Coordinates: 3°32′N 31°21′E / 3.53°N 31.35°E / 3.53; 31.35

Bidibidi Refugee Settlement

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Bidibidi Refugee Settlement
Bidibidi Refugee Settlement is located in Uganda
Bidibidi Refugee Settlement
Bidibidi Refugee Settlement
Coordinates: 3°32′N 31°21′E / 3.53°N 31.35°E / 3.53; 31.35
CountryUganda
DistrictYumbe
Area
[1]
 • Total250 km2 (100 sq mi)

Bidibidi Refugee Settlement is a refugee camp in the Yumbe District of northwestern Uganda. Home to over 270,000 South Sudanese refugees fleeing the ongoing civil war in early 2017, it was among the largest refugee settlements in the world at the time, and may have been the largest.[1][2] As of 2018, that distinction was claimed by Kutupalong refugee camp for displaced Rohingya in Bangladesh.[3]

Bidi Bidi reception centre zone 1.

Geography

The Bidibidi area covers 250 square kilometers of the eastern half of Yumbe District, stretching southward from the South Sudanese border and spilling over into Moyo District along the western bank of the Kochi River.[4] Bidibidi is divided into zones. It has five zones namely:

  • Bidibidi, zone one
  • Swinga, zone two
  • Yoyo, zone three
  • Abrimajo and Annex, zone four
  • Ariwa, zone five
Benson Taylor speaking with South Sudanese refugees at Bidi Bidi.

The Bidibidi area was a small village before becoming a refugee settlement in August 2016.[5][6] Since then, the Ugandan government and NGOs have worked to create a settlement rather than a camp to host and contain the influx of the growing number of asylum seekers from South Sudan.[7] It has very quickly become the second-largest refugee camp in the world. Formerly a vast, empty, arid patch of land nearby the small Ugandan border town of Yumbe, today it is home to some 270,000 refugees, most of whom have fled the violence and upheaval in South Sudan.[8]

Schools

Zone 4 Youth Participating in Wikimedia Training
  • Twajiji primary school Education
  • Happy Joy ECD centre
  • Yangani Primary School[9]
  • Balakara Primary School[10]
  • Knowledge Land primary school [11]
  • Kado Primary School[12]
  • Valley view secondary school
  • Bright ecd
  • Rockland Primary School
  • Daddys care ecd
  • Rock land ecd
  • Green valley ecd
  • Kado Secondary School
  • Life foundation
  • Kejebere primary school
  • Molondo primary school
  • Alaba primary school
  • Kenavally primary school
  • Kodeje primary school
  • Excel international secondary school
  • yoyo central primary school
  • Nipata valley primary school
  • Nipata secondary school
  • High land primary school
  • Abriamajo primary school
  • Happy child friendly space
  • Luzira Bright view primary school
  • Kala early childhood development(ECD)
  • Ebenezer secondary school
  • Kingsland secondary school
  • Koro primary school

Health care

There have been growing concerns about health conditions and access to health services as the number of South Sudan refugees entering Uganda continues to increase, particularly at the BidiBidi Refugee Settlement, with Reuters reporting that about 180 refugees (nearly half of them young children) died in Bidibidi in the first six months of 2017.[13] This is compounded by the often-limited accuracy of health measurements in camp settings, with under-reporting of deaths by humanitarian organizations typically occurring more frequently than over-reporting of deaths.[14]

From a human rights and ethics perspective, there are also questions about whether people with different physical abilities or the elderly are not being prioritized in these settlements, receiving less resources compared to younger, able-bodied residents in good health.[15] In settlements located in the Ayilo District of Northern Uganda, for example, the organization Caritas reports that programs have been designed to provide more assistance for building latrines to groups identified as vulnerable, such as older residents, disabled residents, and child-headed households.[16]

Furthermore, a 2016 U.S. State Department report on trafficking warns that South Sudanese children in Northern Ugandan refugee settlements may be vulnerable to trafficking, with the UNHCR suspecting that instances of trafficking are already occurring among young South Sudanese refugees. Unfortunately, reliably quantifying the number of trafficked children can be a challenge due to a lack of effective monitoring, corruption, insufficient protection of victims to come forward, differences in definitions of terms, and other contextual aspects.[17]

Hospitals

Bidibidi has a number of hospitals and clinics that are aiding on the health of refugees in Yumbe.

  • Bidibidi Health Center 3
  • Bolomoni Health Centre 3
  • Igamara Health Centre 3
  • Swinga Health Center 3
  • Yayari Health Centre 3
  • Yangani Health Centre 3
  • Koro Health Health Centre 3
  • Iyete Health Centre 3
  • Yoyo Health Center 3
  • Luzira Health Centre 3
  • Twajiji Health Center 3
  • Ariwa Health Centre 3
  • Okuban Health Centre 3
  • Ayivu Health Centre 3
  • Bangatuti health centre 3
  • Komgbe health centre 3

Farming in the refugee camp

Refugees and host community participate in farming in the settlements and host community land respectively, they are sometimes provided with seeds by humanitarian organisations like Seed Effect Uganda (SEU), afford, Dan Church Aids (DCA).[18]

The land refugees farm on is provided by the government and the UNHCR.[19]

Both the refugees and the host communities are provided with seeds to plant. On 19 June 2020, the Uganda Red Cross Society distributed some seeds to the locals and refugees.[20] and Norwegian refugees council (NRC) have implemented a European union trust fund it's a four-year project in bidibidi refugees settlement in the three zones of bidibidi on climate change Livelihood partners in bidibidi.

Information practitioners

Reliable Refugee Storytellers Association has engaged both the refugee youth and the host community in storytelling, citizen journalism, capacity building, advocacy, and peace-building initiatives to amplify the voices of the vulnerable community in the West Nile region and Uganda at large.

References

  1. ^ a b Biryabarema, Elias (15 December 2016). "Hatred spills beyond South Sudan along with refugees". Reuters. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  2. ^ Hattem, Julian (24 January 2017). "Uganda's sprawling haven for 270,000 of South Sudan's refugees". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  3. ^ Altman, M.J. "Rohingya Crisis: A Firsthand Look Into The World's Largest Refugee Camp". World Food Program USA. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Uganda - Bidibidi camp (as of Feb 2017)". reliefweb. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  5. ^ "As Thousands Flee South Sudan, Ugandan Refugee Camp Becomes World's Largest". NPR. 5 April 2017.
  6. ^ "Three months ago, it was a tiny Ugandan village. Now it's the world's fourth-largest refugee camp". The Washington Post. 28 October 2016.
  7. ^ "In Uganda, a unique urban experiment is underway. The world's second-largest refugee camp is slowly but surely transforming into a permanent city". National Geographic. April 2019. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019.
  8. ^ Thrasher, Alan R.; Lam, June L.F. (13 January 2015), "Bidi", Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.l2275090, retrieved 11 June 2021.
  9. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Eager refugees cram crowded classrooms in Ugandan school". UNHCR. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  10. ^ "bidibidi refugee settlement - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Node: Knowledge Land Primary School (5956832488)". OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  12. ^ "Kado Primary School". Yellow Uganda. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  13. ^ Mukasa, Francis. "South Sudanese refugees in Uganda near million mark". U.K. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  14. ^ Spiegel, P. B.; Sheik, M.; Woodruff, B. A.; Burnham, G. (June 2001). "The accuracy of mortality reporting in displaced persons camps during the post-emergency phase". Disasters. 25 (2): 172–180. doi:10.1111/1467-7717.00169. ISSN 0361-3666. PMID 11434236.
  15. ^ Ciottone, Gregory. "Ciottone's Disaster Medicine (Second Edition)".
  16. ^ "Uganda Refugee Response Monitoring Settlement Fact Sheet: Bidi Bidi (June 2018)".
  17. ^ Bhabha, Jacqueline (2014). Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691143606. JSTOR j.ctt5hhrwz.
  18. ^ "Uganda Red Cross Society extends support to farmers in Bidi Bidi and Palorinya Refugee Settlements - Uganda | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  19. ^ Berke, Timothy; Larsen, Larissa (March 2022). "Using Land to Promote Refugee Self-Reliance in Uganda". Land. 11 (3): 410. doi:10.3390/land11030410. ISSN 2073-445X.
  20. ^ "Uganda Red Cross Society extends support to farmers in Bidi Bidi and Palorinya Refugee Settlements - Uganda | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
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