(ERGO) – Somali and other nationality refugees, and members of the hosting communities around the refugee camps in Kenya, are being able to upgrade their education and career opportunities through a programme run by a former Somali refugee now living in Britain.
Abdi Adan Khalif, the founder of HELP Dadaab, a charity he registered in Britain after resettling there from Dadaab refugee camp, has raised around $16,000 to fund distance learning degrees and diploma courses for 146 people enrolled with an online college based in the UK.
Those enrolled this year include 96 from Dadaab, Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee camps, and 50 from the surrounding communities.
Abdi forged a partnership with Cambridge International College, a company based in Jersey, which offers a variety of practically oriented online courses. HELP Dadaab funds the applicants, who are selected through testing and assessment, with a focus on people wishing to develop their careers.
“When I arrived in this country, I did not rest knowing the importance of education and the
situation of the young people in the camp I came from,” Abdi said.
Courses are designed to teach new skills and knowledge and to give confidence to students as they try to break out from a cycle of poverty and dependence.
Abdi visits Dadaab and other camps to deliver the study materials to the students.
Salad Bule Hussein, 27, a refugee in Dadaab camp, won a scholarship this year. He told Radio Ergo that he started a distance learning degree in Logistics on 1 September.
He completed his secondary education in 2009 abut had been unable to afford further studies.
“I am very happy for this opportunity and I hope my colleagues in the camp who didn’t get the opportunity this time will try next time and benefit from it,” Salad said.
He came to Dadaab in 2004 and works for ICRC at a salary of 9,000 Kenya shillings ($90), trying to support a family of three.
Isack Roble Umar, 46, who is from Fafi in Kenya’s Garissa County, completed his secondary education in 1993. He was one of the first local Kenyan teachers to come to work in a school in the refugee camps. He is now enrolled for undergraduate studies.
“This is a great opportunity and I am happy that I have been accepted,” Isack told Radio Ergo.
Isack, known as Maalin Roble, couldn’t afford to pay for his education on his small salary.
Since HELP Dadaab began the scholarship programme in 2017, 330 students including 25 females have completed online courses.
