A Different Kind of Refugee Experience

Little Ripples indeed creates ripples. Training sessions held in camps Mile and Kounoungou—for the programme’s expansion into these two Darfuri refugee camps in eastern Chad—were led by a blended team of U.S.-based staff and in-camp refugee team members.

The new Mile and Kounougou teachers, who are now guiding 285 young children in play-based learning, were trained by their peers living in Goz Amer and Djabal, camps further south along the Chad-Sudan border. The ability to open Little Ripples in Mile and Kounoungou provided new and milestone experiences for refugees in addition to the ones being trained.

Abdulaziz, one of the refugee team members helping with the expansion process, had never traveled so far north before. It was his first time in camps Mile and Kounougou, and he frequently commented on happy he was to be able to meet other Darfuris living in camps he had never visited in the almost-fifteen years he has been a refugee.

Significantly, this project also gave veteran Little Ripples teachers their very first opportunity to travel outside of their own camp. Souad, the Little Ripples Education Director in camp Goz Amer said:

"Women are not allowed to travel; it’s forbidden. As our job, [we were asked] to travel to refugee camps Mile and Kounoungou to help with Little Ripples. And because of the curriculum, we know it is our human right to choose and decide if we travel. So, step by step, we had conversations with leaders and we explained ourselves and explained that it is good for women to travel and it is good for the community. Then, they allowed us."

After the U.S.-based staff members left Chad, the refugee crew, now with the addition of the new Little Ripples teachers, continued work, making sure that all six Little Ripples structures were completed to standards, and that the novice teachers felt comfortable and fully equipped in their new roles.

Now, because of the involvement of experienced Little Ripples refugee employees, a team of sixteen women in camps Mile and Kounoungou are helping to shape the growth and development of almost three hundred girls and boys between the ages of three and five.

Feature Photo Credit: Little Ripples in-home centre with host family members and a teacher in camp Mile. Credit: iACT refugee team member.