Vocational skills breathe life into Bidibidi Refugee community

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INNOVATION

Uganda is one of the largest refugee-hosting nations in the world, with 1,660,524 refugees as of March 28, 2024. 

The vast influx of refugees is due to several factors in Uganda’s neighbouring countries, especially war and violence in  South Sudan and the DR Congo and associated economic crises and political instability in the region. 

Despite efforts by the  Government and development partners to ensure refugees are comfortable, they still face numerous challenges in social services. Hope Mafaranga and Adam Gule look at how vocational skills have breathed life among refugees.

It is Thursday, and the last day of food distribution at the food distribution point 3, Zone 3 in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Yumbe district for circle six. 

As many people hurry to make a queue to receive their food ration,  there is another long queue, mainly composed of women and girls seated under a tent.  

They are not part of the people going to receive food but, in a line,  waiting for the services of 27-year-old Suzan Kiden, a renowned seamstress in the area.  

Her pride in her work is evident as she sits behind her sewing machine,  checking her watch with a smile,  hoping to serve her customers before the day ends. 

Despite the fact that Kiden is not the only seamstress in the area, her designs and quality of service make her the best, hence getting more customers.  

Kiden, a mother of three and a resident of village 5, Zone 3, is one of the over 198,000 South Sudan refugees living in Uganda’s largest refugee settlement. 

After several days of trekking on foot, Kiden arrived in the settlement in November 2016. She was fleeing the war in her home country, South  Sudan, which erupted following a misunderstanding between the two top leaders, Saliva Kiir and his then vice-president, Riek Machar.  

Kiden said when she arrived in the settlement, life was difficult as they only relied on the food donated by the World Food Programme. 

“There was no way to get money unless one had to sell part of the food ration, which was also risky for the family. We could not change our diet or provide other basic needs,  such as clothes for our children,” she said. 

In 2019, Kiden enrolled as one of the pioneers of the vocational skills training school established by the Norwegian Refugee Council, a non-governmental organisation at Yoyo Trading Centre in Zone 3.

With passion, Kiden endured the difficulties of balancing family responsibilities as a mother and training in tailoring and fashion design for six months. 

“After completing the six months,  I was awarded the certificate and a sewing machine to start with,” Kiden said. 

She said she gave herself time on the machine to explore more skills and more designs, according to what she saw on social media and what people wore in public. 

“I did not only rely on the skills  I acquired from the training. I kept on consulting with friends and also searched on social media for new fashions and took note of what people wear,” Kiden added.

Training others  

Today, Kiden is one of the trainers in the settlement. She said at least every month, she receives students who pay her sh40,000 per month to learn the skills. 

“I have successfully trained six students who completed six months of tailoring skills. Right now, I have four others who are still undertaking the training, and this is giving me additional earnings,” she said. 

Kiden said with the dream of opening a bigger and more formal vocational skills centre offering a variety of skills including fashion design, hairdressing, salon operations and weaving, she has managed to secure a plot within the training centre and will soon start the construction works. 

Kiden said with the extra money she got from training other students she was able to increase the number of her sewing machines to four. 

Savings  

Today, Kiden is one of those considered ‘rich’ in her locality, earning over sh500,000 weekly. 

She said when it is time for holiday celebrations such as Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter, among other public holidays, she gets an average of sh200,000 daily, while on other days, she gets an average of sh80,000. 

Kiden said she saves in three different village savings groups and loan associations, as well as her mobile money accounts because there is no nearby bank in the settlement. 

“I joined three groups of savings,  and in each, I save sh20,000 weekly,  and that alone helps me achieve my dreams at least every year,” she said. 

Kiden added that she separated from her husband three years ago but she can support her children in school, buy food for the family, and support other basic needs. 

Ropani on her sewing machine. She spent over sh150,000 to attain tailoring skills from a private trainer within the settlement. (Credit: Adam Gule)

Skilling  

Viola Abe, 26, a mother of two and a resident of Bidibidi Zone 3, trained in tailoring under the Programme for Education, Advocacy, Counselling, and Economic Empowerment  (PEACE) project with ADRA Uganda in 2021. 

She said before attaining the skills, life was hard for her and the family as she entirely depended on her husband. 

“When we newly arrived in the settlement, I was just a housewife, and we depended on my husband for every piece of support in the family. This caused many misunderstandings between me and my husband,” she said. 

Abe said in 2020, when the  Government announced total lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her husband stopped working and life at home turned from fair to worse. 

“We resorted to casual labour in the communities to get something to supplement the food ration,” she said. Abe said she is now staying in harmony with her husband because she is now supporting her family. 

Shop-owner 

From her daily savings, Abe now owns a shop for general merchandise in her village. 
This made her shift her sewing station from the trading centre to the shop to operate both of them without challenges. 

“I started saving at least sh10,000 daily from my earnings, and last year, I managed to open a shop. I did it because people around my homestead move over half a kilometre to the nearby trading centre, so I wanted to bring the services nearer,” she said.
 
Abe said with the shop in place, her daily savings have moved to  sh15,000, which she is using to support her family. She said when the food ration cut was announced, she never complained because she was able to offer any support to the family besides what her husband gets. 

Self-confidence  

During the six months of the skills training, Abe was also lucky to have some sessions of Bonga training, a dialogue process to build confidence among the out-of-school illiterate adolescent girls and boys. 

She said before the training, it was hard for her to stand before people to express herself. 
“I had a lot of fear and would not even talk freely with my friends. I  was known for being fearful and quiet,” she said. 

However, after going through the  Bonga sessions, Abe is now seen as one of the most verbal and self-confident people in the area. This alone made her elected to the committee of the Refugees Welfare  Council 1 in her village as the secretary for women’s affairs.  

Abe said she is using the knowledge of Bonga to sensitise the community, especially teenage girls, to the dangers of early sex and early marriage. 

Abe in her shop in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Yumbe district. (Credit: Adam Gule)

Other testimonies  

Harriet Ropani, 20, a resident of Village 5 in Zone 3, spent over  sh150,000 to attain tailoring skills from a private trainer within the settlement after trying the opportunities under the non-governmental organisations in vain, despite having completed Senior Four. 

After completing her training for three months, Ropani, mother of one,  is now smiling and receiving money daily. Ropani testifies that her life is not the same as it was in the past,  especially when she delivered her baby without the support of the father. 

“I conceived and the man who was responsible denied the pregnancy and ran to South Sudan. The worst part of it all was that I was in Senior  Four, which made me not perform well, although I managed to pass,” she said.

“I went through a lot of hardships when I delivered because there was no one to support me. I tried many of the opportunities for skills training that come through NGOs, but I was not lucky. Last year, I decided to look for someone to train me in a hands-on skill. Today, I am happy because I  can support myself well,” she said. 

Ropani, however, requested partners supporting the refugees to support her with a sewing machine so that she could settle down to work.

“I have not purchased my sewing machine. What I use now is rental at sh30,000 per month. This alone is affecting my plans and savings as  I wish to save enough and enrol for a course in social work and social administration at any university to back up my skills,” Ropani said. 

Samuel Kindu, 24, is another refugee, who trained in salon operations under the PEACE programme. 

Arriving at Bidibidi in November 2016, Kindu has not fully forgotten the hardships they met on the way while fleeing for rescue. 

At the age of 14, Kindu said, they slept in the bush for five days before reaching the border in Busia, where they were rescued by a team that took them for registration and later deployed them to Bidibidi refugee settlement. 

“We were walking over dead bodies. There was no food, no water,  and no place to sleep. I can very well remember when my legs got tired and I could not walk,” he said. 

Kindu, who lives with a single mother, said he dropped out of school in Primary Three because she  (his mother) was unable to keep him in school. 

In 2021, Kindu received a message calling for applications for people to train in vocational skills, which he immediately got into.

Upon being successful, Kindu went through six months of salon operation training and later received start-up kits, which helped him open a hair salon in a trading centre in Village 6, Zone 3. 

Kindu said today, life has become better for him and his family.  

“From what I receive daily, I buy food and other basic needs for the family. I also support my siblings in school,” he said. 

Kindu says he will never regret being in the settlement for all the years when he returns to South Sudan because he already has a skill to go back with, which will help him start a new life back home.

He encouraged youths who still consider vocational skills training as a casual venture to change their mindsets and ensure they attain the  kills to become self-reliant. 

“If I go back to South Sudan, I will not start looking for a job. I have somewhere to start from, and I will build on it,” he said. 

Zakia Aduyo

Include the host community  

The deputy speaker of Yumbe, Zakia Aduyo, commended partners for investing in vocational skills training. 

She said some years ago, the crime rates in the settlement were high because the majority of the youth were idle. 

She said with the competitive white-collar jobs in the world, the best thing for youth today is hands-on skills to become self-employed. 

“The refugees are hosted by Yumbe district, and any negative impact caused by hosting refugees will be felt by the entire district. We,  therefore, implore the partners to consider the host communities as the entire district, not only the sub-counties hosting refugees,” she said.

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More support for refugee communities

Hakim Aliasi, the refugee welfare council 3 chairperson for Zone 3, lauded the  Government for its open-door policy to host the refugees. 

He said besides formal education in schools, the other remarkable advantage of the refugees staying outside their home country is the vocational skills they have attained. 
Hakim hailed the partners for investing heavily in the field. 

“We have seen many of our idle youths acquire some skills to earn from. This, to me, is one of the biggest investments because the person will remain with the knowledge forever,” he said. 

Hakim appealed to the  Government and partners to increase the slots for skills training to accommodate more youth. 

Michael Joel Nabugere, the  Office of the Prime Minister settlement commandant  for the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, said over 2,000  youths have benefited from the vocational skills training since 2016 across the settlement. 

He, however, blamed some of the beneficiaries for being reluctant and expecting the partners to follow up on them to work. 

“Donor funding is dwindling and the partners don’t have enough budget to train more people. This means those with the skills are to consider themselves lucky and make proper use of the knowledge to earn a living” he said.

Nabugere called on the donors to support the projects of vocational skills training, which he said are the saviors for the refugees, especially in the era where food rations are cut and people are put in categories.

This story project was done with support from WAN-IFRA Women in News Social Impact Reporting Initiatives grant. However, the views expressed are not those of the sponsor.