By Kiin Ahmed Mohamed
Being a refugee is one of the hardest things any human being can face. But being a female refugee brings even more challenges. This blog post is based on my personal experiences growing up and the research I completed for my Master of Education from York University through the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees Project.
I am the first daughter of my parents and have lived my entire life in Dadaab refugee camps, since 1992. For three decades, Somalia has been ravaged by a deadly continuous civil war that has destroyed families and communities. I always dreamed about life beyond the camps and what it would be like to work and live in a country where I felt free. Education was a passport to these ambitions for me as a child, but as I grew older, I realized that many of my friends dropped out of school due to family pressure to marry or a lack of understanding of the value of female education. Even after all these years, many girls and young women in camps continue to suffer the same hardships I witnessed when I was still a child. I was fortunate to complete my secondary school in the camps with the support of my family. There have been many studies showing that education can transform the lives of girls and women, and their families. Education can provide them with new knowledge and skills that will allow them to take charge of their own lives and have autonomy over their own thoughts and actions.
In Dadaab, men dominate women, both within and outside the household. Many men and women believe that teaching a girl is a waste of time and money compared to educating boys. The Somali saying “Jamacad naageed jiko udanbeyso” means women’s education will be in the kitchen and being in school is a waste of resources. Another Somali proverb states, “Jaamacad naageed waa jikada,” which translates as “a woman’s university is her kitchen.” This is a problematic saying that is well known and said in Dadaab. It is popularly believed that boys will carry their families’ names, find work, and lead their families, while girls and women will take care of housekeeping and family-related chores. Once a girl is married off, the family name is lost; instead, she becomes a piece of property for the family to whom she was married until she dies. If she possesses wealth, the family/husband she married will take both the wealth and her.
During my primary and secondary education, the number of girls in school was low. There were no female teachers in schools because females could not change their life circumstances, as they always stayed home to cook and take care of their children. Men, on the other hand, were free to do whatever they wanted with their lives. Many of the girls in my neighbourhood did not have the opportunity to attend a school or further their education beyond basic or secondary school because many families do not value schooling when they are living in a refugee camp, where they can and will leave at any time to return to their home country.
Many of the girls and women with whom I grew up had to deal with challenges such as being coerced into marriage at a very young age. Many families in Dadaab are impoverished. As a result, they compel their daughters to marry young to obtain a minimal income from men, primarily those from the United States, whom some parents view as a source of cash. Unfortunately, many girls in Dadaab marry men they have never seen or heard of prior to their wedding day. Many men come from the United States of America to marry younger girls in Dadaab, and after they return to America, they divorce the young girls. There are instances where young girls or women become pregnant prior to divorcing and give birth to a child at an early age. These young, divorced mothers are frequently left to care for their children but have lost their chance to study. These challenges have a negative impact on their emotional and physical health, which is especially challenging in a place like Dadaab, where conditions are already harsh. Many girls and women suffer from severe depression or are afflicted by a chronic illness. A young, divorced mother’s life is not easy; they feel helpless, and their family is uninterested in their aspirations and dreams. This situation is mostly due to long-held cultural views, which is why it is uncommon to see women in leadership roles here in Dadaab.
Many girls never had family support to pursue education due to cultural norms. In Dadaab camps, women who furthered their education like me still face men’s domination in the in workplaces and decision-making process in the family. In addition, girls who get married and want to continue their studies face severe challenges to educational equality, which leads to higher dropout rates in the camps. The community often believes that young girls/women adhere to family responsibilities and denies girls full of access to education. The humanitarian organizations also failed to support parenting responsibilities in the school environment. As a result, girls are denied equal to access to education services.
The challenges faced by the refugee learners, particularly teenage girls, in the education system can be solved a number of ways:
- Conducting training programs to educate parents and the community at large that girl child education is important for the society and treating girls should be no lesser that the way boys are valued in the society
- Engaging the community in a culturally responsive program that produces well informed parents who understand that education of their children is a foundation of their bright futures and better careers
- Offering financial assistance and scholarships to hard working girls in order to motivate them to do well in their academics and prevent them from dropping out
- Encouraging girls to seek both emotional and material support from organizations that promote girl child education
- Advocating equal treatment of children, particularly in the education sector
- Implementing policies that protect the rights of refugee girls in the education system, including quality education and addressing systemic barriers
- Making schools accessible for student parents
- Establishing peer mentorship programs to help refugee youth to connect to local students and other refugees living other spheres of the world, helping them to navigate the educational systems and bringing social connection to foster a sense of belonging.
By implementing these solutions in a holistic manner, girl child education can be better for teenage girls in overcoming the challenges they face and enabling them to succeed academically and socially, while accomplishing greater goals and achieving milestones.
Author bio:
Kiin is a resilient refugee girl who grew up in the Dadaab refugee camp, where she overcame numerous challenges to complete her master’s degree. As the firstborn in her family, she balanced supporting her parents with her ambition to become a change-maker in her community. With over 14 years of experience as a nutrition supervisor at the International Rescue Committee’s Hagadera main hospital, Kiin dedicated herself to improving the lives of others. She eventually relocated to Canada as a skilled worker through the Refugee Point Program, continuing her journey of empowerment and advocacy for refugee girls.