EYES WIDE OPEN
Australian actress Marta Dusseldorp travelled to Uganda earlier this year in her role as special representative for Australia for UNHCR, visiting the Kyaka II refugee settlement with her husband Ben Winspear and their daughters Grace, 12 and Maggie, nine.
Australian actress Marta Dusseldorp shares her experience of visiting the Kyaka II refugee settlement in Uganda in her role as special representative for Australia for UNHCR.
We were in Africa travelling as a family and as I’m a special representative for Australia for UNHCR, I asked if there was a program that could be highlighted. I wanted my girls to see that life can be all sorts of things, that there’s another way to see the world.
Ben and I explained to our daughters that we’d be visiting a refugee settlement where people who have been displaced from their homes come to live in safety, with dignity.
Grace and Maggie had many questions: “Would there be children there?” “Would they have enough clothes?” “Did they get to take their toys?” We said there would be many children, but they probably wouldn’t have many toys or clothes. So the girls quickly ran upstairs and packed a suitcase full of their favourite clothes and special stuffed friends that they’ve collected over the years to take. It was such a natural reaction and it made me so proud.
We met up with Naomi [Steer, Australia for UNHCR founder] and drove to Kyaka II, a Ugandan settlement that houses 83,000 refugees. They don’t call them ‘ camps’ because the government welcomes refugees – they take in around 1.6 million, mostly from Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. It’s not a wealthy country, but what they do offer is land, so after registering each refugee they’re given a plot of earth and seeds to plant, basic services, the opportunity to work and trade, and structural timber and plastic sheeting to help build shelters.
During our visit Grace and Maggie loved experiencing such wonderful people who seemingly have nothing, and yet through their smiles they saw that they have everything: family, joy, community – a vibrant place where they simply get on with the act of living.
The girls met with the refugee children, some were playing soccer with a ball a local child had made from bits and pieces; they were taught to braid hair, make baskets. It was beautiful to watch. The girls were given an insight into this incredible culture that’s so warm and welcoming.
We let Grace and Maggie come to their own conclusions – like any book you don’t ask what the moral of the story is, it’s about being alive to the understanding there are people who have so much less than you and yet you have so much to learn from their humility and openness. They told us they felt so grateful for everything they had, especially education – they even promised they’d never ask for a day off school again! Both
added that they’d go to school every day to learn and raise money for UNHCR and Australia for UNHCR, to help support the Ugandan refugees and others around the world.
What we all found inspiring was the resilience and resourcefulness of the refugee community. Local people also live within Kyaka II, so their kids go to school together and they share a big community market.
Australia for UNHCR has just funded the construction of a $1.4 million vocational training centre for young people in the settlement, providing skills in trades such as carpentry and hairdressing. Local builders worked on it, employing refugees as labour, with the government overseeing it. Now that it’s completed, Australia for UNHCR has committed to providing teachers for a couple of years. It’s making a huge difference to people’s lives and I’m so proud of how generous Australians have been.
In Kampala [Uganda’s capital] we visited a craft group UNHCR started for urban refugees who choose to live in the cities; they work and can trade through the markets in town.
Here they’re hand-making beautiful key rings, decorations and baskets, as well as sewing clothes. Australia for UNHCR is helping them build an online marketplace, as well as buying from them directly. Their sense of fabrics, beading and colours is extraordinary; Grace and Maggie picked out some beautiful gifts for their friends at home.
I’ve been involved with Australia for UNHCR since 2015, when they asked me to do a Mother’s Day speech to help raise money. My first thought was: ‘What do I know?’ But Naomi said: “You’re a mother, so you have compassion. Just speak from your heart.” I now realise what I know is that with imagination you have compassion. Imagining it’s your own child you can’t feed or clothe, who has had to pack up in the middle of the night with only the clothes they have on, and run, from persecution, from war. I’m so lucky to live in a country where our family is safe and thriving. On Mother’s Day every mother wants to see her child smile, to know they’re healthy and have a future ahead of them.
Visiting Kyaka II instils in me that we’re all aching for the same opportunities for our kids. And as the lucky ones it’s our responsibility to help and remain mindful of those without … for as long as it takes, one person at a time.