A Reflection on Untold Stories, FilmAid's Film Festival

FilmAid’s 8th Annual Film Festival is underway in Kakuma and Dadaab, it is inspired by this year’s theme, "Untold Stories". FilmAid’s Communications Intern Yvon Ngabo wrote the following reflection.

This is a story of a boy.

He is different.

He is just like everyone else in the eyes of the public.

One reason for this is that he spends every day trying to blend in with everyone else. Partly because being different, having a weird accent, having a different hair texture and having a difficult name is an invitation for trouble. He has to go about his days undetected.

The limelight to him means invasion of privacy. He must avoid this at all costs.

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He is part of a forgotten people.

He is a stateless person.

He is a refugee.

He is in a foreign country, with its own rules. He is among a foreign people.

Every individual is faced with his or her own problems. The refugee has the same, and also another set of his own: He has been forced to flee from home with little perception of the new world around him. The childlike outlook, free from flawed perceptions, is shocked to a world where murder and forced relocations are the order of the day.

He has just learned a painful lesson in life.

Your life can be changed forever in a matter of hours by someone who does not even know you.

He has had to bury all these thoughts, deep inside. No matter how hurt he is, no matter how uprooted and unfair his life, the world does not stop to grieve with him. It is rather indifferent. So he must become so too, in order to move on in life.

He has decided to make something of himself. In the life that he has been forced into, he must soldier on.

He has talents.

He has a dream.

He has to give it a shot, if anything is to come from it.

FilmAid’s Film Festival is happening in Nairobi on Tuesday, August 12th at 4:00 p.m. It is a platform to showcase creative talent from Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, including FilmAid-trained young refugee filmmakers eager to show their work. All are welcome to attend. For further information, please visit the FilmAid Film Festival Facebook page.

The Refugee Magazine: 'Is it the right time for home?'

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Unique content from The Refugee - a magazine written by those living in refugee camps - will now be showcased on FilmAid's blog.  

The Refugee Magazine seeks to inform, entertain, as well as give a voice to the voiceless.  It was started in 2009 by people living in Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya who had a passion for journalism but with no access to national newspapers.  The group reached out to FilmAid for support on their project, and since then 10 editions of The Refugee newsletter have been published and distributed free of charge among three major refugee camps in the country.  

The magazine addresses popular topics such as culture, gender and business while also aiming to provide useful information about issues frequently faced by those living in the camps, such as repatriation and access to medicine.  

This week we are sharing an abridged article by Mohamed Bashi Mohamed from The Refugee, Dadaab Edition No. 1, 2014.   

'Is it the right time for home?' by Mohamed Bashi Mohamed 

This is the question that has for months now been running through the unsettled minds of refugees living in Dadaab camps in Fafi region, since the Government of Kenya, Federal Somali Government and the UNHCR signed a tripartite agreement to repatriate Somali refugees voluntarily in a span of three years. The move that was initiated by the Kenyan side, after terrorists linked to the terror group, Al-Shabaab,  took control of a shopping mall in a siege that lasted for three days.  Dadaab refugees may feel that though the decision was reached with good intent, the timing however may not be right as there are still some basic structures lacking in Somalia. Moving such a large number of people in a very short time to a place may result in a humanitarian catastrophe. The move may also be a catalyst to chaos and lack of order in the already unstable country.  

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The move will have a devastating effect on  women and children. It will also impact with the basic education that majority of refugees. This may create a vacuum in the flow of information and render a good number of able people jobless.

The tripartite agreement by the Kenyan government, the Somali government and the UNHCR on the repatriation of Somali refugees has left many worried. Most notably young refugees who attend school. The agreement came months after Kenyatta University opened up a campus in Dadaab town making Higher Education available to refugees, humanitarian workers and the local community. 

The decision to voluntarily repatriate refugees has been welcomed by some but the majority of refugees are still uncertain about the whole process. It is reported that more than 60,000 refugees have already returned to Somalia.

I spoke to Hassan, a Form One student living in Hagadera refugee camp to find out his feelings towards repatriation. “I am not happy” he says, “My major plan of arrival in this camp was to migrate to either South Africa or Libya so that I enjoy my world but when I reached Dadaab, I realized the value of education”. Hassan's story is one that many can relate to. The question that still lingers in his mind is when he will be repatriated, will he complete his education or will he have to start again upon reaching his homeland?

Mohamed Bashi Mohamed

Full article originally published in The Refugee, Dadaab Edition No. 1, 2014. To read more from this issue of The Refugee click here or visit Facebook.

What is FilmAid?

A while back, a friend, who has been seeing me in beautifully made T-shirts branded 'FilmAid' asked me, "Yvon, what exactly is FilmAid? I mean apart from some wiki wisdom over the internet, the here-say of the regular folks here at Kakuma and the fact that its an NGO... What is FilmAid all about?" 

FilmAid International in Kakuma, a Story

Almost a year ago, I was doing an interview to be one of FilmAid's Outreach Facilitators. Save for the nerves for a first time job interviewee, this very same question bugged me. I had been to several of FilmAid's evening screenings. In my opinion, FilmAid brought something spectacular to the refugees in Kakuma 1. They brought a movie, something our fellow brethren in the cities pay for, to the neighbourhood for free! Seeing this, it had an effect on me, how people came together to watch a movie and left fulfilled, soothed, smiling, in small groups discussing what they had just seen and having learnt something new. The hullabaloo that usually follows after an evening screening (or an E.S., as I learned to call it later) lets you in on the kind of thoughts the films bring to the community members.

After the excitement of joining the FilmAid fraternity, it was down to work. Now to understand exactly it is that we do. Orientation began immediately.

FilmAid has a practical way of addressing issues affecting people, for example hygiene, nutrition, and prevention of disease. Founded in 1999, FilmAid is a development and humanitarian communications organisation which uses the power of film to promote health, strengthen communities and enrich lives of the world’s vulnerable and uprooted people.

Why I joined FilmAid

John Keating, from the movie Dead Poets Society, said “No matter what anyone tells you, ideas can change the world.” FilmAid creates a platform where people can come together and receive life-saving information on public health and safety issues. To use the words of the former Executive Director, Liz Manne, "In a real crisis, information is vital. There are NGOs who provide food, medicine and shelter- but without knowledge of how to access these services, many people miss out. FilmAid's role is to work with other agencies to provide reliable information to the community".

Films transcend language and literacy issues. Films speak to generations and can reach a lot of people. Perhaps that is the reason film is used here.

FilmAid plays another major role, which is of great need to refugees who have fled for reasons including insecurity and political persecution. These people have been through a lot. A little laughter goes a long way. Films give creedance to laughter being the best medicine.

In Kakuma, last year, two communities happened to be in conflict. Compelled by a sense of responsibility, an outreach facilitator bravely suggested that FilmAid take an Evening Screening to the area where the conflicting communities lived. Why brave? Its not wise to attract a crowd where there is a threat of security. With the help of local security officers who supported the idea, the evening screening was successful, and both communities attended wanting to see what FilmAid had brought for them. After a shared learning experience and occasional laughter, both communities had begun the road to peace.

FilmAid aims for social change by providing a platform for information and opportunities for people to come together to debate and explore ideas. The case of the two communities is a fine example for social change and peace.

Yvon Ngabo is Communications Intern for FilmAid Kenya.