“Hard and Unbearable”: COVID-19 Induced Challenges as told by Refugee and Host Support Group Leaders
Thursday, 06 August 2020
by David Onen Ongwech
Since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Uganda, lives have and continue to change dramatically. With several measures and televised Presidential directives, the #StayHome mantra continues to impact lives in various ways. Refugees and host communities have not been spared – if any, the pandemic has worsened the already biting challenges and vulnerabilities.
With some vulnerable communities in ‘hard-to-reach’ places at the receiving end of the directives and its associated enforcement and curfew, many of the things happening in and around refugee-hosting areas haven’t made it to the media. Many refugees and hosts are mired in inadequately documented challenges.
While communities have not resigned themselves to the hurdles at hand and are adopting numerous creative coping mechanisms, the ways in which such resilience and positive coping mechanisms can be supported and replicated elsewhere by government, civil society, and international actors requires further exploration.
Activismannie buntingAnthropology of DevelopmentBrandon HamberCentre for Migration and Diaspora StudiesConflict-related sexual violenceDaily MonitorDr Chris DolanForced Migration StudiesHeleen TouquetJerker EdstromJustice Rapid ResponseKen ClearwaterNBS TVNTV UgandaOffice of the Prime Minister-UgandaOnen David OngwechRefugee ForumRefugee Law ProjectSOAS Refugee ForumSOAS University of LondonThe New VisionUNHCR
- Published in Refugee Debate
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