By Tolasa Shome and Qaabata Boru
Clowns Without Borders bring joy to Kakuma children
Category: Arts
By Addisu
A tribe is a group of people, often who live together sharing the same language, culture and history, especially those who do not live in towns or cities. (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 3rd edn.)
According to me, in relation to modernization and social integration of global society, tribal sentiment is a backward idea that can vanish in the process of civilization.
Look at the above definition of tribe which says “Tribe is … those who do not live in towns or cities.” For those who live in rural villages in their tribe, their tribe matters a lot than – their nationhood – because their tribe is their world. It would be an amazing question to a ‘White Man’ (a European or North American) if you ask them what is their tribe. This is not because they never had a tribe but they passed the tribal stage of human evolution and abandoned their tribe long, long ago through civilization and urbanization to the extent that this question surprises them. Today, they (western civilized societies) do not have a tribe but a race of civilized people, and that is where the global society is heading to.
Civilization coupled with digital technology has speeded up the global social integration of peoples of different cultures. We are a global community who share languages, cultures, values, etc.
If we look at the origin of conflicts especially in Africa, they often have an ethnic dimension and are deeply rooted in tribal divisions. The decades-long conflict in South Sudan is one good example.
Tribalism is a precursor of racism; and a tribalist is a racist in a broader view. If we are tribalist, why should we blame others for being racist?
If we use our tribe to discriminate against, marginalize, and/or to promote hatred against others who are not our tribesmen, then do not ask me my tribe. I HATE MY TRIBE.
Categories
A Term “Refugee”
By Addisu Aznato – Kakuma
One day I asked my students in Intermediate English Language class if they had known the English word “beauty”, but they said they hadn’t.
Categories
The Stove of Scandals
A Poem By A. Kuot
Friday, April 18, 2014
To the Office of UN – High Commissioner for Refugees, Switzerland, Geneva.
Subject: Arbitrary arrest and deportation of refugees in Nairobi
Categories
Peace in South Sudan
By QB
I run away because
Categories
A Poem for UNHCR
By Ayellow
We are like microorganisms
in a dry riverbed. The Earth, the wind
and our native countries unite to persecute us.
Our countries dispose of us, the earth broils us
and the wind blows us away, de-graded
and traumatized. We have no allies. We only
have U, beloved UNHCR. Life is wind erosion,
Life is dispersing us like dust.
Lucky citizens of the world, if you have
time to breathe today, or go to the beach,
I beg you to look out for us. We are always there
blowing in the wind or sinking in boats
from across your golden beaches.
By Awet Andemicael
awet@post.harvard.edu
Last year, I conducted research for UNHCR (available online at www.unhcr.org/4def858a9.html), which suggests that artistic activity often plays a powerful positive role in the lives of refugees living in camps, and can help them survive and even thrive emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Categories
Requirements to be a Refugee
By Rwanda Gasabo
One day, a rich father took his son on a trip. He wanted to show him how refugees can be. They spent time in the camp of these poor refugee families. On their way home, he asked his son, “Did you see how they are? What have you learnt, son?” The son said, “We have got a pool, they have got a seasonal river with a fantastic name, “LAGGA”. We have lanterns which come on at night but most of them have stars. Daddy one thing is very funny, we buy food, but they queue while some are beaten to receive theirs for free every two weeks. We have walls to protect us; they have friends around their thatched houses. Look! We have encyclopedias, they have The Bible.” And he added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we might be…”
“It does not take much to be a refugee, simply your belief, education, political opinion, or residence in a mineral rich area.”
It’s not about what you have or don’t have, it’s about who you are. Who takes care of refugees? God, which is where their identity is.
Categories
UNHCR’s Home
Thatch, tarpaulin,
Poles, ropes and nails,
UNHCR’s definition of a home.
No materials for a door,
Leave alone a latrine.
By Maketh Ajak