Are you from Africa? Welcome!
As an oofrasLINK Susan Cloete is keen to support networks and inititiatives blossom in Africa. We asked her to share her background growing up in Zimbabwe and her aspirations here
Refugees & asylum seekers in Africa
UNHCR 2011 profile for Africa highlights five trends compounding displacement and shows a map representing refugee, asylum seeker, and stateless populations.
Refugee lives is a captivating site with stories documented by journalism students who spent time across three refugee camps, two of which are in Africa.
Internally Displaced Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has a great map highlighting internally displaced people in each African country and key reports and resources.
Will Storr reports on life on the inside of Africa's largest refugee camp in Kenya with 290 000 people in 50 square km.
At the Southern Africa Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) site you can browse by country and themes. The "migration" theme is broad and includes internally displaced people, climate refugees and more.
This 1998 article is about "The Refugee Crisis in Africa & Implications for Health and Disease" and offers much context
This 2008 PhD thesis by S.Abdi is about disability and rehabilitation in context of Somali refugees in Kenya.
An African journalist beautifully captures on video that occupational opportunities are what helps people with disabilities participate and live in dignity- which of course also applies to refugees in Africa, and especially refugees who experience disability.
Microfinance is well established in post-conflict situations as a way to create occupational opportunities - but what about refugees? This paper is based on a thesis and highlights challenges of microfinance in a refugee context and also a couple of successful examples in Africa.
Trauma Healing Initiative in Africa (THI - Africa) builds the capacity of local trauma and mental health services to support the healing necessary to re-build community post-conflict. The centres are in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Cameroon.
Clear and concise info about the millions of lives and childhoods squandered with "refugee warehousing" - deprived of rights waiting for decades in forced dependence and idleness. This is not restricted to Africa, but remains a serious issue as the average years in limbo continues to increase.
This full text article gives examples of how family dynamics change as Somali families settled into the USA.
Refugee Consortium of Kenya is not a resettlement service but a legal aid policy development centre - rich with local info!
OT in Africa
This book draws from South African descriptions of socially responsible and responsive professional development (see link for reference and chapter pre-view) Practice & Service Learning in OT
OT schools in Africa include Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) with OT department info here, and the University of Mauritius with OT department info here. Students may be interested in this Facebook group for OT students in Africa.
The World Federation of OT (WFOT) has contact emails for other African OT Associations and Education Programs.
Volunteer OTs are invited in this Facebook group to work in Tanzania as people with disabilities develop livelihoods at Neema Crafts
Occupational Therapy Africa Regional Group (OTARG) partners with WFOT and has regular Congress with next one in Zambia September 2011. While you visit, check out the proceedings of 2009 Malawi Congress or order OT; An African Perspective book edited by V.Alers & R. Crouch.
What can I do?
Stay in the loop (this site, Facebook page, OOFRAS Twitter)
Join OOFRAS as a member (formal ownership of OOFRAS, voting rights)
Spread the word to find like-minded OTs in Africa (we can help you write a newsletter article)
Orgainise an African Skype teleconference (add OOFRAS to your contacts and see times we're online on contact us page)
Apply for a post graduate scholarship (check criteria for the 2012 intake to Australia here)
Introduce yourself below in comments (they are automatically approved, so what are you waiting for!)
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