On Friday, 11th of February 2022, Africa Unite hosted its first Migrant Youth Forum at the Bertha House in Mowbray.Twenty young refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers between 16 and 24years and from different nationalities came together on a Friday afternoon to unpack the challenges they face in their everyday life. These challenges include dealing with prejudice, limited access to proper documentation, racial barriers, financial constraints, insecurities, mental health problems, gender inequalities, tribalism, limited or false information going around and a lack of resources.
After having brainstormed the different challenges, the group then started to come up with possible solutions on how to address these challenges. Some of the proposed ideas included a newsletter that would provide accurate information on available bursaries, refugee rights and mental health resources. Another idea was a skill sharing programme that addresses prejudices between locals and migrants as well as share relevant skills for the job market/ becoming an entrepreneur.
After a shared lunch where everyone got to socialize and got to know each other better the group went downstairs to the Activist Cafe for a storytelling workshop by Ugandan Author, Poet, and Executive Coach Philippa Kabali-Kagwawho shared her personal story of migration and a fictional one with a very deep moral about the peace in our heart
The workshop was a great initiation with the result that about 80% of the participants decided to become active members of the Migrant Youth Leadership movement. The upcoming Leadership camp will be from the 27th – 29th of March at the Greyton Eco Lodge and will further unpack the challenges and planned interventions.
Africa Unite Blog 