Kenya – Salesian Missionaries Provide Hope, Education and Nutrition to Youth in Kakuma Refugee Camp

(ANS – Kakuma) – As of the end of May, Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya is caring for 155,477 refugees from 20 different countries, according to UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency. The Salesians are working in the camp, facing increasing difficulties.

The camp offers refugees safety, security and life-saving services such as housing, health care, clean water and sanitation. As some of the world’s most vulnerable youth, young refugees often survive devastating violence and a struggle to find food and shelter only to find themselves in refugee camps with little opportunity for education.

Salesian missionaries at Kakuma refugee camp operate the Holy Cross Parish and the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center where 1,044 young men and women are receiving critical employment and life skills. “Don Bosco Vocational Training Center is the only formal technical training center in the Kakuma refugee camp,” says Father Luke Mulayinkal, who oversees the Salesian work at Kakuma. “At the end of their year studies, the students receive a Kenya Government Certificate which holds much value for the refugees.”

With a recent influx of refugees into the camp and a need for technical education, the Salesian missionaries at Kakuma are struggling to meet the demands of students seeking training. The goal, if funding can be secured, is to reopen a second technical training center which had closed in 2008 when the camp population shrunk to 20,000 as a result of many refugees being able to return to their homes.

The camp started growing again in 2011, and has increased in population each year, putting a strain on programming and creating a need to reopen previously offered services. Today, students must wake very early in the morning and walk a few miles to get to the Don Bosco Center. Many others must wait until there is room in the training programs to accommodate them.

Salesian missionaries at the camp also operate the Helping Children to be Children program, which gathers refugee children and leads them in games, songs and classes held outdoors on the camp grounds. Children are also offered the opportunity to draw and learn to speak English. Close to 3,000 children benefit from this Salesian program, which currently has no steady funding and is run primarily by refugee volunteers. Recent funding allowed the Salesian programs to provide milk to the children at the camp as well as a cabbage each to 225 families.

“We need to expand our services to meet the growing demand for shelter, nutrition, education, social support and infrastructure to run our programs. Right now we do what we can for as many as we can but the demand continues to grow.” Recently, Salesians at Kakuma began building a new chapel for the refugees. Once completed, it will be the sixth Salesian chapel at the camp and will be used as place of prayer and social support. An additional $10,000 is need to complete the project.

Salesian Missions – the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, with headquarters in  New Rochelle, NY, – has launched a donation appeal to aid this project as well as ongoing humanitarian assistance for those displaced.

Published 09/06/2014