Encouraging children not to abandon alternative care

In course step 4.9 we saw a short film about a Refugee Children Residential, Learning and Recreational Centre in Northern Ethiopia. Unaccompanied and separated children stay in this centre for a short period of time while they are registered by UNHCR and found alternative care placements or reunified with family members. In this video we will revisit the Centre. Although the children only spend a very short time in the shelter, it is an opportunity to provide them with information about risks of onward movement.

In this video, we see young girls in the shelter who crossed the border from Eritrea into Ethiopia as unaccompanied and separated children. They are being encouraged not to move on alone – what is referred to in the film as secondary migration. The main concern is if these girls choose to abandon any care setting they are placed in, they may face many risks.

We see Joyce Garamalos – a teacher employed by Innovative Humanitarian Solutions (HIS) in the Emergency Centre using materials you can find on the website facilitated by UNHCR called ‘Telling the Story’. The children are reading the story of Lwam, a 12 year old girl living in Eritrea and the terrible experiences her best friend faced after she decided to travel alone. You can find the story book they are reading here.