My name is Esther Kitumaini, and I am a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo living in Uganda. I came to Uganda in 2013 due to the intensified fighting and conflict in Congo. I was only 13 years old at the time and could barely understand what was happening. I had just finished my primary school education and was excited to join secondary school, but all my excitement was brought to a halt when the fighting in my country made it impossible for me to go to school and my family was forced to move to Uganda. It was a huge honour for me to travel to the Ivory Coast courtesy of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Uganda to join other young people from across Africa to be part of an Education Advocacy training. I was glad to represent the views of refugees at the conference and learn about the different educational experiences of various young people in Africa.
Education for a refugee is no easy feat anywhere in the world. In the advocacy training, I learnt that it takes refugee children six (6) times the time it takes a native child to finish school. For example, I had finished my primary education in Congo by the time my family fled to Uganda. Still, when I was enrolled into school in Uganda, I was taken 4 years back into primary 4 because there was no integrating process for people from French-speaking countries. But that was not the only challenge. Even when I managed to go through my primary and secondary education and perform excellently, I could not be granted a government sponsorship because refugee children are ineligible for the scholarships provided by the government.
Despite those hurdles, I was not ready to give up on my education dreams, so I enrolled for free online courses in leadership and public speaking. With my passion for writing, I started writing story books, I went to Reach a Hand Uganda and enrolled in the peer educators’ academy where I learnt about Mental health, advocacy, and sexual reproductive health. I volunteered as a peer educator for a whole year at Bishop Cipriano Kihangira Secondary School in Kampala. I took on all these opportunities to improve my skills and also serve my community. I was also making some money from them, and I tried enrolling in university but the money I was making was not sufficient to finance my higher education so I dropped out.
As a peer educator, I was able to build connections with different people and from one of the people I had met, I was told about some civil society scholarship opportunities available for refugees which I applied for and was fortunately successful. I am now studying public health. Although I initially wanted to study medicine and become a doctor, my experience in community service changed my interest topublic health.
Besides my education, I co-founded a learning service business for refugees, where I work as a Montessori teacher. Montessori is a play-based form of learning, where I teach refugee kids in my community about different things through storybooks and toys.
With financing obtained from an entrepreneurial competition my business won last year, we are planning on extending these services in different refugee camps where we shall teach parents how to make toys for their kids, which they can use to teach them different things.
It was amazing travelling out of Uganda for the first time. The whole experience was mind-blowing. Ivory Coast, just like Congo, is a francophone country, so I got to relieve my French-speaking days with my rusty French. It reminded me of my home in Congo because of how the people in Abidjan dress which is similar to how Congolese dress.
I have used the U-Report mental health chatbot and Fundoo to learn skills for my education since I was introduced to U-Report during a visit to the Rendezvous Youth group Centre for Refugees in Kampala in 2022. I also got to understand my responsibility to actively take charge of creating positive change within my community which is why I started my Montessori teacher training and book reading job. Attending the Advocacy training in Ivory Coast as a Refugee U-Reporter was also very productive, my colleagues and I managed to create an advocacy plan for improving Education in Uganda in the African Year of Education without forgetting about Refugee children. As a U-Reporter I have always been glad to participate in activities that affect refugees,
My dream for refugee Children everywhere around the world is that they find peace for themselves and their families. But equally important, it is my wish for us to have easy and equal access to education because we also want to be valuable citizens for the countries we live in and our own countries if we ever get to go back.
