By Agnes Kabanda Kyambadde and Sara Kibisi - Slum Aid Project (SAP)

BLOGS | REFUGEES | COVID-19

COVID-19 came as a myth to all Ugandans, to the refugees it was a state of panic and to the women refugees it mounted to utter confusion.  

There was no plan whatsoever for COVID 19, not even for the Ugandan Population.  

It was worse for the refugees, there was no plan for them too. The Arua city Mayor acknowledged the problem when he said, “We needed to have planned migration, and we needed a deliberate effort to ensure that the urban refugees are captured in our programmes”. Thomson Reuter-published 20th April 2020

This paper will target the women refugees both in Kampala and Arua city in Northern Uganda.

According to the UN Refugee Agency close to 1.5million refugees live in Uganda, and more than 60% come from South Sudan and 29% from Democratic Republic of congo (DRC).  

Over 187,000 of these live in Arua district and about 85,000 live in Kampala city mainly in the slums. Kampala, the capital of Uganda has been a habitat for refugees from the great lakes region for several decades. 

Refugees in the camps are sometimes supported by humanitarian aid. While all refugees suffered the effects COVID-19, female refugees suffered sternly.

On March 22, 2020, the president of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, announced the COVID restrictions. 

These were put to limit the spread of COVID-19 just as it was in the rest of the world.  

The president ordered closure of schools and all places of public gathering, including; bars, discotheques, non-food markets, churches and shopping malls. 

Public transport and use of vehicles were also banned and a night curfew imposed. 

Other worrying restrictions also ensued, ‘social distancing, 1.5 meters between one another, this was quite impossible in the refugee settlements because of the big numbers. 

For refugees out of the camps, this was impossible too because they always live in groups due to lack of resources to rent individual rooms, especially in the slums. 

This marked the beginning of horror for all refugees, especially women.

These measures severely impacted refugee communities in the country, particularly in cities like Kampala and Arua where services and infrastructure are already stretched due to major influx of refugees in recent years.  

The Women had a worse story to tell, survival instincts set in and the rule of, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get moving’ was the order of the day. 

Without the support of family members or men as spouses, and also the cultural factors varying from ethic groups or country of origin, women faced severe financial hardships and ambivalent social standing both within the refugee community and within the wider urban Uganda context. 

Gender based violence, economic insecurity and language barriers reduced their ability to make informed decisions. 

Many of these women lived in fear ad were greatly marginalized and discriminated leaving them ostracized leaving them vulnerable to neglect and diverse types of abuse and degradation.  

Women suffered economically, socially and morally.

The local economy, mostly informal, depends greatly on the markets. With the COVID-19 restrictions, women struggled both to maintain their livelihood and to feed themselves as prices escalated.  

Many women have children in the camps, these ones struggled twice as much. Women engaged in all forms of activities including; prostitution, washing clothes and home cleaning, at a fee and digging in the communities, hawking, handwork for the skilled. 

Women suffered all forms of violence ranging from sexual violence to physical violence. Feeding was limited and rationed.

All forms of violence became the order of the day during COVID -19. Women had to succumb to conflict in their homes and camps.  

Urban refugee women fleeing from violence had little choice over their destination during COVID-19. 

Women learnt to cope with all forms of violence and discrimination. Gender-based violence escalated significantly during the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown both in Arua and Kampala. Women were unable to access most services, especially health and social services.  

These institutions sometimes offer some kind of protection to these refugees. One Woman refugee staying in Kisenyi in Kampala Central Division narrated, “It was like living in hell because we had to be confined to our unventilated room for most of the day with my 2 children, my spouse always went out to look for food.”

Women engaged in all forms of jobs and were not limited to prostitution. Women hawked jewellery, especially for the Congolese and Sudanese, some hawked food items like tomatoes and onions.

The situation was about survival. Money earned through prostitution is pintsized too. 

Women had to sleep with many more men to be able to survive with their children. 

As women refugees continued to fight for the few resources available in the urban areas, misconceptions and biases against them increased in the host communities.

Getting food was a hassle. Women struggled to position themselves to get food both for themselves and their families. Women depended on men to assist.  

Food had to be rationed and they had one meal per day.

Women refugees are still facing the aftermath of COVID- 19. Many of them have not turned back to their normal life.  

Those that are engaged in business are struggling for markets. This was revealed by Edith during the recent Executive Director’s visit to the refugee women in Nsambya, Kampala district.

They revealed that during COVID-19 the communities in which they stayed rejected them because there was a rumour that it was the refugees that were spreading COVID-19 in Kampala district. They were confined in their homes and only sneaked out to look for food.

Common challenges of refugee women

Women Refugees are frequently underlooked, and often unable to fully participate in decision making. Their talents, energy and potential remain largely untapped. 

Women refugees find it very difficult to engage in formal employment in Uganda.  

Like other categories of people in a given community, women refugees also want to be engaged, to contribute society, and to be part of the solution. 

They want to harvest opportunities and employment. Many times they are limited due to a number of reasons ranging from scarcity of markets, language barriers, obtaining legal documents, access to services and the like.    

Lack of Markets for finished products

When the Slum Aid Project Director visited the refugee women in Nsambya, the business refugee women’s biggest problem was Markets. Even when they try to venture into economic activities, they always find it hard to access available markets readily for their produce. This comes as a result of limited networking and inadequate information about markets, language barriers and others.

Lack of Capital to engage in income-generating activities/Language Barrier

Start-up Capital has been a problem for refugee women. Issues such as language barrier, communication and economic survival are a problem too. 

Some women may have a good business plan but bringing it into being fails due to lack of capital.  

Slum Aid Project Director Visits Refugee Women in Nsambya, Central Division, Kampala District January 2022.

Many of these refugee women speak French or Swahili, both of these languages are not very common to an average Ugandan.  

Conducting business using these languages becomes extremely difficult.

Difficulties in obtaining legal and personal documents Refugee women stress the challenge, complexities and delays in the processes of obtaining asylum and related legal documents from UNHCR or local authorities and the related serious implications and penalties of not having them. 

When they have an emergency, they may not be helped and this can be very frustrating.  

Authorities, the men in uniform, may also take advantage of you in case you lack these papers. 

Poor access to women security and freedom of movement becomes a hassle without documents.  

They express concerns about their safety, security and freedom of movement linked to culture and their hardship in obtaining documents. 

In some instances, they also highlight harassment as well as unfair arrests and detentions.

Sexual Violence by the Landlords in the slums

Risks in and around the refugee women’s homes. Single Refugee Women in Nakulabye Zone 7 slum expressed fears and were at risk of sexual violence in their homes. 

Such women encounter regular threats of violence by non-family members, especially the Landlords. These demand sex in exchange for granting leeway on late rent, or for not raising rent monthly, “Sleep with me and then I will let you live in my house”.

Difficulty in accessing quality education and skills-building opportunities.

These women consistently identify the difficulty of obtaining recognition for their qualifications as a serious challenge. 

This emanates from scarcity of jobs in Uganda. Expressing oneself is also a problem for these women even when they are invited for an interview. Accessing quality learning and skill-building opportunities is also problematic, issues of language and also discrimination is always the way to go. 

One refugee revealed that she was an infant teacher in Congo. But failed to get even a cleaner’s job in any nursery school in the Kinawataka community. SAP report 2019 

Poverty and vulnerability

In most cases several of these women are single mothers, they struggle to meet the daily needs of their children because they can’t find informal jobs. 

Theirs is a life of hustling and constant worry about their welfare and that of their children. Women expressed fears of living like beggars, they would rather work instead of depend on donations.

Inadequate information about rights

In all of the consultations, women refugee’s highlighted challenges related to, Lack of relevant and honest information about how to get asylum or even how they can live safely without abuse and with access to social services. 

Information regarding their rights as refugees is scarce too.

Other non-refugee business Women move from one place to another which is not the case with the refugee women, this limits them to access information, for example, employment opportunities, markets government programmes etc. 

Gender inequality, discrimination and violence

These women highlighted concerns about gender inequality and discrimination as a challenge. 

Their Ugandan neighbours always remind them of their status. When they go to the markets vendors always sell to them at a higher price. 

One woman said that my spouse is treated better in the market, but not me. Women refugees cannot easily engage with others.  

The men can easily connect with fellow men and they can easily get friends. For women it's different. Lack of empowerment and engagement opportunity. 

As factors that limit youth involvement in decision making. They have few opportunities to analyse issues and devise solutions, share their ideas with decision-makers and be heard.

Slum Aid Project Director Visits Refugee Women in Nsambya, Central Division, Kampala District January 2022