KYAKA II refugee settlement is located in rural southwest Uganda and is home for more than 25,000 refugees and asylum seekers originating from diverse countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Congo. The settlement was first established in the early 1980s. Daily management of the settlement is handled by the government of Uganda and the UNHCR. Characteristic of Uganda, which is often referred to as the “Pearl of Africa”, the settlement occupies an unbelievably beautiful landscape of lush tropical foliage and rolling green hills. The closest town is 18 kilometers down an unpaved, and sometimes impassable, dirt road.
Now, “twenty-five thousand” is just a number: a statistic that is easy to quote, but difficult to envision. All it takes is one motorbike ride down the curving dirt paths to realize that it is a seemingly innumerable amount of people encompassing 9 zones and 26 villages. Somehow the people living there manage to make a life out of practically nothing. Every day. Among the small plots of land that are so unevenly distributed are households that are generally overlooked by humanitarian organizations, including agencies of the United Nations: those of single fathers. It is impossible to pinpoint the number of households that are headed by single fathers because no statistics are easily available. But they are there, and they are more numerous than most people would assume.
LIVING conditions in the settlement are very basic and extremely poor by Western standards. Houses are self-constructed and made out of available materials, mainly sticks and mud; water is available in designated boreholes; “toilets” are holes in the ground; and food is what can be grown and harvested by each household. Electricity exists only in the “Basecamp”, meaning the area where humanitarian organizations have set up their offices, and occasionally in Bukere zone, referred to as the “capital” of Kyaka II. Even in those areas the electricity is sporadic.
Healthcare and educational opportunities are very limited in the settlement. Every day there is a myriad of people sitting outside the NGO-funded medical center, especially women in colorful pagnes [traditional long skirts] with children clinging to them, waiting for treatment. Many will be told to come back the next day, or that the medicine they need is out of stock. Several of the single fathers that I interviewed told me that if they found work for one full day the average wage was 5,000 – 10,000 Ugandan Shillings (or about $1.48 – $2.97). For single fathers with one or more children, this puts them below the official poverty line of $1.90 per person per day. School fees are simply out of reach for many of the refugees, including several of the single fathers with whom I spoke.
In addition, alcoholism is rampant in the settlement with many people turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism for their dire circumstances. Sexual and gender-based violence is also widespread. While the well known paradigm of “woman-as-victim and man-as-perpetrator” rings true in many cases, however, men and boys are increasingly recognized as victims in this specific context as well as more generally.
THESE 25,000+ people were forced to take up residence in a refugee settlement because armed conflict, insecurity, or human rights abuses made it inconceivable to stay in their homes. Some have lived in Kyaka II for years, even decades, while others form part of the never-ending stream of new arrivals. With all the challenges that stem from living as a refugee, Kyaka II still provides a relative safe environment for many. Their futures are relatively uncertain, but most await the day when they can return home. In the meantime, life goes on.
Single Fathers 