Edwin Nuwagaba
27 January 2008
Kampala — The smell of hopelessness and despair lingers in the compound of Integrated Primary School in Busia where over 1,500 Kenyan refugees are now living. Most of these if not all, are Kikuyu - who, ever since President Mwai Kibaki was announced Head of State for Kenya, have had their houses burnt and shops looted and are now scattered in different camps both in Uganda and Kenya. Most of them come from Nambale, a neighbouring town to Busia in Kenya.
The day at this camp starts at 6a.m., with some women lining up for food stuffs while others are preparing meals behind the class, room blocks. (Each family prepares its own meals which usually is a mixture of beans and maize, githeri and ugali). The men with nothing to do are lying on the grass in the school compound listening to news updates on small radios. Some of the children are playing, others crying, while others cling to their mother's laps asking for something to eat - but food is not ready yet, they have to wait.
While the situation in Kenya has not calmed yet, the Christian refugees here have not lost hope in God. Everyday, very early in the morning, a large group gathers in front of one of the classrooms for prayers. With their arms stretched out to the sky, some weep while others are joyfully singing to God. When all this is done, a trace of confidence returns to their faces - and this is what keeps them strong and going.
Their biggest fear however, is how to return home - a home where houses have been burnt and sources of income destroyed. It is for this reason therefore, that some have vowed never to go back.
"If it were my wish, I wouldn't want to return to that country because there is nothing for me to return to. You can't witness someone burning your house and live with him again," says James Kariuki who is strongly against revenge because the Bible condemns it.
"You can't imagine, but most of these people were our neighbours, the people we lived with and shared food. There must be conditions put in place for the government before we return home, we can't go back just like that when our property was being burnt and they were simply looking on," he says.
Kariuki like many other men here is the caretaker of his parents who live in Naivasha, but now that his house was burnt and his shop looted, he is less optimistic about the future.
"I communicate with my parents everyday on phone. I have told them to be firm because as soon as I get a job, things will be well," he says in a self-reassuring tone.
But unlike him, other Kikuyus unlike him can't wait to go back home and have the Luos pay for their sins. The most saddening thing however, is that ever since these people came here, the Kenyan government has not showed up. It was only on January 18, that the Kenyan Ambassador Japheth Gitugi passed by and said he was going to Malaba and would return soon to visit them. But many did not believe him.
Nevertheless, the camp leader Clement Mwongi is grateful to the Ugandan people for the support they have rendered them. "Ugandans are good people; the Deputy Resident Commissioner and the District Police Commander have regularly been visiting us ever since we came here but our own people are not bothered at all. It is coming to a month now and none of them has been here. Now the ambassador is showing up at last. Where has he been all this time? If someone were to die wouldn't they be dead by now?" he asks in rather a bitter tone.
Besides missing home, the conditions at the camp are still conducive. The food is given out in plenty and the water is clean and abundant. Since this is already an established school, there are enough facilities like toilets and plenty of classrooms for them to sleep in. The temporary bathrooms however were poorly constructed, and when one has bathed, the water stagnates on the floor.
There is a group that is not staying in the camp and has decided to rent houses in Busia town. They come here in the evening to pick food, and return to their houses. They look healthier than those staying in the camp.
When asked why they chose to stay alone, Margaret Muthoni who has five children including a two-months-old baby said, "You see I have a big family and most of them are very young."
When one enters some of the classrooms in the camp, blankets and tents are scattered all over the floor. There is no privacy here, as everyone young or old has to dress in the open. The food and other necessities which have been given to them during the day are packed in the corner.
Those that are not feeling well are lying on the floor but the kids are not giving them peace as they make noise while they play. Each room is occupied by a single sex but young children have been left to stay with their mothers.
At night, everyone in groups of two or three heads for their dwelling places, but before that, most of them have to do some washing because they did not come with any other clothes apart from those they were dressed in on the day they were forced out of their houses.
Married men are not allowed to sleep with their wives. I asked one of the women, Jacqueline Wambui, whether men sometimes make advances at them and she said, "I also hear rumours that some marriages have broken up. Some men came with their wives but when they reached here, they went for other women."
Allegations however that some of the girls move onto the streets posing as prostitutes, are not true according to Wambui. "Most girls here came with their parents; they can't lose hope very fast because they have hope that they will go back home very soon. Besides, the Kikuyu are very proud people, they can't do such things."
Near the school gate, in one of the tents is a clinic where those with minor illnesses come for medication. "We have not had many serious cases. But those with serious complications like hypertension are referredthem to hospitals. Most people come here because they are stressed and think that they are sick," said Grace Atim, a nurse with Friends of Christ Revival Ministries, a Christian NGO that has rendered help to the camp.
As I moved out of this tent, a woman in labour was being rushed to Busia Health Centre. One of the health workers with Red Cross admitted that Lucy Wangiro did not have the necessary items pregnant women are supposed to go with to the labour ward. She did not have towels, detergents, gloves, razor blades and other essentials. But luckily she gave birth to a baby boy on January 17. Another pregnant woman who was rushed to the hospital on the same day was found to be in false labour.
For the students who are staying in this camp however, this has been a major set back in their lives - and there is quite a handful of them.
"I want to go back to school because this is my final year," says Edith Wambui a student at Jomo Kenyatta High School. She says that everyday when she wakes up, she hopes that things will get better only to hear gunshots across the border.
"In the beginning of the day, somehow I have hope. But when I get bad news in the course of the day, I feel depressed. I had never thought of being a refugee, but here I am, one of them," she says. The 19-year-old girl who leaves in the camp with her two young sisters and aunt wants to be a journalist. But the only hope she has is the rumour circulating in the camp that the government will soon take them back to school.
Whereas most of them have gotten used to this camp and neighbourhood, there are plans by the government to relocate them to Mulanda (former Mulanda Teacher's Training College) in Tororo.
This place is very far and less developed than where they currently are, but Clement Mwongi the camp leader said that there is no option for them. They pretty much have no choice in the matter.
And so as dusk falls on the camp, the residents prepare to spend another night in the place. One by one, they go to their rooms to sleep while others pray with the fervent hope that things will get better soon.
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