The Fate of Mayukwayukwa....

We have met other workers here, one group is working for the Zambian government regarding Land Mine Awareness. To be honest we never really considered that Zambia would have landmines, as this country does have a history of peace. But as we have learned from these government workers, there was fighting before the post-colonial days between Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia). Landmines are also all over the Zambian borders near Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, and Namibia. Some of these countries are actively in conflict, others have not seen conflict in a while. There have been an estimated 400 deaths from Landmines in Zambia. They even said one month ago someone in our Southern Province from accidentally stepping on a landmine. Angola has the second highest amount of landlines in the world (second to Cambodia). There are new landmines still being laid in areas of fighting such as Angola, Sudan, and Niger. We have noticed many people with amputations around the camps and can only assume that many of these injuries are due to land mines or as a result of fighting.

Children collecting water at a local bore hole

We have been talking with many staff members at the refugee camp. Here are some things we have learned. UNHCR, the United Nations organization that is funding this camp, will be pulling out of here at the end of this year. The UN has deemed the country of Angola as ‘no longer in conflict’. Therefore Angolans can no longer consider themselves refugees. To be classified as a ‘refugee’, you must meet a list of critieria, and one of those criteria is that you are fleeing a country that is considered in conflict. Unfortunately the Angolans at Mayukwayukwa refugee camp are being told they have to go back to Angola. Many of them say they will be killed as they belong to the opposite party that is currently in government. Angola is also right in the middle of elections right now. Mayukwayukwa also has refugees from DRC, and Burundi, these refugees must also leave. But they cannot go back to their countries either, as they are still in conflict. Therefore these refugees must be resettled into another refugee camp, or they can be resettled in another country…such as Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, USA etc. Imagine the cost it would take to move a person or family to a new country (resettlement). Not to mention how difficult it would be for those refugees to integrate themselves into a “Western” society where they come from living a very different lifestyle. Where will they work? How will they afford to live? How do they deal with the cultural differences?

At this time Mayukwayukwa has over 10, 000 refugees. There is no way they will be able to clear all of these people out of here. Realistically what will happen is the UNHCR will pull out of here in December, leaving so many of these refugees behind. While the UNHCR pulls out, so do all the other NGO’s working here (e.g. Red Cross, African Humanitarian Association). There used to be many NGO’s working here at Mayukwayukwa, but once they heard word that UNHCR was pulling out, so did they. The World Food Programme (WFP) currently supplies food (and by food I mean maize meal) to the majority of the people here. Some of the refugees are able to supplement this by farming, but not all are capable. The WFP had a meeting last week in Lusaka and made the decision to pull out at the end of October. I asked one of the workers here what are all the people going to do that depend on this food for survival? He said to me ‘They will starve’.

Here is a tent containing food from the World Food Programme...looking very empty




To sum it up, most Angolans will be “voluntarily” repatriated back to Angola. A few, maybe 100 if they are lucky, will be resettled overseas to developed countries. The rest are going to be without food by the end of this month. The remaining refugees will be staying at the camp while all the developmental and humanitarian aid pulls out leaving them helpless.