Educational inequality in the Kebribeyah Somali refugee camp in Ethiopia: an autoethnography

Due to the Somali Civil War of 1991, more than 10,000 Somali refugees resettled in Kebribeyah, a town in the Somali region of Ethiopia. For nearly three decades, the local and resettled refugee communities shared the resources the region had to offer, adopted a new common cultural norm, and fostered some levels of social cohesions. It is the education sector, however, that caused social conflicts and hatred between resettled Somalis and the native Somali-Ethiopians. Currently, the education of Somali refugee children is funded by various international organizations, such as the United Nations. On the contrary, the local Somali-Ethiopian children pay their way to schools which leads to poor educational experiences. Using autoethnography as the research method, this article examines the formation of educational gaps between the local and refugee children. Findings suggest that educational inequality can exist between refugee and host communities, if not properly managed, and can ultimately impact social cohesion and stability in the refugee-hosting regions.

General practitioners’ management of depression symptoms in Somali refugee and Norwegian patients: a film vignette experiment

ObjectivesRefugees in comparison with non-refugee patients may face higher unmet mental healthcare needs. The mechanisms underlying these disparities are still poorly understood. The general practitioner (GP) plays a vital role in refugees’ mental health (MH), managing complaints within primary care and acting as gatekeeper to specialist services. However, GPs have reported feeling uncertain about working with refugee patients. Somalis make up one of the largest refugee groups in Norway and use primary care services more than the majority population for physical health, although not for MH. The current study examines GPs’ management of MH complaints in Somali refugee versus Norwegian vignette characters and the role of GP clinical uncertainty.DesignWe distributed an online experimental survey to GPs in Norway (n=133), who were randomised to watch a simulated consultation with a female Norwegian, female Somali, male Norwegian or male Somali vignette character, presenting the same symptoms of depression. GPs indicated which diagnoses, assessments and treatments they would endorse for the patient and their level of certainty.Outcome measuresWe calculated Simpson indices to measure inter-rater reliability and 2×2 analysis of variances as well as Bayesian estimation to examine clinical certainty based on patient background and gender.ResultsGPs’ clinical decisions about Somali and Norwegian vignette characters were similar, with a few exceptions. There was less consensus regarding the first prioritised diagnosis for Somali characters (Simpson index=0.129) versus Norwegian characters (Simpson index=0.208), (p=0.011, one-tailed). Somalis more frequently received diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while Norwegians received diagnoses of feeling depressed. GPs endorsed sick leave more often for Norwegian characters and medication for physical complaints for Somali characters. There were no substantial differences in GPs’ self-reported certainty.ConclusionsWe found few and relatively small effects of patient background and gender on GPs’ clinical decisions. Nevertheless, the validity of certain diagnoses and prescription of sick leave need to be considered by clinicians and in future research.

Trauma exposure, social functioning, and common mental health disorders in Somali refugee male and female youth: An SEM analysis

Background: Refugee youth often face numerous adversities before and during forced migration. Although experiences vary across settings and subpopulations, common mental disorders are prevalent among refugee youth who are displaced in low- and middle-income countries. It is important to examine how risk factors are intricately linked and contribute to common mental health issues to inform clinical practice and social policy. Aims: This study aims to test the pathways from risk factors previously identified as determinants of Somali refugee youth mental health (i.e. trauma exposure, substance use, social functioning, aggression) to symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and somatic pains. Method: We collected survey data in 2013, using snowball sampling to recruit Somali refugee youth (15–35 years old) living in Eastleigh, Kenya. We ran three structural equation models to assess paths from trauma exposure to mental health symptoms, through psychosocial factors including substance use, aggression, and functional impairment. We first conducted this analysis with a mixed-gender sample ( N = 305) and then assessed gender differences by running one model for male participants ( n = 124) and another for female participants ( n = 181). Results: In the mixed-gender sample, trauma exposure directly predicted substance use and both directly and indirectly predicted aggression, functional impairment, and mental health symptoms. Substance use directly predicted aggression and functional impairment, and substance use both directly and indirectly predicted mental health symptoms. The split-gender models revealed gender differences, with only functional impairment directly predicting mental health symptoms in the male sample and with many significant direct and indirect pathways in the female sample. Conclusions: This study shows the role of trauma exposure, substance use, aggression, and social functioning in determining mental health outcomes among refugee youth and how CMD symptoms are differently manifested across genders in this population.

PhD Candidate

Across the world, refugee hosting has been associated with costs and benefits to the hosting nations. However, in Kenya, hosting Somali refugees is majorly considered costly rather than beneficial to the nation. The county’s high insecurity is one of the major effects that Somali refugees are associated with. No objective research has indicated the specific benefits of Somali refugees in Kenya. Using mixed research method, this study focused on establishing the costs and benefits of Somali refugees. The findings show that Somali refugees pose positive and negative effects on the Kenyan state. These effects are economic, social, and environmental. The study recommends policy implementation and technological adoption strategies as ways of enhancing Somali refugee contribution to Kenya’s socio-economic development.

Making Do: How a Somali Refugee Woman Experiences Social Mobility Amidst Precarity in Transit in Indonesia

This article presents an account of Faduma, a Somali woman currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia, in order to illustrate the creativity, resilience and adaptability required to make do as a refugee with little to no formal support in a rather hostile environment. For Faduma, Indonesia presents such an environment. As it offers no formal protection for asylum seekers and refugees and only tolerates their temporary presence without guaranteeing them any fundamental rights, such as the right to work, it can be characterised as a ‘deviant destination’ for refugees in search of durable and effective solutions. This article analyses Faduma's strategies, embedded in the macro-political context of forced migration, the Global North's externalised border policies, the absence of safe pathways, and the lack of proper refugee protection in Southeast Asia, for finding informal employment, attaining new skills and education, and forming strategic friendships with Indonesians and expatriates as a means of dealing with racism, exploitation and multifaceted precarity. We selected Faduma's case from amongst a number of encounters that we had with Somali refugees in Indonesia because of her extraordinary involvement with the Somali community. While the current toleration of refugee activities by Indonesian authorities enables refugees to survive in transit, we argue that such unintentional and informal protection is not a durable approach for larger groups of refugees enduring prolonged periods of waiting.

Migration, Interfaith Engagement, and Mission among Somali Refugees in Kenya: Assessing the Cape Town Commitment from a Global South Perspective One Decade On

In the last decade, since the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (2010) in Cape Town, South Africa, the world has significantly changed. The majority of the world’s Christians are located in the Global South. Globalization, conflict, and migration have catalyzed the emergence of multifaith communities. All these developments have in one way or another impacted missions in twenty-first-century sub-Saharan Africa. As both Christianity and Islam are spreading and expanding, new approaches to a peaceful and harmonious coexistence have been developed that seem to be hampering the mission of the Church as delineated in the Cape Town Commitment (2010). Hence a missiological assessment of the Cape Town Commitment is imperative for the new decade’s crosscutting developments and challenges. In this article, the author contends that the mission theology of the 2010 Lausanne Congress no longer addresses the contemporary complex reality of a multifaith context occasioned by refugee crises in Kenya. The article will also describe the Somali refugee situation in Nairobi, Kenya, occasioned by political instability and violence in Somalia. Finally, the article will propose a methodology for performing missions for interfaith engagement in Nairobi’s Eastleigh refugee centers in the post Cape Town Commitment era. The overall goal is to provide mainstream evangelical mission models that are biblically sound, culturally appropriate, and tolerant to the multifaith diversity in conflict areas.

Prevalence, Determinants, and Effects of Food Insecurity among Middle Eastern and North African Migrants and Refugees in High-Income Countries: A Systematic Review

Issues related to poverty and income inequality in high-income countries have led to food insecurity among some population groups, such as migrants and refugees. While there are some studies on the experience of some migrant groups (and other subpopulations), little is known about food security among Middle Eastern and African migrants and refugees. This systematic review identified the prevalence of food insecurity and its effects among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) migrants and refugees in high-income countries. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed in this systematic review. Four databases, namely MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), and PubMed were searched. Three studies met the inclusion criteria, all of which were conducted in USA: two among Sudanese migrant families, and one among Somali refugee women. The rates of reported food insecurity ranged from 40% to 71% and were significantly higher than for the general population. Food insecurity was associated with acculturation and socio-economic factors. Food insecurity adversely impacts the health of MENA migrants and refugees, creating economic implications for individuals, families, the broader community in which they now live, and for governments.