the camp for refugee students
·
Different organizations offering higher
education
·
Writing curriculum vitae
·
Cover later
·
Guiding students to Fill of scholarship
application forms
·
Address academic and personal challenges
·
Enabling students to acquire
Communication skills for personal and professional development.
·
Resources available for students
·
Helping students to balance school/work
and family responsibilities
·
How to write attractive application
letters
·
How to perform well in academic studies
·
Equipping students with interview skills
I
organized one to one meeting with the mentees assigned to me and we discuss how
best they want the mentorship sessions to take place considering the when and
where they are comfortable the mentorship session, they all agreed the sessions
to occur in kakuma refugee secondary school.
After
four months of being a volunteer mentor with RCGC program, Mayen shared with
the volunteer mentors about the vacant position of RCGC intern in kakuma,
within a day submitted my application to Ella and Sadiki, two day later I was
called for interview with another four volunteers and I was lucky enough to be selected
by the panel after the Skype interview and signed the RCGC intern contract on 15
September 2019.
I
also decided to support RCGC with kakuma youth parliament office which was
adjacent to Kakuma refugee secondary school where I allowed other volunteer
mentors which I was instructed to supervisor to sue this office which was
conducive for the mentorship equipment and supported with the necessary support
they required like:
·
Using the office space at anytime
·
Enough chairs and tables for the
mentorship sessions
·
Supporting with writing materials such
as note books, marker pens and flip charts when necessary.
Program
reflection
The
RCGC program in kakuma was very helpful to the refugee students since e some of
them were not aware about the available opportunities for higher education,
most of them were aware about few opportunities that are offered by windle
International Kenya such as Wusc, Dafi and Dpuri while others lacked somebody
to support them in the academic journey. There is variety of higher education
opportunities for refugee students offered by the implementing agencies such as
WIK, JWL, JRS, DRC, NRC, DON BOSCO, LWF, MMUST, RET, CIC (Cambridge
international college). It was the effort of RCGC in kakuma for over 9,000
refugee students to know about these different types of organizations offering
higher education.
Events
attended
I
attended a number of events and meetings during my RCGC internship, I always
shared the vision of RCGC with over one hundred youth in kakuma youth
parliament, I also shared RCGC in UNHCR 2020 planning meeting conducted on 1st
November 2019 at UNHCR compound. In that meeting, I shared the effectiveness of
this mentorship program for refugee students to get access to higher education.
I
also attending and co-organized the higher education tour in kakuma with my
fellow interns.
One
of the most interesting, educative and memorable events I attended was the
Kepler Event in Kigali-Rwanda as from 10th of November 2019 to 17th
of November 2019, that week was a turning point for my internship position
because it exposed me to students from nearly 8 countries who were capable of
sharing their experiences of refugee education on the contexts of where they
came from. This was an eye opening event for me since I realized how RCGC is
working hard in access to quality higher education for refugee students while
still finding solutions for the low enrolment of refugee students in higher
education.
After
the Kepler event, I stayed in Nairobi to meet with refugee students who are
accessing higher education in different Kenyan universities, the objective of
this meeting was to see whether these students can also benefit the RCGC
program if it is expanded to their level as well to make RCGC need assessment
in Nairobi and give feedback as well as comments to RCGC Kigali team. Among the
students I met were refugee students from Dadaab refugee camps and they showed
great interest and willingness to collaborate with RCGC Kigali team to also
support this meaningful program with Dadaab refugee students. Some of the
students in Dadaab camps end up choosing the courses due to lack of career
guidance, others are not aware about the scholarship opportunities provided by
the various organizations in Dadaab, the most heart touching story they told me
was, there are a number of suicidal cases which several students committed as a
result of unexpected results in the high school examinations and also loss of
hope to further their studies due to limited scholarship intakes by the
organization. Therefore, my
recommendation to RCGC is to kindly consider Dadaab as a part of the RCGC
mentorship program for 2020.
Challenges
faced
There
were some challenges I encountered during the mentorship sessions and these
challenges included:
ü Some
of the mentees were not always focused for their sessions.
ü Limited
space for mentees (other students were willing but the program could not
support them in)
ü Less
number of female volunteers to support the refugee students.
ü Lack
of motivation such as snacks and refreshment for the volunteer mentors and
mentees.
ü The
organization did not have a physical office to support the interns and
volunteer mentors to facilitate the smooth running of the program as well as
addressing the challenges they face during their day to day mentorship
sessions.
Ideas for the future
Since I had witnessed
the effectiveness and efficiency of the RCGC program I would like to share the
following ideas for the future”
ü Expanding
the program to all secondary schools in kakuma refugee camp.
ü Increasing
the volunteer mentors and interns to support the RCGC program in kakuma
ü Supporting
the students who are already in the higher education program.
ü Organize
motivational talks for refugee students in secondary schools by successful
refugees who successfully accomplished their higher education and other high
education experts to encourage the hardworking refugee students.
ü Starting
the same RCGC pilot program in Dadaab refugee camps and also for the urban
refugees.
ü Empower
the kakuma interns and their volunteers in order expand the RCGC programs in
Kenya generally.
ü Training
refugee students who finished or finishing the degree programs in Kenyan
universities to support students who are joining the higher education system.
ü Setting
up field office in kakuma where the interns and volunteer mentors to report and
run the program.
ü Organizing
annual RCGC mentoring fellowship to encourage the students’ access to higher
education.
ü Establishing
online Social platforms such as Facebook and Website for such amazing programs.
FEED
BACK FOR ELLA AND SADIKI.
First,
I am very proud of you for the good initiative as well as your vision to
support refugee students to access quality higher education, personally, you
are a role model to me and wish to follow your footsteps and also to stand with
your programs and ideas which are purely to have positive impact in the
community and to give rays of hope to the refugee students.
You
have played a paramount humanitarian role to stand with refugees and I hope you
will keep this amazing spirit up until every refugee student to get access to
higher education.
Dear
Ella and Sadiki, you become a light for the kakuma refugee students in the midst of darkness and
hopelessness, kindly I once again urge to continue filing this crucial roles
which can easily enable refugee gets access to quality higher education.
Your
initiative is important as lifesaving initiative since you stood up to stand to
make brighter future for refuge students. I have no enough words in my mind and
heart to appreciate your big support for the refugee students.
Thank
you and God Bless You.
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