Dialogue Across Borders

Ann Lado is a South-Sudanese migrant and activist for the South-Sudanese refugee community in Egypt, In 1989 she came to Egypt with a sponsorship from the South Sudanese Embassy to study Biology at Zagazig University. She is an activist who organizes workshops for women and gives advice to the community in general. She attended the 2005 Mustafa Mahmoud protests and asked the protesters to leave the park to be saved, but the organizers were so angry with her that they locked her in a cage. The protests sadly resulted in 25 deaths which made a big impact on the community. Júlia Arenós Karsten interviewed her about refugee education in Cairo. Ann Lado agreed to this text for placement in Dialogue Across Borders.

Psycho-Social Services and Training Institute in Cairo (PSTIC) is a project of the Terre des Hommes Foundation (TdH) a Swiss NGO which works on child protection in more than 30 countries. TDH has been present in Egypt for almost 30 years and currently works with refugee children and youth in the Greater Cairo area, including the Psychosocial Services and Training Institute in Cairo (PSTIC) which was created by Dr. Nancy Baron, an American

who serves as its director. The activities of the organization are funded thanks to various donors including UNHCR. Jok Marko, Coordinator of the youth project in PSTIC, works with Dr. Nancy Baron. In this interview, he describes how the Sudanese gangs function and how they try to get them out of these gangs. About teachers in community schools, he says that they are not well-trained. Jok Marko saw the transcript of this interview with him and approve the text for publication in Dialogue Across Borders.

Júlia Arenós Karsten interviewed three South Sudanese refugee students at Cairo University. Josephine Khamis Charles is 20 years old, she studies Science at the Department of Geology. Angelina Ajang Lea is 20 years old and she studies Science at the Department of Microbiology, and Angelina Ajand Las is 22 and she studies nursery. All three have refugee status and are from South Sudan. Angelina and Grace are living with Boyenyo, a South-Sudanese activist from the refugee community. All of them did their high school at Innovation Academy. This interview shows that with hard work refugees can obtain higher education. It also shows that Cairo University is making great efforts not to discriminate students on the basis of race but language difficulties are prevalent. They agreed to this text of Júlia and placement in Dialogue Across Borders.

The Matariya Adventist school is criticized because they teach Adventist faith. Yet, they offer their students a chance to obtain an international diploma. This is a rare opportunity for most refugee students.

Many Eritrean refugees express fear of any contact with their embassy in Cairo but two CAWU-Learning Center students explained the Eritrean Embassy had been helping them. This interview was informal because it was not recorded. Both Diana and Lydia have seen this text and agreed to placement in Dialogue Across Borders.

SENA MEGERSA  

Júlia Arenós Karsten met, unexpectedly and unplanned, with 28 students between the age of 15 and 21 in the science section of the Innovation Academy learning center. Most of them were South-Sudanese, one Filipino, one Congolese, and one Ethiopian. Júlia asked them a number of questions about their studies. See also the interview with Sylvia Gore, director of the Innovation Academy learning center.

This text concerns an essay written by Eritrean refugee Jacob (22) and presented to Júlia Arenós Karsten for publication in Dialogue Across Borders. Júlia followed this up with an interview. Jacob is not his real name. We know Jacob well who has been very cooperative in providing information about his expectations and experiences with the UNHCR, and Wafidin (Ministry of Science and Technology) about study opportunities in Egypt.

Diana’s story was recorded in three sessions. She is a student at the CAWU-Learning Center since September 2020, she is 19 years old, turning 20 in June, and she is from Eritrea. In the first session, Diana speaks about the dangers of escaping to Egypt through the desert. In the second session, Diana speaks about living in Eritrea and later as a refugee in Sudan. In the third session, Diana speaks about her life and studies in Egypt, including how she came to the CAWU-Learning Center. Diana agreed to this interview text and placement in Dialogue Across Borders.

Edna is 16 years old, she is from Eritrea, and she has two older brothers, Mawel (22) and Novel (23), they came from Uganda to Cairo in 2016. They live with their mum only. They were in Uganda before they came to Egypt but none knew this at the time. They told the UNHCR that they came straight from Eritrea to Sudan, and the story of crossing the desert from Sudan to Egypt is true. This interview was conducted in two parts, on March 17 and March 25. Edna spoke about a school in Egypt, life, and war in Eritrea, and the escape through Sudan with the help of human traffickers. Edna agreed to this text and placement in Dialogue Across Borders.