国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
China
Home / China / World

Refugee camp provides opportunity

By Agence France-Presse in Dadaab | China Daily | Updated: 2015-05-14 07:44

Young Somali students receive free schooling, get scholarships

Soon after dawn, Bashir Bilal sat outside on his usual plastic jerrycan surrounded by young girls and boys chanting Quranic verses.

Each child clutched a worn plank of wood instead of an exercise book, writing on it in Arabic script with ink made from charcoal and water.

In Somalia, the Islamic madrassa is often the only education on offer, but here in the Dadaab refugee camps, it is just the start. Later in the day, children can attend, for free, primary and even secondary school. Scholarships are available for college education.

Uprooted and dispossessed, life as a refugee is tough. But for the Somalis who have for years, or even decades, called Dadaab home, there are opportunities, too.

Bilal, 47, used to live in Afgoye, a breadbasket town 30 km northwest of the capital, Mogadishu. When he came to Dadaab five years ago, he found better schooling options than at home, where fees were high and children would often spend their days helping out on the family farm.

"Children here in Dadaab have the privilege of better education," Bilal said. "They will bring change in Somalia when they go back."

Just when they will go back is contentious. Kenya's government has hosted refugees from Somalia since 1991, when civil war tore the country apart. Since then, Dadaab has grown into the world's largest refugee settlement, with over 350,000 residents.

Kenya now wants the camps shut down, claiming they are a security threat used by members of the Shebab, Somalia's al-Qaida branch, for recruitment, training and downtime.

Albert Kimathi, the area's top government official who is responsible for security as deputy county commissioner, described Dadaab as "the breeding ground, the training ground" for Shebab. "They use the camps as safe havens," he said.

People living in the camps find such allegations perplexing.

"This is not the place they are recruiting," said Yakub Abdi, a 29-year old father of two. His 260 fellow volunteers in the Community Peace and Protection Team keep tabs on new arrivals to their camp, reporting anyone suspicious to police.

"Shebab are not here," Abdi said.

 Refugee camp provides opportunity

Refugees watch the arrival of Antonio Guterres, United Nations high commissioner for refugees, at the Dadaab refugee camp on May 8. The refugee camp currently houses about 350,000 people and for more than 20 years has been home to generations of Somalis who have fled their homeland. Tony Karumba / Agence France-Presse

 

Editor's picks
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
安康市| 来安县| 莲花县| 宜城市| 罗源县| 彰武县| 太保市| 会泽县| 临沭县| 怀安县| 石棉县| 岱山县| 东乡| 镇坪县| 临湘市| 新余市| 林西县| 府谷县| 辰溪县| 洪泽县| 华坪县| 淮安市| 乌恰县| 灌云县| 贵阳市| 长治市| 荔浦县| 论坛| 安阳市| 秀山| 石台县| 琼海市| 怀仁县| 利川市| 安西县| 天镇县| 昌邑市| 阿拉尔市| 滨海县| 金川县| 体育|