[Ugnet] Ugandan students homeless & grassing in Cairo on $10 per month

[musamize]

 

Open letter from Cairo, to Hon. Moses Ali

I am writing about a matter of great concern.

Many Ugandans Muslims who are hungry for education, come to Cairo thinking they will be able to study at Al Azhar University.

They are told that they are going to study in English and may pursue any subject that would be offered in a normal university.

When they arrive, they find out that everything is taught in Arabic and they are put back into primary school to learn to read and write Arabic. They are given $10 per month to live on. That is impossible.

Ugandans are not the only Africans who get trapped in such a situation, but I am particularly concerned about Ugandans for obvious reasons.

They get a room in the hostel, but if they fail exams, they are thrown out of the hostel and cease to get the $10 per month. Quite understandably most do fail and then they cannot renew their residency. God knows how many are in prison. They need their fares to return home.

They learn about UNHCR and apply for refugee status, primarily to go home. Of course, they are refused and this makes it hard for those Ugandans who have genuine cases. For example, our legal aid office has received genuine refugees from Kitgum/ Gulu who were abducted and released and could not go home.

Somehow this situation needs to be stopped. I trust that you will take appropriate action to avoid more Ugandans being misled into coming to Cairo.

The misinformation apparently comes from Ugandan Muslims who realise that the main object of Al Azhar University is to provide religious education, but who do not properly inform candidates.

Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond, OBE
The American University in Cairo

ps:

Prof. Harrell-Bond, whom I had the pleasure of meeting during my sojourn in UK at Oxford University, has been concerned with refugees, particulary those from Uganda (in Sudan) since the Obote II days. She is well known to thousands of Ugandans in Northern Uganda whom she helped and whose plight she helped publicize during Uganda's era of "Hear no evil, see no evil" orchestrated by the thatcher government in UK.

She  is an American who has researched the issue extensively. Her 1986 book, Imposing aid: emergency assistance to refugees (Oxford University Press), is recommended reading. Several of her papers on the subject have appeared in such journals as J. of Refugee Studies, African Studies Review & American Anthropologist. She has made several presentations on the subject, e.g. Are refugee camps good for children? 2000 - Geneva: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, etc, etc. 

The ministers of education, foreign affairs, etc would be well advised to pay attention to this matter and correct it right away.

======

 

Monitor, August 22 - 28, 2005

At Mengo you learn a lot   FLORA ADUK A journey through history best describes an encounter with Mengo Senior School. As I marvel at the photographs of old students dating from 1901 and the signatures in the visitors book dating from 1966 it is evident that the numbers have been growing over the years. Founded in 1895 when missionary work was active in Uganda, Mengo Senior School was the first school in Uganda. The saying that age is just a number fits perfectly where Mengo is concerned, as the structures and environment do not betray the 110 years the school has been in place. UNIQUE: Mengo teaches students to make friends as they will need them after school. Photo by Mike Odongkara Built on one of the famous seven hills of Kampala, Namirembe, the school can easily pass for a tree reserve as its compound comprises trees and plants embedded as part of its large school structure. Mengo Senior School was formed as a vernacular school called Kayanja, purposely to enlighten Africans in a bid to spread Christianity. Which explains the language of her motto, ‘Akwana Akira Ayomba’ translated as ‘Make friends and not enemies’. Although it was formed as a mixed school, no girls were enrolled into the school due to the negative attitude of having girls and boys study in the same enviroment,this led to the birth of Gayaza High School to cater for the girls. Later on in 1904 another school, Budo Kings College now, was born out of Mengo to accommodate the growing numbers. Mengo SS had a mission to produce men fit to serve God in the church schools. The schoolteaches vocational skills like metal work, carpentry/wood work, electrical, power and energy, technical drawing, home management and food nutrition. The school also has a Telecentre, which offers computer literacy programs for the adults in community around the school. The administration asserts that not only do they offer quality education but quantity education as well, which explains the large population of students. The school is divided into three sections, headed by Deans, that is the Lower school, Middle School and Upper School. For smooth running and discipline maintenance the staff wok hand in hand with the prefectorate body and Students council.

 

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