My work with refugees began in 2018 when I attended a conference in Lebanon hosted by Jusoor Syria, an organization that supports the education of Syrian refugee children in the country. After learning more about Jusoor’s work, I was determined to use my years of experience in education to support refugees around the world. My next experience was a pilot course for refugee teachers that was offered by the Refugee Educator Academy, a Carey Institute initiative based in Rensselaer, New York. The course attracted teachers from all over the world including two from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. 

In addition, I volunteered to teach English to young adults from marginalized populations around the world including Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Africa through the JRS organization, as well as participated as a mentor as part of the GEL Buddy initiative. My most recent mentoring experience was with Na’amal (“we work” in Arabic), where I mentored a young man from Turkey who recently resettled in the United States with his family. We met biweekly for several months and discussed his remote work as well as ways he could use the skills he learned during the MITReact certificate program to find a job in his field of expertise. 

The situation may seem hopeless; however, several refugee leaders in Kakuma are finding different ways to teach skills to the youth in the camp by opening community-based organizations (CBOs) that 1) help youth qualify for freelance or remote jobs with IT skills training such as digital literacy, coding; 2) offer vocational skills like hairdressing for young women and mothers; 3) create maker spaces to teach problem-solving and design thinking. With global support, these entrepreneurs are reimagining education.

According to the latest statistics from the UNHCR, there are more than 82 million displaced persons including 26 million refugees. They estimate that almost half of the refugees are under the age of 18. Many have fled their homes due to war or natural disasters. The chance of resettlement is extremely low, so most refugees in camps like Kakuma, Kenya will spend their lives there unless they are resettled elsewhere or able to return home. In addition, only a small percentage of secondary students are enrolled in school, and female students constitute only 22% of the overall enrollment. 

Education in Kakuma is problematic. 94% of eligible secondary school-aged children are out of school and 87% of those enrolled are over-aged. Female students only constitute 22% of the overall enrolment and 57% of the teachers are untrained, and many are refugees. Compared to 21 primary schools, only 5 secondary schools are available in the camp. So reimagining education in Kakuma camp is vital if children are going to have any type of future. Lack of education leads to a cycle of poverty and dependency on handouts. Lack of hope has led to domestic violence and violence among rival groups who live close together.