To Kyangwali refugee settlement

Tomorrow I head off to Kyangwali refugee camp in western Uganda, near the town of Hoima. I’ll be there for two weeks, helping to provide legal services and surveying conditions in the camp. Most of the refugees come from the Congo, and so I will also serve as unofficial French interpreter, though any hint of a Quebecois accent seems to confuse them.

I suppose I haven’t even mentioned where I work yet: a local NGO called the Refugee Law Project. I work in the Legal Aid Clinic, where I mostly pretend to be a lawyer, helping our clients either gain refugee status or deal with other problems, like medical, employment or security issues.

Every person who walks in our doors carries a long history of harrowing, gut-wrenching tales. I have been conflicted about whether to write about some of them here, due to confidentiality issues. In any case, I imagine I will have much to report from my own eyes when I return. Until then.