The Life of a Refugee

Children of the camp

Mayukwayukwa was established in the 1970’s and has over 10, 000 refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Angola. The camp is divided into 53 Sectors, with most refugees living with people from their own country. An interesting fact is that not only have we had to deal with multiple tribal languages, but most of these countries don’t even speak English. Rwanda, Burundi and DRC all speak French as their first language, whereas Angola speaks Portuguese. Jessica is loving that she can once again practice her once fluent Francais, and Lianne is in love with the Portuguese as it is so similar to Spanish. We have come with 12 of our nursing students, and two other instructors (Mr. Mumbuwa and Mrs. Ngwila). The purpose of this experience is so that the students really get to learn what nursing in a rural setting really means. Therefore they have had to plan and cook all of their meals on charcoal stoves, and sleep all together in two tiny rooms. Not to mention they have to cook for very demanding instructors! (NOT us by the way….we have been eating the food like good little girls) Jessica and Lianne have really had to ‘go with the flow’…and eat truly Zambian dishes. This means eating the Zambian staple food ‘Nshima’ (a maize porridge) twice a day! The students have had a hard time dealing with Lianne’s vegetarianism, so she pretty much gets 4 eggs a day. We have the hugest portion sizes, because they worry we don’t eat enough. One lump of Nshima has the caloric intake of two big macs, how do these people eat it everyday????

Over 80% of the refugees are women and children in refugee camps all over the world. That is because it is often the men who are left behind to fight, or end up dying in war.
It has been interesting talking to the refugees; the women have really opened up to us. The one topic that comes up when we talk to the refugees is ‘suffering’. Everyone expresses how much they have suffered, they feel trapped in this whole cycle of poverty. For them they don’t see hope to escape the refugee camp, and make a new life for themselves. Many of the refugees have been here for years. They can’t go back to their own countries for various reasons, some belong to the opposition party and will be killed if they return, others have no family or homes left to return to. The sad truth is that these refugees don’t have access to proper health care, food security, safe water…all the basic things for life. But this is better than what they had in their home countries. So what are they to do?

A woman and her cute baby at one of our clinics

Many refugees also left their jobs when they left their countries. But in Mayuwayukwa there is little opportunity for work. So many refugees have skills, and were once working professionals..they want to work, they need money for their families to survive! But yet again in the refugee camp there is no opportunity,. And then if they get the chance to get into a town in Zambia, they have a hard time integrating into the Zambian society. Meaning some the locals do not want refugees, or people of another nationality coming to live in their country. It must be hard to feel like an outsider wherever you go. Again comes the question ‘What do these people do?’. They are stuck in this vicious cycle of poverty.

This is Abdul, he is a refugee from Burundi. Jessica was able to practice her French with him..lots