Traumatised refugee
starts Mentorship
program in Kakuma
I am a refugee from South Sudan living in Kakuma, but smart and eager to help schoolboys and girls finish their schoolings, especially boys. UNHCR has programs for aiding girls and teaching them life skills but what about the boys? I therefore started Kakuma Mentorship Warriors to not only help the students in Kakuma with their education but to also inspire them that despite everything they have gone through or are still going through, there is hope for them for I too went through those challenges and have not yet made it but on my way. Our members make monthly contributions to finance our activities and we are hoping to sponsor a few top students in April next year. Even though I have gotten a scholarship to Canada to pursue my studies, I will continue the program until every student in Kakuma is somewhere in life. My name is Akon Rhoda Juach and I am twenty years old. I was born in a large extended family as the first born to my mother. My mother brought my siblings and I to Kakuma in 2002 due to numerous reasons. My mother’s in-laws were frustrated by the fact that she gave birth to a girl as the first born unlike her co-wives who gave birth to boys. The fact that my other siblings were also girls did not help but make matters worse for her. Their relationship deteriorated and the outbreak of community clashes forced us to flee to Kakuma. Settling in Kakuma was a challenge itself and when we finally registered under UNHCR, we had already experienced our fair share of challenges. We knew no one hardly spoke the local language which made it quite difficult to socialize. My mother was skilled in embroidery and through her skills we were able to get our daily bread. She worked hard in her embroidery shop and with time her products spread throughout the camp. She then resorted to educating because she believed it was the best tool she could equip us with to prepare us for the future. My siblings and I therefore went to school in Eldoret because there were barely any schools in the camp at that time. However, in class 6 my mother’s business was not doing so well and she could no longer pay for my school fees. I was therefore supposed to drop out of school were it not for the manager of the school I studied who decided to educate me for free in the school because of my good performance. I performed well in my end of primary school exams and was called to a national school called Bunyore Girls high school. I still studied hard and passed my end of secondary school exams though it was my uncle who educated me. After school I came to be fully united with my family. It was during my work as a volunteer teacher when I noticed a void in the camp society that inevitably needed to be filled. Most students and young people in general especially the boys lack a guiding hand in the way to approach contemporary life issues and problems in general. I witnessed every day in the school I was teaching in how these students always had issues from as simple as not understanding anything in class to sometimes even unintentionally offending the teacher who would mercilessly cane them. UNHCR had a program for aiding girls and teaching them life skills but what about the boys? I therefore started Kakuma Mentorship Warriors to not only help the students in Kakuma with their education but to also inspire them that despite everything they have gone through or are still going through, there is hope for them for I too went through those challenges and have not yet made it but on my way. I spoke to like-minded colleagues and together we formed the program on the 12th of September 2021 with me as the chairlady. The program now does remedial for students in school where we not only supplement the students learning but also teach them life skills. Our members also make monthly contributions to finance our activities and we are hoping to sponsor a few top students in April next year after the results for the end of primary school national exams are out. Our focus is on both boys and girls, and we want to equip them with all the skills they need both socially and academically to not only change their lives for the better but to also change their communities. I’ve had a few challenges which is something that goes without saying. We have had a challenge with accessing students and students being able to get our services though we are working on it. We are also working on taking our services online by creating our website where people from everywhere can know about us. I have also had some resistance in the community where some people including some of my peers are telling me that what I am doing is useless and that I should get married. This honestly gives me more strength to continue with my program in order to change our society so that ten years from today, when a young woman like me is starting an impactful program, she will be thanked instead of being told, ‘’Go and get yourself a husband.’’ Even though I have gotten a scholarship to Canada to pursue my studies, I will continue the program until every student in Kakuma is somewhere in life.
