Congolese refugee turns plastic waste into a profitable business
Raphael Basemi has come a long way since arriving in Kenya’s Kakuma camp in 2009 with just a bag of clothes and his education certificates. The Congolese refugee now runs the largest community-led recycling enterprise in the camp, providing hundreds of jobs for other...
Education fund rekindles hopes and dreams of refugees
Nyehoth Pub Tang smiles brightly as she walks into her classroom in Dadaab’s Integrated settlement. The 12-year-old South Sudanese student is eager to share her just-finished drawing with her classmates. “I love drawing and making crafts,” she says with a...
Football keeps young refugees’ dreams alive in Kenya’s Kakuma camp
As the sun sinks towards the horizon, casting long shadows across the dusty football pitch in Kakuma refugee camp in north-western Kenya, one player – Abdirahman Sheuna – stands out not just for his skillful feints and turns with the ball but because most of the other...
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yang Yang visits refugees in Kakuma
Nairobi, 6 March 2024 – Former speed-skater and Chinese Olympic athlete Yang Yang spent three days in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. This was Yang’s first official visit as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, a role she sees as crucial to raising...
Global education fund transforming lives in Kakuma Camp
The Education Cannot Wait Program has touched the lives of thousands of school children, ensuring they stay in school, and pursue their dreams. Saidi Abdikadir’s face lights up as he wheels himself out of his classroom in Horseed Primary School in Kakuma...
Congolese welder forges a formidable path
Ambitious, assertive, confident, inspirational and tenacious; these are the qualities that define Mariam Suleiman’s personality. “There is no work designed for only women or men. Everyone deserves an opportunity to prove themselves,” says the 23-year-old Congolese...
Refugee inclusion is key to new Danish partnership in Turkana County
Kakuma – In support of the local development plan for Turkana West sub-County, refugee inclusion and better health for all is at the centre of a new Danish partnership Inclusive Refugee Response Partnership. This week, UNHCR Kenya hosted two of the Danish...
My Journey: How education helps refugee girls break the cycle of hardship
Monicah Malith fled conflict in South Sudan as a girl and moved to Kenya, where she overcame challenges to continue her education and is now a law student the first female refugee President of the University of Nairobi Students Association.
Hope for women as farming project bears fruit in Kenya
Manirakiza and other farmers are busy plowing their piece of land in perfect sync, occasionally pausing to greet the other farmers. The Burundian refugee’s routine has been the same since she was allocated the piece of land at the Choro farm five years ago. “I...