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- Also available in French
GNA Zambia: Q&A with Gloria Nyaki, Protection Officer, UNHCR Sub-office Kawambwa, Zambia
Global Needs Assessment, 9 October 2008
Tell us about your work for refugees in Zambia as a protection officer.
I have worked as a protection officer for seven years, both in camps and in a settlement. My passion lies in working with women and children, especially survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
Working in refugee camps and settlements as a protection officer is very challenging, but very rewarding. It exposes you to people's need to survive, to exist as individuals, and to be treated humanely, with dignity.
What are some major issues you are confronted with?
Refugee children are affected by the environment in which they have to grow – living in camps, lacking adequate access to quality education and basic amenities such as sports and clothes. Some have to engage in hard labour to provide for their families, and in the process have faced child abuse.
Women bear the brunt of the unequal power relations between men and women, and some face sexual and gender-based violence. A considerable number are female single heads of households who have to bring up children on their own.
Men have to struggle with a change from supporting their families in their countries of origin to depending on inadequate rations. Sometimes they break camp rules; leaving without permits to work in an effort to improve their livelihood.
Despite this, I see the refugees surviving, using all humanly possible means, such as small-scale agriculture or small-scale business, while dealing with their past and hoping for a lasting solution.
The refugees have unmet needs. What is their reaction to these gaps?
I try to be honest with myself and refugees. We have to involve refugees in issues affecting them and I think it makes a lot of difference in their understanding when they are fully involved in looking for solutions to their plight. They take gaps as inevitable limits, and in most cases appreciate the efforts. However, it is human to want the best, and when this is not the case in our dealings with refugees, they at times point an accusing finger.
In Zambia, UNHCR's progamme is about providing care and maintenance in camps while also pursuing repatriation, local integration and resettlement. Give us a perspective on this.
Our mandate is providing international protection and at the same time implementing durable solutions. Currently, care and maintenance programmes are ongoing in all refugee camps in Zambia. Large-scale repatriation is ongoing from the northern camps of Kala and Mwange for Congolese refugees. Resettlement continues to benefit a small number of refugees in all camps, according to the needs. The government is yet to set a clear framework for local integration.
What are the brightest moments in your work?
I am always amazed by the refugees' courage and strength to carry on. My brightest moments come from thinking that in some small way I contribute to alleviating the suffering of even a few people, rekindling their hope for a lasting solution. That is what our work is all about.
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