Gideon’s Story - The Experience of a Refugee in Uganda

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During World Refugee Day on June 20th, 2022, we met up with an outstanding young man who whom I will refer to only by his first name; “Gideon.” Gideon and his parents came to Uganda from Burundi in 2001 as refugees. They were given asylum and settled in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. He was just a toddler at the time so his entire life experience and all his memories are from within Uganda. 

Fortuitously for Gideon, his parents were determined to give him a good education and so enrolled him in the Universal Primary Education (UPE) system at a primary school in Nakivale.   Gideon passed his Primary Leaving exams well and went on to Secondary School at Mbarara college.   Gideon who in his own words, was “a hardworking and bright student,” also loved public speaking and talking to people and excelled as a leader from S1 to S6.  He held various positions such as head monitor, school speaker, and chairman of the school council.  He states: “I was hard working and slept little as the only option for me was to read and pass well in order to get a scholarship for further education.” 

Gideon passed well his UACE (S6) exams well and afterward volunteered to work with Window International at Nakivale Secondary School where he worked as an assistant administrator for five months and then obtained a scholarship and was admitted to Nsimizi Training Institute for Social Development in Mpigi District where he graduated with a First Class Diploma in Social Work and Administration (4.63 CGPA).  Gideon then relocated back to Nakivale in 2019 and successfully interviewed with a humanitarian organization where he volunteered till the project ended in 2021.

The Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP) came to Nakivale when he was looking for a job.  He applied and was shortlisted and during the interviews at the base-camp, the recruitment panel was satisfied and he was given a paid full-time job as a DRDIP Community Facilitator. 

Gideon states that DRDIP fulfilled his dream as a refugee in several ways.  As stated in his words below;

“DRDIP gave me the opportunity to gain work experience and secondly to support my people, my fellow POCs (People of Concern or Refugees) displaced from countries of their origin but which they didn’t choose.  I can clearly communicate to people about the programme and thirdly, I have become an inspiration to many POCs because my position demonstrates that one can go to school as a refugee and then become a productive POC and even a person employed by the Government of Uganda as I am.

Now everyone in my village and Sub-county yearns to go to school. They say that look at Gideon, he is now working for the government! When people see me, they know it is possible and it gives them hope as refugees and refugees need hope that their lives can progress and get better, and they can believe in a better tomorrow. They say – if we can go to school, we can have a better tomorrow. 

We are therefore grateful to the project for giving refugees grants all over the settlement which are providing income earning opportunities for the refugees and the project is also restoring the environment.  The implementation of DRDIP is wonderful. Other projects before simply put assets here and there but DRDIP involves the entire community from the lowest person and allows them to participate and benefit from the project.  

DRDIP benefits the communities in two main ways, first by direct income support where beneficiaries are paid or receive grants and secondly by providing assets and trainings that benefit the entire community.

am seeing a better future for myself as a result of DRDIP and I appreciate the government of Uganda for hosting refugees.  I only request that the approach and implementation design of DRDIP be extended to other partners and organizations working in the settlements, especially that aspect of allowing refugees to obtain work even within the organizations or Government.

Refugees should be given the opportunity to compete and compete for jobs with all these organizations working within the settlement. 

 


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