How To Create A Safe Environment For Refugee Girls
In this podcast episode, we are talking with RefuSHE CEO, Jaydan Adlin and board member and a refugee herself, Esperance Gikundiro on what the reality is for refugee girls in East Africa and how RefuSHE has become a safe space and a home for women to rebuild their lives and reach their full potential.
Today, I am excited to speak with two women changemakers who are sharing with us their work and journey on helping girls refugees to rebuild their lives: Jailan Adly and Esperance Gikundiro, board member and a refugee herself.
- Modern Slavery Is A Sad Reality
- Women Are The Most Affected
- RefuSHE: An Impact On More Than 30,000 Girls And Women
- How To Get Involved
Modern Slavery: A $150 billion industry.
The International Labor Organization estimates that more than:
- 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016.
- Out of these 40 million, 25 million are forced labor and 15 million forced marriage.
- 152 million children, aged between 5 and 17 are in child labor. (slightly less than half of the population of the United States)
Additionally, human trafficking is estimated at $150 billion industry: Human trafficking includes sex trafficking, child labor and modern slavery meaning people who are forced into situations.
Women Are Disproportionately Affected
- 80% of the Human Trafficking population are women and girls (29 million)
- Women make 99% of the victims of forced labor in the commercial sex industry and 84% of forced marriages.
Modern Slavery And Refugee Crisis Goes Hand and Hand
Human trafficking is intrinsically linked to the refugee crisis. More than 65 million of people were displaced in 2015. When you are forced to leave your country, you become highly vulnerable to any forms of crime and exploitation.
Awareness And Collaboration Are On The Rise
Although these numbers are heartbreaking, the hope is that many organizations and people are now collaborating to end this massive problem of human trafficking.RefuSHE is one of the organizations on the ground making a difference in East Africa.
What Is RefuSHE?
Jailan Adly is the CEO of RefusHE and she talks to us about her work.
RefuSHE is a global organization that works with refugee girls in East Africa.10 years ago our founders started RefuShe because they were working in the refugee community in Kenya and saw that there was a gap in services when it came to unaccompanied separated or orphaned young refugee girls. These girls really needed a much more holistic approach. They needed protection and ways to gain the skills needed to be able to take care of themselves and their family as they grew up. The organization is about 10 people in the US but about 60 staff members are actually in Kenya. That’s where our operations are.
RefuSHE: An Impact On 30,000 Girls and Women Refugees
So indirectly and directly, we’ve touched almost 30,000 girls and women. So we run our direct programs for young women and girls that include our safe house. It provides temporary safe shelter for the most acute security concerns. Girls stay in the safe house anywhere from three months to six months. There are some that have to stay longer because every case is different in terms of their security needs.
The Different Programs Helping The Refugees Girls
We also run an accelerated school. It’s four years where we train literacy. So basic literacy, most of the girls coming in don’t speak Swahili or English because they’re not from Kenya as refugees. We are bringing them up to speed on English and Swahili, basic mathematics. And then as they get into the more advanced levels, science history. We’re now at the point where our curriculum gets them ready to sit for the Kenya board exams. This means they can then transition to a Kenyan school. It also prepares the girls that might be resettled out of Kenya to be able to easily slide into the high school system or be prepared for college as well.
Daycare center
We have a daycare center on-site. Many of the girls that come have suffered sexual violence and a lot of them come pregnant from that. And so this is a way for them to be able to go to school and have their kids on campus and well taken care of and are also receiving the nutrition they need, the education they need as well. They can be close to the kids and we prepare the kids for integration into Kenyan schools at the same time.
A community outreach program
We have a community outreach program where we actually work with refugee women and girls that might not be coming to our campus, including some of the older refugee women. We also do training around sexual-based violence and gender-based violence for men and boys as well in the communities.
You know, if we want to talk about breaking the cycle of violence, you have to have these conversations with men and boys.
Oftentimes depending on the cultures that they’re coming from, those are conversations that are not typical. So our case managers have really worked out in the community to break some of these stereotypes, taboos and be able to have these conversations. With the women’s groups, we have helped them form savings groups so that they can pool their money together, help one another out if there’s, you know, one family that is in need. And then also use those savings groups and seed grants that we provide to be able to start and support their own businesses. Being refugees, oftentimes they’re unable to get work permits.
Developing Entrepreneurship
And so the way for them to be able to support their family is more personalized entrepreneurial businesses like tailoring or jewelry making or hairdressing. And so, it’s already competitive out there in the marketplace and, and we have to be able to kind of help them break into that and so they can serve the other refugee community members as well.
Protecting Girls And Women Refugee Outside The Safe House
Our women are also there to provide support to our girls that live out in the community. Those that aren’t in the safe house. We put them either in foster families or in group housing. And then the women add a second layer of kind of mentorship. They also then lookout in the community if a new girl shows up that’s unaccompanied or separated or has lost her family and refer them to our programs. So through that program as well, we’ve hit families indirectly. And so those are, those are kind of the numbers that we’ve been able to reach.
Safe House: An Undisclosed Location To Protect Girls and Women Refugees
So our safe house is separate from our main campus. It’s an undisclosed location and we move it actually every two years. And so it provides safe shelter for minors. In this case, girls, we do have a few young boys under the age of 10, who don’t have families and have security concerns. Security concerns can range depending on that girl’s particular story, what country she’s coming from. So in some cases, they’re political refugees where there’s actually a warring tribe and so there might be people after them. And so they need a shelter outside of the community that’s undisclosed so that they’re not found. Or they have suffered massive trauma, especially around kind of sexual trauma.
The need for healing, trauma counseling, psychosocial counseling is really important to do in a safe space where there are only women and are well taken care of.
Rebuilding Family
And so at the safe house, it’s not just a shelter, but it’s really a family we build. Girls are provided with food and hygiene kits. The mothers have access to diapers and baby formula. The case managers take them to medical appointments to make sure that they are healthy and well taken care of.
Legal Support and Advice
We have a legal and advocacy program manager that works on their cases to either help them get their paperwork in order and hopefully be resettled out of Kenya. Especially for those with security concerns, Kenya is close to their home countries. And so it’s not necessarily the safest there either because it’s a little bit easier to find them. So for those cases specifically, we work with implementing partners to try to get them resettled out, as much as possible and kind of away from the safety concerns.
Artisan Collective, More Than A Scarf: An Healing Program To Empower Girls
We sold scarves are on RefuSHE.org. So the girls in the artisan collective make the unique under the RefuShe brand that we sell online and through various different outlets. And it was created to be a training and healing program. This program is the artisan collective and is just one component of our larger girls empowerment program. In addition to the classes part of the accelerated program, the girls are also taking vocational training classes. And so we’ve been focusing on textiles. They’re learning how to sew and make various different types of textiles. Once they graduate from that, they have the ability to apply to the artisan collective and join as a member for two years. It’s essentially, a slow ramp towards starting their own business. So it’s the ability for them to hone the skills that they learned in class, be able to actually create products.
It’s more than just working on the sewing and the tailoring and all of that., It’s really a healing mechanism for them. So we try to find a balance between, creating products. and maintain its healing space as well. The products are sold so that we can create a way to reinvest into our program and be able to provide them with a stipend. Women and Girls are unable to necessarily gain an income because of their refugee status. So this is a way we can provide them with a stipend, help them start to save money in a savings account so that they can start their own personal business as well. And so all the proceeds are reinvested into that particular program.
Esperance Gikundiro: From Refugee To RefuSHE Board Member
Esperance Gikundiro is a board member today. She shares with us her story of how she first met the organization. Esperance was in the first generation of girls the organization worked with when they started. She referred to RefuSHE by UNCHR. The UNCHR is the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Esperance, where were you when you first met RefusHE?
I was in Kenya and registered as a refugee. I was without my family that’s why I was referred to RefuSHE because as you know, we help young refugee girls who are not with their families who are under 18. I happened to meet all the qualifications at that time.
Esperance, why did you have to leave your country?
I think that’s a common question with a common answer because of safety.
People have the wrong assumption of what is a refugee. You have a normal life or mostly a better life than a life you have after becoming a refugee. I grew up in Rwanda most of my life. I grew up having anything I needed with my family. My family had to move out of Rwanda because of safety. There’s always war constantly. So my family moved to Congo because of war.
People assume because you are no longer in your country is because you are poor certain staff, but not really. If anything, you have maybe a life of dream, most of the time in your country. But when you leave, it’s very hard because in every country you have to go to school. For certain people, you leave your country with a certain level of education and then when you get to another, especially in the US. My dad came here with a master’s degree. Now he works in a sewing company. So it’s very hard. So it’s hard to go back to school for people in their fifties, learn the language and start all over again.
but really becoming a refugee doesn’t take your intelligence away. It just took your freedom away. That’s how I see it.
My dad’s been here for three years now. He can speak English now and maybe even if you ever one day find a professional job is never going to be what he had going on in his country.
So that’s I don’t blame somebody to assume that refugees are poor. It’s true. Once they become refugees, you become poor because you have nothing left.
As a refugee girl herself, Esperance Shared Her Story With us.
I moved from Congo to Rwanda to Kenya and I’m now in the U.S. I guess I’m going to China next, I’m joking. Every case is personal and individual. So it depends on the case of that person. Certain girls don’t get the chance to leave Kenya. So most of them, graduate from the program and continue to get help to start their life in Kenya instead of getting resettled. But as Jailan mentioned, most of our girls have security issues. Most of them ended up having the opportunity to leave Kenya.
I actually lived in a safe house for more than three years. That’s why she’s saying every case is different for that time is when we started. So all of us, we lived there longer than any generation after us. For us, a safe-house is home.
Once you’re there for the first few months. It’s hard because you have different cultures, religions. Language is the main barrier thing more than anything because we come from different countries. We can’t speak to each other, but we have to live in the same room. We have unfortunately to use the same shower and everything. You have to cook the food that maybe you never ate in your country. They never ate. But we try to put in the middle of that what is works for both of us but we can’t communicate. So learning the language was the best thing for us because we end up learning so fast. So we speak in Swahili and English at the same time.
You get attached to the home. You feel like it’s home for real, you really do feel like it’s a home. That’s what is important to us. It’s a reason why I’m still a part of their RefuShe family today because I know it’s different. There are so many different organizations, especially in the US that say we help Refugees. It’s a different story to know this really helps refugees because I’ve been a part of it as a student. I’ve been a part of it as a refugee girl who needed help and I’ve been a part of it as a volunteer. I became a board member and now I’m stepping into a new position. So to me, it’s almost personal because I know it’s real and I have seen the girls’ life-changing so much. The process of being resettled was a blessing. And I know the ones who are in Kenya, they are in good hands.
Being in a safe house for two years, I think we create our own families there. We tend to get attached to that family. So once you turned 19, honestly like they intend to give you a chance to start a business. We did like entrepreneurship classes, so we did like an entrepreneurship class and then I was trained for seven months.
After seven months, if you’re ready, you choose which type of business you want to start. Sometimes when you say refugee, it’s almost unreal to explain what is doing in those girls’ life. One time I received $300 from the organization, which is so much money there. There is an auditor who comes every now and then to make sure your business is going the way you say it and then they help you grow in your business. So it is really helpful to become independent. So I think this made me the woman I am today, honestly, because then you know, you can do a business, you can start this, you can start that.
A Traumatic Experience
It’s almost unreal. Half of the girls went through trauma that you cannot even describe. So, unfortunately, it’s supposed to be a blessing having kids. But when it comes from rape, it doesn’t… the pain doesn’t go away.
So for most of our girls, unfortunately, they’ve been in those situations. They’ve been raped, they have kids.
Healing By Making
So when we do these scarves, this is not just a scarf because that’s something she’s doing with her own hands, knowing that she has the power to change that material, you know that color. And then make it a scarf for a bag or a dress or a jumpsuit. It’s more than just that once to the girls, it’s different. It’s more than just what you see like that.
How can we change the negative and sometimes humiliating media coverage on the girl refugees?
Storytelling: The most important tool to raise awareness on those issues.
Esperance: Mostly supporting or being involved in organizations like RefuSHE or any other organization like Catholic social services. Those are the organization I was attached to. But there are so many organizations that help refugees. I know RefuSHE is the only organization that is doing the type of job we are doing.
How To Get Involved In Supporting Girls Refugees?
So to be involved doesn’t mean necessarily you have to spend your money, it could be put your time in and understand the story of the refugee girls cause every girl has a different story. So once you are involved in that type of organization or that type of environment, you become aware. And then like now we are raising awareness because we know better as an organization. So I feel like once you get, you try, you learn.
A Declining Refugee Resettlement Rate
The big thing that we are faced with right now as an organization is you know, back when Esperance was in our program 10 years ago, most of our girls were getting resettled. Their cases were acute and severe enough that they were typically the ones that were prioritized for resettlement.
We have been seeing a global climate of declining resettlement rates, especially in the US uh, Western Europe, Australia, that has impacted host countries like Kenya, Jordan, Mexico, where refugees are still going to come because when your family is in danger, you will do what it takes to get your family to safety.
And that puts a lot of strain on a country like Kenya because they have to take care of their own citizens as well.
There’s a constant struggle that Kenya has to go through. How much can they provide refugees while we need to take care of our own citizens? And so it doesn’t just go, the problem doesn’t go away by not having refugees come to a European country or the US. It still exists. And so we need to be able to provide support not just to refugees, but also to these host countries. So the Kenya, Mexico, Jordan’s of the world are going to need the global community to come and give them the resources to be able to deal with this because it’s still a massive impact not just on them but regionally and then globally, right. If a country like Kenya is unable to safely manage to take in that many people, it’ll destabilize Kenya, which will destabilize East Africa, which will eventually destabilize the entire area. There’s a ripple effect globally.
We’re looking at how do we deepen our programs within our current operations. We know that most of the girls won’t probably get resettled outside of Kenya at this point. So we need to be able to advocate to help the Kenyan government see the benefit of supporting refugees within Kenya. Then also provide them with longer-term durable solutions to being able to earn an income so that they are able to self sustain while living in communities around Nairobi. So that we can break cultures of dependency.
If we aren’t able to give refugees durable solutions, then the only option is a humanitarian culture of dependency model. It doesn’t help anyone out, neither the host country and the the refugees themselves or on a global level.
Refugee Want The Same Thing As Anyone Else
The refugee crisis is a large, unruly problem that seems to be so complicated that it’s hard to kind of figure out how to fix it, right? By the time someone is a refugee, so many things have gone wrong to get to that point, right? That it seems almost too late at that point. What happened in the country of origin? How did that destabilization happen? Was it economic, was it environmental? Was it political? Right? All of these things are kind of the root cause that by the time someone is a refugee, you’re almost in kind of the bandaid solution mode.
Refugees want the same things that we want for our families. And then there are ways to actually as an individual support a program like ours or Catholic relief services or these other organizations that are working to directly work with the refugees to say how do we take what is a very difficult situation and make the best of it and help get these families back on their feet. Help start a new beginning, right? We can always close a chapter and start a new one. So how do we make a better start for refugees to be able to kind of take it to the next level, be able to process whatever chapter they have come from, and be able to look towards a better future.
3 Ways You Can Help
Those are great, tangible, easy ways to help support our programs.
- Donation: The best support is monetary because that we can then reinvest that back in our programs in Nairobi.
- Purchasing our products are always incredibly helpful.
- Hosting events in your cities where you’re able to, you know, host a scarf party, talk about RefuSHE, sell some scarves, be able to, um, take the narrative and change how the perception is about refugees and talk about the vulnerabilities that refugee girls specifically face. We have a lot of volunteers and supporters that take initiative in their own cities. For example, we had a gentleman in Switzerland that opened up a RefuSHE association and he has his friends on board. They fundraise for us. They hold scarves sales, they go and write grants. His daughter just moved to England for college and she starting a group there. We love it when we see that happen.
Esperance’s ambition: Make the world a better place for refugee girls
I’m 19. I want to see more girls having success stories, non-necessarily success stories of coming to the US, but success stories of creating their own business and be very self-independent in Kenya. I consider that success more than me coming here because I had the resources. I have a chance to find a job without anybody questioning where I’m from. But in Kenya, unfortunately, that’s not the case.
I want to make sure we focus on making sure those girls are going to have a standard life without worrying “where’s my food coming from tomorrow”.
Esperance is continuing her journey and is hoping to open her non-profit to be the voice of the voiceless.
I feel like I’m in a position to speaking for those girls who can speak for themselves. I focus on the girls because unfortunately, we have monthly needs. We take for granted in the US, but these are girls somewhere maybe in a rural area in Rwanda or there’s a refugee girl in Uganda who can’t, unfortunately, have access to sanitary essential products. So my main focus is to provide basic needs for refugee girls in Uganda right now.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I want to add visit our website at RefuSHE.org so you can understand what we do and help us raise the awareness to make sure people understand what an organization like RefuSHE does beccause I know it did my change life.
Learn More
- The International labor organization
- RefuSHE to find out more about their mission and different companies.
- DressMember
- 40 million in modern slavery and 120 million in child labor
- https://fairtradela.org/blogs/fair-talks/fair-talks-dressember?mc_cid=de4b7a2f86&mc_eid=3f8765af2f
- UNCHR
- https://www.cfr.org/blog/sex-trafficking-and-refugee-crisis-exploiting-vulnerable
